Since we killed a bear I decided to celebrate it. We were going to just eat as much as we could at the inn but it ended differently. I got drunk and spent almost half of the money on food and drinks for everyone in the inn. We all were drinking, singing, and dancing! Except for Tae… He dropped first after a few drinks. He didn’t get drunk, parting like that isn’t for him. All I can say is that he’ll regret doing that when I tell him how awesome it was.

I got a chance to test my new ability. One guard challenged me to a friendly contest. We were going to throw the axes at the chunk of wood. Guard was first and he hit two out of three axes. Then there was my turn. I barely stood but the challenge is a challenge! The first ax didn’t even reach halfway to the target. The second went above the target. Seeing all of that the guards started laughing.

[ Eric ]

“Don’t disappoint me.” I said as I kissed the ax. When I threw it I hit the target.

[ Guard ]

“Looks like I won!”

[ Eric ]

“Wait… just a second.” I pointed at the chunk of wood with my thumb.

It looked like the ax was pushed again and it chopped the wood in half. The guard was surprised by what just happened. I opened my hand and waited for the guard to give me money because I thought that I won that challenge.

[ Eric ]

“Don’t you ever… underestimate… the blessed one.”

[ Guard ]

“But you lost…”

[ Eric ]

“...What?”

[ Guard ]

“Yeah. I hit two targets and you only one. I won.”

So I gave him one silver coin and went to drink more but when we all had fun at the tavern… a new danger came to this side of the island. Screams came out of the forest near the inn. It was so horrible that I became sober. A small girl came running from the woods. She was screaming “Help!” A few guards approached her and asked what happened but the girl was in tears. She wasn’t able to tell even one word. She was trembling in fear. Something scary happened in this forest. I kneeled to be on her level and kindly asked.

[ Eric ]

“Can you tell me what happened?”

[ Girl ]

“The wolves… attacked us.” She pointed at the forest.

While the guards were chatting about what to do I immediately ran in the direction she pointed. I was running but I couldn’t see them. It was too dark to see clearly. Then I heard another scream for help. The kids were against the wall of the mountain surrounded by wolves. They weren’t attacked yet. It looked like the wolves were waiting for someone. As I was thinking about what I could do, something came out of the bushes.

It was a black wolf with horns. It was as big as me, just on four legs. All the wolves cleared the way for him. It looked like he was the boss here. When he approached the children all wolves took a few steps back. It wanted to eat them. I threw the ax at the black wolf. It caught the ax in between his teeth without any struggle. Ax moved again because of my Lucky Throw but it only made this wolf flinch a little bit.

When the wolf howled all the wolves went after me. There were twenty? No. Thirty of them. I have no chance against that many. Lucky Throw will be useless here since I only have two axes left. What can I do… Wait… Wolves aren’t monsters? Right? I used my False Fear. Few wolves tripped, a few ran away and many of them just froze in place except that black wolf. Looks like it might be a real monster.

I blinked once and the wolf disappeared. It was nowhere to be seen. Even normal wolves were surprised. Then I felt shivers on my spine. It jumped on me from behind. With one swing of his fangs, he left a huge mark on the ground and even killed a few wolves. Now I know why they were scared of it. Also, his horns started to glow purple. It probably means that he is using some kind of magic. It was going to attack me again. Definitely. When the wolf saw light from the bushes it knew that more people were coming. It ran away alone, leaving other wolves at our mercy. This wolf left me with a few questions.

Why did it run away when it was so strong?

Was it on this island earlier?

Why now?

Did it arrive after the death of the bear?

Is he my another challenge?

Too many questions but no one to answer.

Guards came out of the bushes. Shocked as always whenever they see me. They haven't seen the black wolf but the mark he left was still there and they all instantly noticed it.

[ Guard ]

“What happened here?”

[ Eric ]

“New monster appeared… Giant black wolf with horns.”

[ Guard ]

“Third… monster…”

[ Eric ]

“Wait. What do you mean by third?”

[ Guard ]

“There was a Rock Bear, Red Phantom, and now this Black Wolf…”

[ Eric ]

“Phantom?”

[ Guard ]

“Yeah… a ghost that appears with the mist in the afternoon.”

[ Eric ]

“This island is more dangerous than I thought.”

One guard took the kids to the village but the rest were thinking about what to do about the wolves. One of them suggested killing them but I had something else in mind. Before any of them laid their weapons on the wolves I used my False Fear to stop them.

[ Eric ]

“Bring Hakon before you do anything stupid…”