Xander landed on the arena of their new Challenge. They had chosen to go through the left-most Door, and he appeared in a wide wooden storage building. A barn, probably. The building was probably a hundred meters long, for fifty wide. The ceiling was high enough for another floor to have been built. To the side, numerous stalls and storage compartments had been built. Everything was filled with what one would expect of a farm. Manure and smell included. And in the middle of all that, a few meters beside Xander, three kids. Three little pigmen? piglet-men? pig-kiddos? Holy crap, Master, you could have warned us! They were shivering, snorting, and crying, the three of them huddled together. They look like they're about to be slaughtered. I don't like this.

"Kids? What's going on?" he asked, maybe a bit too forcefully as they got startled and shrieked in reply.

One almost dared to answer, when Connor stepped in, Takeo frozen in his arms. He promptly put his charge on the floor. They all had their little brown eyes wide open in astonishment at the magical feat. "W-W-Who are you?" the kid asked, his voice trembling, snot running down his snout.

"I'm Xander, and this is Connor." He pointed to his friend, "And there on the ground is our friend Takeo, but he is wounded. We're here to help you."

The three kids looked at each other, then back at Xander. "You're not going to eat us?" the one who had spoken first asked.

"He doesn't look like a Wolf, and he doesn't smell like one either," the second one said.

"Maybe he's a Wolf in disguise?" the third one said, her voice trembling.

Xander sighed. "I'm not a Wolf, and I'm not going to eat you. Are there any adults around?" he asked, trying to change the subject.

And, of course, they all started to cry again. "Waaaaah," the first one said, "They're all dead!"

"Mommy said to hide, and we hid," the little piglet girl snorted, her piggy face all red from crying. "And we heard the screamin' and the fightin'."

"And the silence," said the second one, his voice low and afraid. "There wasn't any more screaming all day long."

Outside, a wolf howled. The three kids shrieked and huddled together again. Connor sighed, but caught himself up, as a dozen more howls answered the first one, seeming to come from all around them. "Shit," he muttered.

"WE ARE GOING TO DIE!" wailed the first one. Only echoed by the two others wailing along.

Xander massaged his head. Usually, kids were nice and fun, but these three were deep in it. The barn was large, with two wide closed doors. There were many openings, but all were barred with wood sticks, which let light in but wouldn't prevent anyone from coming. There was a very long wooden ladder on the floor nearby that would give them access to the floor above. There was also a massive rope attached to a wooden platform and a pulley, but the counterweight was missing. Pitchforks, wooden carts, barrels, sacks of all kinds along with wooden boxes. Xander took it all in.

"Connor, go check outside. Don't go too far, but we need to know what we're working with," he ordered. He looked at the kids and shouted to grab their attention, "KIDS!"

They didn't seize their crying but at least they looked at him. "You three, you go up there, it will be safer than down here, okay?"

The second piglet, a bit frailer than the other two whined, "But mommy said never to go up there!"

"Mommy's dead!" shouted the third one, "So grow up!"

"I'm scared to climb the ladder," the first one said, sniffing, "I'm scared of heights."

Xander's patience was thinning by the second, "Listen guys. I'm going to set the ladder up, and you're going to climb up there. If you do and you stay quiet, I'll give you a treat. How about that?"

The three kids looked at each other, then back at Xander. "What kind of treat?" the first one asked.

His frown creased. "I've got one last very special fruit from my homeland. It's called a bowampa. It's very sweet and a bit juicy. It's the best fruit in the world. But it's my last one, it's precious to me. So you'll have to get up there and stay quiet for a while before I give it to you."

The three kids looked at each other again, then back at Xander. "Okay," they said in unison, their little piggy faces full of snot and tears suddenly all hopeful and excited. He repressed a sigh of relief. Thank Lady Jessica!

He grabbed the ladder, set it against the top floor, and climbed up. He looked around. There were balls of hay and a few wooden crates. He went around, checking the few openings. It was almost night outside, a big moon had made its apparition a few minutes earlier and the sun was quickly going to disappear. The barn was surrounded by fields in various states of disarray. Some, further away toward a burnt village had suffered the same fate. Guess that's it. He mused, no assistance for tonight to be expected.

He left the opening and went back to the ladder. "Okay kids, up you go!" he shouted. "I'll hold the ladder for you."

The little girl braved the ladder first. She was the smallest of the three, and the ladder was a bit too big for her. But she also seemed to have the most backbone, and she climbed up without a word, despite the difficulty. "I'm up!" she shouted, her voice echoing in the barn.

"Well done, little one!" Xander said, "What's your name?"

"Katie!" she said, her voice full of pride. In a ray of moonlight, Xander could see that her once clean robe had shown little flowers on it. Now, it was covered in dirt and blood. Poor kid.

"Okay, Katie, you stay there, and I'll help your friends up, okay?" he asked.

"That's not my friends, that's my brothers!" she said, indignant. "My friend Mary is back in the village and she's dead now!" she added, tears welling up in her eyes again. This is going to be a long night.

He let her cry and called below, "Okay, who's next?" The second one, the frailer of the three climbed up next. His fearful shivering made the whole ladder shake. It took him at least thrice as long as his sister to get up. But he still succeeded.

"I'm up!" he said, his voice trembling and quickly ran toward the wall, hiding behind a pile of hay.

"You've done it!" exclaimed Xander, "What's your name?"

A muffled reply came from behind the hay, "Peter."

Connor came back from outside but refrained from commenting, which Xander appreciated. "Okay, Peter, thanks for coming up. We'll get your brother up now, okay?"

Stolen novel; please report.

"Okay now, it's your turn," he said to the last one, "What's your name?"

"It's Kenny," he said, his voice trembling. "I'm scared. Do I have to climb up?" he asked, his voice full of fear. Dear Lady, this kid is a mess. Please, grant him some strength.

"Yes, Kenny, you have to climb up," Xander said, trying to keep his voice calm and soothing. "I'm holding the ladder firmly, you've got nothing to fear." But outside, the howling came once again, and the kid shrieked and bolted away. Thanksfully Connor caught him before he could run away. The struggling kid under the arm climbed up the ladder and put him down on the floor. "There, delivered," he said, "Now, what's the plan?"

"Just a second, get downstairs, I'll be right there," Xander said, "I need to talk to the kids." Connor shrugged and went below in a single jump. Show off.

He guided Kenny toward the wall, by the hay his brother was hiding behind. Katie followed beside him, her arms crossed, with a severe face as if she were his assistant.

"Now you kids stay there okay? I'm going to go talk to my friend, and we'll protect you. But you have to stay there, okay?" he said, his voice firm. "I'll be back a bit later and bring you your reward, but only if you stay calm and quiet, okay?"

A chorus of "Okay!" answered him. He smiled and went down the ladder. Connor was waiting for him, his arms crossed. "So, what's the plan?"

He sighed, "No idea. I was hoping you'd have one." Connor shrugged. "How bad is it outside?" he asked.

"Not good, nothing to protect the barn, its wide open fields for kilometers, a burnt village, and a very dark forest in the direction of the moon, two fields over. Besides a few fires, nothing seemed to move from that direction, so..." he trailed off.

"Did you spot the Doors?" Xander asked. It was, after all the most important item for them.

He nodded, "Yes, they're in the middle of the field in front of the barn. Not that far, but none are lit at the moment." He paused, "I also saw a few wolves, but they had mostly remained in the shadows of the forest."

Xander tried to get himself a representation of the vicinity. With a stick, he drew a rough map of the area, with the barn in the middle, fields around it, the burnt village, and the forest. "So we're assuming the wolves will come from the forest, that means..." he trailed off and pointed at the left part of the barn. He sighed. This is going to be complicated. "How good at you at shooting in the night?" he asked.

"Not that good..." Connor said, "But I can try."

Not good enough. He paused, "Okay, okay. I've got an idea. Go upstairs, grab a ball of hay within your Ring, and drop it outside, repeat until you've got them all out, and then prepare your arrows. I'm going to light them on fire, it might even scare the wolves away." Connor shrugged, and honestly, Xander understood his moderate enthusiasm. He summoned him a lighter and climbed away. There is no way the wolves will be scared off by a few burning balls of hay. But we need the light. He looked at Takeo who was still lying on the floor, his eyes closed and a red hue radiating off his body. "Hold fast buddy, we'll get you up there soon enough."

Xander went outside and quickly found the balls of hay his friend had sent from above. He moved them away from the barn, they didn't need to have the barn on fire either. With his newly improved Strength, moving them was easy. He had lit three already when the howling once more echoed in the fields. The sun that had been setting was now gone for good. The moon was high in the sky, bathing the world in a pale light. And still, so many more to set.

He heard a noise above him, "Xander, I'm done!" Connor said, "I'll cover you, go and light them!"

He only had enough time to set one more on fire, before the wolves made their appearance. The beasts were the bodybuilding representative of their species. They were massive, with thick dark fur, and a long snout. Their eyes were glowing bright gold in the night. Their mouth watered and their fangs were bared. They're hungry, and they're coming for us. They tried to circle him, but he kept moving, keeping the balls of fire on his side, and the barn behind him. With an expert hand, he unslung his new weapon. The bone monstrosity was heavy, but he had the Strength to wield it. He had practiced with it for a few hours, not enough to be used in a true fight, but these few animals weren't true opponents yet. He swung it once, the air howled in its passage. He smiled grimly.

"So, you're all barks?" he asked, "Even dogs would have sized their chance by now!" He mentally sighed, Trashtalking beasts? What's going on with me? One of them suddenly lunged forward, and he swung, the wolf took the heavy hit and sprawled away. Xander stepped to the side as another came from him right after, he continued his sword movement, and with a rotation pulled the heavy weapon downward, cutting the beast in half. An arrow flew through the night and felled another one. Yipping and yapping came from all around, and he saw more wolves coming, running through the fields. None were in his range yet, but he knew it wouldn't last.

He couldn't refasten his sword easily, so he tried to maneuver the next ball of hay with it in his hand. The task was a bit more difficult, but he had just the time to light two more when the second round began. A beast he hadn't seen had tried to jump him when he was lighting the last ball of hay. But Connor got it first, and it landed in the burning hay.

By the time he had finished illuminating the night, they had felled more than twenty wolves. But the night was still young and darker creatures were poking their nose out of the forest. Three graver howl came from the forest, and large, tall shadows emerged. A pair of red eyes on each of them. All standing on their two hind legs. Wolfmen? or Werewolves? He didn't know and probably didn't care. They were big, and fast. They dashed through the field like black lightning. This might be too much for his new sword. But he didn't have time to think about it, the first black bullet pounced at him, resolving itself in a massive black-furred beast. Its claws shone red, along with his fangs. Xander called on his new ability, and a massive wall of thorns appeared on his left arm and rooted itself on the ground. The beast crashed into it, its weight shared between the swordsman and the roots. Xander disengaged his left arm, stepped to the side, and swung his sword. The beast was fast, but the thorns had done it good. It avoided his swords but was bleeding profusely.

The two others had circled to the sides and tried to get him, but Connor flashed three arrows in quick succession, and Xander Stepped behind the third, his sword Burning and cutting downward. It countered by turning into a tornado of claws and fangs. His sword bounced back, and its bones cracked. Xander dropped the broken weapon, Stepped away, and drew his trusty long sword. He had lost one charge of his Fiery Blade ability, and with the usage of the Thorn Shield, his Mana was already almost halfway depleted. He had to get serious now. He took a deep breath and readied himself.

He Stepped into the fray, his sword Burning again, and slashed downward at the already bleeding beast. It jumped away but was caught by Connor's arrows. He turned, a fire ribbon following after him, pivoting low on his feet, and dashed, his sword cutting through the air. The beast tried to dodge, but it had mistimed and Xander's sword cut through its shoulder. It howled in pain, as some of its fur caught fire. The third one appeared out of nowhere and Xander barely had the time to put his left arm up, the thorns appearing barely in time. The beast crashed into it, ravaging both the shield and his arm. He Stepped away, his left arm hanging limply.

Of the three beasts, none were unscathed. The first one was bleeding out not that far away on the ground, but not yet dead, he noted. The second had a burned-up patch of fur on its shoulder, a long gash on its side, and several arrows sticking on his body. The third one was bleeding as well from the Thorny Shield and had several light cuts here and there. We can do this! He thought. His Qi would soon run out, just like his Mana. He had no more tricks up his sleeve, only his skill.

His two opponents hissed and dashed in his direction crossing each other paths and attempting to take him in a sandwich. The left one's claws shone with a white glow, and the right one seemed to blur. They're going all out. He held his sword in a close guard, focused on his opponents. I have to time this right. Right as they were about to gore him, he unleashed his last Ability and exchanged places with his left opponent. The beast was caught by surprise and got shredded by its companion's attack and Xander's sword. The beast fell to the ground. His last opponent received another volley of arrows from Connor, and Xander slashed at its legs, putting all his remaining might in the attack. The beast fell to the ground, and he finished it with a stab to the heart.

He took a deep breath, and the adrenaline left his body. He was so exhausted, his last Ability had taken the last of his Mana, depleting him completely. His head was hurting him something terrible. He looked at his left arm, sighed, and dropped his weapon to reach for his pouch of medical supplies. As he was about to unfasten the pouch he felt the fetid breath of the werewolves. He turned and saw the remaining dark werewolf standing still right behind him. Two daggers were sticking out of its chest, and its eyes were wide open. It fell on the side, and Connor appeared behind it. "You should be more attentive," he said. "I've almost missed it."