6 Those Left Behind (4)

Recalling the map I had in my brain, I set my next destination to the bridge connecting to another island, specifically, under that bridge. The bridge was known as Klingston Bridge, as decided by the manufacturers for the highest paying sponsor. Under it was a river, but on the edges of the river, there was cave.

Apparently, only I and Michelle were the only ones who knew about the cave. Thanks to the favor I did, we were able to find the cave as coincidence, which resulted to me hanging upside down a tree branch near a cliff. It was because on the other side of the cave, there a huge tree laid its roots. Behind the tree was a steep cliff, about a 35 meter drop.

'If anywhere is safe from public eyes, it's that place…'

As such, with my rushed judgment, I continued with my weaving through the dark alleyways while carrying the unconscious masked man on my shoulder in order not to be seen by the public. During my travel, I noticed some police roaming about asking if they had seen someone.

"Excuse me, have you seen this young man, Ren Cruz?"

"Hm, you mean the suspect of the disappearing university? No I have not…"

They were looking for me. They even had an exact picture of me.

'This looks serious…'

If they were finding me based on the disturbance back on my apartment, or much worse, on the behalf of the organization targeting me, then I had not much time to leave this city. There are few cities in the Bermuda Triangle Island, but this city was the biggest because it was housing the Bermuda Triangle University.

'If this spreads out through all of the Bermuda Triangle Island, which is already happening…'

Then I won't be able to escape. I won't be able to reunite with my family living back in Japan because of their jobs. Even if worse comes to words, I'll have to use [Space-Time Magic].

'But the problem is Mana usage…'

I noticed that whenever I use [Space-Time Magic], a good chunk of my MP gets used. Plus, it was just a short distance jump like about, 5 – 8 Kilometers.

If I had to use [Space-Time Magic] to cross over the ocean through hundreds of Kilometers, I don't know how much MP I am going to need for it to work and hope that I won't end up in somewhere dangerous like the middle of the ocean.

'Looks like I'll have to increase my MP if I want to leave…'

Judging that to be my next target, I continued to move towards my destination. It took me a few hours to reach there, so the time would be past midnight. There were a lot of times when I was about to get caught because of some unexpected situations, as well as my carelessness, but I was able to avoid them entirely. Even though I was running for extended periods of time, it felt just like a light jog to me.

In front of me resides a cave. Its insides were pitch-black because of the lack of light. It looked like something good to use in horror movies.

"I forgot to bring a flashlight…"

Because of me rushing through the whole night, I wasn't able to prepare everything perfectly, and that included the flashlight.

'Looks like I'll have to drain the battery of my smartphone…'

My smartphone, which indicated 15% as its battery life, revved up and turned on its flashlight mode as I pressed on the screen.

"I'll have to be quick…"

Thankfully, the man was still unconscious so I won't have to worry about making some noise, as well as any problems. Oh how wrong was I when I thought of that when I just entered the cave.

"Of all things, a fucking wolf pack actually lived here!?"

I was being chased by about 6 - 8 wolves behind me. Thanks to my reinforced body, I was able to outrun them, but before I was able to run, I was scratched by one of them. Maybe scratch was an understatement, how about slashed?

Blood was dripping from my leg where the claws of one wolf hit me. It hurt, but not so much. Maybe due to the Status Card, or the STR stat, some of the pain was nullified. While I relaxed when I put the man down, I noticed a pair of eyes glaring at me from the front. It then spread and I found myself surrounded by wolves. Just then, I recalled something I read about on the internet.

"Wolves never let go of the prey they chase."

Seeing that their prey was wounded and cornered, which was me, the wolves decided to put an end to the chase.

"Shit… Even with my body specs, I can only take about 3 - 5 wolves before being bitten and bled to death."

Realizing my disadvantageous position, I directed my eyes at the unconscious man.

'Damn it, I wanted to wring out some information from this bastard, but looks like I'll have to use him as bait instead.'

I didn't want to do it, but my situation proved otherwise. I slowly ducked down and tried to grab the man. During that time, the wolves pounced on me.

"Fuck!"

I quickly grab his shirt and threw him towards the frontmost wolf. It looked bigger than the others so it was probably the alpha. Not expecting the sudden human cannonball, the wolf was caught of guard and smashed into the body.

Crack, crack.

"GUUHHH!!??"

Judging by the pained and surprised groan as well as cracking sounds, bones were probably smashed, and the man woke up.

"W- what the hell---!?"

His voice was cut short as the wolf beside the struck alpha sunk its teeth on the man and closed its jaws.

"GGAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!"

The pained scream of the man echoed through the forest a ways from the river under the bridge. His scream surprised some of the wolves, making my attacks land easier.

I quickly stepped in front of the wolf and brought my fist to the side of its jaw. With the power from my reinforced body, its jaw cracked and dislocated while the wolf was sent flying. Once I finished doing that, I noticed a wolf rushing in behind me. I quickly ducked then twisted my body, using my hands to grab the fur on its belly then used the force from its lunge, as well as my own to directly lodge the wolf on the ground.

Its head smashed on a surprisingly well placed rock and cracked open. But because my posture was bad, I wasn't able to react to one of the wolves lunge towards me.

'FUUCKKK!!!'

I had no choice but to use [Blink] again. Even though this was not good to use in combat because of the side-effect it had, it was the only way to escape being bitten on the neck.

"[Blink]."

Once more, the wolves flinched at the sudden disappearance and reappearance of my body atop of the wolf. Enduring the urge to puke, I brought my fist down on the crown of the wolf and smashed it on the ground. Its head popped open like a balloon and blood and brain matter splattered all over.

I quickly adjusted my posture and saw that the wolves were wary of me after killing two of its pack members. The alpha in particular, looked at me with extreme hostility and caution in its eyes. Under its paws, the corpse of a mauled man lying on a pool of blood could be seen.

'Shit, even though I used some bait, I wasn't able to kill my target wolf count…'

If was able to kill 5, then I could've hunted the rest with ease. But because I used [Blink], the nausea wouldn't go away that easy, impeding with my decision making ability.

'This is really bad…'

If I hadn't broken my posture earlier, then I wouldn't be in this situation. Just then, I had a thought.

'How about [Time] magic…?'

I haven't had time to use it yet, nor the practice, but it would probably be the same with using [Space] magic.

'First, imagine what I want to do, then…'

Once I got the idea in my head, I quickly put it in practice.

"[Slow]."

When I used the magic, I saw that the wolves were moving slowly now. Seeing that the magic worked, I was able to breathe a sigh of relief.

'Now's my chance!!'

I quickly dashed away from the alpha wolf. I also didn't forget to cast another magic on myself.

"[Accelerate]."

Once I did that, the wolves, as well as the surroundings slowed down more. In that moment, I quickly picked up the knife from my bag ahead of me, and threw it towards the crown of the alpha wolf.

The knife flew in a straight path and moved as fast as a bullet. The knife lodged itself on the alpha's head before piercing it through until just halfway.

'That's one knife rendered useless…'

I quickly grabbed the other two knives I looted from the three men and slashed at the remaining wolves. Once I was done, only a single wolf remained, its pelt bloodied and breathing coarse.

"…"

I silently stared at its eyes for a few seconds before ending its misery.

"Even though I'm no longer normal, I still had trouble dealing with wolves…"

I turned my gaze to the corpse of the man before proceeding to pick up my bag. It was unscathed, save for the dirt on its bottom. I took a look at my clothes then made a quick decision to throw them away.

"I wonder how cold the river is during the night…?"

I headed back to the river in order to take a bath under the moon.