Dire Wolf Pack (3)

*AOWUUUU*

Ten minutes later, the formation had crumbled. Some of the black-robed knights had fallen already, and George could see several apprentices dying in the corner of his eyes. Fortunately, his [Furze Alliance] only had injured casualties for the moment.

The dire wolves kept coming though, and there was no end to them.

'The book had not mentioned this level of danger...Is it the butterfly effect?', George wondered

Fortunately, Hugo and him were strong enough to take care of most dire wolves. George had already killed 14 dire wolves just by himself, and Hugo had taken care of 10 already.

The direwolf howls were unceasing, and George was currently facing a 2-metre long huge direwolf. As the direwolf continued snarling, George could smell the stench from it. Breathing in and out, George could feel exhaustion and muscle pain throughout his body. His back was also bleeding quite profusely as he had been overwhelmed and claws reached his flesh.

Using his [Lion Beheading] knight killing technique, he managed to take care of two out of the three dire wolves who had surrounded him, but there still remained one. It was tall and strong, and its attributes were far superior to him.

[Name - Beta Dire Wolf | Status - Healthy

Attributes : Strength - 3.7| Dexterity - 2.8 | Vitality - 4.2]

In comparison, George was much weaker.

[Name - George Lionheart | Status - Blood Loss (Vitality, Strength, Dexterity decreased by 30%) | Title: Preparatory Knight

Attributes : Strength - 2.5 | Dexterity - 2.5 | Vitality - 2.6]

George moved forward but his weapon was no longer as firm as it originally was. Slashing towards the direwolf, he was surprised to see the beast accepting the blow. His blade stuck in the monster's flesh, George realized that he had been tricked.

'It wanted to disarm me!', George thought with despair.

The dire wolf howled and launched its claws towards George, who somehow managed to avoid part of it. Still, the claws left a deep mark on his arms who started to bleed profusely.

'Is it how it all ends?', George thought with fear, 'I knew that a dire wolf attack would happen, and I gathered the strongest noble youths in order to protect myself. My efforts were more than enough to survive the dire wolf incident...So why are these dire wolves so strong in this timeline?'

For the first time in his second life, George realized that his external knowledge that came from the book was not as trustworthy as he originally thought.

Just as the direwolf moved forward and threated to bite him to death, George looked at his companions, hoping that someone would come to his rescue.

However, Hugo, the knight he admired and was supposed to be the strongest one in this battle, had just been bitten in the thigh. Soon enough, a second dire wolf launched its claws, cutting through Hugo's throat.

Just like that, a knight had lost his life.

As for the others from the [Furze Alliance], they were overwhelmed by the Dire Wolves. Girls had joined in the battle too, but this new addition didn't change the tides of battle. Black-robed knights were strong, but they were only strong enough to protect themselves.

'Why are there so many direwolves here?', George wondered

However, he quickly shook his head.

'If I want to survive, I can't rely on others right now...I need to find a solution...I am injured, but the dire wolf is injured too...', George analysed.

[Task established. Begin simulation! Beginning Assist Model!]

A light flashed in front of George's eyes, and a panoramic, 3D image appeared before him. He didn't like the assist model because he needed to understand it before putting into action. In real-time battles, a small second of hesitation could cost his life.

However, since the Dire Wolf had retreated a step back to recover before launching forward, it allowed George to use the computation abilities of his biochip to further increase his odds of survival.

Without magical power, his magical artefact could not be used either, making it a useless piece of iron for the moment.

[Host is under attack! Most efficient method of dealing with it: roll forward with a 50 degrees angle to the left, then grasp the claymore and push forward!]

Avoiding the large bite from the dire wolf, George rolled forward and followed his biochip's indications. Seeing his claymore still impaled in the beast's back, he grasped it with two hands and unleashed his strongest technique: [Lion Beheading].

He thought of his family back on Earth, his family back in the Magus World, the Lionheart Household, the hopes the previous owner of this body upon leaving the household, his dreams...

As if it was a promise, George used all of his strength to push forward, his claymore cutting through the tough Direwolf's flesh.

'I swear, on my name and honour, that I will allow the Lionheart Household to rise'

A strange energy started to flow through his arm, blood and muscles. Before George could realize, he had cut all the way through this 2-meters-tall monstrous dire wolf. It was a feat that even black-robed knights had not managed to achieve.

George felt every artery in his body expanding quickly, and the blood continuously surged, circulating huge amounts of energy into the various parts of his body. A warm current gradually rose in his lower abdomen, and the wound on his back no longer seemed as painful as before.

"This is…...Internal life energy!" George exclaimed. He had attained the characteristics of a Preparatory Knight a long time ago, his physical attributes surpassing the standards achievable by a human being thanks to the nutritious food he found on the Great Plains of Death.

Moreover, he never stopped practicing his family's breathing technique, so he was almost comparable to an actual Knight, based on physical attributes alone. However, he had not been able to ignite his internal life energy until now because it required more than just training. It required life and death experience. George knew about it, and this is why he had decided to continue fighting. He never thought that he would endanger himself to this extent, though.

Right at that moment, the warm current in his lower abdomen travelled to his two eyes, and a piercing pain in his eyes made them water.

When he opened his eyes, his vision was extremely blurry, as if he was shrouded in mist. However, the faint blue words of the A.I. Chip appeared.

[Beep! Abnormality in the current state!]

[Secretion of adrenaline in the Host's body has rapidly increased, blood flow has increased by 89%! Strength, Vitality and Dexterity attributes have increased significantly]

[The Host has ignited internal life energy and broke through the boundaries of a Knight!]

Knights were stronger than preparatory knights because of one single property: the use of internal energy. Also known as life force or Qi in Eastern Kingdoms Monestaries, internal energy allowed a knight to continue growing stronger and perpetually evolve, going past genetic shackles. More importantly, internal energy also allowed knights to unleash terrifyingly strong bursts of power, allowing them to slay beasts and opponents far stronger than themselves.

"A.I. Chip! Record the status I was in earlier when I broke through into a Knight!"

[Beep! Recording is done, name: State of advancing to a Knight]

"A.I. Chip! Show me my current stats!"

[Name - George Lionheart | Status - Blood Loss (Physical attributes decreased by 40%) | Title: Knight

Attributes : Strength - 2.8 | Dexterity - 2.8 | Vitality - 3.0 | Internal Energy - 4.2

Knight Killing Technique: [Lion Beheading]

Perk: Sword Expert]

There was an overall increase in the stats: his Strength and Dexterity had increased by 0.3, while his vitality increased by 0.4. It was a significant improvement, and with proper use of the second stage of the Lionheart knight breathing technique, he would be able to progress further. Ultimately, continuous use of the Lionheart Knight Breathing Technique would allow him to reach the physical requirements necessary to reach the Grand Knight Realm.

'What an unexpected gain...', George thought with satisfaction.

George stood back up, and moved forward, killing three dire wolves in a flash. Now that he had broken through, not only did he moved faster and stronger, he also felt like the movements of the dire wolf beasts to be slowlier. It was perhaps only psychological, but it allowed greater freedom of movement, causing his combat prowess to be much better than before.

After killing the last dire wolf on the 3rd carriage's battlefield, George announced that he would rest for a while. The others, who could clearly see the terrifying injuries he had suffered, didn't dare object to his decision.

Upon reaching the carriage, two girls attended his wounds. They poured alcohol to disinfect his injuries, but he didn't even flinch, causing the girls to look at him with surprise and admiration. He didn't care about their yearning looks, however, and gritted his teeth.

This fight had taught him a valuable lesson: To never trust the book again.

The Dire Wolf attack was still going on, and the number of apprentices dying kept going up. The white-robed magi were not magi themselves, but rather Level 3 acolytes who were not strong enough to make the [Alpha Dire Wolf] retreat. Eight out of the twenty black-robed knights had fallen already.

It was a disaster.