We stood around for several minutes, waiting for something to happen. When nothing did, I realized I might have been on the wrong track.

“Looks like we’re not going to just be attacked,” I said as I turned to Linnea. “Looks like we have to find whatever makes the area dangerous and deal with it.”

She nodded in response. “My bet is wolves, given what we’ve seen so far,“ she said. “It would make sense that they hunt down by the water.”

That did make an unfortunate amount of sense. I’d have preferred if it was something else, the wolves were dangerous and knew how to work together. While there was still a chance it wasn’t them, Linnea had some good points. Odds were, she was right.

We set out along the edge of the lake, both hoping we could deal with the situation without returning to the grass. It would be much harder if we had to hunt through all that.

A few hundred feet away, Linnea called out for a pause. When I turned to find out why, I saw she was crouched down, examining the ground.

“Tracks,“ she said when she caught me looking. “Wolf, by my guess. They definitely come down to the water around here.”

I nodded in response. “Hopefully we’ll see some soon then. I’m expecting some kind of confirmation when we encounter our target, one group should be enough for that.”

We moved on, and ten minutes later, we heard growls coming from the grass to our right. This time my scanner hadn’t even picked them up, something about the terrain was really messing with it.

We turned to face the grass as four wolves stalked out. They were just over a hundred feet away, by my guess, a lot further than the last two times we’d encountered them. It was more than enough to give Linnea the advantage.

I heard the now familiar clanking sound from beside me before the lead wolf took a plasma bolt to the face. The other three charged as it fell to the ground, dead before it could make a sound.

The Beasts were fast, covering the ground in only a matter of seconds. Remembering what happened the last time I let one through to Linnea, I raced forward to meet them. I would have to trust that she would make good advantage of the room I was making for her.

The wolf on the far right collapsed, one of its front legs disappearing in a burst of plasma. While it might not be dead like the first, it was certainly out of the fight. I took a shot at another, missing wildly as I ran.

I skidded to a stop only a few feet from them, trying to get a more stable shot in before they approached. They lunged, and I fired, striking one on the side of its snout. It wasn’t lethal, however, the wolf broke off to roll in the dirt.

That left one which lept forwards, smashing into my chest and bowling me over. I hadn’t expected that, and it left me on the ground, flailing in panic.

Then the wolf's head exploded, showering me in gore. By removing me from Linnea’s line of sight, it had only brought death upon itself. Groaning, I rolled to my feet and walked over to the one I’d hit on the snout earlier.

It hadn’t even returned to its feet yet and a single shot to the head finished it.

With the fight finished, I breathed deeply, trying to get my wind back. The wolf had been heavy and moving fast, I could only thank my Toughness stat that it hadn’t broken something.

Turning to Linnea, I nodded in thanks, even as a pair of System pop-ups drew my attention. I moved past the combat report quickly, instead bringing up the quest update.

Objective Update for Quest First Mission (Path of the Explorer)

Objectives:

Locate an area where the city can immediately begin gathering food (Complete)

Survey the location for two days

Secure the location for future use

Kill enough wolves to scare the pack away from the lake (4/35)

I jogged up to Linnea to report the news. “You were right about it being wolves. We need to kill another thirty-one to scare them away from the lake. I’m guessing there’s probably something else at the end as well. A boss maybe.”

She grinned in response. “Shouldn’t be too hard. We seem to be dealing with them fairly well.”

She wasn’t wrong. We had quite a lot of experience working together over the last few days, and it was paying off. As long as I could keep the enemies from interrupting her shooting, we shouldn’t have too much to worry about.

Particularly since she'd already leveled to four a few days ago, while she was getting the lion's share of the XP since she got most of our kills, I was still getting a fair bit as well. I was only slightly over two hundred XP away from level four.

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Confident about our chances, we moved on to look for more targets. It wasn’t even midday yet, so we had plenty more time.

“Think we can take them?“ I whispered to Linnea as she watched a group of wolves through her scope.

“It’ll be dicey,“ she murmured back. “There’s nine of them, and if they're smart, they can make it most of the way here through the grass. If it was open all the way I’d be confident, however, I doubt I'll be able to drop more than two before they get to cover.”

We’d been hunting for most of the day and had only finished off a few small groups. It had brought our kills up to ten of thirty-five; however, I was getting worried about how slow it was.

While I wasn’t sure if we had to finish the kills within the two days that I was supposed to be surveying this place, I didn’t want to leave it to chance. Better to get it all done and get picked up by Brian at the end of the two days.

“I think we can manage it,“ I whispered back. “If you can take two down a the start, then there’s only seven. We’re still over a hundred feet from the edge of the grass here, so I’m guessing you can take another three before they reach me.”

“Four seems like a lot, however, I just need to keep them busy while you take them out. It’s risky as you say, however leaving them out there is risky too. What if we leave and they follow our scent to attack us later?”

Linnea turned and nodded to me while biting her lip. “Right,“ she said. “I hadn’t thought of that.” She paused for a moment, then continued. “Given that, I think you’re right, better to attack while we have the advantage than getting ambushed later.”

With that said, we both got into position. I moved forwards about twenty feet. It was far enough to keep the wolves off her, yet close enough that there would still be time for her to shoot after they came out of cover.

Then the first shot came, plasma flying five hundred feet to slam into a wolf’s side. The pack turned in unison at its screams, looking around in confusion for the source of the shot.

Linnea fired again, striking one in the face and killing it instantly. This time they seemed to notice us, however, as they charged forwards toward the grass. She fired one last time, just barely skimming a wolf’s back legs.

Then they were hidden from us, leaving us to wait nervously. A moment passed, then several, and all was quiet. I’d almost thought that they’d run before they burst from grass over thirty feet from where we’d expected them.

They must have circled further to put us off, I realized in shock. It must have surprised Linnea as well, that she couldn’t refocus quickly when using her scope. It took her several precious seconds before she fired and took one out.

That left six, one of which was at the back, limping. I rushed to intercept their new trajectory, desperate to stop them from reaching Linnea. Our only hope was to keep her in the clear long enough that she could pick them off one by one.

I’d learned a lesson while trying to fire on the run last time, it was too inaccurate to aim properly. Instead, I fired a barrage as I charged. I missed most of the shots, however, even the misses startled them. A lucky shot even took one in the leg, slowing it down with the other injured one.

Then they were upon me just as Linnea fired again. She took one out, however it was unfortunately the one I’d just injured. That left me practically nose to nose with four healthy wolves, a fifth not far behind them.

They lunged forwards, however, I was already dancing backward. My goal here wasn’t to fight them, not really, I just had to buy as much time as I could.

Unfortunately, they were far more agile than I was. They caught up and circled me in moments, before lunging all at once. I darted sideways, dodging two of them, however, the last two got me.

One went low and bit deep into my calf, while the other lept for my gun hand. It latched on, fangs digging into my forearm as its weight dragged me to the earth. Combined with the one tugging at my leg, I had no hope of staying upright.

Instead, I twisted as I fell, landing with all my weight on the Beast that was biting my arm. It yelped in shock, releasing me and darting away. Distantly I heard another crack, I really hoped that was Linnea taking another wolf out.

While it had released my arm, I’d dropped my gun when I was first bitten. Given I still had one wolf biting my leg, I wouldn’t be able to search for it. Instead, I pulled the dagger I’d been using for butchering.

It was designed to work as a weapon if needed, and I definitely needed it. I pulled myself into a sitting position before lunging at the wolf biting my leg. My abs screamed in protest at the trying maneuver, however, it worked, and my knife buried itself in the Beast’s eye.

Then something barreled into my left shoulder, taking a massive bite as it did so. I screamed in agony, reflexively bringing my knife up in a slash. It skimmed the side of the wolf that had me, injuring it lightly.

It wasn’t enough to force the Beast to release me, instead, it only bit down harder. I was in an awkward position, striking across my chest, and I could only land glancing blows. On the other hand, my Toughness stat was in full effect, while the Beast had me, it wouldn’t be finishing me anytime soon.

It turned into a grueling fight of attrition. I slashed at the wolf, it ravaged my shoulder, and then the cycle continued. I wasn’t sure how long I could keep it up, I could already feel the blood pouring down my side.

Yet the wolf wasn’t any better, its once pristine fur now rent with wounds. Eventually one of us had to fall and to my eternal thanks, it was him. Between one moment and the next, it just seemed to give out, collapsing against me.

With a groan, I heaved it off, tearing my shoulder more in the process. Looking around the battlefield, I couldn’t see any more wolves standing. Linnea must have finished them while I was fighting.

She was at my side seconds later, looking concerned. “You doing alright boss? I’d have helped, but I was worried the plasma would splash onto you.”

I shuddered at the very thought. I’d take a Beast bite over plasma burns every day of the week. “It's fine," I said tiredly, “you made the right choice, and I survived somehow.”

She only nodded in response, still looking a little guilty. With a last glance around for danger, she threw her pack down and began helping to fix me up. While the wound sealant wouldn’t put me at full capacity immediately, it would stop me from bleeding out.

I tried to help, but she simply slapped my hands away and told me to keep still. Instead, I looked at the quest update, happy to see it was showing nineteen of thirty-five.

Progress, I thought with a grin. While it hadn’t gone quite to plan, we’d still jumped forwards in the quest progression. Nineteen down, sixteen to go. I just hope there aren’t any dangerous surprises at the end.