Ben rushed through the opened door at the end of the passage. For a second Ben considered that it was weird that this door was open. The flash that saved his life must have barreled through and forced it open.

Once he opened the door, he opened his eyes wide in shock. He was expecting a battlefield but encountered a bloodbath.

A large group of about 20 people could be seen scattered around the forest. Some of them were lifeless on the ground, being nibbled on by some of the smaller wolves. Whereas most were desperately running away from the wolves.

Most of them didn’t even have any weapons with them. He could see some of them wielding shields and swords, but the bulk of them must have dropped their weapons while fleeing from the wolves. They looked just like prey to Ben. Only to exist to serve as food for their predators. Running away until they inevitably got caught. It somehow reminded him of John. He wouldn’t let the group die like that.

Ben sprinted into the forest as fast as he could, when he saw a girl get jumped by a wolf from behind. The girl’s legs were injured, but she momentarily managed to fend the wolf off with what looked like a wooden wand. When he was about 20 feet apart from the wolf, he launched himself off of the ground by hitting the ground behind him as hard as he could with his soul arm.

CRASH

He flung himself too hard and was about to cover almost 40 feet. He flew over the pair but was able to adjust his position mid-air. Luckily, his arm was long enough to reach the wolf’s head as he grabbed it in his claw. The wolf flung away with him, but wouldn’t reach the floor alive again. Ben had already crushed its skull. He didn’t even have to use [Piercing Grasp].

Ben didn’t look at the notification as he continued sprinting to other stragglers getting attacked. After killing four more wolves and saving two others, it looked like all the stragglers would be fine. He shifted his gaze deeper into the forest and noticed the rest of the group surrounded by at least a dozen wolves.

A larger wolf was giving orders from the back to keep the wolves in some kind of formation. This wolf’s fur had a deep ebony color. A stark contrast from the plain gray furs of the other wolves. He knew he could easily take the regular wolves, but he wasn’t entirely sure of this enhanced wolf. Luckily, they were too busy encircling the group, as they hadn’t noticed him killing the lone wolves yet.

Inside the encirclement, the people tried to create a barricade using their shields, but it was incomplete. They didn’t have enough shields and weren’t able to cover everyone. Their formation had holes. A guy seemed to take the lead and gave instructions to circle around to cover their weakness. But it wasn’t enough to counteract the lack of equipment. It was obvious where the wolves would attack first.

There was no time to hesitate. Ben sprinted as quietly as he could. When he deemed he was close enough he grabbed a branch above him and flung himself to the wolves. His target, the ebony wolf.

He balanced himself during his flight and managed to land just 4 feet behind the ebony wolf. Ben swung his claw at the wolf’s neck when it looked back.

CRUNCH

A piece of its lower back was missing. The ebony wolf barely dodged the strike aimed at his neck, but Ben had still managed to grab part of its lower back. Ben immediately used [Piercing Grasp] and if it weren’t for the blood and fur exploding out, he would have thought the wolf got partly disintegrated.

Ben didn’t manage to strike again before the other wolves attacked him. He hit the first incoming wolf, blocking the others on that side. Giving himself some breathing room. He switched his attention to the area the ebony wolf had retreated to.

It was limping behind his comrades, blood dripping from its tail. It was bleeding profusely. A normal-looking wolf approached it and started licking at the wolf’s wound. The wolf’s eyes and tung started glowing when the wound slowly started closing. ‘What the…’ Ben thought.

He had to end this quickly, or from the looks of things, the ebony wolf would be battle-ready again soon. Ben charged at the barricade continuously swinging his soul arm. With every strike, a wolf was left dead. The grass stained redder and redder.

The group of people must have realized this was their only chance for survival, as their leader started commanding the group to charge the ebony wolf. They realized that the ebony wolf was the most dangerous one. The group charged and managed to penetrate the charging wolves. Even at the expense of two casualties of their own.

For a second, it looked like the ebony wolf was considering fleeing. He was pincered by two groups, and it was still wounded. If it was going to flee, now was its last chance.

Ben had butchered the wolves and finally arrived at the ebony wolf. The healing wolf jumped from behind its patient and threw itself to Ben, only for Ben to swipe it away.

This angered the ebony wolf, as it jumped at Ben in retaliation. Ben faced it with [Piercing Grasp] when he noticed the wolf’s claw started glowing dark red. If he hadn’t seen it change colors then and there, he would’ve thought it was this color because of the blood. It wasn’t though. This was a skill.

Not underestimating the dying skill of the wolf, Ben canceled his skill and smashed the ground sending himself hurdling over the wolf, just outside of its reach. But the wolf wasn’t outside of his reach. He activated his skill and threw his arm at it.

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The wolf couldn’t readjust, because it had already jumped off the ground to pounce on Ben. Not to mention its wounds. It couldn’t reach Ben’s body so it aimed at his soul arm.

Ben’s hand cupped its neck when the wolf attacked his arm in a last-ditch effort. The dark red claws clashed with his soul arm.

Ben screamed it out. It hurt, a lot. However, he didn’t miss this chance and activated his skill. The wolf’s neck disintegrated and its lifeless body fell on the floor. The sounds of a few notifications were interrupted by two surrounding wolves attacking him in a fit of rage, but Ben also quickly killed them.

With the ebony wolf and over half of the wolves dead, the group of people got enough momentum to keep going and were able to kill a few wolves as well.

BOOM

Ben heard the hollow sound of a shield bashing a skull in. Turning around, he saw Rolo had arrived with a green-glowing shield in hand bashing an injured wolf’s face in. From the looks of things, Rolo got a skill.

The remaining wolves realized they wouldn’t be able to do anything and ran back to the monastery. He heard a few howls mourning their fallen brothers before it went quiet.

Ben put his hand on his claw and looked at his arm fading. The pulses grew weaker until the arm finally disappeared, leaving him just with his lone arm.

The last-ditch attack of the wolf had hurt him badly. It wasn’t as bad as his arm getting dismembered, but if he had to rank the worst pains in his life, this one finished solidly at second place. Not only did it hurt, but it also weakened his soul arm. Like it couldn’t take the stress anymore. He took a quick peek at his status screen and breathed a sigh of relief.

Name: Benjamin Neilson

Level: 12

Class: None

Titles: None

Constitution: Normal

Soul Manifestation: Soul Arm

Strength: 23

Dexterity: 13

Vitality: 12

Endurance: 11

Perception: 11

Intelligence: 11

Wisdom: 11

Will: 44

SP (+): 10

Wealth: 81 Bronze Coins

Skill(s): Piercing Grasp (Lv. 2)

His soul arm was still there. For a second he thought his arm was exhausted and injured to a point where it was gone. But it seemed it was just out of energy. He could probably summon it again later, after recovering a bit. He took a quick note to avoid getting hit at his soul arm in the future to use it as long as possible. He felt like he could’ve slaughtered all the remaining wolves if he didn’t get hit by the dark red claw.

[Piercing Grasp] also leveled up. He didn’t notice anything during the fight, so it must have leveled up after killing the ebony wolf. He was kind of excited to see the results since the skill was already overpowering as it was. And a level up would indicate it was even stronger. How strong could it even become?

‘’You okay?’’ Rolo said as he walked up to him.

‘’Apart from a few scratches, I’m good.’’

‘’Thank god. You scared me when the wolf hit you.’’

‘’Yea, it hurt like shit. My arm managed to pull through though.’’ Ben said as he put his hand on his stump.

‘’What happened to your blue arm thingy?’’ Rolo asked.

‘’I don’t know, it just disappeared. When I got hit by that brown wolf my arm started fading. I was able to kill two more, but that attack seemed to have depleted all its energy. Next time I’ll have to just not get hit.’’ Ben said raising a half-hearted thumbs up.

‘’I’ll block it for you then,’’ Rolo said as he raised his glowing shield in confidence.

‘’You and Nathan aren’t the only ones that got a skill. It not only helps me block attacks a lot more, but it also steadies my legs. Bet you won’t see me get knocked against a wall anytime soon.’’ Rolo said as he quickly knocked on a nearby tree. He didn’t want to jinx himself.

Some people of the group Ben had just saved were crying, while getting comforted by others. A few others were stabbing the dead wolves for good measure, while another group walked up to him and Rolo.

A handsome young man walked in front. From what Ben remembered, it was the guy that commanded the group when the wolves attacked.

‘’Rolo!’’ the man said as he shifted his gaze ‘’and… Ben Everstein right?’’

‘’You know me?’’

‘’Of course, everyone knows you. You’re Miss Everstein’s son, right? Thanks for saving us back there. If it weren’t for you… who knows how many more would’ve died.’’ the man said as he frowned and squeezed his fists.

‘’Where are my manners, the name is Dominic,’’ Dominic said as he extended his right hand.

Dominic was a tall guy of average built. The most striking about Dominic was his body language. Ben felt like Dominic’s polite gestures were incredibly natural. He didn’t know anyone that went to etiquette school, but if anyone had attended it, Dominic had. He seemed very amicable and easy to approach.

Ben looked at the extended hand and wanted to shake it when his hand didn’t come. He looked at his right shoulder and all he could see was a stump. Ben was about to raise his left hand when Dominic hurriedly replaced his right hand with his left.

‘’Sorry about that,’’ Dominic said with his cheeks growing red and sweat appearing on his brow. Clearly embarrassed he didn’t notice Ben’s right arm wasn’t there, Dominic didn’t inquire any more about his arm.

Ben nodded and shook his left hand. ‘That’s a first’ he thought.

‘How long are you going to let Kara and me just sit here?!’ a voice said in Ben’s head. He realized Nathan and Kara were defenseless and quickly turned around.

‘’Be right back,’’ Ben said as he sprinted back to the escape passage. Rolo excused himself as well and followed Ben.

‘’Took you long enough,’’ Nathan said with Kara by his side with her eyes still closed.

‘’Looks like it wasn’t long enough, as you’re still here,’’ Ben replied.

To Ben’s surprise, Nathan and Ben shared a laugh. Were they bonding? They started on the wrong foot, but their relationship had taken a turn for the better. Ben welcomed it. If anything, having a good relationship with Nathan would only lead to good things. He hoped at least.

Rolo picked Kara up while Nathan leaned on Ben. Together they gathered at Dominic’s group.

Ben could see Dominic gasp loudly once they got closer. Ben followed his gaze and noticed he was staring at Kara.

‘’Is Kara okay?’’ Dominic hurriedly asked.

‘’Good to see you again as well Dominic,’’ Nathan said.

‘’Oh, I’m sorry… I…’’

‘’She’s unconscious, but outside of that, she’s fine. You can tell her you love her once she wakes up.’’ Nathan said.

Dominic turned beet red and wanted to rebuke Nathan when Nathan spoke first.

‘’It’s okay Dominic, everyone knows you like her,’’ Nathan said.

Dominic was about to reply when everyone gathered. It looked like everyone was ready to go. If they stayed any longer, more wolves could come. They had to find a safe place to rest first. Nathan took the hint and pointed his arm.

‘’Go that way, there’s a wooden cabin about a mile that way. It’s some rich guy’s vacation home, so it should be empty.’’

The group hurried the way Nathan pointed.