After my little meltdown, I wandered looking for mobs to raise my level. The forest I was in was located in the beginner area, a three-mile zone around the town where low level monsters could be hunted. I didn't have any weapon but with my magic, I hoped that I could fight.

The forest was wrapped in silence. Something was definitely wrong. From what I knew, monsters should be easy to find but since I came in, I didn't come across anything. Curious, I investigated what happened. 

In a clearing in the middle of the forest, three people were standing in front of five wolves. I was shocked to see that they were the guys I was supposed to be partnered with in this game: Steven, Mark and Michael. 

At first, the situation they were in didn't make any sense to me. Their level was in the late 200s and the wolves they were fighting were barely level 10.  They should have been able to end this fight in a single strike.

But then, I got it. It wasn't a fight. They were laughing, happy with themselves. The wolves were immobile. Earth spikes pierced their paws while a single ball of fire circled their body and left behind burnt flesh. It was overkill. The three humans were without a doubt stronger. They didn't need to be so cruel. 

“What's that noise?” Steven asked.

“I didn't hear anything;” Mark replied.

“I'm sure it was around there.“ Steven went to investigate. In a thicket, he found a wolf pup hiding. Before he could make a run for it, Steven picked him up. “Look what I found!”

Steven showed him to his friends. The pup was scared. He struggled and clawed at his captor.

“Little shit!” Steven's face distorted. He raised him above his head and threw him down.

I flinched as I heard a dull sound as the pup met the ground. 

The pup got back on his feet with difficulty. He tried to take a few steps but his legs didn't seem to work right. Steven picked him back up and joined his friends. 

“You know you should just con fess to that girl. You're both free. Nothing's stopping you.” Steven continued their conversation like nothing had happened.

“Yeah but she's still hung up on her ex. She follows him everywhere he goes.”

Listening to them, I was petrified. They were acting like they didn't have blood on their hands, like the wolves weren't whining in pain right in front of them. I remembered all the times they behaved the same way when  they were beating me. Their natural banter in those situations had always scared me more than any pain they could inflict.  

The pup whimpered and struggled, desperate to be freed. Without warning a deep gash appeared on his face. In Mark's hand a dagger was covered in blood. 

“WTF!?”, Steven shouted as he dropped the pup.

“The background noise is annoying.”, Mark said. 

Steven threw a weak punch at his friend's shoulder and all three of them burst out laughing.

Horrified, I forced myself to go beyond the shock I felt at seeing them again. I took Mark's hand that was holding the dagger and I pushed it into Steven's stomach. They both gasped in shock.    

"You!" Steven blew him away with a flick of his hand. He removed the dagger that was still planted in his stomach and threw it down. 

He advanced menacingly toward his old  friend. Michael looked on with a sick smile on his face. I wanted to wipe it out but at level two, my attacks would be little more than mosquito bites for him. The wolves needed to be saved first. 

I concentrated on removing the spikes in their paws. It didn't work, my magic mastery was too low. I tried to think of something else but only one solution came to my mind. If I couldn't remove the spikes from them, I'd had to remove them from the spikes. 

With tears in my eyes, I took each one of them in my arms and lifted them from the spikes. It was hard. My strength points that I worked so hard to built weren't enough. I had to start again many times and cast many healing spells before they were able to be freed. My mana was infinite but the skill level was too low. I couldn't heal them completely.  

It took a long time but their three tormentors were too engrossed in what they were doing to notice. I dragged the freed wolves one by one to a corpse of tress not too far from the clearing we were in. In the end, the only wolf left was the pup who was at Michael's feet.

I went to him and healed him as much as I could. Then I took him in my arms and made him invisible. During my training I learned that as long as I concentrated, I could make anything disappear with me. I flew away in the opposite direction in which I had dragged the other wolves.

Michael noticed the pup disappeared. He ran after us brandishing his sword around. I dodged as best as I could. Even if he couldn't touch me. The wolf in my arms was a different matter. I flew faster trying to lose his trail.

The pup fidgeted a lot. I lost my grip on him and he fell down. I saw him ran right into a hole under a tree. Michael ran past him with Steven and Mark in tow. 

When they saw their friend running and swinging his sword like a madman, they gave up on fighting and took after him. I breathed a sigh of relief that the pup was safe but it was short-lived. The three walked back into sight.

“I'm telling you the freaking wolf turned invisible right in front of me.” Michael said as he read a map in his hand. 

I held my breath as they stopped a few meters away from where the wolf was hiding. They was no way they could know his whereabouts. I waited for them to move on.

“There!” Michael said as he pointed at the tree.

“Inferno!” Steve shouted. A pillar of fire fell down on the tree. I heard the pup's cries as he burned alive. 

I stood there paralyzed, my thoughts frozen. Far away, I heard a cry filled with a maelstrom of emotions: horror, helplessness, sadness, desperation, and the one that dominated them all, rage. My vision became red. I felt myself move. I didn't know what I was doing. There was a wet sensation on my fingers. It was like they were digging into something and tearing it apart. 

Moments later, when I regained my senses, I was sitting on Steven's body. He was alive.  However, his face was unrecognizable. His eyes had been gouged out. Deep red claw marks went from his forehead to his chin. His arms were bent at an impossible angle. His legs were broken in several places with the bones sticking out. My hands were in his chest, holding his heart. 

I should have felt disgusted but, I could only laugh. I felt liberated like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders. I laughed until tears came to my eyes.  I still didn't feel depressed.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

I tore off his heart from his body. I looked at the other two. They weren't moving, fascinated by what they saw. I smiled at them. They couldn't see me but it didn't matter. I got up from where I was. The heart still in my hands, I shoved it into Mark's open mouth. 

His eyes reflected his panic but I didn't let him get away. I attacked him with all the rage I had in me. Michael decided to intervene. He cast a spell, wind blades. I watched with a smile as Mark was cut to ribbons. I didn't let him die though. I cast a healing spell on him. After all was finished, he was barely alive. His breathing was difficult but I kept healing him.

Michael was shaking. He had thought that he would catch the culprit but he only injured his friend. I went to him. I scratched his face. He screamed and tried to run. I threw myself at his feet. I caught them and he fell down.

I equipped the dagger Steven had discarded earlier and impaled it into his hand. I was going to attack him when I got an idea. What would happen if I caught his brains through his skull? I was transparent and I had the touch skill. It should be quite easy to do it.  

It wasn't as easy as I thought. I could grab his brains but I couldn't get them out. I kept trying though. He struggled  and cried a lot, begging for me to stop. It was getting annoying. I made holes in his brains. But I didn't let him die. I healed him with a spell. It didn't help much, he was foaming at the mouth.

I got up and looked at the other two. They whimpered wanting to crawl away but unable to move. They were so pitiful. I felt free of stress for the first time in years. 

I wondered what actually happened. How could I a mere level 2 caused so much damages. I decided to look at the last notifications I received as I had deactivated them the first day I played.

Fear stat generated