Faust quickly grabbed Noah by the collar of his shirt and pulled him behind him, turning around to face the source of the pressure he was feeling. He protectively stood in front of the boy.

"Mr Faust? What's wrong?"

'It seems like he didn't hear the growl from earlier. Was he distracted, or did my hearing improve after increasing my stats?' Faust shook his head. 'Now isn't the time for that. Something is there. Behind the trees.'

"Examine!" Faust tried to use his examine skill, even though he couldn't see exactly what was there. Luckily for him, it seemed to have worked.

[Examine skill activated! Target: Beast]

Name: White-Furred Wolf (Adolescent)

Level: 0 (Unawakened)

HP: 150

Strength: 7 / Agility: 10 / Constitution: 7 / Intelligence: 2 / Faith: 0 / Luck: 0

[No further information is available]

'150! This wolf has double my HP! Itss stats are ridiculous as well! And its not even an awakened! I made a mistake! Shit!'

Slowly, carefully, while keeping his eyes trained on the bush where the wolf layed, Faust's thumb moved to his Adventurer's Bracelet. His thumb hovered right above it.

'Do I really need to request emergency aid to defeat this wolf? I'm a player. An awakened adventurer. Isn't slaying monsters what games are all about?' His hand moved away from the bracelet, and over to the saber sheathed on his back. He pulled it out, slowly, still keeping his eyes on the bush.

"Listen to me, Noah. I made a mistake. There's a bad monster in that bush over there." Faust could hear Noah's breathing start to tremble. "I want you to slowly walk back out into the open, okay? Can you do that for me, Noah? I'll protect you."

Noah's lips opened but no sound came out. He struggled for a moment, unwilling to just leave Faust all by himself. After a few crucial seconds, he resigned himself and muttered out.

"Y-yes."

"Good. Just take slow, steady steps back out into the open sunshine. I'll be right here."

Noah stepped backwards, bit by bit, cautiously. His eyes never left Faust's back.

When he had only moved a few metres away from Faust, a change occurred. The bushes shook for the briefest of seconds before a flash of white leaped out! It moved as fast as lightning, but Faust was barely able to keep up with his eyes.'Now!' He shouted in his mind.

Faust pulled his saber completely out of his scabbard and started to hack diagonally downwards towards the wolf. He aimed for the top of the wolf's head but he realised too late that he had misjudged. The wolf wasn't moving to attack him, but Noah! His saber barely cut the wolf at the base of its tail and it yelped, but it didn't slow down at all!

Faust didn't notice, but a small [-14] had appeared above the wolf's figure.

"Noah! Run!" Faust screamed at the top of his lungs.

Noah was one step ahead. He had already started running the second he saw the bushes shake from the emergence of the wolf. But it wasn't enough. He simply couldn't run anywhere near as fast as the wolf. Noah was at the very edge of the forest, a few more steps and he would be back out in the sun. But the wolf was closing in. Fast, way too fast. To Faust, everything seemed to be happening in slow motion. After he cut the wolf and realised his mistake, he instantly pivoted on his feet and started to run towards Noah. While he was faster than the average human, how could he compare to the wolf with a spring-loaded start? He watched as the wolf reached Noah a second before he could catch up, as its maw opened and bit down on the back of Noah's legs. The wolf had sunk its teeth into Noah's leg.

"Noah!" Faust screamed out again. It looked like the wolf was trying to rip the lower half of Noah's leg off.

A moment later, Faust caught up. He once again began to brandish his saber at the wolf, slicing directly at its neck. The wolf seemed to notice his action, however, and violently wrenched its head away from the blade. Yet, it wasn't quite fast enough - the edge of the saber caught the wolf's eye. Yelping in pain, it retreated, stumbling away from him.

[-35! Critical Strike! Target has been given the 'Bleeding' status effect! It will lose 2HP every second for 10 seconds!]

Faust didn't even see the notification.The wolf's maw was tightly locked around Noah's calf so when it wrenched away, the final bit of muscle holding his leg together was torn off. A massive amount of blood gushed from the wound.

The wolf had slightly retreated, but it had the lower half of Noah's leg in its mouth.

Even when his leg was ripped off, Noah didn't scream. His eyes were unfocused. Breathing rapid. Chest heaving. In shock, his body shut down. A last resort to preserve the boy's life.

"Noah! Don't die! It'll be ok! I'll rush you to a hospital!" Faust quickly grabbed Noah, attempting to pick him up so he could run away. He didn't even know if they had hospitals in this world, but he wasn't ready to let Noah just die.

He put down his saber to try and carry Noah. The wolf saw him put down his weapon and spit out Noah's leg. The wolf wasted no time, sprinting over to Faust to try and attack him from behind. Its claws raked across Faust's back.

[-28!] A large red number filled Faust's vision as he was sent sprawling to the ground.

'Am I an idiot? Did I just forget about the wolf? How could I have -' Faust didn't have time to think, the wolf was upon him. He quickly rolled to the side and clumsily got up. He had no experience in a situation like this. The most combat he had done was some kendo classes when he was younger. He reached for his saber only to realise it was on the ground beside Noah, a good ten metres away. All that lay between the saber and him was the wolf. It growled, lowering its posture in an attempt to attack again.

'I have to get my saber. There's no way I win otherwise.' Faust copied the wolf, lowering his posture. He spread his legs apart, ready to dodge the wolf's incoming attack. The stalemate continued for a few moments, but to Faust it felt like hours. Cold sweat dripped off his forehead and onto the ground. Milliseconds after the droplet hit the floor, the wolf attacked. It sprung out of its position, leaping towards Faust. To Faust, it was once again in slow motion.

'I can dodge it. Its moving so slowly. I can do it. I can kill this wolf. I can save Noah.' Faust talked to himself in his head as the wolf approached. It had vaulted into the air, its maw opened wide, attempting to bite down on Faust's throat. It got closer and closer. At the last possible second, Noah moved his left shoulder backwards and his right shoulder forwards. His feet followed the same pattern. With this momentum, he revolved around the wolf, bypassing it.

The wolf had missed its attack, but it wouldn't take long before it readied another. Faust sprinted over to his saber, checking on Noah as best he could. He seemed to still be breathing, but his blood was running out fast. If Faust didn't get him help soon, he would die of blood loss. Only a few seconds had passed since the wolf had ripped off his leg, so there was still a chance. Noah used one hand to fold the edge of Noah's pant leg beneath the wound while he kept his eyes on the wolf. He didn't know if this would help, but he hoped it would form some sort of pressure to stop the blood at least a little bit.

'That's the best I can do for now' Faust thought. 'I have to kill this wolf quickly.'

Faust finally noticed the notification and realised that the wolf had taken quite a bit of damage. Looking directly at it, he activated his Examine skill.

[Examine skill activated! Target: Beast]

Name: White-Furred Wolf (Adolescent)

Level: 0 (Unawakened)

HP: 93/150

Strength: 7 / Agility: 10 / Constitution: 7 / Intelligence: 2 / Faith: 0 / Luck: 0

Target is currently bleeding for 2HP/second for another 6 seconds.

[No further information is available]

The wolf was down to 93 HP. Faust checked himself.

Name: Faust

Level: 1

XP: 0/10

Realm: Ravendun

HP: 47/75 / Mana: 150

Bloodline: Human (100%)

Alignment: True Neutral

Class: Adventurer

Strength: 5 / Agility: 8 / Constitution: 5 / Intelligence: 10 / Faith: 0 / Luck: 0

[Unspent status points: 0]

[Skills: Examine (Level 1), Strike (Level 1) ]

He was on 47HP. His back had a long wound from the claws, but thankfully since he was a player the pain was minimal. All players by default have a pain setting of just 10%, although it can be adjusted to whatever the user desires.

They were both close to half health. Faust quickly focussed on the Strike skill in his status bar, reading the notification while he kept his eyes on the wolf.

[Strike]

Currently level 1, activating this skill allows your next attack to deal 150% damage. This skill can critically strike.

Requirement: 20 Mana

Cooldown: 20 seconds. Cooldown starts when the attack is completed.

Faust read the skill as quickly as he could, processing its information. It was basically just an enhancement buff for his next attack, which means it would be useless if he missed. Faust took a deep breath, his eyes fully focussed on the wolf. He lowered his stance again. This time, however, he didn't wait for the wolf to take initiative. He sprinted forward first, activating the 'Strike' skill. The two were only a bit over 10 metres apart, so it only took less than a second for them to collide again. The wolf seemed to have the same plan as last time, jumping up to try and latch onto Faust's jugular with its razor-sharp teeth. Faust had somewhat expected something like this. The wolf only had 2 intelligence after all, and it was mainly driven by instinct. Faust held his saber in his right hand and stepped slightly to the left as the wolf jumped. Its mouth was open wide. Faust's left hand went to the saber's hilt to steady it as he brought it up, directly at the mouth of the wolf. It slid right through the gap in its teeth and directly into the back of its neck.

[-104! Mortal Wound Inflicted! Critical damage is multiplied!]

The saber pushed through the back of its neck but got lodged trying to go any further into the wolf's body. It had been wrenched from his hands due to the force the wolf was carrying when it jumped. The wolf crashed to the ground behind Faust, sliding for a second before coming to a stop, only a metre away from Noah.

[Ding! Player has killed an unawakened white-furred wolf! Awarding 20EXP!]

[Level up! Please check your status screen for updates.]

The notifications didn't even enter Faust's eyes. He ran over to Noah, using his skill on him the second he got close.

"Examine!"

[Examine skill activated. Target: NPC]

Name: Noah Venta

Level: 0 (Unawakened)

HP: 5/20

Strength: 2 / Agility: 3 / Constitution: 2 / Intelligence: 4 / Faith: 5 / Luck: 0

Target is currently bleeding for 2HP/minute.

[No further information is available.]

It would seem like the quick pressure dressing he had made had helped. Faust knelt down next to Noah and let go of his saber. His adrenaline was still running high, so he felt no hesitation in his actions, applying even more pressure on the wound. Finally, Noah released a cry of pain from his lips.

"It'll be okay Noah, don't worry! Just keep breathing!"

Faust had no idea why he was talking like that, he had no experience dealing with something like this. He would simply say anything to give Noah any sort of hope at all.

He attempted to tourniquet the wound when he heard something he never wanted to hear again. Another low growl, coming from the direction of the forest. His head looked up and saw something that made all the hair on his body stand on end.

Not one, but two.

Two wolves, both much larger than the one he had killed, had emerged from the forest.