The howling echoing through the dwarven forest kept the trio on their toes, Leona was recovering beside the vehicle while Krieg and Phoebe covered each side around the Princess to keep a safe perimeter should any foe arrive. The high elf had her bow out with a bodkin arrow knocked on the string and the knight held his greatsword low on the ground in front of him, some blood still dripped from the wound but it didn’t bother him at all after applying some ice on it.

Some of the nausea had gone away and Leona was starting to feel better, but she still couldn’t muster strength to stand up.

“Krieg… those are probably gray wolves. The smell of blood attracted them.”

Phoebe’s eyes kept sweeping the landscape around them for any movement as she muttered.

“It is the beginning of winter after all. They must be starving for food, but I don’t plan to become a meal for them.”

“Same here.”

Krieg noticed movement in the corner of his vision and the moment he turned towards it, there was a gray wolf of large stature hitting around the knight’s knee in height which meant it was taller than Leona if it stood on its hind legs. It was eyeing the Princess sitting defenseless against the vehicle and it seemed to not even worry about Krieg before the greatsword came crashing down where it was, but instead of a cleaved corpse there was nothing but mud splattered around the place.

“Phoebe, we got one on your left!”

The knight shouted but before they knew it, many other wolves surrounded them in a wide circle, forcing the two of them to tighten the perimeter around Leona. Phoebe pulled the arrow halfway back against the string then turned slightly to the side in order to speak.

“Sire, I think we might need more firepower.”

“You don’t need to tell me.”

The wolves were carefully closing the circle, more wary of the knight since he showed just how much strength he had with the last swing.

“Krieg, help me stand up. I’ll scare them off with one spell.”

She extended her hand out to the knight, who swiftly grabbed her hand with the left and pulled her up. One wolf tried to come in to bite him in the leg but it got scared off when he swung the large sword with only the right hand against the ground where it stood.

Standing up weakly, Leona took a deep breath and put her left hand near her breast while closing both her eyes to concentrate her mind. In the depths of her psyche she pictured a simple blue flame being fueled by a spiraling wind containing its power before erupting into a huge ball of fire.

“You two better cover your ears!”

She yelled before focusing again on the spell. Both held their ears

Very thin strings of mana started to gather from her feet spiraling upwards as she raised her left hand to the clouded sky, an outburst of wind generated from the ground up and upon feeding the small blue sphere.

“Roaring flames and violent gale. Surge as one!”

It got much brighter before she released it to the sky in one fierce explosion strong enough to send shock waves through the ground and obliterate nearby tree tops. Most of the wolves backed very far away from her, saving for one.

The very first wolf who attacked them didn’t even seem to flinch and instead it howled towards the sky. Its red eyes started to emit an unusual blue glow as the air crackled around it, Leona noticed the glint before it was too late and pushed Krieg to the ground.

“Phoebe get down!”

The high elf followed suit as they dived face first before a thunder struck from the skies where they stood, snapping tree branches and leaving the wet ground sizzling from the lightning.

“What the hell?! A wolf casting magic?!”

Phoebe threw her longbow inside the snow sledge driver’s seat and nimbly stood up while drawing both daggers out from beneath her uniform. After the surprising reveal of magic prowess the rest of the pack started approaching the trio in a circle again, seemingly regaining courage after the leader showed its powers. Krieg stood up in front of Leona with his greatsword pointing towards the large wolf while shouting from over his shoulder.

“We’ll be sitting ducks here if we don’t do anything! Phoebe, what do we need to do to fix this thing?!”

“Just unbend the pipe! It’ll start working normally once we fix it!”

Leona, who just got to her knees whispered to the knight while already getting in position to cast another spell.

“I’ll create a distraction, can you get that part fixed?”

“I just need three seconds.”

She nodded and for a brief moment the forest battlefield went quiet as if both parties were waiting for something to happen. The chilly northern wind blew around the treetops, letting dew drop on the forest floor and for a split second, all seemed to go down in one swift motion like an arrow piercing through the air.

While the other wolves tried to go for Krieg and Phoebe, the pack leader seemed more interested in Leona and was preparing to charge another spell, but before it could do anything to harm the Princess, she already knew it was planning something so her hand pointed to it with a small pebble in the middle of her palm.

“Winds of time, grant thy power unto myself, Windshot!”

Mana strings rapidly spun around the pebble, creating a vortex of blue ramifications before it spiraled out quickly, launching the pebble incredibly fast. Without much time to react, the wolf tried to sidestep the projectile but it still nicked it on the right side of its head, causing the spell it was casting to fizzle out.

“Now Krieg!”

The knight turned around in a hundred eighty degree angle and cleaved the bend part of the exhaust right off the engine, breaking more than half of the metal pipe and sending it rolling down the hill. Phoebe jumped backwards near the driver’s seat whilst throwing what seemed to be thin needles coated in liquid out like a fan towards the backside of the vehicle where most of the wolves were preparing to strike, taking out a few with them.

“Get in! Get in!”

She yelled while grabbing the longbow with an arrow already between her right index and middle finger. Leona saw the opportunity to jump inside the vehicle but not before making sure there wouldn’t be any chances for the wolves to attack.

“Krieg get behind me!”

“Got it.”

He jumped backwards as the Princess swung her right hand palm open upwards, mana quickly flew out of her fingers moving through the ground and erupting into ice spikes aimed outwards like a deadly wall of about two meters high which impaled some of the wolves which tried to pounce on them.

At that point the pack leader tried to cast another thunder spell but Phoebe was keeping tabs on its location and shot three arrows in quick succession in order to not let it cast any magic, forcing it to take cover behind a tree.

As much as Leona wanted to get away, three wolves used their dead brethren to climb the wall of spikes and pounce from the top at her.

“No you won’t!”

Krieg swung his blade with both hands and upon making contact with the wolf’s rib cage, he let go of the right hand allowing the left hand to carry its dead body along the trajectory of the weapon.

Without enough time to kill the second one he used his right forearm to block the bite meant for Leona and once the greatsword was free of the carcass, he winded up the greatsword once again, impaling the third one.

With the animal yelping and squirming on the end of his blade he lifted the blade up and slammed the wolf against the one holding his right forearm, killing both in one swing.

Once the sharp jaws let go of his arm he jumped on the vehicle, standing guard on his seat as Leona had just sat down to start the engine.

“Give it your all! We have to get out of here!”

Phoebe yelled as she shot a few more arrows at the pack leader in order to keep it occupied while the Princess prepared to charge a fire spell.

“I’m working on it!”

She clapped both hands together and it generated a faint spread of mana around her fingers which then was pulled separately, creating a pressure of wind and with the remnants of mana, she ignited the air into bright flames.

The fire sphere quickly turned bright blue as she jammed the spell inside the engine, releasing all that energy in the combustion chamber making the vehicle come to life once again.

Almost losing balance, Phoebe sat on top of the back of her seat and shot one last arrow while holding the handlebar straight with her right foot.

They abruptly moved forward at high speed, Krieg also almost falling off the vehicle as they broke through the wolf encirclement. Though not without its share of troubles as one of the wolves actually bit into the edge of the vehicle near where Phoebe was, its sharp teeth sinking into the metal like it was some sort of meal.

“Dammit!”

The high elf was about to take her dagger out but in a split second there was a flash of crimson as the whole body was cleaved clean by Krieg’s blade, the head however kept hanging on the side of the vehicle with a death grip.

“We’re finally free from those bastards!”

Phoebe shouted while getting comfortable on her seat but it was too early to celebrate as the engine, even though the exhaust pipe was unbent, part of it was broken and the overall power of the engine decreased, resulting in less speed. Which made it all more easier for the leader to follow alongside its pack.

“Phoebe, I don’t mean to alarm you but I don’t think we’re going fast enough!”

Leona yelled from the backseat as she witnessed the pack of wolves gaining speed behind them. The leader’s eyes were starting to emit a faint glow and the Princess knew exactly why and winded up her right arm behind her back.

‘We’ll be sitting ducks if I don’t do anything.’

Her vision suddenly blurred out for a split second before she could focus on her target again, she shook her head to shake off the fatigue and cold sweat before chanting.

“Flames of destruction heed my call, reclaim mine enemy unto the ashes, Flame Spear!”

Forming on her empty hand, an azure shaped javelin of flames, the very tip of the elemental weapon was much brighter and had streaks of fire pulsating from it, signaling just how powerful the spell was compared to when other mages cast it.

The wolf leader seemed much more aware that she could counter its moves so instead of charging head first, it howled at the sky, calling another lightning strike aimed at the mud in front of the pack.

“Huh?!”

Leona was surprised by the wolf’s ingenuity as the explosion from the spell vaporized most of the water present in the mud, causing a vapor screen to emerge from the ground and obstruct her view.

“Tch!”

She turned her hand around towards the ground and the former spear turned into a broadsword with the handle being significantly cooler than the rest of the bright blue blade.

“Flames of destruction heed my call, bring upon my foes the fires of justice, Great Flame Sword!”

Upon swinging the elemental sword the blade of fire changed shape due to the Princess’ control over the mana, spreading out like a deadly heatwave and setting everything ablaze on its path. The blazing inferno consumed most of the forest and as a result, killed or maimed most of the wolves chasing after them, however the leader of the pack was nowhere to be seen even after the carnage.

Breathing heavily, Leona still held the flaming weapon with both hands, though the blade was just a small flickering orange fire before slowly snuffing out between her fingers. At first, she let out a sigh of relief knowing that the mana she spent could put an end to the fight.

“I did it…”

Her vision darkened before she lost consciousness on Krieg’s arms. The knight gently held her while the snow sledge trudged downhill through the mud.

“You did your best Leona. But now you can leave it to me.”

His kind voice praised her as he seated her on the middle leathered cushion of the vehicle, behind them a single wolf remained, viciously running after the snow sledge with an insatiable hunger for blood. The knight raised the sword while stepping between the backseat and the working engine, his right forearm was dripping blood through the ripped military uniform.

“Phoebe! Take care of Leona for me, continue as much as you can, I’ll catch up to you afterwards.”

“Sire we should be together for this!”

“Leona’s out cold! I need to kill this wolf before it can harm her!”

The high elf clenched her teeth as she turned around to shout.

“Don’t you die on us!”

He gave a confident half-smile.

“I won’t.”

The knight tightened both hands around the handle, putting the blade low behind his body before lobbing the metal blade at the wolf. It was already aware of what the knight was going to do, however the weapon was thrown with so much strength that it was spinning incredibly fast.

The animal was forced to jump sideways to avoid the blade, but the moment it was in the air Krieg had jumped after it, hitting the side of its body with a full swing of his left arm, sending the wolf flying through the air into a nearby tree.

With a loud yelp it fell on the ground with its legs shaking and coughing up blood. The knight picked up the greatsword from the ground stained with a mix of blood and mud. His crimson eyes burning with hatred for the foe in front of him, it didn’t matter if it was human or not, as long as it hurt his liege that was all the reason he needed to unleash his full strength.

“You probably can’t understand me.”

He grasped the handle with both hands and raised the blade parallel to his body.

“But death awaits you.”

As if it could understand what he had said it stood up growling at him, its eyes had a different glint in Krieg’s perspective, but before the knight could close the gap between them, it called down another bolt of lighting that hit his blade and consequently, his entire body.

“Urk!”

He could feel his muscles involuntarily stiffening as the shock passed right through them, although it would’ve been much worse were he using any metallic armor.

The wolf tried to cast another spell, but Krieg noticed the faint glint in its eyes and kicked up mud towards its face, instinctively, it jumped away giving him enough time to dash in for an overhead cleave.

It was much quicker than other foes he had fought and the tip of the weapon merely embedded itself into the mud where it was. Following the sidestep to the left, the wolf quickly pounced on the knight aiming for his neck.

“Hmph.”

Krieg blocked with his left forearm as the sharp teeth sunk into his flesh, but it was exactly how he had planned. Upon luring a bite he managed to get close to it and by letting go of the greatsword entirely, he had his right hand free as he went to grab its nose.

But the wolf seemed to sense the danger as it quickly jumped back, Krieg tried to follow up by grabbing the handle with his left and swing horizontally, but the animal jumped over the blade.

“I’ve got you now!”

He used the momentum of his weapon to carry his body for a full power right hook to its side, sending the unfortunate animal spinning through the air before it hit the ground, tumbling a few times before it came to a stop, motionless.

‘This should do it.’

The knight felt faint for a moment as he jabbed the sword into the ground to hold his weight as he took a moment to breathe. Sustaining that many wounds would’ve killed any lesser man, but thankfully he had enough strength to walk.

Carefully, he looked around the ground for traces of the snow sledge before heading in the same direction it appeared to have gone. His mind only had his liege’s safety in mind as he slowly made his way forward using the sword as support.

A few hundred meters ahead of him. Phoebe was forced to stop in a slight incline as the engine had run out of fuel, but having the Princess unconscious inside the vehicle was too risky so the high elf decided to take a few steps away from it while carrying her on the back.

‘I hope he is ok.’

She thought while trudging carefully though the muddied ground to not leave obvious trails while also looking out for traces of other animals or people. The high elf let the princess on a small patch of grass against a tree trunk before sitting on the opposite side with the longbow and a dagger on the left hand while holding an arrow lightly against the bowstring with the right.

Her eyes and ears were sharp to keep watch, nothing but the gentle breeze through the forest tree tops could be heard. Looking at Leona’s face she realized the young woman entered a state of mana shock.

It was something almost every magic caster had experienced in their lives before, the constant usage of mana from their bodies impact the mind negatively as weaving magic through the inner circuits requires effort from the brain, but when the body can’t muster any more mana the whole system collapses and the user enters a state called mana shock.

Phoebe knew how dangerous that could be since she too once almost died from it.

‘Can’t do anything if not wait for him.’

She held the arrow against the longbow with her left index finger and placed her right hand on top of Leona’s chest. Focusing on the Princess’ core, she started to pour her own mana to her. The pained expression Leona wore gradually recovered to a mere sleeping state in just a few minutes, thankfully only a small amount was enough to stabilize her.

‘Good, at least it’s nothing serious.’

She stood up and looked around once again and this time she noticed a humanoid figure walking towards them, though in the low light ambience of the forest she couldn’t discern exactly who or what it was. But she was certain it wasn’t the knight as it was much larger than him.

“Great… more work for me.”

She muttered as her slender arms locked in pulling the bowstring while her back did most of the work to draw the arrow. She was strong enough to keep the aim stable until the moment her fingers released the deadly projectile aimed at where the clavicle and neck meet.

However, the arrowhead sparked off a metallic surface, releasing some embers of heated metal to the side and revealing the figure for a split second with the light emitted from it.

“What in the world…?!”

Phoebe was against a fully armored dark knight in the middle of a forest already kilometers away from the dwarven citadel. She couldn’t come up with a logical explanation for why it was there, but she didn’t need one as the knight started to sprint towards her, summoning a black greatsword out of thin air while closing in.

The knight was deceptively fast even while wearing the heavy looking armor and carrying a massive black blade. While she tried to knock another arrow ready it made half the way to her.

‘I won’t have enough time for another shot!’

She pulled the arrow back with the bow laying horizontally while dashing to the right in order to create some distance between her and the unconscious Princess.

She shot once again, this time aiming at the open slit of the helmet. However, the foe used the greatsword to block the attack while still going at full sprint towards her.

“Tsk!”

Upon letting go of the longbow, she readied both daggers, the left one facing down and the other up. With another dash the knight swung down the greatsword with the intention to cleave the high elf in half, but she was faster and dodged with a tight sidestep to the right, following up with a slash of the left dagger aimed at the elbow joint before ducking beneath the left backfist of the knight.

She moved into the flank and swung the right dagger through the knee joint, weakening its left leg enough to go down its knee. Following the previous attacks she rotated directly behind it before jumping on the large back and grappling its chest with both legs locking herself in place as she carved both daggers through the joint between the chestplate and helmet.

‘Bullseye.’

However, unlike the previous two hits, neither weapon felt like it made contact with anything, instead it felt like sinking both blades into mud.

“Huh?!”

“Got you now.”

The rough ghostly voice echoed bizarrely through the helmet, much like an open interior as if it was void of physical form.

Phoebe felt her body suddenly move backwards before hitting against a nearby tree, her stomach was hit by its helmet and her legs loosened just enough for the knight to grab her face with its right hand and slam the high elf into the ground.

“Gah!”

All air inside her lungs came out with the impact, pain quickly surged from all her back muscles as she let go of the daggers.

Even though the knight had more than enough strength to crush her head like an egg, it let go of her face and stood up as if it was never wounded, raising the black greatsword above its head.

‘I can’t die in a place like this…!’

She gritted her teeth but no matter how much willpower she mustered, her wounded body just wouldn’t listen. The incoming blade was the last thing she saw before closing her eyes.