For the first few seconds, Jack felt as if he was in a trance. He knew, objectively, that he was running. That people around him were also running. He could almost hear the screams of fear and surprise, as well as the more bestial sounds, all around him. But sound itself was indistinct. Like smoke, wafting and trailing, yet never taking on an actual shape. His own heartbeat, pulsing in his ears, was the only thing with substance. Like a continuous drumbeat, it was the only thing he could intentionally focus on. His eyes saw flashes, people running, trees fading by. He… realized that he was running. And still… it was as if he was a passenger trapped inside his own body, unable to do anything but wordlessly observe.

That all lasted until he tripped on a root and faceplanted into the forest grounds.

“…up… …running…”

“…what?” Jack asked, dizzily.

“I said, get up and keep running!” a voice ordered.

Jack obeyed, only belatedly realizing it was Elia who had screamed at him. The fall and the shouting managed to get him his feet back on the ground. He remembered why he was running and instinctively looked around. Lola and Mrk were running as well, only a few feet ahead of him. Elia, who had stopped to help him get up, was to his side. There was no sign of Mr. Veil. Instead, all around them were running villagers, fleeing without rhyme or reason.

“What’s happening?” Jack shouted at Elia.

“I don’t know. There’re monsters in the forest. That hasn’t happened since before the nymph arrived.”

“But she’s supposed to protect this forest.”

“I know!”

“Where are we going?”

“Deeper in. That’s what we used to do before the nymph. Go deep inside the forest and hope we lose the monsters. Of course, we also used to bring weapons with us, but none did this time, because we were supposed to be protected by the damned nymph!” she yelled out, frustrated.

The few running villagers that still had their wits about them gave her angry looks.

“Damn it… this mix isn’t so good. I’m running faster, but my legs are killing me.”

“Mix?”

“Herbal mix. The one I gave you to run faster.”

“Oh yeah.” Jack said, feeling at his pouch.

“Wait… you didn’t take it?” she asked, incredulously.

“I forgot.”

“Then how come you’re not tired?”

Jack didn’t notice it before, but even with him falling down, they were probably ahead of most other villagers.

“Uh, I’ve got a Skill. |Rough Walker|. Helps with walking in forests and I’m guessing running too. Also |Minor Stamina|.”

Elia would have most likely complained about the unfair lack of physical Skills in the |Herbalist| Class, but her attention switched to Mrk and Lola, who had gotten closer.

“At least you two are making use of it.”

“Didn’t. Mrk got Skill for moving too. Also, ratlings used to running away.”

“I got |Minor Endurance|. From… uh… my Class.”

“Great.” She muttered, out of breath.

“But, Elia… Will we lose them?”

“…I don’t know. Maybe if they were fewer or if we posed as some kind of a threat on our own. But we don’t have anything to fight with and if they catch us here…”

“Can’t we fight them?”

“We’re all spread out, Jack. And trees don’t make for good fighting grounds.” Elia said, looking tired, but running on. “I don’t have anything on me to deal with them either. I… we just have to keep running.”

To Jack, that didn’t look like much of an appealing option. If they stopped now, the monsters would catch up to them, before they could group together. And people would most likely trip on the uneven soil. If they kept on running, they would tire themselves out eventually. And the monsters would still catch up to them, only this time they’d find a prey too tired to fight back. They needed a defendable area.

Like a clearing.

“Elia, what about my clearing?”

“Your what?”

“Jack lives in a glade. A pretty big one. It could probably hold most of the people in this village.” Lola clarified.

“That’d be better than this, at least. How far away is it?”

Jack looked ahead with his Skill.

“Uh… I think just a few minutes of running. But it’s that way.” He said, pointing in a direction just a little to the right of the one they were heading too.

“Right. Got any weapons there? Anything to fight with?”

“Uhm… We got some sharpened sticks. Baskets, pots. Rocks… Look, we’re not fighters, alright?”

“We also got baskets of red mushrooms dust and green mushroom slime.”

“We do?”

“Yes.” Mrk said, while nodding. “Mrk collected dust, when mushrooms explode. And slime, when mushrooms melt. Wanted to see if we could sell.”

“You’re talking about the Ember Cap pollen? And the… right. I could see that working. Not on all monsters, but… Alright, this is what we’re going to do. You three, eat the herb mix I gave you. Use that speed and hurry to the clearing. Dig up whatever resources you have and wait for us.”

“’Us’?” Jack asked.

“Us. I’ll scream at every villager that still has ears, until I convince them to come to your glade. We’ll make our stand there.”

“Got it, see you at the clearing-“

“Go!”

Jack, Mrk and Lola gobbled up the foul-tasting mix. The results were immediate. It wasn’t as if a magical force was suddenly propelling them faster. Instead, whatever aches and hurts they had accumulated in their legs, disappeared. Jack himself felt as if he was running after a full night’s rest and after stretching his legs enough to be in top condition. Not majorly powerful. But it gave them just enough edge.

They got to the clearing in moments. Looking around, Jack to admit that his and Mrk’s home wasn’t what you would call martially inclined. Their shelters barely provided any cover and he could have bet they would disintegrate, if one of those wolves leapt on top of it. Their garden didn’t amount to much, if you didn’t include the borderline suicidal tactic of luring a monster into the mushroom patch.

Nah, that’d just results in a monster out to eat you and hurt you.

They had plenty of baskets and a number of pots and cups, but they weren’t of much use outside hurling them. His fire, though. That could be useful. He spotted the few sharpened sticks he had made. His ‘spears’. Given that they weren’t allowed to hunt, he only crafted a few, out of sheer boredom. It was at times like these when Jack started to resent Melena again.

Damnit Melena. Where are you?

Jack hoped this wasn’t one of Neda’s ‘tests’.

“Mrk, gather up the dust and the ooze. Get more, if you can. Lola, find any baskets and pots and bring them here. Load some of the rocks into the baskets. I’ll start a fire.”

“Fire?” Lola asked, while Mrk scurried off.

“Yeah. Some of those monsters have fur. I’m hoping it burns.” He said, a grim look on his face.

He started on his task, but it wasn’t easy. He had gotten too used to using his Skill or leaving the cooking to Mrk. The rocks he used to make sparks with kept slipping out of his hands. The fact that his body was brimming with anticipation didn’t help either. It certainly didn’t help his trembling hands. Still, he managed to light up a bundle of dried leaves and sticks, before building up the blaze and leaving some sticks around the sides, to make them catch fire on one end. Looking up, he noticed Mrk and Lola standing by him, already done on their ends.

“So… this is it. When they come, we fight.” Lola said.

“We’ll form a circle. Anyone who can fight, will face the monsters. Anyone who can’t, will stand back.” Jack said, looking meaningfully at her.

“I’m… not much use in a fight, true. But Jack, I’m afraid everyone will fight. We’ll have to, if we want to get through this alive.”

“I guess we do… We don’t have much going for us.” He shrugged.

“No. Sun almost down. When they come, we fight in dark.” Mrk pondered.

“We have torches, but… Yeah. Got any new Skills, Mrk?”

“Skills, Jack?” the ratling asked, uneasily.

“Yeah. Something of use for the fight?”

“Oh! No, Mrk got no new Skills.”

“Damn. I only got |Fast Hands| for it. I don’t think it was made for this, but maybe it’ll allow me to move my sword or knife faster. Lola?”

“Uh… I have a few Skills. But they’re not really useful in fights.” She said, blushing.

Jack realized the faux pas and was thinking of how to apologize, but got interrupted before he had the chance to put his foot in his mouth again. Coming in, running from the forest, where the villagers they had just departed from. And leading them was Elia. Blue in the face and severely out of breath.

“Ah… whew… Jack… *gasp* we’re here. …where do you need us?”

“Uh… all around?”

“…never mind. You lot, grab whatever weapons you can find. If you don’t find any, grab anything you can fight with.” She shouted at the villagers. “Jack, where’s the EmberCap pollen?”

“Is here.” Mrk said, pointing Elia towards two baskets, full of the red and green substances.

A look of genuine anguish passed over Elia’s face, perhaps at the sheer loss of coin that was about to take place. But it passed and determination quickly took its place.

“Right. Everyone who gets a stick that’s not on fire, rub into the green substance first, before rubbing into the red one. If there’s anything left, we’ll be throwing it at the monsters.”

Jack wouldn’t have thought it possible that the villagers would comply so easily to Elia’s shouted orders, but it was happening right in front of him. She wasn’t the |Village Head| or held any other leadership position. She was a |Herbalist|.

Then again, she does have a Class and those are rare enough. And her orders make sense.

Perhaps it was just that, in desperate situations, people would be more likely to follow the one who looked the least desperate.

“After you’re done, form a circle. Like we used to do before. Those who can fight, to the front. Those who cannot, to the middle. Children will stay only in the middle!” she kept on shouting.

“Jack. Mrk wants to say thank you. If we not make it.” His friend said, quietly.

“What? Mrk, what are you talking about? Of course, we’ll make it!”

“Still, Jack. Thank you.”

“Thank you too, Jack.” A voice spoke up.

“Oh, c’mon Lola. Not you too! We’ll all make it out of this. I promise!” he grinned at them.

A small smile appeared on her face at seeing that, but it was quickly wiped out by the sounds coming from the bushes.

“They’re here! Form the circle! Now!”

The next few seconds were a blur of action. The circle was formed and Jack found himself shoulder to shoulder with Mrk. He couldn’t see Elia. He could see Lola, looking back. He might have also been cynically amused at seeing the Winnow family standing in the middle of the huddle, given that they had two able bodied men in their family, but there wasn’t much time for amusement.

The monsters had started walking out of the forest.

“Gods preserve us.” A man spoke.

The echo of that sentiment was palpable. A tremor passed through the crowd, at seeing the monsters gathering. They weren’t doing it like before, with the wolf pack in front. Instead, they were mixed, moving forward slowly. They all seemed intent. Even the disfigured rabbits were stiller than usual.

“Why are they moving like that?” the man from before asked.

“Don’t know. They’re not acting like normal monsters.” Another responded.

“Keep focused.” Elia’s voice sounded. “Normal or not, they’ll attack eventually.”

And she was right. The wave of monsters moved on, for a few feet more, before sprinting towards the villagers. They were fast. And getting closer.

Fifty feet.

Twenty feet.

“They come!” Mrk snarled.

Ten feet.

The sound of the clash was loud enough to almost make Jack lose his balance. The impact wasn’t the same for everyone. Jack saw a man get pummeled into the ground by a Rockhide’s wolf leap. Another was hit by one of the rolling boulder things, but managed to stand his ground.

Jack himself was ‘fortunate’, in that he was attacked by one of the Slime Hoppers. The jumping thing hit him in the chest, before bouncing off. Unfortunately for Jack, it seemed intent on taking him on. The rabbit kicked Jack with his front legs and whenever Jack tried to hit him, either with rapier or knife, the damned thing bounced out of the way. And as the fight went on, the earth around Jack grew slippery.

Damn sleazy rabbit. I keep slipping on this.

Indeed, that seemed to be how this type of monsters hunted. Around him, more men and women were having a hard time hitting the creatures and an even harder time standing upright. It wasn’t long before the inevitable happened and a woman slipped and fell. In seconds, a score of the monster rabbits was on her, biting and dragging her away from the group. Jack didn’t see what happened to her, but he heard her screaming. And then… heard her stop screaming.

That can’t happen to me. It can’t.

His own opponent was never staying in one place, alternating between kicking at Jack and bounding out of the way of his sword. The Slime Hoppers were used to matching and exceeding a human’s speed. That is to say, a normal human.

“|Fast Hands|”.

As expected, the Skill wasn’t tailored for fighting. It was a Skill Jack got from his |Tinker| Class. Geared towards crafting, not slashing. Therefore, his arm didn’t move faster or with more force than what was usual for him. But his hand did. Only a bit of speed, but it made the knife Jack was holding in his left hand move into a defensive position faster than the rabbit had expected, if it was even capable of thought. Which meant that the rabbit didn’t kick Jack’s stomach, instead colliding with the edge of the knife. The Slime Hopper still managed to bounce off, but there was a nick in its throat. The sounds it made while bleeding where piteous, but Jack had no mercy to spare.

“Hah… Fuck you!”

Jack grinned and looked around. But everyone around him was too busy fighting to notice his glorious win. Mrk was holding on to one of the boulders and smashing it with a stone. Up close, Jack could see that the boulder had a distinctive pattern on it, reminiscing of a hide. Mrk was holding it from rolling and was trying to smash it in the eye, whenever such an eye opened on its surface. He got it on the fourth try.

“Done.” The ratling wheezed out, as it watched the boulder tremble and roll away bleeding.

He turned to Jak grinning, before his face froze.

“Down!” Mrk shouted and leapt towards Jack.

Not even knowing why he was doing it, Jack dropped to the ground and turned around, just in time to see Mrk holding on to the head of a Rockhide wolf. It was thrashing around, trying to throw him off, but the ratling was holding on for dear life, with his tails wound up around the wolf’s throat. Jack thought of it as a wolf, but it was easily the size of a pony.

“Mrk, hold it still!”

“Mrk trying!”

“Gets its jaws open!” Jack shouted, getting to his feet.

“I is not made for this!”

Jack stepped closer and thrust his rapier into the Rockhide wolf’s open mouth. The wolf crashed to the ground, its eyes rolling up into the back of its head. Warily, Mrk stood up, while Jack yanked his rapier out of the fresh corpse.

“Thanks.”

“Me too, buddy.”

They turned to see how the other villagers were faring, but to their dismay, it didn’t look like they were having much luck. A few had managed to down some monsters, a couple of them even managing to build a makeshift blockade of the monsters’ corpses, but most villagers were either barely fending off the attacks or were already down.

Jack’s stomach lurched, as he inadvertently caught sight of a few villagers’ corpses, being munched on by monsters. Even more sickening was learning that, while Slime Hoppers tore of chunks like normal animals do, though not normal rabbits, the rock monsters were simply rolling around in the spilt blood, absorbing it into their ‘skin’.

Night had fallen and the light of the torches, combined with the still lit campfire, was barely enough to make out even the closest attackers.

Still, what else could we do?

“Throw it!” Elia shouted from somewhere nearby.

Jack saw a stoppered clay pot fly through the air, until it smashed into a Rockhide wolf. It must have been the fire-mushroom dust, because the wolf instantly started howling and trashing into the earth.

“Hah! How you like the fire-mushrooms, you fuckin’ rug?” Jack shouted.

“Mrk’s mushrooms too hot for wolf!” his friend shouted.

Emboldened, the standing villagers started shouting at the monsters, some even going so far as stepping forward and attacking themselves. Meanwhile, more earthenware flew, some filled with the same red dust, while others containing the green ooze. They didn’t seem to actively harm the monsters and the boulders were unaffected by anything, until they opened their eyes, but it was highly irritating.

There was one notable exception. The red dust only had the normal effect on the Slime Hoppers, but when one of them got hit by the green ooze, the mushrooms secretion combined with its slime and started to foam, letting off a type of gas. Judging by the agonized wails, the rabbit didn’t die a peaceful death.

The monsters had mostly stopped advancing, only a few really trying to push through the villagers anymore. Jack could have sworn that his side was also out of mushroom ammunition, but the monsters were now wary of just charging in.

“They wary now!” Mrk said.

“That they are, lad.” A man next to Jack spoke. “Uh, is it… lad? You’re not one of those forever youthful species, are you?”

“Am not old.”

“…Good. And yes, they’re wary. But that’ll only last until they sense we’re out of things to hurt them with.”

Jack nodded at that. It made sense. The monsters might be intelligent, but they couldn’t understand speech. They didn’t know they were out of ooze and dust. But when they’d find out…

“Here, take these. Hand them around.” A voice from behind him spoke.

Turning around, he saw a woman holding a bunch of torches. And a bunch of spears. He could see the long sticks, sharpened on one end. It seems that while the front line was fighting, the middle of the group kept busy.

“No thanks, I already got what I need.” Jack said, gesturing at his knife and sword.

“Then spread them around. Quickly, until they start attacking again.”

He did and so did Mrk and the others around him. By the time he was done, he could see that everyone in sight was holding a spear and a torch, if they’d had nothing better than that. Considering most started this fight with either their bare fists or a torn shirt, wrapped around an arm for protection, this was most definitely an improvement.

And it didn’t stop there.

“Listen up.” Elia’s spoke up, but not quite shouted. “We’ve been loading up charcoals from the fire into baskets and pots. We don’t have many, but if you’re about to be overwhelmed, scream out and we’ll try and hit the monster attacking you.”

That seemed to put a spring into everyone’s step. Jack knew they centered this group around his campfire, but he didn’t think he would have thought of this strategy.

Elia, I’m going to get you the best ingredients you have ever seen.

But their good mood couldn’t last forever. A rock monster, perhaps miffed that its kind was getting the least part of the prey, started rolling forwards. One foot, two feet, five feet. Once it made it about halfway, it suddenly picked up speed and hit a villager in the shin. Which, though it must have hurt, wasn’t terribly alarming. The fact that, after that, all other monsters attacked, was.

Just as before, the sound of the clash was deafening.

This time, Jack was the one who got to tangle with a Rockhide wolf. It wasn’t as big as the leader of the pack he had seen before, but it still came up to Jack’s chest and, not to forget, it was a wolf. Its fangs were as long as Jack’s fingers and its claws were sharp. Sharp enough that, after the first bite didn’t manage to tear Jack’s throat off, courtesy of a well-timed dodge, one claw filled paw teared at Jack’s chest. He managed to step back in time and that, combined with what little protection his stick-armor provided, was enough to keep him alive. Though, alive is the salient aspect of this entire ordeal. His chest was bleeding and the remains of his armor fell to pieces around him.

Fuck, this stings. Can’t take another hit like it.

The monster stepped back as well, perhaps sensing that his prey needed more than a hack and slash attack. Jack raised his rapier and his knife, though he knew neither was sharp enough to do much damage to the monster’s hide. He still considered himself lucky though. Most people around him only had wood to fight with, instead of metal.

A flash of fire flew to his right and the light distracted the monster enough to make it glance away, in the middle of its push. Jack seized the moment and attacked, slashing at the wolf’s snout. His blade bounced off its muzzle, but by a stroke of luck, pricked the wolf’s eye. It yelped and jerked, while Jack drew back, before turning a single eye towards him. A single, furious eye.

Shit.

The next attack pushed Jack off his feet. The wolf was on top of him in a second and it was purely a reflexive action that saved Jack again. His hand came up and with it, his sword. The blade got caught sideways, between the wolf’s jaws. It snarled and tried to bite at Jack even so, the edge of the blade managing to cut into its skin. Hot blood dripped over Jack’s face, even as the wolf tried to use his paw to claw at Jack’s body. It only half succeeded, scoring a few deep cuts, but being repelled most of the time by Jack’s knife. Jack wasn’t dead yet, which was a surprise in his opinion, but neither did he have any chance of getting up. And he correctly deduced that he would tire out much faster than the pony sized monster.

“Help! I need help!” he called out.

Even with the wolf’s jaws close enough to his face, that he could feel the warmth of its breath, Jack could still glimpse flashes of falling fire. Baskets of coals, he thought, helping others that were in need. He dearly wished he would be helped too, since he was clearly in need as well.

Wait. Fire!

|A Fire a Day|!” he roared.

And nothing happened. His Skill only worked once a day, but the new day mustn’t have started yet.

The wolf was now completely on top of him, obscuring his entire field of view. He didn’t see, he didn’t hear anything, but the wolf. In that moment, only the two of them existed. Another push from the monster made him drop his knife, requiring both hands to hold the sword and keep the wolf away from his throat. A small blessing was that the monster was too enraged to claw at him anymore, simply trashing and trying to yank Jack’s sword out of his hands.

“Help!” he yelled harder.

This is it.

He truly thought he was about to die. And he would have, if another figure hadn’t entered the scene. Jack heard running footsteps, quicker than should be possible. Something touched the ground around him, before calling out.

“|Backstab|!”

The monster roared out, stepping back and trashing wildly. It was arching its back, trying to get at something on it. Or better said, at someone. It was Mrk who had saved Jack, jumping on the monster’s back and stabbing it. With Jack’s knife, he saw.

But… how?

Jack got up to his feet, wasting no more time on purposeless questions. His friend was the one that was now inches away from death, so he had no time to waste. Jack stepped forward and tried to slashed at the wolf again. His sword came away with no blood being drawn, but at least it commanded the monster’s attention.

Right, too tough to cut. Just pierce.

One eye, full of malice was staring at Jack. The wolf crouched, preparing for another leap, when the ratling yanked the knife out and stabbed it down again, screaming. Only this time, it simply glanced off the hide.

“Mrk, stab the eye! Just the eye!” Jack screamed.

Perhaps sensing their intentions, the wolf started thrashing again, like a horse trying to throw off its rider. Jack tried to step closer, only to almost get knocked down by the erratic monster. Mrk, for his part, was barely capable of holding on to its fur. Again, perhaps sensing the futility of what it was doing, the monster abandoned his current course of action and gave in to its rage. With a bestial howl, it bull-charged Jack. He went down hard, with his sword flying out of his hand. Two huge jaws came down, aiming at Jack’s face, before a lit torch hit it in the head, making it flinch back. Jack didn’t know who it was that helped him, but used this distraction to get up and back off.

More constructively, Mrk also used this distraction. And used it to knife the monster in its sole remaining eye. It howled and didn’t as much thrash around as it threw itself on the ground, rolling as if it was on fire. That gave Mrk the opportunity to get off and run away. In seconds, he was by Jack’s side, handing him his knife.

“Dropped this.” He said, breathing hard.

“Mrk.” Jack said. “Buddy, I owe you my life. I can’t… I can’t thank you enough.”

“Jack no need thanks.”

“No, Mrk-“

“But Jack can give Mrk knife.” The ratling grinned.

A surprised laugh came out from Jack, before he handed the knife back to his friend.

“You- fine” he said, laughing. “And I’ll buy you some meat too.”

“Mrk thinks I should save Jack more often.”

“Jack thinks Mrk right.” He said, picking up his rapier from the ground.

Life saved, Jack used those few seconds of peace to scan his surroundings. It wasn’t that the fight was going well, for the villagers, but neither were they dying. He could see burning baskets still flying around, thrown on the monsters, to help those who were in most need of help. More men and women had died, but so did the monsters. There was now a line of corpses separating the two sides. Jack thought that even if Melena didn’t show up, they might still live to see the next day.

And as fate often wished to prove others wrong, that was when the leader of the pack strode forward. It might have only been the leader of the Rockhide pack, but all the other monsters were giving it a wide berth. While it stepped forward, the monsters stepped back. At first, some cheers were heard, perhaps from those thinking that the monsters were finally fleeing. After that, only silence.

Somehow, Jack got the sense that this monster never came out on hunts, preferring to let the pack take down prey. It was big, as tall as a horse and while the wolves had been snarling, this one simply strode forward, no care in the world.

If this monster was a human, it would be looking down on us.

It stopped, fifteen feet away from the group and eyed them for only a second. The next, he let out something between a howl and a roar. The effect was immediate. Jack fell down to his knees and noticed the that the others had as well. After barely a few heartbeats, there was no one else standing.

What… is this?

It was similar to what happened with the Ball Bats. Only… more so. He felt afraid, yes, but also drained. Like there was no use in fighting back. No use in resisting. All he had done, all their efforts had been in vain. They would be eaten alive and there was no one left to save them.

Melena. Damn it, why did you abandon us? We need you… we need your Skills… we need…

Skills.

His Gift. That was what Jack had remembered, though only too late to matter. His barely understood gift, the one he half-wished to use in becoming a warrior or learning magic. He had met a being of otherworldly might and she had given him a gift.

And he had forgotten about it.

He tried to speak the words, to use the Gift, but nothing came out. There was no more fight in him.

“Jack.” A voice croaked behind him.

Looking back, he saw Lola, dragging herself towards him. He noticed that while most men and women were on their knees, a few were laying flat on the ground. Mrk was managing to kneel, but he was using his tail for support.

“Jack, I’m scared.” She cried.

“Me too. I… I have something I could use. But I can’t.”

“Skill?” Mrk asked.

“Gift. From Rosa. I… forgot about it.” Jack confessed, ashamed of himself.

In the end, I’m the one who lets everyone die. Because of sheer stupidity. What a sad, short, shitty life.

“Mrk happy to die with you. Mrk happy to die… among friends.” His friends slowly said, tears rolling down his whiskers.

“Me too.” Lola cried. “I’m happy to have met you Jack. And you Mrk. These last few days… I was happy.”

As they talked, the Rockhide pack leader approached, the other monsters a moving wave behind it. There was a kind of cold intelligence behind its eyes. It was savoring this moment. Enjoying their fear of the inevitable.

Jack tried one last time. He raised his hand towards the coming death.

“|Gift… |Gift of… I can’t.” he said, though he kept his arm up by sheer stubbornness.

The wolf had hesitated for a second, but renewed his approach. It seemed almost amused.

“You tried to use it? This Gift?” Lola asked.

“Yeah. But… I can’t. I’m sorry.” He muttered.

“But… you can use it? It’s not… like your fire Skill, where you can only use it once a day?”

“I can only use it once. But I can use it when I want. It’s just… I don’t have it in me.”

“Because of the monster?”

“Yeah.” Jack said, eyeing the wolf with as much malice as he was capable in his state.

“Oh… if this doesn’t work, Jack, then thank you again. For everything.” She said, placing her hand atop his. “|Renewed Vigor|.”

It was as if something inside Jack broke through the gloom and despair. He still felt somewhat tired and his wounds still hurt. But his mind was racing. He didn’t even understand why he felt like he did, up until a moment ago. The monster was on them, but so what? He wasn’t going to let his friends die. He wasn’t going to let anyone die.

What a cheap trick you used, you worthless sack of fur.

Seeing the change in Jack’s posture, the monster took no chances. It took off roaring, aiming for a running leap. At his back, the wave of monsters charged. Death was coming.

But then again, Jack thought, so what?

“|Gift of the Bloom|!”