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The Echelon Tower
7 - Second challenge

7 - Second challenge

The large wolf in the stack of leaves produced a loud growl, obviously angered by the appearance of the group of humans.

This growl seemed to carry a special power, instilling fear onto the humans.

The legs of Stephanie and the other kids started shaking so hard that they looked like they would dislocate at any moment.

Although Jonathan wasn’t at that point, his still stopped breathing for a few seconds and a feeling of strong fear was instilled into him. He felt his legs wanting to turn around and run away as far as possible, but he resisted.

Considering that he was afraid of almost nothing, this was shocking. Even the wolves from the previous attack could not cause him to react so intensively.

Furthermore, it wasn’t the same type of fear. The other wolves would make him feel like “his life is in danger,” but the wolf made him feel like “the devil is here, run.”

Even the grip on his spear was loosened due to his hands shaking.

Surprisingly, the teachers looked a bit more composed than him. He wouldn’t be surprised if it was only the science teacher in this state, but all three looked like they didn’t have much to fear.

The large wolf also seemed to notice this, so it walked slowly towards the teachers, whose expressions still did not change.

“As far as I can see, that wolf isn’t normal. They are five while we are eight, so outrunning them and escaping is out of question. Even if you are not the first one that gets bitten, they won’t stop their chase since this is their territory.” The science teacher calmly said to the whole group.

Jonathan had no plans on running away, so this information didn’t faze him. For the other kids, however, it only made them even more scared.

“Hehe, it looks like we have to brawl with these beasts.” Alex also commented, although he seemed happy of the situation.

Rana also silently acknowledged this choice and got her wooden spear ready for attack.

This ignited Jonathan’s battle spirit, helping him stop the shaking and stabilizing his steps. For now, there were only three wolves heading towards them. With eight people, it shouldn’t be too hard to take them down.

Right?

However, Jeremy seemed to have heard nothing of what the others had said, or at least it didn’t affect him. He was still standing ahead of the group, but he wasn’t moving.

His legs were shaking even harder than those of the other kids, and Jonathan saw a large brown stain at his buttocks.

‘He definitely won’t be able to fight. And the other kids have no real battle experience or aptitude for battle. They each count as half a fighter at most … so it’s a five versus three…’ Jonathan quickly analyzed the situation, deciding to not put any hope into the kids in his group.

“Jeremy gets back or throw your spear at it!” Guillaume screamed at Jeremy, but the latter seemed to have heard nothing, as still stayed there like a pole.

Seeing an easy target, the large wolf at the back suddenly ran towards Jeremy. Although it’s body was bigger, at was at least twice as fast as the wolves Jonathan had faced.

Even in imminent danger, Jeremy still stayed put like a statue. Nobody did anything to save him, as if everyone was too shocked to move.

Although that was true for the kids, the adults simply didn’t want to waste their weapons, as a spear throw was the only way to save Jeremy now.

“AAAARRRGHHHH!” Jeremy screamed as the wolf jumped on him and bit his neck. The gruesome scene of his esophagus getting ripped out was seen by the whole group.

Soon, his voice died down as his vocal cords were destroyed. All that could be heard was the sound of someone chocking on a liquid.

‘Ah well, that’s unfortunate. But he brought into onto himself. No one told him to run towards a pack of wolves or to sh*t is pants instead of retreating.’ Jonathan didn’t feel much pity towards his dead teammate.

Jeremy had been the most hostile towards him anyways, so he would be Jonathan’s pick on whom to die first. Worst case, they would all have to do more labour since he wasn’t there anymore.

‘But this wolf…’

Jonathan looked at the animal that had just finished killing its first prey.

Large dark-red eyes that matched the blood on its mouth looked at the group of humans. They looked like they could rip out your soul and crush your bones. It also had extremely dark fur, that looked almost metallic. Its legs were extremely muscular, explaining why it was so fast despite being about five feet seven tall. And surprisingly, nipples could be seen under its stomach.

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‘So, it’s a female.’ Jonathan finally released something. This was probably the main camp of the wolves, and the mother had recently given birth to a few pups, so she had stayed to guard them with the two other wolves while the rest of the pack went on a hunt.

This meant that there were young wolves in the stack of leaves, in other words, easy preys.

However, the group would have to kill the three wolves guard before getting the younger ones.

“Jonathan and Rana, take the side wolves. Jonathan and I will take care of the mother, since she seems stronger. As for your kids, don’t try running towards the stack of leaves, or you’ll get outran by the wolves and die. You can try using your weapons as long as you don’t get in the way, or keep them to resupply us if our break.” Guillaume once again rapidly took control of the situation.

Jonathan rapidly placed himself near Guillaume, and the mother started running at them.

“Don’t die.” Guillaume calmly said to Jonathan, while keeping his eyes on the mother and his stick ready.

“That was never in my agenda anyways.” Jonathan fighting spirit ignited even more. Fear or the wolf, curiosity on the outcome of the battle, and eagerness to fight mixed together to create an awesome adrenaline rush, removing any feeling of fatigue.

When the mother suddenly jumped at them, they both rolled to side, completely ready for the attack. However, the mother had also released that they were not like Jeremy, so she had prepared a backup for this situation.

She sent her back leg flying towards Guillaume, who used his wooden stick does defend. The strike was quite powerful, so he had been forced to make another roll to not receive the full impact.

This made him be far enough from the mother so that she could attack Jonathan, who had just gotten up from his roll, without any worry.

Jonathan rapidly jumped back, until he arrived at the tree trunk not far from him. The mother wolf had jumped at him, but he placed the bottom of his spear shaft to the bottom he the trunk, between its roots. He then rapidly squat down.

This made if so that the point of the spear penetrated the mother wolves jaw, as it was at the same height as Jonathan's head. Furthermore, it rested on the tree trunk, making so that the spear only went deeper into the mother’s jaw.

Unfortunately, the spear shaft broke under her weight, but the damage was still done. She screamed as the injury at her mouth was massive.

At Jonathan’s surprise, the broken-off part of the spear was still in the wolf’s top and lower jaw, which blocked her from moving it. As such, the threat of getting bitten was gone.

‘Yet, her legs still have great power and are more than enough to kill me. If I was alone, I would lose for sure, but now…’ Although he was sweating bullets from this close call, Jonathan kept his cool and continued backing away from the mother. Stephanie had been alert enough to observe his fight and throw her spear at him, but it had landed about seven metres away from Jonathan.

The wolf’s injury had made her put all her agree on Jonathan, so she started to run towards him, but this was a major error for her.

Jonathan smiled and couldn’t help but say, “Guillaume.”

The man that had been forgotten by the wolf suddenly appeared behind it, and thrust his spear at full power at the wolf’s rear. The spear forcefully entered her anus, ripping apart her interiors.

Although it might seem like a weird spot to attack, intestine damage was one of the most fatal injuries one could have. Hell, someone could die shoving up a small pointy object in their anus, let alone a spear, so it was an effective attack.

The mother couldn’t help but screams out, feeling her internal organs being pierced. She also pounced forwards, attempting to remove the foreign object from her body, but that was once again an error. Her forwards force had allowed Guillaume to pull his spear out of her.

He then adjusted his grip and trusted the spear towards the mother wolf who was in the process of turning and attacking him. His strike landed on her rear legs, but it wasn’t strong enough to fully penetrate it, as there were “body liquids” on Guillaume’s spear.

However, that still made it harder for the mother wolves to move, and she did a side jump to create distance between her and Guillaume.

She then prepared to swing back at him from the side, but another surprise attack came at her.

“You idiot, do you forget about your opponents every time you get attacked?” Perhaps it was because she thought that Jonathan ran away, or because she had her *sshole destroyed, but the wolf had forgotten about Jonathan.

This allowed him to make a strike just as effective as Guillaume’s.

Pointing the spear he had gotten from Stephanie up, he threw it towards the mother's eyes using the javelin technique he learnt at school.

Unfortunately for the wolf, her head was perpendicular to Jonathan’s spear, making so that it would also hit her brain.

She seemed to know that she would die, so she sent a last strike at Jonathan, who couldn’t defend.

Right after successfully penetrated her skull, he got hit by a heavy paw. The strike was so strong that it left deep claw marks on the side of his torso and made him fly seven metres away.

‘Arrgggh. F*ck me. F*ck, f*ck, f*ck.’ Jonathan kept on swearing inside because of the pain. He knew that he had at least broken a few rips, and maybe his arm from the fall.

Despite the pain, he got up, using his adrenaline rush to keep him going. Guillaume had already taken his spear, and threw it to the wolf Rana was facing. The mother wolf was now dead, so he could divert his attention to other things

surprisingly, Alex seemed to have the upper hand against a wolf, using his staff to hit it heavily.

Jonathan ran towards the body of the mother wolf, and he pulled out his broken spear from her jaw. As it was useless now, he simply took out the knife and headed to kill the baby wolves.

His sense was already wavering as his adrenaline rush was disappearing, so he had to be quick.

Suddenly, a shadow appeared behind him along with a growl. An imminent sense of danger flowed through his whole body as he dodged left, but he knew that he would die nonetheless.

‘This b*tch, she was faking it?’

He already knew that it was the mother wolf that was attacking him. She had obviously faked her death and caught Jonathan off guard. With the body of a nine-year-old and a heavy injury, what could he do?

‘So, this is where it all ends? I can’t see if my family is alright? I can’t even say bye to Stephanie? Oh well, I lived my life to the fullest, and no man is immortal. My doomsday simply came a bit quicker.” These thoughts flew across his mind in an instant. He only felt a bit of regret, as he had always lived like tomorrow was the last day.

He simply closed his eyes, awaiting the strike that would end it all.