Kent

As the scream echoed throughout the forest we heard the sound of deep growling and howls of glee as the forest came alive. Earlier in the day, Drake had found out you could scan creatures within the same grade as you and we waited anxiously for anything to appear.

One howl sounded frighteningly close and we saw a pitch black bipedal wolf walk into the clearing. I quickly scanned it to see what it was.

Nightmare Werewolf

Lvl 7

I gritted my teeth. This Nightmare Werewolf was 2 levels higher than the goblin boss. It should be okay though, because this time I was many levels higher and I had the rest of the merry men with me.

The Nightmare Werewolf sniffed the air and grinned maliciously. It howled and ran at us. Layton hurriedly pulled out her bow and launched a clumsy shot at the bipedal creature.

The werewolf ducked under the arrow and sprinted at us holding its claws out to the side in preparation for the battle. I shot forward, scales covering my forearms and my fists. Me and the wolf lunged at each other at the same time. It raked its claws at me but I crossed my arms and they skidded off without doing any real damage. I jumped backward and shot a lightning bolt into its grinning face.

It put its hands up to block but it was barely too late. The bolt punched into its face and it howled in pain, clutching its face. I leaped forward and planted my fist deep into its gut. While experimenting with my spells and skills earlier I had found out that I could make my dragon scales for spikes above where my knuckles where making my punches do considerably more damage.

My fist tore through its gut and shot out through its back snapping its spine cleanly. The Nightmare Werewolf fell over, dead. I turned around grinning to gloat about my easy victory before seeing why my friends hadn’t helped me with my fight. The werewolves howl had attracted the attention of other denizens of the night. They looked like humanoid shadows with glowing red eyes that seemed to burn.

There were over a dozen of the ghastly things. They were slowly being pushed back but some of my teammates were injured. Layton had an obsidian knife sticking out of her leg.After a quick scan I found out what they were.

Dread Wraith

Lvl 8

They were all even higher than the werewolf but there were so many more of them. I quickly ran over to Layton who seemed to be having the most trouble with them. She was fighting 3 of them and her arrows were doing almost nothing to them, they were slowly getting closer to her.

I jumped over, using my lightning bolt to knock a wraith of course before it could attack Layton any more. The wraith shrieked and turned to face me and I punched at it with my full strength. The wraith shot back and hit a tree with a force that bent the tree. The wraith seemed to dissolve into a puddle of deep black goop.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

With one out of the way I turned to the others only to see an obsidian dagger hurtling straight for my face. I cursed and jumped to the side, so that it grazed my arm instead of my throat.

I punched out and took the wraith in the throat, sending it flying like its brother before it. The other wraith wailed and jumped at me screeching up a storm. I met it with my fist, practically exploding his head as I lashed out with all of my strength.

I ran over to Layton. “Are you okay?” I asked her worriedly.

“Yeah” She wheezed out. “Just a little banged up.” She looked more than just a little banged up. She was bleeding constantly out of her leg wound and seemed to be in shock.

I glanced around looking for Emily. She was the only one that could make sure that Layton survived to see the sun again. It was surprisingly light out, and I could see over the entire clearing. Emily was being protected by both Minya and Brock who were fending off another 7 of the wraiths. Now 6. Brock had smashed his ax into one of the wraiths and obliterated it.

It seemed like the only reason that he was struggling to deal with the wraiths was because of his very lacking speed. His strength was definitely nothing to scoff at though. At this point anything he could hit, he could kill.

“Wait here.” I told Layton, then berated myself. What else was she going to do? Run away? I scoffed silently to myself and ran after Emily. I jumped onto the back of one of the wraiths and used my newest skill. Thunder punch, a clap of thunder and lightning shot into the wraith as I made contact with its back, I rushed on to the next taking it down in the same fluid motion.

“EMILY! Get over to Layton she needs medical care immediately!” I yelled at the healer.

She turned and glanced over at me nodding and ran over to where Layton was laying in pain on the ground. I turned around and faced down the next wraith. Except… There was one problem: this wraith was huge at almost 10 ft and had two massive obsidian swords.. I quickly scanned it to see what was different.

Alpha Dread Wraith

Lvl 11

I gritted my teeth. This was not some simple opponent. It was 3 levels above me and was truly massive.

It grinned wickedly at me and let out a guttural roar of power that sent a wave of roiling darkness out from its body. The darkness washed over me and I felt weaker. not by much, but it was definitely noticeable.

I roared out a challenge and raised my fists in a classic boxing position, my unarmed mastery skill innately showing me where to put my fists.

The wraith grinned again and charged me, covering over a dozen feet in the blink of an eye. I lashed out with a thunder punch trying to get the advantage over it but it put its swords in a X shape and drew them back to its sides to take no damage from the strike.

I stumbled backward not being able to feel my hand after bashing it against its massive swords. I quickly cast a Lightning bolt and hit it in the side while its guard was down. I screeched in pain and lunged forward stabbing its swords at me.

I cursed and dove out of the way only taking a small gash to my side. The alpha roared again and that same wave of darkness crashed over me, sapping even more of my strength. I was in trouble the longer the fight went on the weaker I would get. I had to end this quickly.

The wraith attacked me again but I punched out again with another thunder punch hoping it would try to block again so I could get in another hit. Its eyes narrowed and it instead jumped over the blow and landed behind me.

I spun around and whipped out another thunder punch, but it was too late. Another wave hit me and I stumbled back as my body drained of more power. As I tried to regain my footing 2 blazing pains erupted in my side and I screamed out in pain.

I collapsed to the ground and looked up. The wraith was standing over me holding 2 bloodied swords. It smirked at me and started to raise up its swords to finish me off, but then an ax smashed into its side and it went carening across the clearing in a shriek of pain.

Brock was suddenly standing above me. “Emily, we need your help! Kent doesn't look so good!”

As my vision started to fill with black I notification greeted me.

You has slain 1 lvl 7 Nightmare Werewolf

You has slain 4 lvl 7 Dread Wraiths

Brock has slain 6 lvl 7 Dread Wraiths

Minya has slain 4 lvl 7 Dread Wraiths

Drake has slain 8 lvl 7 Dread Wraiths

You and Brock have slain 1 lvl 11 Alpha Dread Wraith.

Dividing xp…

Level Up! You are now lvl 9 applying class stats…

Level Up! You are now lvl 10 applying class stats…

Unlocked Path! Show status? Y/N

My vision went dark and I fell unconscious.