What emerged from the forrest was a lone 1 meter tall grey wolf. Shocking both Alfred and Liz. They quickly picked up their weapons and prepared themselves for combat. 

˝Hm, it looks dangerous. What's this predator called?˝ Alfred said while positioning himself in front of Liz. 

˝That's a grey wolf. Thankfully it looks like this one's alone and not with it's pack, so we should be able to defeat it. But we should be very careful as one wrong move could be fatal.˝ Liz said warily. 

˝Alright, I will take point since I have a longer weapon. You can back me up when you see an opening. I didn't expect my first battle to be so soon after arrival.˝ Alfred said with a bit of static in his voice. He noticed his hands were shaking a bit.

´Why am I shaking, why is my body so stiff?´ Alfred thought to himself unsure of what to make of this new development.

Liz noticed his anxiety so she said: ˝Don't worry Alfred, It's my first fight too so I'm really scared. But I believe we can do this, our story doesn't end here. If we stood no chance against a lone wolf Artisia wouldn't have sent us to this forrest.˝ Her dagger shaking in hand she put the other hand on Alfred's back, smilled and said: ˝Come on champion show me what you can do.¨

˝So this is fear, I do believe your words alleviated it a bit. Thank you Liz.˝ Alfred said looking back at Liz.

˝Alfred! Look out!˝ She said pointing at the now charging wolf, it saw an opening and was already within leaping distance. All Alfred managed to do was defend with his left arm when the wolf leaped at him. 

˝ARGH!˝ He yelled when the wolf bit down on his arm, blue coolant spewing all over the grass. A new system message also appeared.

20 points of damage sustained [180HP remaining]

He then tried shaking the wolf off with no avail, he was unable to stab it with the spear since the they too close. So he decided to kick the wolf with all his might. It worked, the wolf flew a few meters and started coughing up a bit of blood.

˝Are you alright Alfred?¨ Liz said with a worried expression. She prepared herself to jump at the wolf if it does the same attack again. She hoped she would be at least a bit helpful, after all she possesed no combat oriented skills. 

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˝Yes, it seems this was not a critical injury. Though it seems my arm has become a bit sluggish.˝ He said while preparing a new strategy. 

The wolf recovered a bit and charged again, but this time Alfred was ready. He lunged at the same time as the the wolf and stabbed the wolf directly in the chest, he then lifted the spear upwards midair so the wolf landed on it's back. When they landed he immediately put one leg on the wolf to keep it still. 

Liz saw the opportunity and ran over and started stabbing the wolf from the sides with her knife. ˝I got this, I  got this.˝ She muttered to herself, ignoring a skill notification. Alfred then pulled the spear out of the wolf's chest and also started stabbing, it retaliated by biting and clawing at his leg.

˝Aaaarrrgh! He screamed again as new notifications appeared.

20 points of damage sustained [160HP remaining]

10 points of damage sustained [150HP remaining]

20 points of damage sustained [130HP remaining]

10 points of damage sustained [120HP remaining]

Basic Spearmanship skill acquired

Grey wolf level 10 killed [30 EXP gained] 

2x Level up detected

Finally the wolf stopped breathing, they were now both covered in the wolf's blood. Although they were the victors of this battle, they did not come out of it unscathed. Alfred's left arm was still leaking cooling fluids while his leg was completely torn apart, it would clearly take a while for it to recover.

Liz on the other hand only had a few cuts on her arm. She looked with concern at Alfred and said: ˝We did it! Are you gonna be okay? You took quite a lot damage.˝

˝I seem to have gained some self-repair capabilities, so I should recover in 8 hours. What about you? Do we need to bandage your wounds?˝ Alfred said while trying to hide the pain he's in.

˝No, it's just some light scratches so it should heal on without a problem. We should probably get cleaned up though. We are covered in shit tons of blood.˝ She said with a disgusted face. 

Alfred then stepped off the wolf leaving the spear in the carcass and collapsed on all fours due to the damaged leg. ´I feel so relieved, but also disgusted. I know it was self defence but still, this is too gruesome´.  He thought to himself, if he had the means he would have surely hurled.

Liz on the other hand had all the correct organs to do just that, so she just hurled all over the ground next to the wolf. ´So disgusting, this is why I didn't want to do this shit. How do people do this for a living.´ She thought before asking Alfred: ˝Are there any other creatures nearby or are we safe?˝

˝There don't seem to be any nearby, so we should be safe. Also we should probably get cleaned up right away. Also can you help me move to the river I don't want to crawl.˝ Alfred said incapable of getting up on his own.

˝Sure, ugh, I still feel sick. How are you feeling about all this, because I fell super bad about killing something for the first time.˝ She said helping Alfred to his feet. 

˝Yes, I very conflicted about this. On one hand I am relieved we survived, but on the other hand I'm disgusted at myself for killing something for my own survival like that. The fish was different, it fast and painless.˝ Alfred said while they moved closer to the river. 

˝Yeah, I see what you mean. I feel the same, but I can say something that can probably make us feel better. Well maybe just a little, these things are classified as monsters. So they are actively hunted by adventurers to protect villages and other settlements. Me might have saved a few people by doing this, so who knows, maybe we weren't just selfish.˝ She said with a weak smile. 

˝That does make me feel a little better, thank you. Oh, and you can drop me right here. I'm cabable of washing myself.˝ Alfred said and proceeded  to clean his body in the river.

˝Alright. Also Alfred, please don't look at me while I'm washing myself, it's embarrassing.˝ Liz said with a slight blush.

Alfred noded, turned away and said: ˝Understood.˝

´Should I have also acted embarrassed, since she saw my parts underneath my arm and leg plating.´ Alfred still didn't fully understand the concept of embarrassment.