Faust's hand went directly to the hilt of his saber, lifting it once again.

"You have to stay strong, Noah. I'll get you back to town as soon as I can." Faust's eyes never left the wolves as he spoke. "I'll beat these two as well and save you. Trust in me."

Noah nodded his head with great difficulty, grinding his teeth against the pain. He didn't cry out at all.

"Examine." Faust activated the skill once more. 'I'll check them both while I can, starting with the one on the left.'

[Examine skill activated! Target: Beast]

Name: White-Furred Wolf (Adult)

Level: 0 (Unawakened)

HP: 200/200

Strength: 8 / Agility: 12 / Constitution: 8 / Intelligence: 2 / Faith: 0 / Luck: 0

[No further information is available]

Faust activated the skill again after briefly glancing at the information, targeting the right wolf this time. It was different from the other wolf. Its eyes seemed to gleam with intelligence.

[Examine skill activated! Target: Beast]

Name: White-Furred Wolf (Adult)

Level: 5

HP: 200/200

Strength: 8 / Agility: 15 / Constitution: 10 / Intelligence: 5 / Faith: 0 / Luck: 0

[Skills: Roar, Dash ]

[No further information is available]

'Shit! One of them is awakened! Its stats are crazy! The other is no pushover either. What do I do?! Wait, I levelled up when I killed that wolf earlier, right? I need to check what I got! Status!' He called out in his mind.

Name: Faust

Level: 0

XP: 0/10

Realm: Ravendun

HP: 47/75 / Mana: 130/150

Bloodline: Human (100%)

Alignment: True Neutral

Class: Adventurer

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

[Unspent status points: 5]

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

Neither his health nor his mana had recovered from levelling up. The only thing that had changed was the [Unspent status points] window. 'It seems like you gain 5 points with every level up.' Faust thought to himself. 'What stat do I need most right now? How can I beat these damn dogs?'

Plan after plan ran through his head at breakneck speed. None of them could work. He decided to invest 3 points into Strength, and 2 into agility while he had the chance. That familiar tingling sensation ran through his body. But his eyes never left the wolves. They seemed to be… communicating? The awakened wolf was growling at the unawakened one. If Faust didn't know any better, he would guess it was giving a command.

Finally, he remembered something he could do! While maintaining his stance, his thumb quickly pressed the bracelet on his wrist. He looked at the window out of the corner of his eye, keeping his focus directly on the enemies as he pressed the [Request Emergency Aid] button. A prompt filled the screen, asking if he was sure he wanted to request for aid. Faust clicked yes as quickly as he could.

The screen then went blank for a few moments before being filled up by a message in big letters.

[Help is on the way! Please try to stay alive and keep your current position!]

'Help is coming. I don't know when they will arrive, so I need to keep both these wolves occupied and away from Noah for however long it takes.'

Faust fixed his eyes on the two wolves. The awakened wolf seemed to have just finished growling at the unawakened, and they began to move. The unawakened wolf moved towards Faust, slowly and steadily. Faust noticed each step it took. His entire being began to concentrate, he felt focus like he never had before. Each tiny detail, each movement it took was captured in his eyes. The awakened wolf stood still while this happened, its eyes looking directly at Noah's bleeding body.

'Wait. Was it looking at Noah, or the other wolf? They're right next to each other.' Faust knew that wolves were pack animals, but he didn't know the depths of their bond. 'I can't just let them attack Noah.'

Faust stood protectively above Noah's body, picking up and brandishing his saber. He swung it a few times, as if to ward off the wolf with the sharp metal.

The non-awakened wolf began to crouch and Faust's instincts flared. It was going to attack, and it was aimed at him. Suddenly, it jumped. It was much faster than the earlier wolf! Faust had trouble keeping up with his eyes, but he reacted instinctively. The wolf was pouncing towards his throat. He held his saber vertically in front of him in an attempt to block it. It was successful, but the weight of the wolf pushed him back a few metres, and its teeth were grinding against the blade, pressing closer and closer to his neck. Faust's free hand went to the dull side of the saber and pushed forward, struggling to keep its teeth away from him. He could hear it growling, and he could see the saliva flowing from its mouth.

With a final burst of strength, he managed to shove the wolf away and roll, getting back to his feet. His eyes drifted to the notifications in his vision.

[You have successfully blocked! -1 HP]

'It seems like if you block an attack successfully, you can negate almost all of the damage. That's good to know. Now I just have to work on actually dealing some.'

The wolf had been shoved away, but it wasn't done with Faust yet. It readied to pounce again, but stopped instinctively when it heard something.

"Awooooooooo!" The awakened wolf howled to the sky.

Faust didn't know when, but it had moved next to the juvenile wolf he had already killed. The awakened wolf's howl was filled with grief. It nuzzled the corpse of the fallen wolf before turning its head to look directly at Faust. Then at Noah. At Faust again. At Noah again. Seeming to have made a decision, it stepped around the body of the fallen wolf towards Noah. It looked at Faust once more before moving like lightning.

Time slowed down to an absolutely crawl for Faust. He saw everything. The wolf had looked straight at him, and its eyes burned with anger. He saw the wolf move its head down towards Noah. He saw its jaw open wide. And he saw it clamp down with vicious force on the boy's throat.

"No!" Faust screamed.

But it was too late. He was too far away, and was currently in battle with the other wolf. Faust didn't care, he sprinted towards Noah. The unawakened wolf lunged at him and Faust swung his sword. It hit the back of the wolf, , but its jaw clamped around his arm. Two damage numbers floated in his vision.

[-21. Target is now slightly bleeding!]

[-13]

The former belonged to the wolf, taking the brunt of a saber on its back had wounded it. The latter belonged to Faust. He hadn't started bleeding yet because the wolf had yet to release its grip. Faust slashed down again and again as he tried to walk towards the awakened wolf.

[-23]

[-25]

[-29! New skill learned!]

Faust saw the notifications but he didn't care. No, his entire focus right now was on the wolf that had bitten into Noah. Faust heard a loud sound, like a thud. The wolf attached to his arm had finally let go and dropped to the ground.

[Player is now under the 'Bleeding' status effect. Will lose 2HP/minute until healed.]

Faust was only a few steps away from the awakened wolf now. He wielded his saber against the wolf. A diagonal slash from above. It came down towards the wolf's head, but it didn't do much. It simply let go of Noah's neck and moved backwards, dodging the slash.

Faust looked down at Noah, whos throat was oozing blood onto the ground. He used his examine skill.

[Examine skill activated. Target: NPC]

Name: Noah Venta

Level: 0 (Unawakened)

Status: Dead

[No further information is available.]

He was already dead.