Chapter 7: The Situation Just Got A Whole Lot Worse

"Well then, shall we get started?"

Ken always managed to find himself in the middle of trouble, but this time things were serious. It wasn't just about himself this time. If he were to stop now, what would become of the kids? Ken made sure not to forget that. There's no way he could even think about falling here. He has to find and save them, no matter what.

The wolves stood there staring at Ken it was like, he was emitting some dangerous energy. The wolves were extremely wary.

"If you won't come after me, then I guess you won't mind if I make the first move."

Ken charged forward at the wolf which was in front of him with his sword in one hand and landed a clean slash tearing through the wolf's skin. Before he had a chance to get a good look at the situation, two more wolves ran at him from different sides, Ken hopped backwards with one leg, put out his hand and blasted them both back using his wind magic.

"Looks like I don't have much of a choice so I'll need to use some magic..."

"If I can get that other sword back I'll most likely be able to handle this without any issues."

Ken attempted to head over to the tree to reclaim the sword he threw earlier, the problem with that was just the sheer number of wolves that would keep getting in his way. That's when Ken thought of something incredible.

He raised his sword and focused his energy into the blade of the sword allowing his mana to flow through. Once it was ready. From a distance, Ken positioned his sword horizontally, then let out a giant slash. Cutting through everything within a medium-range, including the wolves. The slash was so powerful it cut down some of the trees.

After that he hurried over to the sword he threw earlier, he then pulled it out of the broken tree, whilst pulling it out the wolf's corpse fell off of the sword. Ken knew that this wasn't right. It was a well-known fact that this territory belonged to the wolves. They didn't disturb the village and the village didn't disturb them, so none of this had to happen if it weren't for the kids.

Ken turned around and pointed his sword at the remaining wolves. Even though he had taken care of the majority of the wolves, some remained. Without even saying a single word, the wolves began to scatter. For the first time in this night, he became relieved. Even after a battle like that, he continued to push forward, deeper and deeper into the forest.

Using that attack took quite a toll on his body, his vision became blurry, his movements became slower, and on top of that, his senses were starting to dull.

"I think I may have put too much power into that one swing..."

At this point, Ken was practically dragging his body across the ground. He held his hand out and used the trees to support his movement while staring down at the ground until there were no more trees. His surroundings got brighter. As he continued to walk forward, Ken raised his head. He had wandered into an area with no trees, the light of the moon shined down on the place where Ken stood, it was shaped like a circle. It was then Ken spotted the kids in the middle, disregarding any of the pain he was feeling, he ran over to the kids.

They were crying, Ken knew this wasn't the time or place to be asking any stupid questions or scold them. He was just glad they were all in one piece.

"You guys need to get out of this place right now. It's not safe."

One of the children tried to say something but was having trouble getting the words out since they were crying so much.

"Ken did you come to save us we got lost..."

Ken pointed towards the way back to the village.

"Grab your friends and head that way, whatever you do run and don't stop for anything I'll be right behind you!"

Without any further questions, the child nodded, told his friends, they picked themselves up and started running back towards the village.

That's when Ken remembered something a friend told him a long time ago.

"Hey, Ken did you hear about the rumour surrounding the secluded forest to the west?"

"I've heard some things about the forest itself. Although I don't think I need to know anymore."

"Lucky for you I'll tell you anyway, I heard if you go deep enough into the forest there's a big circle with no trees, it's rumoured that marks the middle of the forest. They say a few decades ago a wolf five times the size of your average wolf entered the forest. It's also said if you find that area in the forest you'll most likely run into it."

"That's nice and all, but did I need to know that?"

"You never know maybe the information will prove to be useful one day!"

"Sure..."

Ken guessed that this must have been the place his friend spoke about. So if that was true then there was no doubt, the story about the wolf had to have been true. While Ken was thinking, the ground started to vibrate. It didn't faze him at all since he knew what was coming.

He questioned himself, thinking about why the King Of Wolves didn't show up earlier. Could it have been because the wolf didn't care about the kids and used them as bait? Now wasn't the time to think about something like that.

Ken knew that he wouldn't be able to outrun the wolf. Even if he tried it would put the kids at risk, the only option was to fight. Ken drew both of his swords and prepared to fight it was then out of the sky the giant beast emerged it made a quake so powerful it could be felt from the village while landing, presenting itself to Ken.

The real question was. Can Ken beat this monster?