At his command, his younger siblings burst from their hiding spots with their weapons brandished. Despite their tender age of only five years, the children had long since been hardened by the gruesomeness of the slums. Because of this, they didn't hesitate when they took advantage of Icarus's distraction and stabbed the wolves with their makeshift spears.

In an instant, the twelve wolves chasing Icarus to the ground became only seven. With the dying yelps of their comrades, the enraged beasts halted their charge, giving the orphans time to gather themselves.

Icarus evaluated their odds.

'Six versus seven... my family vs yours. Let's see who wants it more it you fanged bastards!'

While he frantically built a plan in his head, the largest beast of the pack stepped forward and snarled. He didn't notice before because of the franticness of the situation, but the wolf before him was truly a cut above the rest in terms of size and what he could only assume was ferocity. The missing chunk of the wolf's ear along with the claw shaped scar over its right eye told him that he was dealing with a veteran.

In his periphery, he could see each of his little siblings facing off against a wolf of their own except for Zeke. For some reason, two wolves had decided to take him on together.

Clutching his spear tightly, Icarus kicked off the ground backwards and yelled out to his siblings.

"Guys! Play tag with them, they're it! I'll be back later!"

With those words, Icarus flew through the opening in the wall of scrap and into the maze. The largest wolf followed only a few feet behind.

***

Four of the remaining orphans turned to blurs as they jumped off the pile and ran circles around the clearing. The wolves bit at air as the children effortlessly weaved through their attacks.

Zeke took a different approach, dashing off into the depths of the scrapyard. His two bloodthirsty pursuers weren't far behind.

Running into the maze, Zeke periphery was quickly obscured by the walls of useless trash. While he couldn't see the wolves, the sounds of their manic breathing and paws cracking the dirt only encouraged him to keep his speed.

'I need some open space...'

After a few turns, he found a long corridor lit by sunlight. Following the path, he exploded out onto another clearing. Directly before him, a skeleton larger than even Icarus lay on the ground. He didn't have much time to look at it but its large beak told him it belonged to a Grade 1 Raven.

Turning around, he prepared himself to face the beasts. It didn't take long for them to enter the clearing. Upon seeing them, Zeke tightened his grip on his weapon.

'Two of them? No proble-'

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of something cutting through the air. Ducking instantly, he just barely managed to avoid being skewered in the back by a flying assailant. Still on the ground, he rolled to his feet quickly to get a better look at what had attacked him.

He eventually set his eyes upon a Raven. The midnight colored bird had settled itself on the back of one of the wolves. After sizing him up the bird tilted its head and lifted back into the air. It then began to fly circles around him. The wolves followed suit, splitting apart as they stalked him from the sides.

Unperturbed by the course of events, Zeke only looked towards opening he had entered the clearing through. He wanted to make sure... make sure there were no witnesses. He laughed excitedly as he thrust his spear into the ground.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

"It's a good thing no one's here... I like using my hands anyway!"

***

Icarus yelped in pain as he was thrown clean through one of the maze walls with only a simple swipe from the large wolf. He felt various pops throughout his body but he kept his attention on his pursuer.

It didn't matter what Icarus tried, he simply couldn't lose his overgrown assailant. It tracked him around corners and through debris. Groaning in pain, Icarus felt the various bones and muscles in his back mend themselves as he rose to his feet.

Hearing the wolf approaching, Icarus clenched his teeth and darted off once again into the dark corridors.

He wasn't sure why but the beast had never once tried to kill him. It only sought to maim him, almost as if it wanted him to suffer. He dismissed those thoughts as he tried to discern why the beast could seemingly follow him anywhere. After dodging yet another swipe from the wolf, he remembered.

'This thing has a great sense of smell... well I have just the thing!'

Having constructed a simple yet promising plan, he jumped around another corner in the maze and crouched down. He was given only five seconds before his pursuer rounded the corner.

Much to the beast's confusion, its prey was nowhere to be seen. All that remained of him were a pair of smelly boots that had been haphazardly thrown down the corridor.

The beast lightly pawed at the boots, distraught that it had lost track of its meal. Because of this distraction, the wolf failed to notice the airborne human who had a makeshift spear aimed at its head. Hearing the whistle of the air as it passed through the pipe, the wolf turned its head.

It was too late.

In the next instant, Icarus ruthlessly plunged his spear through the skull of the beast that had been chasing him. Despite his surprise attack, the wolf had managed to swipe at his arm, taking off a solid chunk of flesh before he could kill it.

Despite the intense pain, Icarus was glad. It could have been worse. Turning to the dead creature, he spoke a few words.

"That's why you shouldn't play with your food..."

He spat blood on the ground as he turned away from the corpse and walked towards his boots.

"Thalia taught me that one..."

Immediately after those words the Warden chimed in his head.

[You have killed an Alpha Timber Wolf (1). A special reward is ....]

Focused more on his little siblings, Icarus mentally dismissed the notification. Soon after, he finished lacing up his boots, retrieved his spear from the corpse of the wolf, and ran off back in the direction of the original clearing.

It didn't take long for him to retrace his steps. As soon as he did however, he grew increasingly distressed. Instead of just wolves chasing the children, there were now 10 ravens assisting them as well.

Witnessing Lucy and Kalen about to fall victim to a combined attack, Icarus reached into his pocket and pulled out a cylindrical object with a ring attached to it. A second later the object landed on top of the scrap mound, only it was missing the ring. Icarus quickly yelled a warning to his siblings.

"COVER YOUR EARS AND CLOSE YOUR EYES!"

In spite of their perilous situations, the other orphans heeded his warning. A second later, a bright flash lit up the clearing while a loud boom followed immediately after.

Caught completely off guard, the ravens fell to the ground and flailed around awkwardly. The wolves didn't fare much better as they had also been completed disorientated by the strange device. Icarus yelled at his siblings once again while pointing to the wolves.

"Them first! We can't let them call more over and I don't have anymore flashbangs!"

He didn't have to tell the children twice. Within only ten seconds, the wolves were dead. While his siblings were busy with them, Icarus ran over to the Ravens and easily dispatched the still stunned avian creatures. By the time the effects of the flashbangs wore off, the remaining five birds weren't even given the chance to take to the skies before Icarus and his siblings descended upon them.

It was a gruesome thirty seconds, but Icarus felt little remorse. At least they weren't killing humans. Survival made people do drastic things, things Icarus had hoped he would never have to see again.

Pushing those thoughts aside, Icarus watched as his siblings slumped down onto the floor. They groaned in pain as their wounds were mended.

"Good work guys, Thalia would be pr-"

Dane cut him off.

"Hey guys? Where's Zeke?!"

Icarus looked around frantically.

"No no no no no! What happened! When did you guys last see him?"

Running over to the beast corpses laying on the ground, Icarus began looking under them as hot tears began to fill his eyes. His baby brothers and sisters followed suit.

Before long, a voice rang out.

"Uhh guys? Why are you crying?"

Everyone turned to look at the direction the voice came from.

Standing in front of one of the entrances to the clearing was Zeke. On each of his shoulders, he carried a dead wolf.

He was barely given time to drop his quarry before his siblings gathered him a crushing embrace. As the family celebrated their victory, their wardens chimed simultaneously in their brains.

[Congratulations, you have survived the 2nd wave of GQC-1]