“Get ready, they’re coming!”

I shifted my grip on my sword and mentally prepared myself for the monsters to be pulled into the clearing we’d designated as our battle arena. I could hear branches snapping and the loud hisses and growls of the scale wolves from the tree line ahead of me.

Yorrin burst out into the clearing and sprinted past me, his recurve bow clutched in one hand and a mad grin plastered on his face. I adjusted my stance to be able to keep an eye on the spot he’d emerged from and glance over at him. My trainer was a level 15 half-elf [Ranger] who stood with his bow raised, an arrow already nocked and ready.

The noise from the scale wolves intensified as a trio of the beasts leapt over thick brush. The three operated as a pack and prowled around in formation as they regarded Yorrin and I. Much like the wolves they were named after, these were cunning monsters who would wait to capitalize on an opportunity if presented but would often study their prey before attacking.

I held my sword to my side and used [Consider] on each of them. Two level 7 and a single level 10. Although it was growing late, there was still ample light coming from the setting sun to illuminate all the details of the monsters we’d come here to hunt. They were each the size of a large dog and shared a similar body structure with several key differences. Rather than fur, they had scaled hide in varying shades of greens and browns, and their heads resembled vipers with overly long noses.

I reviewed the things we had discussed about what to watch out for: their tails, their claws and their bite, in order of danger level. Each of the wolves had a tail just like the body of a snake that doubled their body length. They could use their tails to whip, entangle or crush much like a constrictor could, although they weren’t quite as strong as similarly sized python. Each of their paws ended in lizard-like scaled feet and they had sharp, dangerous claws that could cut through light armor if they were able to get good leverage on you. Finally came their bite: while they were thankfully not venomous, they did have powerful jaws and vicious teeth. The bite was the most dangerous thing about them, by far.

Yorrin’s bowstring cracked as he let an arrow fly at the highest level of the three, and a fraction of a second later the arrow buried deep into the shoulder of the biggest wolf. With the thud of impact and subsequent hiss, the pack launched their attack. The two lower-level wolves charged me, while the higher-level wolf went after Yorrin. The wolves engaging me were fast, but I was able to track their movements and keep up with them as they closed the gap. The third wolf must have used a skill because it surged into motion far faster than the other two.

With two wolves on me, I couldn’t pay attention to the fight between Yorrin and his target. The first wolf leapt into the air to try and bite at my neck, but I predicted the attack and side stepped with a twist, letting it sail past me. As soon as it had lifted off the ground, I’d switched my attention to the second wolf, knowing that pack hunters like this would layer their attacks together.

My assumption proved correct as the second wolf went after my legs. I swung my sword in a downward arc at the monster’s face, but it jerked its head to the side, and I couldn’t get a good hit to its head. With its bite plan foiled, I did my best to guide my swing to try and land a slice to the back of the wolf, and I was successful! My used steel sword wasn’t anything special, but my skill in honing the blade was better than my skill at swinging it, and my blade was able to cut through the tough scales of the wolf and score a nasty gouge down its ribs. My momentary elation at getting a solid strike on the second wolf was quickly banished when the wolf cracked into the unarmored back of my leg with its tail only a moment after I sliced into it.

The pain of the blow was partially mitigated by my [Fighter’s Grit] passive, but it still felt like I’d been whipped by a giant bullwhip. I let out a hiss of my own, hopped backwards and readied myself for the next attack. Falling into my defensive stance after the attack was an unconscious decision on my part, my body simply reacted to the situation at hand while I focused my attention on my enemy.

For the past year I’d slaved away at my job to pay for adventuring gear, and a good chunk of the money I had spent was on training as a [Fighter]. Even though this was my first real fight against live monsters, the value of the investment was making itself apparent. The two wolves circled around and prepared to charge for another attack.

I feel like I should focus my attention on the wounded wolf to try and keep the pressure on it, but it’s bleeding heavily. If I can drag the fight out a little and fight defensively, the bleed should take its toll out on the one wolf and make it much less of a threat.

This time the two wolves split their attacks to hit me from two different angles at the same time, and I cursed my decision not to wait another few weeks to buy a buckler or shield of some sort. My teacher told me that indecision was a killer as much as a lack of skill was, so I decided that I wasn’t going to keep putting off starting my adventuring career with the excuse that I needed more gear, and higher quality upgrades. No, if I could even get a single good hunt and bag half a dozen monster cores, I’d be able to pay for Yorrin’s time and net myself a tidy profit. Incremental advancement, that was the strategy that I’d decided I’d go with as an adventurer. Make small, steady gains in gear and coin while I worked to bring my combat skills up to my level and beyond.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

The unharmed wolf pounced like a cat from my left, twisting its body and lashing out with one clawed forepaw. I was able to parry the attack successfully and I immediately lashed out with a booted kick to the jaw of the second wolf as it attempted to bite my thigh from my right side. I could feel my mana drain and power suffuse my body as I used [Battle Cry]. The intensity of my scream caused the two wolves I was fighting to pause and shake their heads, and I took the initiative. I was in a good position to strike the unharmed wolf, and I flexed my muscles and heaved my sword in a brutal downwards [Heavy Strike]. My blade sliced clean through the neck of the wolf and decapitated it in a single blow. A critical strike!

Unfortunately for me, I’d miscalculated the amount of effort it would take to cut through the scales and bone. It left my backside open for an attack, and the wounded wolf had its revenge as four claws each sliced a furrow in the back of my left thigh. I tried to flare my [Fighter’s Grit] as hard as I could, but I couldn’t help myself and let out a horrible-sounding scream. I fought through the sensation of having four white-hot burning slices in the back of my leg and tried to shift my stance to recover from the attack and get into position against my remaining foe. It seemed like my thigh muscles were intact through the wound, and I didn’t have any problems swinging around and slashing through the snout of the wolf.

The monster reared up on its hind legs and let loose a flurry of rapid slashes at my face and chest. It took several forward steps to advance on me, using its long tail as a counterbalance, and I had to rapidly back step each of its attacks. I spotted something as it was attacking! Each time it attacked with the shoulder on its wounded side, it was slow to recover for the next attack. That was my chance to strike. I shouted and thrust the tip of my sword outwards and upwards while it was recovering from its latest swing. I felt tears spring up in my eyes as I tensed and assisted my thrust with my lower body, but it didn’t matter. My sword struck true and impaled through the center of the wolfs chest, killing it.

When the wolf died it twisted and fell, and it pulled my sword and me down along with it. I stumbled and nearly fell but was able to recover from it and yank my sword back out of the beast’s chest. I heard slow clapping behind me and twisted around with my upper lip curled upwards on one side.

“I didn’t think you were going to make it there for a moment, meat girl, but you managed to pull it off in the end.” Yorrin called out to me from his position seated on top of the corpse of his wolf.

I was hurt with a nasty gash on my leg, and I was pissed. I already knew what Yorrin was going to say by the time “You could have helped at any point, you know” had left my lips.

Sure enough, he waggled a fingertip at me and risked, saying: “You know how it goes! If someone does the work for you, then you don’t get the skill gains out of it!”

He was right, but it didn’t change the fact that my leg was killing me. Seeing that it was back to just the two of us once again, I flipped open the medical pack I carried on my belt and pulled out a bandage and low-level remedy potion. The potion wasn’t a true healing potion, it just took the edge off the pain and gave a solid boost to the healing process. It’d also keep most wounds from springing a leak through activity.

Clenching my jaw with the pain of moving, I got to work stripping off my leg armor, boots and pants. Yorrin at least had half the decency to busy himself with harvesting his kill while I used [Quick Mend] on my leg. Once I was done, I was feeling an improvement with my thigh wrapped and quickly redressed.

I pulled out my skinning knife and got to work harvesting my two kills just as soon as I was fully armored up. I was sort of an expert in the field, since I was a butcher by trade. It didn’t take me long to harvest the valuable bits of the monsters, and I briefly chatted while we worked.

“Are you still good to try and get another eight or nine kills tonight?” I asked my trainer while carving.

“Yeah, no problems here, it’s your money, after all. I didn’t get wounded fighting my kill,” Yorrin added with a snicker.

“Yeah, well, we were also trying to get one or two at a time, weren’t we?” I shot back at him.

He merely shrugged at me before saying: “You know how this goes. They’re pack monsters, I told you it could be hard to pull only one at a time. You decided you wanted to hunt these specifically anyways.”

I grunted, but he had a point. I’d made an informed decision to go after the wolves. There was a current demand for their hides with several of the tanneries that I knew, and I estimated I’d be able to get a full three silvers from a good hide. Normally people didn’t tend to hunt these monsters on this floor of the tower because of their social nature, tactics and the overall difficulty of harvesting them. That’s where our skills came into play.

The hides of these monsters were hard to cut and work without mangling them, but with me as a butcher and Yorrin as a skinner, we could do well for ourselves. I wiped the blood and viscera from the two monster cores I’d harvested and put them into my backpack for safe keeping. They were the most valuable item the monsters had, and both were undamaged. The meat and other valuable bits I put in the center of each of the skins, and I wrapped them tightly and bound them in twine.

Still kneeling next to the two corpses with my tools laid out, I turned to face Yorrin: “Alright, I was able to get my wind back while we were processing the corpses, I’ll be ready to- “

I was interrupted mid-sentence when a loud bell rang in my head. Yorrin jerked, having heard the system alert himself.

What is this? I have my notifications suppressed while we’re fighting.A calm and collected female voice announced the answer to my question in my head: “A monster surge has been triggered in your area.”