The first wolf that creeped into the clearing ended up getting an axe to the skull as Diane leaped forward faster than I could see. She lit up for a brief second afterward, and I smiled as I saw that brief explosion of elation light up her face. Even in the dire situation we were in, Sam laughed and clapped her on the back as she fell back into formation. I eyed the forest and swung my sword experimentally. She must have leveled up there, and that was great, but she must only be level two now, maybe level three. Xi had told us that even the weakest dire wolves usually sat at about level fifteen or so. It made the fact that I had managed to kill even one more impressive, but it also meant we were incredibly out of our league. I sighed and sidled closer to Sarah. I was so lucky that I had been with them when the wolves had attacked. If I had followed my original plan and tried to storm through the wilderness on my own, I had no doubts in my mind that I’d be dead by now.

Almost as if to agree with me, another howl pierced through the air, sending a shiver down my spine, and reviving that ache in my shoulder and stomach. That must have been the command to attack, because I watched as more and more wolves walked out from the trees, slowly circling the clearing that we were in. I pursed my lips and eyed Sam, who gave me a confident nod. Well, at least she wasn’t scared, because I was absolutely terrified! I’d barely survived against one, what the hell was I going to do against all of these!? Fuuuuck!

By the time they finally stopped funneling in, there were at least ten of them, slowly pacing around the edge of the clearing, their eyes all locked on us. We all nervously looked at each other, our hands shaking as we gripped our weapons tightly in our hands. This was definitely not good, if this was the first wave, then who knew how many were still in the forest waiting? I frowned and glanced at the forest. I could still see more eyes in there, and the sense of danger that emanated from it made my gut turn and twist. Fucking hell… I eyed the wolves, waiting for the faintest sign that they were going to pounce. Then, I noticed it. A flick of the tail here, a shake of the head there, and a narrowing of the eyes. That had to be it, they had to be attacking soon! I turned to yell as Sam, but then the howl sounded again sending a heavy shiver racing down my back.

Sam screamed behind me, shocking me from my stupor, “They're attacking! Kai, Sylphie, now!” Before I could even react, she grabbed me and Sarah and dropped to the ground, slamming us both down along with her. I tried to shrug her arm off, but froze as I heard a roar, and a wave of scalding heat scorched my back. Damn was that hot! Fuck me, no wonder Sam had throw us down! Though, it had definitely worked thank the gods! The smell of burnt flesh and fur slammed into my nostrils, and then loud yelps and whimpers rang across the clearing.

Sam offered us both a hand and helped us to our feet, giving us both an apologetic smile, “ Sorry about that y’all, but great job!” She turned to the others and clapped her hands together, “Alright, let's clean up the rest and then drop back into formation again!”

We all cheered, and I flashed a grin at Sarah, who gave me one of her own. The four of us raced forward, charging the wolves, who were limping or blinded by the flames. I felt bad for the surprise attack, but I knew it was my life or theirs, and so, I readied my sword and reached into the void, grasping for that familiar source of power and demanding that it heed my call. My arms filled with strength, and I roared, bringing down the sword in an overhead strike. The wolf turned at the last moment, but it was far too late, and my blade crashed through its burned skin, and then through its neck, causing an explosion of blood. It fell over, its muscles clenching in its death throes, and I whipped around to attack the next one.

This one had been able to shake off most of the effects of the fire wall that Kai had cast, and it growled as it turned towards me, its eyes locking on me and burning with white hot rage. I swallowed hard, but focused as much as I could, racing forward and watching for it to make its first move. I didn’t even have to wait for long though, as the wolf roared, and charged straight at me as soon as its blinded eyes landed on me. Holy shit, the flame wave must have really pissed it off. I paled, but Xi had beaten into me exactly what I needed to do in a situation like this so many times, that I didn’t even have to think about it as my body dropped, braced, and stabbed my blade forward. The wolf didn’t even have the mind or time to slow down or stop, and it impaled itself on the sword, blood exploding and covering me. Its heavy body slammed into mine, and I grunted as I was knocked backwards. The wolf howled in pain and bit down, but the bite lacked any real power as the sudden blood loss caused it to black out, and then die, flopping on top of me.

My breathing became heavy, and my heart raced at how close that had been to being another close call. Especially right after I had almost died in the exact same way because of the scout! I grunted, and slowly moved my hands underneath the beast and strained, trying to move the body off of me at all, but it was way too heavy. I groaned and took in a deep breath, and then shimmied to the side, slowly wriggling out from underneath it. I yelped as for a moment I felt its full weight rest on my back legs, but then I squirmed free. I crawled forward and my eyes flashed around to check on the others. I could hear the sound of the others fighting, and the thump of arrows landing into the remaining wolves.

I sighed and scooped up my sword, looking it up and down. It was still coated and covered by blood and guts. Damn, if Xi saw this I’d hear such an earful from them… ugh, I wiped off the edge on my shirt and then swung the blade around in my hands. I needed to go help the others, though I doubted that they’d really need it. I turned to start walking back, but froze as I heard another howl. What the hell… wait, no! My eyes widened and I whipped around, wildly slashing through the air with the blade, but before I could do anything I was flung back to the ground as a heavy body smashed into me.

I grunted as I hit the ground, my sword being knocked from my hands. I struggled underneath the dire wolf that had pinned me to the ground, fear roiling through me as I felt its claws dig into my stomach. I screamed and desperately punched, kicked, and struggled, but it did nothing to the massive wolf as its maw drew closer and closer to my throat, and that same part of me as earlier belatedly wondered if this was really just the end. I heard the screams and cries of the others in the background, and as the superior weight and wild thrashing of the dire wolf brought its teeth closer to my face, I heard Sarah’s scream cut through the night. Anger and worry pulsed through me, and I flexed my muscles, bringing up my legs and calling for every last bit of strength I had ever gained from running, and heaved one last time, kicking up and into the wolf's stomach. The wolf yelped as I knocked the air out of it and it was flung off of me.

I didn’t waste a moment, and as adrenaline rushed through my body, I dashed to my blade, snatching it up and spinning around. As I turned, I gripped the handle with both of my hands strained, sending it flying through the air at the charging wolf. I screamed, and activated sword slash, slashing off the wolf's paw as it leaped through the air at me. It howled in pain, falling to the side and limping a short distance away, rage in its eyes as they locked on me. It howled, and then leapt at me again, but I was too spent from calling up all of that strength, and it slammed into me, digging its teeth into my shoulder and biting down. I roared in pain, before I slammed into the tree that was behind me, and pain blossomed across my entire back. It ripped and tore at my shoulder, but it had made the fatal mistake of attacking my left shoulder. I laughed wildly, tears and blood coursing down my face, and I flipped my blade, pointing at its stomach and upwards, aiming for where I knew where its heart had to be. Darkness swarmed my vision, and I prayed to whatever gods or beings that were listening, and stabbed.

It screamed in pain as the blade entered, thankfully letting go of my ruined shoulder and falling down. I fell with it, and with my twitching left arm, I weakly gripped the handle with my other hand, and screamed, stabbing it farther into its stomach. The wolves pained howls became louder and louder as it continued upwards, ripping through organ after organ in its search for the heart. The wolf weakly struggled, its peaks weakly scratching at me, and its howl became higher pitched, until it suddenly was cut off, as its lungs filled with blood.

It went limp, the life leaving its body, and I fell to the side, my entire body screaming in agony. I don’t know how long I laid there, gasping for air, but when I finally dragged myself to my feet, all I could think of was the others. I staggered to the side, and turned to the others, desperate to know if they were alive. My eyes darted to where we had decided our fallback position was, and I couldn’t help but let out a long sigh of relief.

They all looked to be okay, but they were still fighting off what seemed to be another wave of wolves that had attacked. Sarah and Diane were standing in front of Kai, fending off three dire wolves. They were taking turns darting forth and snapping at them, and Sarah and Diane responded in kind, slashing their axe and sword across to fend them off. I dropped to my knees and scrabbled in the dirt with my working arm. I grasped a rock, and staggered to my feet, stumbling closer and chucking the rocks at them from behind, my voice going ragged as I screamed. Damn it all, was this all I can do!? Just throw rocks at them and hope that it distracts them!? Fuck! I fell to my knees again and grasped for another rock, flinging it at each one at them, hoping that I would distract them, if even for a moment. Hoping that maybe I could give the others the chance to take down one of these overgrown hounds, but the wolves barely even reacted. They didn’t even need to glance at me to know that I was easy prey now. That the real threat was in front of them.

I desperately threw another rock and staggered to my feet. Kai must be close to running out of mana, otherwise he would have thrown out a spell, but as it was, he was just desperately stabbing with his staff. Sylphie was behind them, and was standing with Sam and Cyan, who had abandoned her stealth in order to fight melee with everyone. I sent a rock in the direction of the wolf that was attacking Sam, and smirked as it staggered in surprise, its eyes flashing around for a moment, which gave Cyan all the time she needed to flash forward and dig her dagger into its throat. Sam gave me a little wave before charging over to help Sarah and Diane, who had managed to kill one of the wolves and were just working on the other two.

I staggered over to Sylphie and Cyan to check on them, but as they saw my arm,they both shook their heads and pointed at Sam. I sighed and rolled my eyes, but nodded and started stumbling over towards them. I couldn’t see Mason, but I wasn’t too worried about him. Every once in a while, an arrow would streak out of the trees and impact into a wolf, causing the ones that were stalking at the edge of the clearing to keep their distance. Good, good… there was nothing any of us could have done if they decided to attack now. I staggered over to Sam, gritting my teeth and holding my shoulder. Thankfully it wasn't my dominant arm, but it still pulsed in agony every step I took.

Step after step was agony, but I ignored it until I finally made it back to the others, watching as Sam dashed forward and brought down her mace, braining the wolf in front of her. Cyan suddenly vanished, and then reappeared on top of the other wolf, driving her dagger into the side of its head, and twisting. The wolf let out a surprised yelp, and shook hard, sending Cyan flying through the air, but she landed on her heels nimbly, like a cat. It let out a choked grumble and staggered to the side before dropping to the floor, its death spasms sending blood everywhere. I gave them all a grim nod and turned to Sarah and Diane, readying my sword. It was for nothing though, as I realized that they were all dead by this point.

“Matt… Matt! Oh my god is that blood? Are you okay!?” I grunted as I turned back around, watching as Sam ran up to me, shaking off the gore from her mace. Though as her eyes took in the absolute mess that was my shoulder, she dropped her mace to the side. Her eyebrows scrunched together, and she looked me up and down, before giving me a quick nod and darting forward, gently grasping my arm and looking it up and down. She carefully reached for my shirt, and pulled it to the side, so that she could see my shoulder and torn up stomach better. Her pursed lips and darting worried eyes were all I needed to see, and I let out a long sigh as the adrenaline wore off and the pain rushed forward instead. Made me almost wish that I was still fighting… almost.

Sarah jogged over and gasped, her hands going up to her face, “Oh god! What happened to your shoulder!? Are you okay Matt?”

I chuckled, and then winced as Sam started cleaning the area, pouring water on it and muttering under her breath, “Ah I’m fine, I just wasn’t expecting that second rush from the wolves. Really caught me off guard, and had a bit of a close call with one of them. Damn thing bit my shoulder after I cut off its paw. Really wanted to eat me, eh? Though I made sure to repay the favor.”

Sam slapped me lightly in the side and rolled her eyes, “Oh shut up and stop moving! With how ridiculous this wound is, you’re lucky that you’re still conscious! You’re a real idiot, you know that?” She let out a long sigh and rubbed her forehead, “... but I’m glad you’re still with us. When the wolves attacked again, I wasn’t sure where you went, but thank god you lived. Alright, I used one on Diane already, but I should have one or two more uses of heal left. No more hits like that okay? Stick with the rest of us.”

I nodded and closed my eyes as I heard her start chanting under her breath. My skin shivered and shifted, and I felt as the pain suddenly spiked and twisted. I ground my teeth together and grunted, receiving another little smack from Sam, who didn’t even look up at me. I sighed and let my eyes wander to the side. It was a really odd feeling, but not one that I hated necessarily. If I had to say, after the first spike of pain, it was almost… itchy. I smirked and knocked my head back. Yeah, that was it. My skin felt itchy, and as I felt the fibers of my muscles stretching and pulling towards each other, I had to stop myself from squirming. I bit the inside of my mouth, and groaned as I felt my skin and muscles finally stitch themselves back together.

Sam finished her chant, and took a step back, letting out a loud sigh. “Sorry Matt, but you just gotta take it man. Better for me to heal it up with my magic now than for the wolves to come back and you have to try fending them off without an arm!”

I nodded and flexed the arm, amazed at how good it felt now. I sighed and shook it, that was even better than a level up! Not even an ache or pain! I picked up my sword and turned towards the forest again. The others had just finished doing a quick check of the trees, and we all huddled up again, nodding at each other. Damn this was really going to be a long night.

I made my way over to my original spot and gave a nod to Sarah, who flashed me a worried look. I gave her a smile and looked down at my shoulder again, seeing the flesh peek through the bloody opening in the shirt. I couldn’t help but whistle at the scar that had been left. I guess it might not have been better than a level up heal, though I did feel better weirdly enough… minus the euphoria. The wolf hadn’t been able to rip off much flesh, but it looked like it had still ripped out a large bit of my flesh, leaving a large scar on my. I flexed my arm again as I went back to scanning the sea of wolf eyes in the forest. Cylkia had told us all that heal spells were not a cure all, but it was still really weird to see how much it could heal, but still be unable to fully heal… I honestly wasn’t exactly sure if I was ever going to be able to really understand magic.

I spun my sword in my hand and grinned. Good thing I was more of a melee kind of guy, eh? Though… As I looked out into the woods again, I narrowed my eyes at the eyes that were flashing about in the darkness. Something about these attacks was throwing me off. If they were just trying to kill all of us, then why hadn’t they attacked yet? And even earlier, why had that scout attacked me? The way that it had silently snuck up on me, it could have easily picked off one of the others and ran off with the prize. Something about how the wolves were hunting… Something about it just wasn’t quite… right. It seemed… Familiar in a way, though I wasn't sure why exactly.

I sighed and shook my head, trying to bring myself out of my thoughts. I’d have to think about that later, because right about now I bet… another howl tore through the night and I smirked. Yeah, I had a feeling, but gods damn it! How many of these damn overgrown dogs were there? I swung my sword through the air and dropped into my stance. It was time to head into the frey again, though this time I’d make sure to keep with the others. That last attack had been way too close for comfort… though, hopefully, this would be the last attack we’d need to weather before they decided that we weren’t worth the spilled blood.

I jogged in place, warming up my muscles and eyeing the others. They all looked unbelievably exhausted, and were warily eyeing the forest, and gripping their weapons. Even Diane, who had just been healed the same as me, looked like she was about to pass out. Each of them only gave me a brief nod before swinging their weapons and staring out into the forest, their eyes darting back and forth.

A low growl shook the air, and one that I could feel even in my bones. I paled as this time, five wolves walked out, in contrast to the ten from earlier. But these wolves were much larger than the first ones, and I had to crane my head up to see their entire head. They had to have been at least eight feet tall, and their paws were almost bigger than my chest. When they bared their teeth, they glinted in the moonlight, looking like chef knives. I grumbled underneath my breath and gripped my sword tighter. Oh fuck me, what was I going to do against that? They could just bite my head off if they wanted! Almost as if they could read my thoughts, they paced back and forth in front of us, their growls still rumbling through the air. Their eyes were full of intelligence, and as they looked each of us up and down, it was almost as if they were looking for something, conducting a test that none of us knew the questions or the answers for. The wolves began darting at us, snapping in the air before suddenly pulling back, their eyes still scanning us. I frowned and eyed them again. Something about it just seemed so…

Sam cut off that train of thought, whispering out the side of her mouth as she stood behind Kai and Sylphie, watching our back, “Kai, Sylphie, how many spells do you have left?”

Kai swung his staff back and forth, his eyes locked on the wolves, “I have one more flame wave, but I don't know if that's going to really be able to hurt any of them.”

Sylphie's eyes darted nervously between the wolves, and she nervously whispered, “I have a firestrike and a flame flash left, they take a bit of time to activate though…”

Sam curtly nodded and scanned the wolves, threateningly swinging her warmace, “Alright, on the count of three I want you and Kai to start to cast your spells at the wolves. Sylphie, start chanting both of your casts, one after the other at the wolves on the right. Sarah, Diane, and Matt rush the wolves on the left after Kai’s flame wave. I will guard Kai and Sylphie, and Cyan, just keep doing your vanishing act and helping out wherever you can see. Mason and I will back you both up out there. Just call for me if you need me to back you up, or if the wolves get too close. Got that?”

We all nodded in agreement, and I took a deep breath and glared at the wolves as Sam began to slowly count down. Then, as she screamed now, we all dropped to the ground, right as Kai screamed and slashed his arm in an arc, sending out a wave of red and yellow searing hot flames. As the sound of the wolf’s pained yelps rang through the air, Sarah, Diane, and I jumped up as fast as we could, dashing forward, and swinging our blades at the startled and blinded wolves. They were too busy dealing with the flame scorching their hides and blinding them that, like the first pack, we were able to pretty much run right up to them before they even noticed us.

As Sarah and Diane dashed forward to attack the middle two wolves, I locked my eyes with the leftmost wolf, and then activated ‘sprint’ and dashed behind it, my breathing coming hard at the sudden exertion. Just like I had done with the goblin, I whipped around and planted my feet in a wide stance to strike. Thankfully, the massive wolf had bowed its head and was pawing at its eyes, and didn’t even realize the danger it was in. I couldn’t help but grin as I swung my sword, realizing that its neck was at the perfect height for me. I roared, and used all of the momentum from the movement, and then, just to add even more oomph to the strike, I dug into the void, and pulled. It grudgingly gave me the strength I was looking for, and sword slash was activated as I struck down, igniting my muscles with power as my sword sliced through the air like it was nothing. It was the perfect cut, and it would probably have killed most other beasts or monsters in that same situation. Unfortunately for me, this massive dire wolf wasn’t like other monsters and beasts. Its ears perked at the noise, and as my sword flashed through the air, the wolf suddenly lunged. Not towards me, but to the side, just barely dodging my blade and causing me to yelp in surprise as I slashed through thin air. With all of the force that I had put into it, it sank into the earth, almost slicing off my foot as I yelped and fell to the side, thankfully ripping the blade out at the same time, as I rolled in the dirt, scraping my elbow.

Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

The wolf stumbled and growled, turning its head slowly around, its nose sniffing the air wildly. I paled as I realized that it looked like it was searching for me, but then I cocked my head to the side in confusion. But I was right here, why would it be looking… Oh. I held my breath, but an inner sigh of relief rocked me when I saw its eyes. It had been blinded by Kai’s flame wave, and its entire head and face had been scorched to hell. It really had no idea where I was, at least for right now. I just needed to just stay quiet and out of range while I caught my breath, and then get ready to strike again. It must have dodged out of pure instinct, which was fucking impressive as all hell… Unfortunately for me, I still needed it dead though. I slowly paced behind it, dodging it as it snapped at the air, and trying my best to stay out of its line of ‘sight’. I swallowed hard, and out of the corner of my eye I saw Sylphie's flamestrike crash down, lighting one of the other wolves that was stumbling on the right on fire. I shakily smiled as its howls ripped through the dark night air. Good, the others seemed okay too, and the wolves were going down one at a time… but… where was Mason? I hadn’t seen one of his arrows flash through the air in a long time…

I shook my head and crept on my feet, carefully stepping to the side of the wolf. I couldn’t worry about Mason right now, I had to deal with this massive fuck, and then I’d make sure to ask Cyan to go and check on him when we all fell back. I pursed my lips and eyed the massive Dire wolf again. Its hide was covered in past scars, and it had a deep set of scars gashed into its side, glinting silver in the moonlight. The wolf had stopped turning its head around, and was now just standing dead still, its head cocked to the side. Its nose flared, and its ears twitched as it tried to find some sound or scent to work with. Unfortunately for it, I was covered in dirt and grime, and the growling, roaring, and screams of the others covered all of the little noises I was making. And now that it was standing still, I could just stand still as I calmed my breathing and heart rate. Though, now that I had, I was free to sneak around, albeit carefully. I slowly tiptoed around to the wolf’s other side, careful not to make any noise. As my eyes scanned for any weaknesses, I couldn’t help but smile as I noticed it had a slight limp in one of its paws. I snuck closer, and patiently waited for the perfect moment to strike, my hands sweaty on my swords’ handle.

Then, as its foot crumpled as it stepped in an old rabbit hole, I dashed forward, getting as close as I dared before I reached into the unwilling void and activated sword slash again. Xi had taught me to use it halfway through the slash in order to throw off my opponent, but I didn’t need to do that here. I activated it early, in order to gather more force before it impacted and to catch the wolf before it managed to dodge like last time. I couldn’t help but laugh as it worked, and although it whipped around at the sound of me running forward, I still managed to catch it off guard, my blade arcing through the air and slicing into the side of its head. The wolf violently shook its head, and howled in pain as my blade was knocked to the side. Its blind half melted eyes turned to me and it roared, before it leaped at me now that it knew where I was for sure. I yelped and leaped to the side, just barely being grazed by its claws. I paled and slowly backed up, wincing as I felt the hot wetness of blood drip down my chest again. My eyes locked on it as I watched as it froze again, its head lifting into the air and its nose twitching again. I swallowed hard and tried to calm my nerves. It was fine, this was fine, everything was fine. All I had to do now was slowly circle around it again, and when the opportunity showed itself, I’d just dash forward and slash its neck… again…

Almost in spite of the thought, the wolf's head flashed around, and its scorched face locked on where I was backing away. With a loud howl, it dropped its head charged at me, its massive teeth gnashing the air. My heart stopped beating as I saw my life flash before my eyes. Oh fuck! How did it know… where… I was… My face paled even more as I glanced down at my chest, and watched the stream of blood flow from the claw marks that had torn into my chest. Fuck me, it must have smelled the god damn blood! I glanced at the rapidly approaching wolf and screamed, reaching into the void and grasping, pulling on it to activate ‘sprint’ to give me whatever burst of speed I could get. I desperately tried to run to the side, but the wolf had locked on to me and the smell of my blood, and as I stumbled to the right, it followed me with almost pinpoint precision. Its massive body crashed into my side, and its jaws clamping down hard onto my wrist, slicing through flesh and sinew almost as if it was butter. I screamed and I wildly tried to stab it in the side with my free hand, but it was for nothing. The wolf didn’t seem to care, and bit down harder, slashing through my tendons and then cracking into my bones. My hand exploded in pain, but I couldn’t even try to move it as I heard the crunch of the wolves maw crushing down on my wrist. My body was wracked with screams as agony filled me, washing out every other sensation. Almost on autopilot, I desperately begged the void for help, and it amusedly responded, activating sword slash and filling my sword arm with power once more. My vision came back for a moment, and I roared, twisting my blade around and sending it flying through the air again towards the wolf's skull, impacting with a wet squelch and punching right on through.

It howled in pain, and shot back, releasing my mangled hand and ripping my sword out of my hand, cracking my shoulder at the sudden movement. I fell backwards, my head cracking into the earth as I screamed at the pain that was ripping through my body. I had thought being bitten by the wolf earlier had hurt, but this was ten times worse. Pain lanced up my arm, pulsing in time with my heartbeat, and I almost blacked out from the pain. I blearily cradled my hand to my chest as tears poured down my cheeks. What kind of rotten luck did I have? I was summoned to some world, rejected, and then dragged back again. I was given a useless set of skills and ability, and then when I finally felt like I had a chance to have a future, we got hounded by wolves and the damned mutts just didn’t stop coming! The system didn’t even recognize that I had a name! Gods, what the hell!

LEVEL UP!

Name: ???

Race: Human

Level: Five (NEW)

Title: Wolf Slayer

Abilities:

Enduring Heart (INCOMPLETE)

Skills:

Sprint (Veteran)

Sword Slash (Initiate)(New!)

I gasped in surprise as the elation raced through my body, and sat up, looking down at myself as my chest and wrist were inundated with an amazingly warm and pleasant sensation. The pain was chased away, and I watched as the level up began healing up most of the injuries I had endured, but… they weren’t fixed. Or at least, not all of the way. I carefully flexed my wrist, and winced as I sat up. It still hurts like a bitch… but… It was attached, and I was alive at least. My eyes darted to the side as I looked at the others to see how they were doing, just in time to get slammed into by Sarah as she bear hugged me, lifting me up and swinging me around, tears running down her cheeks.

I laughed as she set me down and pulled away from me after a moment, her eyes flashing over me worriedly, “Matt! What the fuck, don’t scare me like that! All I heard was you screaming, and when I turned to you, I saw a huge ass wolf backing off of your bloody body on the ground! The whole reason you came with us was so that you didn’t go and get yourself killed! Agh!!!”

She slapped at my now unharmed shoulder, and I couldn’t help but weakly laugh, the elation still rocking through my body, “Ow ow ow, you know both of these damned wolves have bitten at that exact same shoulder? Makes you wonder if it smells like candy to them or something…”

Sarah shook her head and playfully shoved me, standing up and walking to the side as Cyan walked up and slapped me on my other shoulder, an amused look flashing through her eyes, “Good shit racer, I saw the way you flipped the sword around and stabbed it into that wolf's head.” She winked at me as Sarah huffed and looked at the forest, grumbling under her breath, Cyan laughed and leaned closer, “Ya know, you should probably hang out by Kai and Sylphie for now though. Isn’t that the second time you’ve almost died to these damned mutts?”

I sighed and rubbed my sore wrist, wincing as pain lanced through it, “Yeah, you’re probably right. I just… I’m just sick of being a burden to y’all ya know? I know that I don’t have any super strong abilities or skills, but I’m still going to try to do my level best to help y’all out ya know?”

Sam sighed as she walked up to me and placed a hand on my shoulder, “Matt, you’ve already done so much, and besides, if it wasn’t for you, we’d all be dog chow right now. We just want us all to make it out of this alive, okay? Here, I’ll fill in for your spot okay? Just make sure to keep an eye out for any of the bastards trying to flank us, I had to smite one that had snuck up earlier while you all were fighting off those five.” She sighed and shook her head, “Alright, you should go and grab your weapon real quick before the wolves decide to attack again. Sarah, you go and back him up, the rest of you, take a swig of that potion that Baern gave each of us. We’ll need as much strength, mana, and energy pools as we can get tonight.

I frowned, but nodded, turning to watch as Sylphies flame flash burned a large hole into the side of the last wolf, and Diane dashed forward and slammed her axe into the beast's skull. As elation flashed through her as she leveled up, I smiled. Oh thank the gods, at least everyone else looked okay at least. I grabbed my potion out of my bag and took a quick swig, grunting as I felt a hot rush of warmth explode through me, instantly waking me up. It was surprisingly similar to that one time that I’d snuck a drink of my dad’s whiskey, though I’m pretty sure this shit burned more, and definitely didn’t make me feel as good.

I giggled to myself and shook my head, wobbling a little as I stood there. Holy shit, yeah no, this was wayyyyy better than some whisky. I giggled again, and slowly walked over to the wolf and picked up my sword from where it had fallen out in the wolf’s death throes, forgetting to switch hands in my sudden happy dizziness. As my hand closed around the handle, pain shot up my arm and I let out a loud yelp as it twitched in agony. Fuck me! It might have been healed, but the pain was still there. What an absolute load of bullshit honestly.

I carefully picked it up and turned, yelping again as Sarah dashed forward, placing her hands on either side of my shoulders and worriedly looking me up and down, again, “Matt! Are you okay!? Oh god what is wrong with you! Are you sure that level up healed everything?”

I winced as I felt my ribs creak as she gave me another bear hug. Damn she was fucking strong, “I’m alright Sarah, honestly. The level up heals the worst of the injuries, but it doesn’t fix everything. My wrist just hurts is all. Once we get out of this mess, I’ll ask Sam if she can use heal on it alright?”

She released me and took a step back, looking me up and down, unbelief written all across her face, “Matt, you’re covered in blood, you really think I believe that you’re okay? I can’t believe you went and fought after you almost died from that first wolf, Sam’s right you know? Either we all come out of this alive, or its not worth it.”

I let out a long sigh, and forced a smile onto my face, brushing off her worries, “It’s fine Sarah… but thank you for caring. More importantly, where’s Mason? I feel like I haven’t seen or heard from him in a while, during this last attack, I don’t think I even saw an arrow or anything?”

Sarah shook her head and glanced at Sam who was staring at the trees, worry evident on her face. I pursed my lips and made my way over to her as worry blossomed through my chest. That was not good… and what the hell were the wolves doing now? Besides that last howl, the woods had been completely silent this whole time. I cast a worried look at the forest again, and even more worrying… where was Mason? He hadn’t come to check in like Cyan had, and hadn’t even joined in the last fight.

I sighed and eyed the forest again. Mason, where the hell were you? Kai and Sylphie were almost fundamentally useless now, since they had used all their spells and mana. They had maybe one or two casts left after they drank each of their energy potions. Sam was guzzling hers like it was water, while holding her hands over Sylphie, using one of her last healing spells. I guess I couldn’t blame her, she was sporting a pretty nasty slash across her arm. I sighed and eyed Diane and Sarah, I’m pretty sure both of them were down to maybe one or two more uses of their skills. Damn, I wish I could just transfer over all of my energy… it's not like I needed it more than them. And who knows how many more waves of wolves we were going to have to deal with? We could last maybe one or two more waves, but I had my doubts that we would last the entire night if they decided to kill us all.

I frowned and rubbed my wrist. Something about all of this still felt wrong. We couldn’t be worth all of the dead wolves that they had suffered, right? We might have been injured a few times, but we had still managed to kill all of the wolves that had attacked each of these waves. Sure we were a bounty of fresh meat, but… still! We had killed or scared off about sixteen of them now, there was no way in hell that they were okay with that much of a loss in their numbers! No, there had to be a reason we were being hunted. I frowned, and wracked my brains. I mean, they had been behaving a lot like the wolves back home, right? Maybe they were hunting like that too? I thought back to the wolves of earth, trying to remember anything that stood out to me. Back home, they also hunted much larger prey but… they didn’t go after the whole herd, or the healthiest, or even the strongest. They went after… the weakest. The weakest link.

Wait… the weakest link… My eyes widened as I heard the howl rip through the night air again. Everyone whipped towards the woods again, instantly falling back into position, but I was frozen as the realization rocked my entire existence. Slowly, I turned towards the woods, and watched as the woods lit up, the double moon's light suddenly getting much stronger, shining down as I saw one of the shadows begin to walk closer and closer. My eyes widened as I realized there was something… no, someone hanging from its mouth. My heart thudded in my chest, and as a wolf even larger than the others padded into the clearing, the light from the double moon lighting up what it had in its jaws, my heart felt like it was going to beat so hard that it was going to rip out of my chest. It was…

“MASON!!!” Sam took a step forward, slamming her foot down and snapping us all out of our shocked silence. Her rage oozed off of her in tangible waves, and even the massive dire wolf took a step backwards, probably not expecting the weak humans to be this strong. I bared my teeth and lifted my weapon, ready to run forward and kill the goddamn thing, but I was stopped as a flash of light exploded outwards from Sam, briefly blinding me and forcing me to take a step back.

As the flash of light finally left, rage exploded in my chest as the wolf opened its jaws and dropped Mason's limp body to the ground. I roared in rage as it placed a paw on Mason’s chest, and then kicked him at us. The others around me yelled in protest, and Sylphie dropped to her knees, screaming as angry tears ran down her face. Its eyes scanned each of us, its tail flicking dismissively at each person. Then its eyes landed on me, a sick, twisted, pantomime of a smile stretching its lips. It cocked its head, and its eyes locked on mine, and I paled as I saw the twisted intelligence that was dancing there. It knew what it was doing, and it hadn’t just come here for no reason. No, it was passing along an obvious message. All the rage, pain, and agony that had been flowing through me shriveled out as everything suddenly clicked. I knew what the wolves wanted at that moment, however brief it was. Wolves hunted in packs and would stalk and test their prey to figure out the weakest member of the pack. Then, they’d push it out of the herd and pick it off at their pleasure. Hollow horror filled me, and amusement danced in the wolf’s eyes as it saw the realization hit me. Out of all of us here… the weakest member… was me…

Rage and sorrow filled me as I looked away from the wolf, indecision warring within my heart. I looked down at Mason’s body, and gripped my sword tightly. I might not want to die, but Mason… He didn’t need to die… He was just a casualty, all because I had ran back to the others, trying to warn them. They hadn’t been marking us as a group, they had been marking me! When I killed the scout and ran back to the others, I had put them all in danger… I’d risked all of their lives because I was too weak. Always because I was too weak… I should never have accepted Sarah’s invitation to join them. If I hadn’t, Mason would probably still be alive, and the others would be safe. The wolves would never have chosen to hunt them all down! Without me, everything would just be better for everyone.

The massive wolf howled, and then turned and vanished into the shadows, its eyes never leaving mine. My eyes were locked on its retreating form, and I felt a boulder form in my stomach, crushing and leaving me feeling cold and weighed down. Then my eyes went down and realized that it had left Mason behind, probably as a message. A message not just to me, but to the others as well. If you kill ours, we kill yours, and I had no doubt in my mind that they were going to follow through with that threat. Even if they had to pick each of us off, one by one. They didn’t even need to eat Mason now, they had all the time in the world.

But the others didn’t care about that, hell, I don’t even think they had even realized it. All they cared about was Mason, and helping him. They didn’t care about why the wolf had done that, or why we were all stuck in this situation. When they all saw that the wolf had left Mason’s body behind, all of them rushed forward. Sylphie, Kai, Sarah, Diane, Cyan, and Sam, even though she still had an odd halo of light still shining around her. I followed behind them, numb with rage and despair, eyeing the forest as we all gathered around Mason’s fallen body.

Sam got there first, and dropped down, tears running down her cheeks as she placed her hands over his body and some of the light around her suffused around him. Diane took a look and turned to the forest, her face red with rage, and slashed her axe through the air viciously, leaving behind a red trail. Kai groaned and leaned on me, his eyes locked on Mason’s still body. Sylphie dropped to her knees and took Mason’s limp hand, tears streaming down her cheeks as she shook with silent sobs. Cyan, even though she was always so full of life, simply stared off into the forest, her eyes emotionless. I just lifelessly stood there, as if I was watching the events unfold from afar. It was all just my… fault. My eyes darted over to where Sam was, and I belatedly watched as she started chanting, that same glow around her seeming to get brighter. Her hands passed over his body, and I sighed. Well, at least she was still trying, as little as she was going to be able to do. Cylkia had made it incredibly clear that healing spells could not revive the dead, even if you used the highest ranked one. I doubted any of us were really equipped to deal with burying a dead… body. I guess we could bury him, though I doubted he would really want to be buried here, so far from home.

I sighed and watched on, depression arcing through my body. Well, I guess that might have just been me talking for myself. I knew what I had to do, though I hated that I would have to. Man, fuck this… I don’t even know why I was complaining or thinking it over. Mason was dead, and it was all my fault. The wolf had just come to leave his body and show me that.

Sara stumbled over to me and fell on my shoulder, knocking me out of my thoughts, “Matt… Mason is going to be okay right? He can’t be dead, right? It’s Mason, he can’t be dead… He was just laughing with us earlier today! He wanted to go to the beach with all of us… He wanted to be a hero!”

I hesitated, but wrapped my arm around her along with Kai, “I… I don’t think so Sarah…”

I frowned and looked up at Sam, who’s muttering had suddenly gotten louder, drowning me out. My jaw dropped as my eyes landed at her, and that glowing aura started shining even brighter. Thick beams of light began to shoot out from her body, lighting up the forest and the wolves stalking back and forth in it. We had all taken a step back, looking away from him as we all grieved, but as Sam’s muttering turned into loud chanting, and the light show began, we all couldn’t help but take a step forward and stare in amazement. Mason’s blood soaked limp body began to twitch, and the pale skin began to slowly gain more and more color. I held my breath, hope passing through my body. The light that had been beaming from Sam, flowed from her to Mason, coalescing in a thick veil over his body. Sam, tears streaking down her face, finally stopped her chants, and fell backwards into Cyan’s arms, who had real hope and joy in her eyes now. She gasped for air as she went limp, her eyes locked on the slowly dimming Mason. My eyes flicked back to Mason, and I watched him like a hawk, waiting for what I could only barely hope to happen. Then, I almost passed out as the light went away and I saw him awaken.

Mason’s eyes twitched, his foot spasmed, and then his hands clenched, before he shot up, shaking his head and choking and spitting out blood, “Ah what… What are you all doing? It looks like you’ve all seen a ghost!”