‘You want me to fight not one but two wolves?’

“Why not?” Val said. “You are fully capable of doing this. You have a sword and a new combat skill you haven’t even used yet. Unless you are completely incompetent, dispatching those beasts should be a simple task.”

If I wanted Val to fill me in on her grand plan, I needed to prove to her that I could follow this journey through to the end. There was no doubt in my mind that fighting a couple of wolves would fall among the easiest of my upcoming trials.

At her direction, I adjusted my path slightly northward. Tara didn’t even seem to notice our altered course.

Val and I conferred as we walked and decided that taking them by surprise would be the best course of action. I would fill Tara in on the plan at the last minute and, if I had to, make up some bullshit reason about how I knew there were wolves approaching. It felt wrong, but if I told her I was going to hunt some wolves, it was unlikely she would be keen to tag along.

Val calculated that I would have about eight minutes to set up our ambush before the wolves crossed our path.

When we found the location, I stopped and quickly surveyed the surroundings. The first thing I noticed was that the wind was in our favor. It was either good luck or good planning by Val, but I leaned more toward luck. There were plenty of thick trees to hide behind and a clearing where a section of another creek had grown wide, forming a small pool.

I took a breath, preparing my lies. “Tara, there are wolves approaching from the northwest. They’re on the hunt, and I don’t want to be their next meal.”

I pointed to a nearby tree. “Climb that and stay quiet. And I mean dead quiet.”

Tara’s eyes went wide with fear, and I could see her thoughts churning behind her brown eyes. “Wolves? How? What?”

“My job is to get you safely to Danver, and your job is to trust in my ability to do so. So, climb that tree. Now. We’re running out of time.”

She looked to the north, presumably for the incoming wolves. I could see the doubt on her face, but she turned back to me and nodded.

Tara scrambled up the tree quickly and quietly while I hid behind a thick oak nearer the creek.

Wolves were hunters. Therefore, I assumed they had good eyesight, so I bolstered my hiding spot with a few fallen branches, allowing me to peek around the trunk and stay relatively hidden.

We waited, unmoving. The silence during those minutes of growing tension was deafening. It was a soft sort of silence where all small sounds seemed to disappear. I didn’t hear the bubbling of the creek or the whisper of the wind cutting through the trees. I was waiting for another sound—one that didn’t belong.

In quiet, anticipatory moments like this, it was easy for one to let their mind wander. Thankfully, I was able to keep my thoughts focused on the task at hand. I was about to engage two wolves with only a melee weapon. Violence of action was my strategy. In nearly all fights, the winner was the one who acted the most violently in the shortest amount of time. The longer a fight went on, the more likely it was that I could get hurt, so I needed to end this quickly.

When doubt tried to worm its way into my mind, I reminded myself that Val wanted me to do this. She had pushed me before when the bandit came for us in the night, and I not only succeeded in saving Tara and myself but also leveled up. If she thought this encounter would benefit me, I trusted her.

I breathed slowly, my ears sharp and tuned in for the slightest variation in sound.

It wasn’t long before I heard it. Just the gentle rattle of leaves as something scraped against a bush. Then I heard the muffled patter of paws hitting the ground. They were here.

I glanced at Tara. From the look on her face, she could see them from her vantage point in the tree.

Through my cover, I saw a flash of silver fur between a small opening in the trees about twenty yards away. They were on our side of the shallow creek and were heading directly toward me.

One was far bigger than the other. Its counterpart looked about half its size, and its fur was a few shades lighter.

Ten yards away, they came to a stop. The smaller one took a few tentative steps toward the creek while the larger wolf sniffed at the air.

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My heart hammered in my chest as I stood frozen, sword in hand, behind my tree cover. I didn’t even want to risk taking a breath.

I focused my attention on the other side of the creek and cast my Simple Distraction skill. I heard a pitched flutter, like the sound a quail makes when flushed out of hiding.

Both wolves turned their heads in that direction and away from me.

In this moment of distraction, I made my move. Violence of action. Fast and brutal.

I sprang from my cover and slipped on the damp, decaying leaves that had packed themselves into the forest floor. I fell to my knees and used my free hand to stop myself from face-planting.

The small wolf jumped in surprise and darted away, but its larger companion showed no signs of fear. As I scrambled to my feet, I could see the wolf preparing itself for action.

It snarled as it darted toward me. I snarled back. It leaped, white fangs bared.

I activated Devastating Strike and swung my sword with both hands, but the wolf was already too close, and instead of the blade, it was my arms that made contact with the wolf.

Its jaws were inches from my throat, but the unnaturally amplified impact launched the wolf to the side. We both yelped, and my left arm throbbed with pain.

The wolf had landed hard on its side, but it didn’t stay down. It stood, and I noticed it now favored one of its back legs. Perhaps a part of my sword made an impact after all.

I had blown my chance with Devastating Strike and wouldn’t be able to use it again for another five minutes. There were no more inhuman skills at my disposal. It was just me against the wolf.

What would Liam Neeson do?

That stray thought brought forth an idea, and I shouted at the wolf, cursing it and begging it to attack. It growled with hatred but didn’t make a move, so I did.

I took a hard step forward. The wolf reacted immediately and lunged toward me.

I fell to my knees and plunged the handle of the sword into the ground, braced the base of the blade with my hands, and hid behind the pointy end.

Unable to stop its momentum, the wolf impaled itself onto the tip of the sword as one of its claws raked the upper part of my arm, just under my leather vest.

It yelped and kicked itself back, trying to escape the pain. It managed to dislodge itself from my sword and backed away, but the leg it had been favoring gave out.

It looked at me, and I could see the pain and hatred in its eyes. It wanted to keep fighting, but the wound on its chest was too devastating to overcome. I leaped forward and swung my sword down on the wolf, catching it where its neck met its shoulders. My sword didn’t cut very deep, but it cut deep enough, and the wolf collapsed to the ground.

I watched as it died. Its breaths came quick and shallow before it shuddered one last time and finally passed.

I hated this fucking game.

“Is it over?” Tara asked from up in her tree.

I glanced around for the other wolf, but it seemed like it was long gone.

“It’s over. You can come down.”

I clenched a fist with my left hand, but the motion sent lances of hot pain up my arm. I didn’t think the arm was broken, but it definitely bruised the bone.

By rolling my left shoulder forward, I could see two red gashes on my upper arm where the wolf’s claws had found purchase.

‘Is it bad?’ I asked Val.

“Your vital signs are perfectly fine. All your pain is superficial. A few stitches wouldn’t hurt, though.”

‘Can I make a potion or something to heal myself?’

“There are potions that can speed up the healing process, but you lack the prerequisite Competencies to create them. Also, you have no alchemical tools, which makes me wonder why you would even ask. Did that wolf hit you in the head, and I just missed it?”

I couldn’t help but laugh. The adrenaline rush had finally subsided, and the realization that I survived this trial was setting in. “You really need to work on your bedside manner.”

“John?” a small voice rang out from behind me. “Who are you talking to?”

It was Tara.

I spun around and tried to project sanity. “Hey.”

“Hello,” Tara said slowly.

We stared at each other for a long moment before she spoke again. “Who were you talking to?”

“I wasn’t talking to anyone.”

She shook her head. “I’ve noticed you doing it before. At first, I thought I just misheard you or that you were thinking aloud, but I can see it’s not that. So, who were you talking to?”

While she obviously thought I was already crazy, I wasn’t about to reinforce those beliefs by telling the truth. I had to shut this down for good.

I relaxed my posture and met her eyes. “We have an agreement. I don’t dig into your secrets, and you don’t dig into mine. If that’s no longer acceptable, you can find your own way to Danver.”

I meant it to be a baseless threat, but when I said the words, I was surprised to find that I meant them.

Tara looked at me appraisingly. A slight grin appeared on her face. “You may be crazy, but you’re not the type of person to abandon a girl in the woods. You’re bleeding, by the way. Let me help.”

She produced a cloth and approached. I winced as she wrapped it tightly around my wound.

“We should boil water and clean it,” she said. “The cuts aren’t too deep, but you don’t want to risk an infection. It’s getting late, so we can camp here tonight.”

I gave her a half-hearted smile. “Try to find us some dry wood. I’m going to rest here a moment.”

When she was gone, I focused on my mental interface and checked my experience bar. I was now two-thirds of the way to level three.

I noticed I had a new achievement and opened it.

NEW ACHIEVEMENT!

MAN VERSUS BEAST

Congratulations! You defeated a wolf in close-quarters combat, proving yourself to be the apex predator. This achievement unlocks the Primal Awareness passive ability.

PRIMAL AWARENESS: Your subconscious senses have been heightened. From now on, if you ever get the sense that you’re being watched, you should trust your instincts. This passive ability only works when being tracked by a predatory creature with violent intentions.

Apparently, I had my own built-in spidey-sense now, at least with regard to some animals. It wasn’t flashy, but it could save my hide someday. I’d have to remember to trust my gut.