I don’t know how much time has passed or where I am, but I began regaining my senses little by little. I felt my bare back was laid on the hard floor with a smooth texture, most likely porcelain which would me I was inside a building.

I felt small, soft hands on the base of my stomach working there was up in a diagonal matter separating before converging in the same manner at on my chest.

I could feel my fingers and toes; I knew I was still in one piece.

That was good this must mean that I was found by a human and not a monster.

The hand kept caressing me and feeling on various ends of my body, the source of the hands avoided my private areas, and was very gentle; it felt good like the touch of a masseuse.

I spoke too soon on the avoiding my private areas. Now the unnamed hands were just wondering to wherever its curiosity took them.

My hearing was returning to me. It started with a ringing in my ears, but it became clearer over a few minutes and I heard a soft, feminine voice.

“Thank you. Thank you… thank you… you saved her. I promise I will pay this debt back in full.”

I could not yet confirm with my vision, but the source of the voice repeated that same sentence at least ten times.

Her hands kept wondering.

“You certainly aren’t a just a boy.”

Well, thank you.

I heard a door open.

“Mom, what are you doing?” This voice was also familiar to me, but I couldn’t confirm it without my sight.

I felt her body jump from the surprising new addition to the room.

“Hi Sally, don’t frighten me. I was checking him over for any new wounds that might have caused his current condition. There could be a delayed onset.”

“Ok whatever, can you just step back Vera is on her way back with the warm water to wipe him down.” The new voice, Sally, didn’t sound like it believed the load of crap that was being fed to her.

But the mention of Vera made me more comfortable. I was in Good hands, I was found by a familiar party that brought me back to the school. I was happy to hear to my Vera is thriving and interacting with other people.

A period sized hole of light pierced the dark void my conscious was trapped in. It gradually became bigger and bigger. I began focusing with all my might on this light and the bickering of the two ladies faded into the back ground.

“Argh.”

My body felt unbelievable stiff.

“”Huh!!””

I came too and managed to get into an upright position.

“Mr. Jordan!”

Bang!

, the sound of the pot hitting the floor echoed through the room as Vera dropped it and made a mad dash to me. She dove into my chest with no restraints as I was rubbing my eyes trying to get my vision to adjust.

Thud.

She bounced off my chest with little feedback to me and rolled back onto the ground. That didn’t stop her she crawled back to me and threw her arms around me while sobbing into the side of my neck.

“I was so worried! We couldn’t find what was wrong! We tried very hard! I was so scared,” She was getting more hysterical with every word that came out her mouth.

“Oh Vera calm down, I’m fine and you were just growing out of the endless crying phase you big cry baby, “I said teasingly.

“Your body was dragged here!!” She stopped crying, but now she was fuming. I honestly preferred the crying I’ve never seen her this way. “I told you to not be reckless! I told you to come back safely! You promised you would never leave me! If they didn’t find you who knows what would’ve happened!”

I sincerely regret teasing her. The rage she was unleashing on me was intimidating. For someone with a racial affinity for light the darkness oozing off her was like a blackout. I and the other occupants in the room shuddered back a little.

Sitting to my right was Sarah and a young lady I believed she call Sally while I was out. They looked very similar so I assumed it was the daughter she was looking for. She also looked very familiar.

Vera handed me a blanket which I wrapped around my exposed lower body.

“You’re the young lady that led the other women back to the school,” I said.

I did my best to avoid Vera’s eyes and try to change the subject and by the grace of God she relented and followed my eyes to Sally.

Sally Stevenson Lv 3

Apprentice magician Lv 4

Impressive.

Vera Lv 4

And Vera leveled up while I was out? I distinctly recall telling her to remain in the room until I was back. That means I’m not the only one who will be getting yelled at. Having that ammo in the back of my mind bought me more joy than it should’ve.

“Yes that is right, I was the girl. I don’t know how I can thank you from saving me from that hell. A lot of the girls mentally broke and prayed for their death more than their salvation,” She explained.

“It was a no brainer, so it no big deal. So why didn’t you break down? You’re so young it’s hard to imagine you being so unaffected,” I asked Sally.

Her expression changed, she was wearing a soft smile and was looking in a dark corner at the room at nothingness, and her thoughts were wondering somewhere else completely.

“I was raised by Sgt Lance Stevenson of the Marine FORECON he drilled mental fortitude in me daily. He claimed since I was his oldest I had to be the toughest but one of his brothers in arms told me my dad didn’t want any boys taking advantage of me while I was having a weak moment.”

“Sounds like he is a wonderful man, can I ask you another question?”

“Off course anything,” her response was vibrant and the determination in her voice made it seem like I could ask for her hand in marriage and she wouldn’t bat an eye.

“What’s your level?” I asked even though I knew.

“Currently I am Lv3 with an Apprentice magician job at Lv 4,” she answered without hesitation.

“I see you did a fair bit of fighting.”

“Not really, When we were locked in that hell, to force our way through I pushed over a isle rack in the store crushing a hoard of them all at once and my level jumped to three all at once,” She explained.

“I see then how did you get your apprentice magician job to level four?”

“It grew gradually as I kept using it. I used my Life Magic skills that came with the job to clean the water we were drinking in the bathroom, clean the area, and try to keep the suffocating odor out. Before I knew it made it to level four.”

Life Magic…. I need to look through the skills inventory again. I didn’t recall seeing it, but I jumped from Apprentice Magician to Earth Mage relatively fast I may have over looked it.

“I see, thank you. I’m happy you’re safe. How long was I out?” I asked.

“It’s been about 24hours,” Sarah answered.

“Mr. Jordan, what lead to this situation?” Vera asked quizzically.

“I’m honestly not sure, when I was preparing to deliver the finishing blow on a retreating foe, my head began feeling like it was going to explode so I retreated to the nearest life source and fainted.”

“You were recovered by one of Daniel’s men that were trailing you at a safe distance. We passed him during our retreat. I begged him to go help you, but he was too much of a coward,” Sally said with her fist clenched.

I see, so they had me tailed. Well it didn’t matter that may have saved my life. I was semi concerned that he seen me running at full speed and probably reported that to the Watt’s by now, but I didn’t really care.

“Were you sickly when you were younger Mr. Jordan?”

“Not with a body like tha---”

“Sally! I’m sorry for her,” Sarah jumped in to cut off her daughters lust charged comment.

“It’s fine, but to answer your question Vera no I wasn’t. I couldn’t afford to get sick growing up I had a lot of people to look out for, so I took very good care of my body. Speaking of which, can I ask why I’m naked?”

All of them became beet red and all avoided making eye contact with me earnestly for the first time.

“Wel..We…Well Mr.Jordan, what happened was…it’s simple really. We had to do a full body inspection to see what the source of your injury was. Then I was going to clean you up. We didn’t find anything so we were stumped I thought it may have been something you at.”

Was it? I couldn’t think of a reason either

“I see, thank you. Anyways let’s start moving. Can someone tell me the results of the hunt?”

I went in my storage via my book bag and removed a change of cloth similar to what I was wearing before. I could still see the sun outside the window, so it was still the daytime, and I was starving.

“Well Mr. Jordan, The hunt was meager. I managed to strike down ten horned rabbits on my own after I insisted on being allowed to participate, but in total we came away with sixteen.” Vera was the one who responded with the results.

Well that explains her level growth.

“Oh, so after I asked you to remain indoors, you decided to join the hunt,” I said with a wry smile.

“Jordan things aren’t good outside,” Sarah inputted.

“Well things haven’t been good since---”

“No not that, all our food was prepared and the hunt didn’t turn out enough to feed more than 30 of the nearly 500 people here. Joseph has demanded everyone be armed and force to participate in a night hunt.” Sarah cut me off and advised me of the seriousness of the situation.

“That’s not the worst part Mr. Jordan. Last night after the Gongs sounded, I heard the howls of black wolves,” Vera added.

“Black wolves? What can you tell me about black wolves in comparison to goblin grunts?” I asked.

“There is no comparison sir. They’re bigger, stronger, among the fastest of monster, and built to kill. They are fearsome predators. They hunt in packs of 10-20 and are intelligent beast.”

“I see so we have to stop this hunt tonight or it might be a massacre.”

“No Mr. Jordan, It will be a massacre. “

I guess I won’t be getting a break.

My body began feeling better after every passing second. I felt really good overflowing with more vigor than I remembered having.

“Ohh before I go Sarah, we will talk about your “checking” later,” I added.

She was at a loss for words after, she realized she was caught red handed and simply nodded.

Status.

…………

………..

………….

What The fuck?

Name: Jordan Cain

Level: 173

Job: Supreme Earth Mage, Assassin lv1, Beast Master lv1

HP: 7,760

MP: 6,289

Attack: 3,081

Defense: 2,687

Magic Affinity: 1,884

Magic Def: 1,859

Speed: 3,125

Dexterity: 2,440

Job Points: 2,175

Skill Points: 4,355

Skills: Advance Earth Manipulation lv 8; Blade Skill Lv 6; Body strengthening Lv 5; Beast Dominance Lv 5; Low Tier Fire Magic Lv 4; Detect Life Lv 4; Danger sense Lv 4; Increased endurance Lv 4; Attentive Hearing Lv 3; Enhance vision Lv 3; Night vision lv 3; Beast Communication Lv 3; Casting Termination skill Lv1 ; Paralysis resistance Lv 1; Fear resistance Lv 1; Poison Resistance Lv 1; Cold Resistance Lv 1; Heat Resistance Lv 1; Low Tier Water Magic Lv 1; Low Tier Wind Magic Lv 1; Mount Supremacy Lv 1; Silent Movement Lv1; Reduced MP Consumption Lv 1; Increased MP Recovery speed; Lv 1; Petrification Resistance Lv1; Charm Resistance Lv 1; Psychic Resistance Lv 1

My level skyrocketed! I assume It was the experience I received from blowing those goblins to hell. Maybe that’s what caused me to blackout. I grew too fast too quickly.

It was going to take some time to go through these so I tabled it for later.

After I was fully equipped and ate a small meal from my “book bag.”

I exited the classroom we were using as our room with Vera following behind me. Sarah gathered her sons who were outside playing and brought them back to the room. She decided her and her kids were going to stay behind because they needed to talk, was what I was told.

The hallway was lined with lockers and entrances to other class rooms, but was still dark. The only source of light was the sunlight shining in through both ends of the hall way. As we proceeded to the exit it opened into three way intersection. If I continued to the straight I would walk into another hallway and to the left were three sets of double doors leading onto the 2nd floor walk way.

I proceed to the exit and where I heard the Joseph’s voice booming.

I made my way to a guard rail where I could see what was going on.

There were about 250 civilians all adult males. Lined up in neat military style columns, I was impressed by their organization. When I looked closely it changed to disappointment. They looked like a rag tag group of misfits. There were some in makeshift gear and others were wearing nothing but the cloth on their backs.

“Tonight we will show them human superiority!” Joseph was riling them up with a fire and brimstone speech. “We will go into the night and conquer it! Because that’s what we are! We are humans and we are conquers!”

“Conquers!”

“Conquers!”

The crowd chanted with him.

I had to give him credit he was an emphatic speakers and it’s easy to tell he was some form of politician before everything changed.

“He’s foolish,” Vera commented.

“Indeed. I don’t see Tyler or Daniel so let’s see if we can find them.”

I assumed they would still be in the front office which served as their rooms and base of operation. The problem was we were at the West end of the campus his office was to the East on the first floor. In order to get there we needed to go through the large congregation on the 1st floor.

“Let’s go Vera,”

“Yes sir.”

The stairs we took to the first floor brought us directly behind Joseph who was still addressing the crowd on an elevated 3rd step.

When he turned and realized who I was he had a wicked grin on his face as we made eye contact.

“Look at this Heathen!” He has bought one of those monsters on our grounds!”

He of course was talking about Vera, who was clinging to me, but surprisingly didn’t duck behind me or wasn’t shaking in fear.

“That is not little girl! That is a monster child from the other world seeking to destroy our lands! He allowed it on our lands!”

I wasn’t getting as angry as I did the last time because Vera showed less reaction to him. He was impart helping her grow more courageous.

There was a stir through the crowd as they began talking amongst themselves. Truth is Vera was far more popular here than me because of her cuteness she stood out. So a lot more people knew her, and most knew the word monster wasn’t the appropriate world to condemn her with.

More murmurs began rising up though the crowd

“The huntress?”

“She’s adorable could she be a monster?”

“My son played with her yesterday”

But there was also an overwhelming amount of people who agreed with Joseph. Of course he wasn’t foolish enough to make any physical moves because of the example I set last time. He was trying to isolate me and making me seem like the enemy of man.

I stepped up next to Joseph and we stood shoulder to shoulder.

I forcefully cleared my throat.

“Anyone who leaves this compound tonight will die,” My message was clear and hid nothing between the lines.

Murmurs rose through the crowd, a lot of people didn’t know who I was, but they did hear my message.

“You all are foolish to risk your lives for someone who hasn’t left this place since, he’s gotten here. Ask him. Was he planning on leading this expedition tonight?” I continued.

Joseph’s expression was warped with rage as the crowd began discussing it among themselves.

But, I was done here. This isn’t what I came here to do. At that very moment I decided it was almost time to move on from this place. It wasn’t the home I wanted. Anyplace where someone was deemed a monster for a reason as simple as being different was no place I wanted to be.

“What will you do then? Will you starve? Joseph barked at the confused crowd. “The day hunt was fruitless! Our food stores have been depleted! If you don’t hunt you don’t eat! Conquer!”

The crowd started their conquering chants again and I left them to their own devices as we made our way to the main office.

“Vera, this might not be the right home for us.”

“Mr. Jordan, my home is wherever you are. As long as you’re there I can call it home.”

She was a really sweet girl. I enjoyed seeing her growing as a person more and more every day.

The door to the main office was open so I let myself in. My skills confirmed the entire Watt family was here; they were all gathered in the conference room where we had to original meeting.

“Ah, Jordan, please come in. I must thank you for freeing those girls. Most are still recovering emotionally and spiritually with the help of the healers, but without your help this wouldn’t have been possible.” Tyler Watt was the first to greet me sitting at the far end of the table facing the door.

“It’s only natural that we should help each other during this rough time”, I replied.

They were all sitting around the table eating what resembled a thanksgiving dinner. There was a flame roasted horned rabbit on a silver dish at the center of the table.

“I’m sure you’ve heard,” Daniel began to address me, but his attitude left a lot to be desired his head was hung low, he looked ashamed to be speaking to me. “My big hunt plan was a complete bust. It shames me to see that you did the most fearsome job and I couldn’t live up to the one part I said I was going to take care of.”

“I see so that what this is about. You’re pretty hard on yourself.”

“This is the last of our food; we decided to eat it as a family. Joseph has taken control of this city with promises of prosperity and hope. People just believe all the foolishness he’s spewing because there is nothing left to believe. I’m a fake leader, everything about me is fake even my level.”

“No my son, you mustn’t speak like that”, Barbara, his mom, put her arms around her sobbing son trying to console him.

“I’m a diesel mechanic and a part time bus driver here,” he continued, “the night all this started I was driving a bus I finished repairing back to the school. Suddenly it cut off and a goblin ran out onto the road. I swerved thinking it was a kid. I lost control of the bus and it flipped over and started rolling down the street. While the bus was flipping it took out a large squadron of goblins and I was given credit for the kills.”

“That doesn’t make you fake”, to my surprise Vera stepped out from my shadow, eyes brimming of confidence and rebutted Daniel’s claim. “My grandmother taught me that luck is as much of a skill as an ability to swing a sword. Embrace your luck because luck is a gift from the Gods.”

Hearing Vera’s words Daniel finally picked up his head and gazed at her with a look of hope and wiped the tears that were forming in his eyes.

“Are there any buses in the bus loop here?” My question was directed at Tyler Watt.

“Yes, I believe there are seven, but as you know they are useless,” He answered.

I thought of something, but it may be a long shot.

Daniel stood from his chair with newfound confidence, interrupting my thought process.

“What do you think of the plan for a night hunt,” He asked, but his question wasn’t directed to me, it was directed to Vera.

Seeing it warmed my heart. He was looking to her for help. Small steps like this will go a long way in raising her confidence.

She still retreated to slightly behind me and was holding my shirt so tight I was confident she would wrinkle it but, “I think it’s a very bad idea, if the black wolves are in the area they will kill them all in an attempt to claim this new territory as their own.” She found it in her to answer.

The answer however wasn’t what he hoped to hear.

“Jordan, please help them,” He asked me.

“I don’t know who you think I am, but you’re asking a lot. I actually came in here to give you a heads up that I was leaving soon.”

All sense of hope left the room at the end of my sentence a look of dread began to creep its way back on the faces of the Watt family.

“However, I’d like to propose a trade. I’ll accompany them on the hunt tonight for the buses in the bus loop.”

“Deal!” Tyler couldn’t have answered any faster.

“Mr. Jordan, I don’t know about this.”

“I’ll be ok Vera, I promise,” I said to her before switch my attention to the Watt’s, “that being said, just because I am going, doesn’t mean I’ll be able to do much to help.”

“I’m well aware of that, but even if you are able to save the lives of ten of the hundreds. I can only be grateful.” Tyler genuinely seemed to care about the people of this makeshift city as if they were his own. He had to right personality to be a principle, whose job it was to oversee an entire student body as well as faculty.

After that we sat with the Watt family after their insistence and ate with them while talking until the sunset. They were a very nice family. Good people like them aren’t seen a lot in the world. They were curious on what my plans were after leaving here, but I honestly didn’t have any plans yet.

A few hours later, I was ready to set off to join the large hunting army that was gathering in the courtyard.

“Daniel, Vera will stay here with you please make sure nothing happens to her.”

“I will look after her, I promise.”

“Why can’t I come? I can help you. As you’ve seen I’m a skilled hunter” She began trying to negotiate with me.

“This is your punishment for going on the hunt after I expressly told you to stay in the room until I returned.”

That was enough to end her negotiation attempt. Much to the entertainment of the Watt family, whom she’d grown comfortable with.

She was probably right though, but there were more cons than pros to bringing her with me. For starters she was still only level four. If these black wolves are as she said they would be far more superior. She used a bow as her primary weapons, and while she has amazing vision she doesn’t have night vision. Also asking her to use light magic would cause her to stand out way too much and she would end up targeted first.

It was about 8pm when I joined everyone in the courtyard prior to the departure. The light the sun produced was now gone, the atmosphere was chilled, and there was an eerie silence on the opposite side of the fence. The new moon was hiding in the sky.

I didn’t see Joseph anywhere, so I assumed my deduction was right and that he wasn’t participating in this hunt.

People can be so stupid sometimes.

One of his goonies was here in his place leading everyone out the gates. My night vision skill was active, but the people here would be hard pressed to see three inches in front of their faces. Some of the less equipped people were assigned as torch holders and we filed out in a discombobulated line. There was no kind of grace to be seen here.

I mixed myself in with everyone else trying to keep a low profile. They were marching northwest away from the school. My detect life skill was being bombarded because of the large crowd so I was force to switch it off and paid full attention to my danger sense. I was going to have to participate in this hunt the old fashion way.

But, is this really a hunt? It began to cross my mind that this was very inefficient. Hunting parties were meant to be small and stealthy. What creature can we sneak up on with a group of 250 people? This entire arrangement was simply asinine.

There was a gentle breeze out tonight it felt very nice, to me at least. There were some among us who weren’t dressed properly and were shivering. We were walking down the six lane road way avoiding the abandon cars left in the middle of the street. We were still in an area that was regularly patrolled by the street so a lot of the cars look to have been broken into and raided for supplies.

We walked for a little more than a mile, this area was still a city scape and we were approaching a large shopping center.

“This must be what they meant by hunting.”

It seem as though they were searching for goblins while also looking to gather supplies for abandon stores.

In the shopping center we arrived at was bigger than most of the one’s I’ve passed thus far, and was featured by a large Paul-Mart Supercenter with hair salons, fast food joints, an electronic repair store, gas station, and a furniture store.

I had a small twitch to leave these sheep’s to their business and go raid the furniture store, but that would mean failing to live up to the word I gave the Watt’s.

A small blip on my danger sense reoriented me and I picked my head up and began focusing on my surroundings. They were still marching senselessly to the store, so I assumed no one picked it up.

“Was I mistaken?’ I began to question myself.

But, something was off. The area seemed a little darker than it was. I continued looking around until I found a piece of wood that was being used as a torch lying lonely on the ground.

“We are under attack! Everyone we need to get out of here.”

My warning caused a panic and everyone started looking around at their surroundings. Things were about to erupt into chaos as everyone was going to make a mad dash back to the stores until.

“Everyone chill out!” the booming voice of Joseph goonies chased away the anxiety everyone was feeling. “Consider the source, it’s this kid. He’s one of the Watt’s puppets. He’s clearly here to sabotage Joseph’s good name.”

Puppets?

I put my hand on the hilt of my machete as I considered taking his tongue out of his mouth for insulting me. He felt my frigid blood lust and stepped back in fear, but it was too late. His comments reached the ears of everyone gathered and they began agreeing with him.

In those few seconds I was distracted the atmosphere grew darker again. This time eight out torches were rolling across the asphalts parking lot.

There was only eight left. If those torches went out it would be pitched black out here.

As another small blip on my danger sense happened.

“Look out they are targeting the people with torches!” I screamed at a torch hold toward the back of the congregation and everyone turned to look at this poor random soul.

Then like a shark out of water, massive jaws emerged for what seemed to be nothingness, it wrapped it’s jaws horizontally around his head, then decapitated him before disappearing into the darkness once again. Another creature emerged and grabs his body before it had a chance to hit the floor and was gone.

To everyone without a night vision skill it would still have been very hard to grasp what just occurred using the light from the torch alone. The entire chain of events happened in less than two seconds.

But, I saw it. Massive pack of beasts had us completely surrounded in the parking lot. These creatures were black everywhere except the white of their eyes. They had paws that would put a bear to shame and were as big as a moose.

My AR display identified them as Black Wolves

“These are wolves?” I asked myself. They we all level 40 and up from what I could see there was twenty of them. I felt cold swept beginning to form on my forehead as I realized the situation we were in.

Vera tried to warn us.

These monsters were skilled enough stealth hunters to hide their killing intent from my danger sense.

The crowd was stunned into silence. I began analyzing what to do mentally, my plan was to gather the people tight and form and earthen dome protecting everyone until.

But I needed to get everyone in tight, to use the Earth magic here I needed to added almost 30% more mana to get in to break through the asphalt.

“Run!!!” One of the hunters yelled and ran with two others into the direction of the store. Their bodies faded into the darkness accompanied by the sounds of their sneakers tapping rapidly on the asphalt, and nonstop screams.

Unfortunately I was able to see their fate before them. The screaming of all three people stopped suddenly and was replaced by the grotesque sound of bones crunching.

They ran blindly into the center of the wolves’ formation. They rearranged their formation and were no longer surrounding us. Now they were aligned in more a “U” shape, with the opening being from the direction we just came

A few of them emerged from the shadows with arms and legs of our dead allies in their mouth.

“Ahhhhhh!!!”

More frantic screams filled followed after everyone realized what happen to the three people that made a mad dash to the plaza. Then like a dam bursting, the crowd of people all began to run back from where we came.

There was no way for me to regain control here. Following the sudden rise in activity the wolves were spurred into action. They started running through the crowd, grabbing a random individual before darting back out into the darkness. A few of the wolves didn’t care about the consequences and jumped into the center of the crowd grabbed a body and stood there firm shaking it from side to side and slamming it into the floor like they were chew toys.

The sight of someone dying a death like this combined with the reveal of what was hunting them caused all logic to fall to the back of everyone’s mind and people erupted in to a mad dash in every direction but north.

The people who were running to the east and west were being cut down at a much faster rate, so people started heading south, which I was sure was what the wolves wanted.

I seen a few people attempt jump in the broken down car which was a good idea of these were dogs, but these were complete monsters.

The wolves smashed the window out the door with its paws then, grabbed the door in its jaws and effortlessly ripped it off the hinges. The man in the car was kicking and screaming on the back seat trying to get away, but it ended with his blood splashing on the back window of the car.

After a few minutes the escape attempt became slightly more organized and now people were spread across the six lane road running towards the school, but there was still a little over a mile to go.

If the wolves really wanted to turn things up I was confident that they could kill everyone here well before we arrived. At this moment they were just coasting and observing us, we were being herded like cattle.

As an avid manga reader I found myself to have a new found respect for protagonist. I was thinking of everything I could to save lives here. I thought about creating a massive stone wall separating the wolves running on the edges from the group, but there were wolves also running in the center of the group and that would only serve to locking them in a box with a group of people. I thought about creating elevations of stone and raising people above the wolves, but no one is listening to me and running frantically if I raised the ground under them they would simply keep running and fall to their death.

I’ve always been the type of guy that could find the obvious solution to problems while I was kicked back in my bed reading. But, I was total stumped on how to figure this out. I needed to give credit to people who could be in such a high stress environment and think clear enough to analyze the pros and cons of your decisions.

To compare go kick a Rottweiler in the balls and do your multiplication table while you run.

The wolves were also very cautious of me. They made it so that I didn’t have the ability to change the outcome solo.

“Please stop! Spare these people; you’ve hunted plenty to eat!” I begged with my beast communication skill, but my pleads fell on deaf ears as the scoffed completely ignoring me.

So I finally decide to go on the offensive. With my machete in hand I dash towards one of the wolves running alongside the crowd of people with intent to kill. It responded with a shallow howl and retreated away further and further pulling me away from the group. I heard cries of pain and the sound of death circulating within the group again.

“I see,” I thought to myself.

If I decide to go on the offensive and target one wolf in particular the remaining nineteen moved in and returned the favor.

“hahakekekeke”

There was no mistake that was the laugh of the wolf mocking my failed attempts.

I just couldn’t figure it out. What’s the plan? Why are the wolves herding these people like this? Was it food? No that couldn’t be right they didn’t eat anyone of the people they’ve killed thus far.

“For fun.”

Vera’s word began to ring in my mind.

The group was running for about ten minutes. People were running out of stamina and the pace was on a gradual decline. Some people just couldn’t keep up opting to accept their fate and gave up.

I ultimately came up with a plan of action; I couldn’t allow these monsters to get into the school. It was hard for me to accept that no matter what I did here, a lot of people would die.

I charged to the front of the group leaving them behind. After I reach about 10 yard ahead with a massive stomp on the ground along with ¾ of my mana a large wall emerged from the ground.

IRON STONE WALL

The wall stretched the width of the six lane road. Three additional walls emerged adjacent to the front wall forming a massive cube.

I created eight small entrances that stretched horizontally on the front wall of the cube. The entrances were narrow enough to only allow for a single person to enter and short enough to require anyone over 6ft wound have to duck to enter. The important aspect was that there was no way the wolves would be able to make it through here. I used the last ¼ of my mana to make flames that would help identify the entrance.

I began to feel the effects of mana exhaustion for the first time. I didn’t black out largely due to my own will power, Reduced MP Consumption,and Increased MP Recovery speed skills. But I was still feeling very woozy.

“Everyone enter here!” I yelled from atop of the structure I just created.

The crowd identified the structure as a sanctuary and all hell broke loose. Everything became about the preservation of self and it became every man for them self. Multiple people raced to one entrances and pushed each other out the way to secure an entrance. It reminded me of Black Friday, but a much bloodier version.

People were pushing each other down and out of the way. People were being trampled to death, someone was pushed while running to an entranced causing him to trip and his head slammed into the wall.

Unfortunately, this was the best I could do. We were running on asphalt which I couldn’t manage directly with earth magic.

I watched the mayhem unfold as I allowed my mana to recover. The wolves began to see what was going on and charged into attack. I jumped down from my perched position to intervene, but the black wolves reacted accordingly. They were still playing hit and run with me. One wolf would show himself to me, which would cause me to react and get out of position then the others would jump behind me and take a life with them once they retreated. This outlined the difference in our experience. These creatures have been hunting all their life.

Nonetheless, after a few more minutes there was no longer any living man outside of the box behind me. I didn’t know how many people actually made it inside vs how many people died trying.

Now I stood alone with in front of the entire pack. For the first time all night I had their complete attention. Then as if on cue they all charge at me with killing intent.

“Enough!” I yelled backed with the power of my Beast Master’s, beast dominance skill. They stopped in the midst of their attacked. I’ve been trying to use this skill, but the requirement was that the beast it question had to be focused solely on me. They casually walked away, separated and sat on the left and right of the street respectively.

They went from aggressive man-eating canines to sitting calmly, tongue out, and panting pooches.

However, something wasn’t right. My beast master skills were telling me they weren’t fully under my control.

“What’s happening?” I used my beast communication skill to ask the closest wolf to me.

“To be the alpha you must beat the alpha,” was his brief response to me.

He didn’t actually speak. His words seem to have been transmitted directly into my mind.

Then I felt a cold chill as my danger senses began ringing like a fire alarm.

Than standing in the middle of the street was.

Alpha Shadow Wolf

Lv 75

This monster was not like the others. I felt nervous sweat beginning to gather on my forehead and the hair on my body began to rise in respect for this monster.

He was bigger than the other wolfs thus far, His clench jaws displayed his white fangs stained reddish shade to it due to repeated exposure to blood, and His black fur looked thick and ready for the winter.

“I’ve heard of your kind from my father, but not only are your people delicious, but clearly you are foolish as well. To challenge a Shadow Wolf on the night of a New Moon.” His words were also transmitted directly to my mind.

His blood lust was spouting from every pore in his body like a broken fire hydrant. My heart began to quiver. My fear resistance skill was working overtime; if it wasn’t for that I would have succumbed to shock.

“Stop you will not fight me,” I activated my beast master skill here as well.

“Taming skills don’t work on Alphas kid.”

Of course it wouldn’t be that easy would it.

“Please is there any way we can come to an agreement? I don’t want to fight you; I only want to survive the night? My voice was shaky and I was forcing out every word.

I couldn’t afford to fight this guy with my current Mana levels I was still only about 15%. But why was I so frightened even though there was a major difference in our level? My body was reacting on it’s own to this thing. The fear I was feeling was coming from the depth of my heart.

“Let’s begin,” he said. I grabbed my combat knife and prepared for combat. His massive paws slapped the ground quickly, but made no sound. I was within striking distant in a second. He opened his mouth aiming for my jugular, I nimbly ducked under his jawline and thrusted my knife upwards through the base of his throat.

I got him!

But, there was no reaction. This isn’t what I’ve grown accustomed to feeling when I pierce somethings flesh. Then to support my monolog the body I pierced dissipated like fog.

“What the…Ahhhh!!!!”’

Before I had a chance to analyze the situation I felt a massive pain in my right shoulder as my skin was being punctured, the massive weight on my back forced me down onto my knees.

This was the worse pain I’ve ever felt in my life. I could feel my bones fighting hard to not shatter. My screams broke the night silence as I yelled as loud as I could. I was confused my level was more than twice as high, but yet I was in this deplorable condition and the fight just started.

I used what will I could manage to try and use my other hand to stab this monster in the eye, but I felt the pressure be released and my blade hit nothing.

“Truly Impressive, Not only did your shoulder not completely shatter, but it maintains function. You’re different from the others in your race. Your much stronger, but still well too inexperience to challenge me and on tonight no less.”

He wasn’t lying, most my fights to this point were heavily dependent on the element of surprise.

“What’s the significance of tonight? This is the second time you’ve mentioned it,” I asked.

“Alpha Shadow wolves such as me become twice as strong on the night of a new moon,” He answered.

Damn, that was the last thing I needed to hear so now he was basically at level 150. My left shoulder was still throbbing in pain and I needed to do something about this blood lost. I’m technically still much stronger than him, but he is vastly more skilled than I am.

My Mana is at 20% now. It’s only been a few minutes but it feels like hours.

He started walking to his left in a circle around me and then fog began spreading out of his body creating five copies. They were circling me like curious sharks observing my wounded state seeing how I would react to being back into a corner. Then the attack begun again, I couldn’t tell which of the shadow clones closing in on me the real one was, but I did know I never wanted to feel that pain again.

They were perfectly sync and were all mirror images of each other.

The moment the wolves entered striking distances they lunged jaws open for another finishing move. I used earth magic and created a stone column under me that shot upwards through the air. I began feeling dizzy again as I fell to my knees.

Crashhh!

I didn’t have time to catch my breath. The real shadow wolf crashed in the back of the stone column from behind me. He hit it with so much force it shattered and began to tumble over tossing me on top of a broken down car.

The debris from the stone column came crashing down on the very monster than ran into it.

I laid on top of the car I crashed on trying to catch, not foolish enough to think this fight was over by; I had a sense life skill after all.

I took my jacket and shirt off and wrapped in around my forearm to make a makeshift bite sleeve. I couldn’t afford to have this fight drag on much longer. The longer this goes the more the advantage weighs on the more experience side.

“You are truly annoying,” He said as her emerged from the rubble that buried him.

“I would also prefer it if you left me alone,” I rebutted.

He started with another frontal assault.

“I maybe inexperienced, but I’m not an idiot,”I said as I turned my back on his oncoming frontal attack. Which dissipated, it was another feint.

“There you are,” his jaws wrapped around my bite sleeve wrapped forearm. Holy shit was it painful! His bite force easily exceeds that of a crocodile. I was thankful my arm remained attached but it was only because of my body strengthening skill, but I pushed though “You made a fatal mistake, Alpha. You made the assumption that you are vastly more experienced than me and that would be enough to overcome the difference in our strength, but you have zero experience fighting humans. We are capable of learning and to try the same attack repeatedly was your mistake.

“Wha……” Was what he could get out before he realized what he had done, but I wouldn’t give him the opportunity to regret it. Using my free hand my knife hit the mark I was aiming for on my first attempt.

He staggered back as his blood squirted from his neck on to the pavement. He wore a bewildered expression on his face disbelieving in his defeat, but It was over.

-Earth Surge-

A stone lance broke rose from the ground, breaking through the asphalt road before impaling it through the stomach and out through his back. That final move may have been overkill, but I had to make sure this fight was over, I was at my breaking point.

Ding..Ding….Ding…Ding..Ding

Awoooohh

Awoooohh

Awoooohh

The wolves that were peacefully watching up to this point did a deciding howl to my victory.