Chapter 12

A huge creature, at least nine feet in height and four in width emerged from the shadows. It strongly resembled a werewolf but lacked the normally present brown or black fur. The eyes weren't red either as they normally should be. Instead the whole creature was consisted of seemingly grey and black smoke. 'It's a shadow.' Gwenith immediately came to that conclusion. She had heard about people being able to create shadow beasts but never something this big. 'It looks strong' a werewolf is a Demon class beast with a minimum estimated level of 180. They are strong foes only few can fight without trouble. "Never seen a shadow werewolf." she said as the others readied themselves to fight. "Guys it doesn't look hostile, maybe we can fight the one who's conjured it?" the others understandably didn't listen though. Few of them had ever encountered a foe in the Demon class and only heard about their strength. Even though their level exceeded 150 and Regan's even 200 they mostly leveled up by training and killing other humans in the rebellion two years ago until now.

The werewolf looked at the group curiously but didn't seem intent to attack. Gwenith stood a little to the side and was the only one with a relaxed stance and no weapon in her hands. The group waited for the beast to attack as two more werewolves emerged from the same direction. And two more. At that point the party wasn't sure of their victory anymore. When another three came from the left Patrick couldn't take it anymore. He started to shake and mumbled something about god before he run in the opposite direction. One of the Shadow beasts howled and sprinted after him completely ignoring the party or Gwenith to the side, running between them at an alarming speed. 'Wow they're fast. I'd have to go top speed to catch one of them.' she was still relaxed mostly because the werewolves didn't seem to be hostile. 'I just don't feel threatened...they seem like...dogs...pets, something like that. I'd love to touch one.'

Patrick meanwhile was running for his life when the creature reached him catching the warrior with his huge claws. His armor was instantly penetrated and blood started to flow from his mouth. The creature dropped him and looked at the bleeding man with its head cocked to the side. 'Oh wow, I think it's just playing.' as if to confirm her suspicion Gwenith slowly approached one of the creatures to her left and trust her arm in its direction. The werewolf took two steps back and covered a little when Gwenith removed a piece of meat she had saved for emergencies from her backpack and offered it to the beast.

"What is she doing?!" Noah exclaimed while looking at the bizarre scene. "Gwenith, you're gonna get yourself killed." Regan had a similar opinion but she didn't let them disturb her. 'If anybody's gonna get themselves killed it's you fools.' she motioned the creature to take the meat but it didn't budge. When she took a bite and ate it the creature came a little closer. She held the piece of meat back towards the creature when it snagged it with very high speed. 'So they're pretty intelligent too, fascinating.' Two other werewolves slowly approached Gwenith while she took a couple steps towards the eating beast. "Sorry lovelies, that was the last piece I had." she said to the other two with a sad voice.

"She's working with them!" Phil came to this conclusion which Noah immediately got behind. As if a light bulb formed inside his head his eyes lit up "I knew it, I remember now...you were that fucking girl...the one who killed the wolves!" the others looked at Noah with questioning looks when he continued "You guys know I was a guard in Valaan about eight years ago. On my first night outside the walls we found a girl who killed some wolves with bloodmagic!" Gwenith only rolled her eyes "It's not bloodmagic, my class is Berserker. Nothing to do with magic but it's not like you bigots would understand that anyway." she smiled as she petted the werewolf that happily ate the meat she gave him.

"I tell you it was magic, there was too much blood for it to be pure!" Noah's eyes changed and were now filled with fury and fear. "Let's kill her and the beasts might disappear." Wade wasn't so sure yet but asked "Gwenith is what he said true?" Gwenith quietly stroke the beasts head while avoiding its sharp claws that tried to grab her occasionally. 'They might actually listen to me if I tell the truth but they're insane zealots except for Regan...well maybe even him...I guess we can make this a little more interesting.' she unsheathed the small sword Regan had given her and said proudly "It's true, I'm as corrupted as a human can be now come catch me." She smiled as she run in the opposite direction that Patrick took.

Seeing her stroking the beast Phil thought the beasts tame and somehow got the impression that only the one following Patrick was hostile. He looked at Noah who was now completely filled with rage and they immediately followed Gwenith at a full sprint ignoring the beasts they passed on the way. "STOP YOU IDIOTS" Wade shouted but they had already fallen into the trap. "Regan you gain the remaining werewolves attention, I go stop them, maybe I can prevent their deaths. He said as he sprinted towards the beasts. "Got it." said Regan as he activated a shout to attract the beasts attention. They all immediately turned towards him and even the beasts following the three running people stopped for a moment.

'Damn tank' though Gwenith as she ran at her full speed. She soon lost the two slow warriors and started to circle around. A minute later she could hear Wade berating the others "She wanted you to get caught by the beasts. They somehow act like dogs or something so don't act on your emotions so hard." Noah only ignored him "Damn, she got away. She's fast as fuck. I would have sliced that witch to pieces if I had gotten her." he kicked a rock lying next to him. "We have to get back to Regan, we still have the mission and I'd rather not leave him with those wolves, no matter how docile they may be." they turned around and jogged back to Regan. 'They don't even consider me coming back...what an arrogant bunch. I'm glad I never displayed my abilities before them.' she stalked them right back to Regan who was hiding behind his shield with his back to a large tree.

"You alright there boss?" Wade started to cast a healing spell but Regan stopped him "Keep the mana, they can't get through the shield...well it's not like they're really trying either." Some of the werewolves already lost their interest and faced the newcomers with curious eyes. "Fucking beasts, come on let's kill them one by one. Shouldn't be too hard." A tiny voice suddenly caught all of them unprepared. "NO, don't kill them! They're my friends!"

A small girl looked on half covered by a tree. She had long black rugged hair and wore no clothes. Her body was covered in scars and little cuts while dried blood covered the edges or her mouth and chin. Gwenith was watching from behind the scenes 'Her eyes are stunning. So I guess we found our little witch...' the purple eyes of the girl shined through the white environment and burned with fierce determination.

"Oh so they're your friends?" Noah sneered at the girl while brandishing his sword. "Noah don't!" Regan's shout was too late as Noah severed one of the werewolves' heads with a clean cut. The beast died with one hit. "Well look at that...level 180 my ass." He commented as he cut down another beast. "STOP! YOU'RE HURTING THEM!" the girl's pleading was ignored as one beast after the other was cut down by the mad warrior. "Might as well help" Phil sighed as he started to help clean the shadow beasts away. When only four remained the girl shrieked "YOU'RE HURTING THEM, I SAID STOP!" her voice changed from pleading and childish to a deep growling. Her form changed to the same as the werewolves as the remaining beasts attacked the two warriors. The Crusaders had trouble with their speed but since their stats were so much higher the beasts were soon cut down. When the last blow fell the girl, now werewolf, attacked from behind the warriors and managed to cut Noah's back.

"It's unfortunate that it's a child but we have our orders." Wade started to cast a healing spell towards Noah who heavily bled from his back. "You little bitch, I will cut off your limbs one by one!" He shouted and swung at her. "Damn shame she's so long gone..." Regan entered the fray and attracted the girls attention with his shout. The girl who had been evading all the blows with ease so far and even managed to tear through Phil's arm and Noah's shield was distracted for a second in which one of the warriors cut her leg.

'Alright that's enough I think' Gwenith snuck behind Wade who was constantly healing the wounds of his comrades and rammed her sword through his chest. "AAaaaah, you guys really should watch your backs." she exclaimed as blood filled both Wade's chest and mouth. He grunted as he slid from her sword. The injured girl held her leg, now transformed back and crawled behind the tree she was hiding before as the Crusaders faced their new enemy. "That FUCKING BITCH!" Noah was fuming as he held back to stay in what remained of their formation. 'Oh look at that, he held back for once...he's actually improving' Gwenith read the status message before her eyes as Wade apparently bled to death.

You have leveled up by 17%, current level 190. You have 5 undistributed stat points.

Status:

Name: Gwenith Thersa

Level: 190

Class: Berserker

Vitality 1073

Endurance 1230

Strength 1434

Dexterity 922

Intelligence 73

Wisdom 36

Resistance: 890

Special Stats:

Mental Strength: 128

Skills:

Bloodthirst

30% Damage and Attack speed increase (Tier 3) when in Bloodthirst.

Chance to regenerate Vitality and Endurance when attacking

Ignores Pain and reduces 25% Damage taken.

100 Mental Strength required (Tier 3) to uphold

1 Endurance per Second

Frenzy

Lose yourself in Battle and ignore 75% Damage taken. Attack damage is increased by 20% but Precision is reduced by the same amount. Unable to distinguish between friend and foe. Once Frenzy is activated the user fights until no stamina remains. If no targets are available the user will attack walls or trees in the vicinity.

Berserker class required. Level 100 required to activate.

Activates automatically if vitality reaches below 5%.