WAVE 4
Pack size increased to 6
“Holy crap,” Jace said as he saw the new message.
It was bad enough that the number of packs was increasing faster than expected, but now the wolves within each pack were growing as well.
Scores of mirror copies ran about, piling up wolf corpses in a crude and very messy wall around the mirror. The only time Will had seen anything of the sort was in movies. There was no smell or blood, but the slightly soft sensation beneath his feet was enough to give his stomach troubles.
“That makes forty-eight,” Alex said.
The sane decision was to give up and leave, yet through a combination of adrenaline rush, FOMO, and an unexpected sense of euphoria, none of the group even felt like leaving. In their minds, they had already invested a lot of time and effort, and it was only right that they kept going for as long as they could manage.
“Next time I’m bringing grenades,” the jock said, focusing on the horizon. Three packs were clearly visible, quickly approaching like clusters of dots.
“Hel, feel up for it?” Will shouted.
“Worry about yourselves!” came the reply, as she was already charging at her next target.
Watching her in action, there could be no doubt that getting the knight’s sword had been the correct approach. The weapon’s length, combined with her strike skills, was more than enough to dispatch an entire pack with one strike. Occasionally, a wolf or two would manage to evade her weapon, only to get stabbed by one of Alex’s assisting mirror copies.
Moving to the spot that would best serve his attacks, Will then glanced at Jace. The fight made it apparent how useless he currently was in battle. It was undeniable that his class came with a series of impressive skills, but only between battles. Right now, all he could do was take the role of a lookout and be ready to rush to the mirror if the group were in danger of getting overrun.
“Two packs are grouping together,” he said. “Focus on them first.”
“Bro,” Alex sighed. “Why doesn’t that ever happen on sis’s side?”
“They’re not stupid, muffin boy,” the jock said. “They don’t want to die, just to kill us.”
Said that way, it made sense and also served as a reminder that the enemies were getting smarter.
A combined pack of twelve was headed where Will was at, which was close to the throwing knives he had. Given the scale of their fights so far, twelve was more than enough, especially since he could collect them afterwards at his leisure.
One throw, one kill, he told himself while keeping the poison dagger at the ready. Once the pack got thirty feet from where he was, the boy started throwing. In less than two seconds, he had sent all his knives flying in rapid succession. All of them had hit one animal or another, although only four managed to kill a creature. Roughly half of the remaining ones were wounded to some degree. This was it—the moment the boy had been avoiding. Ever since he’d ventured into the mirror, he knew that there’d come a time when he’d have to get back to hand-to-hand combat. Ranged attacks, although terribly overpowered—as Alex would say—were nothing but a crutch. The rogue’s real skills were close combat, and now he had the weapon for it.
Leaping off the pile of corpses, Will dashed at the nearest wolf. His furious attack of moments ago had made them scatter, which was vastly to his benefit.
The wolf let out a growl as it snapped its jaws in the boy’s direction. At that precise moment, Will struck it in the throat.
QUICK JAB
Damage increased by 200%
Fatal wound inflicted
Before the wolf was able to let out its dying gargle, Will was already heading towards the next. This time, the attack struck its eye, sinking deep into the creature’s skull for the kill.
That was the last of the easy ones. Six wolves remained in varied conditions. All of them had moved back, keeping their distance from the boy as they moved to encircle him.
“Big mistake,” Will said, as he ran towards one of them.
Sadly, this was where he, too, made an error. In attacking, the boy had revealed his side, creating a small but vital gap in his defense. Spotting it, one of the wolves instantly leaped forward. Any other time the rogue’s evasion skill would have kicked in, but evading in air was a lot less efficient than doing so with both feet on the ground.
Will’s body twisted, avoiding the wolf’s massive jaws. Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said for its paws. Three-inch nails slashed the boy’s shirt. The wound wasn’t serious, but enough to ruin his initial plan. In a single moment, Will had reverted from being an attacker to being the prey. Part of his mind yelled out for him to give up and allow the loop to end. They had completed three waves, after all, which meant they’d receive a moderately good prize. If there was one thing that eternity allowed was a complete lack of consequences. It was natural to take advantage. Yet if he did so at every difficulty, how was he going to learn anything?
“Not yet!” the boy said to himself, striking at his attacker twice.
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QUICK JAB
Damage increased by 200%
Heart pierced
Fatal wound inflicted
The wolf let out a yelp as it flew over.
Gritting his teeth, Will twisted again, slashing a second wolf that was trying to take advantage of his momentary lapse of judgment. Surprised, the beast managed to shield its chest with its front leg, yet in doing so, still received a wound—enough to trigger the dagger’s poison effects. From here on, it was a matter of seconds before the effects became apparent.
Landing on the ground, Will twisted his body again, then leaped in the opposite direction he was heading.
Three copies of Alex had also entered the fray, stabbing a wolf attempting to get to the mirror. In the distance, ten more were using a combination of traps and stabbing to keep another pack at bay.
From the corner of his eyes, Will spotted another monster leaping over the barricade of corpses. Without hesitation, he aimed at the beast’s torso and threw his poison dagger.
The weapon hit its target spot on, instantly killing it. Now, no more than three remained of the original pack.
“Look out, bro!” Alex shouted as he stabbed another wolf less than ten feet away.
“Give me a weapon!” Will shouted as he landed on the floor nearby.
A small knife was tossed his way. Grabbing it mid-flight, Will made use of the inertia gathered in the action to target another of the nearby wolves. The attack was hasty, hitting the neck of the beast.
“Another!” the boy shouted.
The process repeated, only now the target hit a vital spot, killing the creature.
Will’s heart was thumping like a drum.
“One more!”
Alex obeyed, tossing him yet another weapon. Snatching it, Will spun around, searching for the final enemy of the pack. Anticlimactically, the wolf stood motionless a short distance away.
“I thought I’d keep him trapped, bro,” the goofball said. “The next wave can’t start until we kill off all the wolves of this one,” he added with a smile.
Despite the large amounts of adrenaline, Will blinked. That was a rather smart idea. Leave it to Alex to come up with an obvious cheat.
Taking a moment to catch his breath, Will looked around. As far as he could see, there were no more packs heading their way. Judging by Jace’s calm demeanor, there didn’t seem to be any obvious danger.
“Jace,” he shouted, just to be sure. “We good?”
“Yeah,” the jock shouted back. “Helen’s dealing with the last ones on her side and muffin boy got the rest.”
“You got all of them?” He turned towards his goofy friend, impressed.
“Lots of mirror shards, bro.” Alex grinned. “Not sure I’ll hold on for the next wave, though.”
“Yeah.” Next wave. Right now, that seemed an eternity away.
Will went to the wolf into which he’d thrown his poison dagger. The creature appeared fully dead, but just in case, the boy exerted caution while retrieving his weapon. When nothing followed, he calmly stepped away.
“Let’s finish off the trapped,” he told Alex. “We’ll discuss waves afterwards.”
It took several minutes for them to put the remaining creatures out of their misery. It could have been done a lot faster, but the boys decided to take their time. There was no need to rush things when victory was guaranteed.
Helen also appreciated the provided time to get some rest. Having killed five packs on her own, she had completely lost her breath. Of course, she didn’t even entertain the idea of getting anywhere near the piles of wolf corpses the others had surrounded the mirror with. Keeping her distance, she just lay on the ground, constantly holding the hit of her sword with one hand.
When only one wolf remained, and everyone made sure that the wave remained officially ongoing, the group gathered near Helen. All of Alex’s copies, on the other hand, remained close to the wolf, ready to react should it somehow break loose from its mirror trap.
“Told you it’ll be easy,” Will cracked a joke.
Despite her attempts to the contrary, Helen cracked a smile.
“Want to try wave five?”
“You gotta be kidding.” The girl attempted to laugh despite her exhaustion.
“She’s right.” Jace cracked his neck. “No way you take out a hundred wolves, Stoner. And even if by some miracle you do, I can’t. Finish off the last fucker and let’s go back.”
Right. They were still exploring the tutorial. All this, as addictive as it was, remained nothing more than a side challenge. Completing all nine waves would have no doubt earned them a nice reward, but they were far from fit.
“Alright,” Will said reluctantly. “We rest a bit more, then end it.”
“You guys owe me for this,” Helen said.
“For real, sis.” Alex nodded. “You get first pick for the next reward.”
“Alex…” the girl sat up. “You’re an idiot.”
Ten minutes passed in discussions about teamwork and strategies. Apparently, nothing brought a team together faster than several waves of wolves set on killing them. There was ample speculation on what the remaining elites would be and, more importantly, the weapons they’d leave behind. Alex was convinced that it would have to be related to his class due to some long winded conspiratorial reason that no one was able to fully follow. Jace didn’t say much, though he, too, doubted he’d be getting anything useful during the tutorial. In his view, it was more likely that the boss reward would be in his area.
Once the small talk was done and everyone was rested, the four made their way to the entrance mirror. When they did, Alex’s copies killed the last trapped wolf. The floor turned green, then almost instantly red again.
WAVE 5
GREAT WOLF added to each pack.
“Great wolf?” Will asked.
“No,” Helen said firmly. “I’m not staying to see it.” And to prove her point, she entered the mirror.
CHALLENGE OVER
Waves passed – 4.
The moment Will blinked, he found himself back in Ms. Stalter’s classroom. Everything was in the same state he remembered leaving it. The only difference was the message visible on all the mirrors.
CHALLENGE REWARD (set)
WOLF KEY FRAGMENT (permanent): enter the WOLF CHALLENGE from any mirror at will. (unavailable during tutorial)
“Those fuckers.” Jace’s face twisted in a cold rage. “All that shit for nothing.”
Helen and Alex didn’t have anything to add, either. Will could see from their body language that they expected something better as well. The issue with the reward was that it didn’t provide any clear benefits, even if it wasn’t for the restriction. All in all, they had just won a very expensive “try again” token.
Just for the sake of it, Will touched out and touched the surface of the mirror. The message disappeared.
“Think that counts as part of the loop?” Jace turned to Helen.
“Don’t know, bro.” Alex shrugged.
“Doesn’t matter,” the girl said in a calm voice. “There’s enough time, provided we stop wasting it.”
The hint was obvious and, to be honest, Will couldn’t argue against it. They had just started their search of the second floor, barely clearing one room. If Alex’s speculation was correct, they had about six more to go, including two weapon rooms.
“Smash the mirrors,” he said in a firm tone. “We’re done here, and as we’ve seen, Alex can use a lot more fragments.”