C7: A Game of Hack and Slash

Eric placed his hand on Jamie's shoulder. "Nothing special for now man. Though we do have one weakness right here."

"Huh? What is that?"

"You and me, brother."

Jamie turned to Eric when he heard him say this. "Bromance, baby."

"You name it!" Eric said, a bit loudly this time, patting Jamie on the shoulder. But...

This caught the attention of the wolves. Every wolf's head turned their way.

Eric smirked and tossed his sword into the air and spun it before catching it once again.

The wolves were already nearing the square which held the goats.

The goats who were mindlessly munching on the grass started to groan and move around like they'd seen a ghost, well… for them, this was pretty much worse than a ghost!

"Come on, Jamie!" Eric screamed as he walked toward the wolves, with each step, his feet moved faster and faster.

The three wolves who were in the very front of the pack charged toward him right away.

The wolves weren't any regular wolves with black fur. A black smoke surrounded their bodies, allowing them to reduce their body size to sneak through tiny gaps only rabbits could sneak through. These creatures were hard to defeat, moreover, they were even terrifying to look at!

The eyes of these shadow wolves were glowing with blue fire, and some of them even had a yellow flame in their eyes.

The first wolf ran towards him like a cheetah and leaped at Eric with its jaws opened.

Eric scoffed upon seeing this. As the wolf was only a few feet away from him, he gave a kick to the wolf in mid-air.

Kew! The wolf cried out, flying across the air and falling flat on the ground a good distance away from him.

The other two wolves saw this and stopped in their tracks. They were intelligent creatures, so they knew that it wasn't a good thing to charge at him right now, not alone at least.

While the attention of more than 8 wolves fell upon the Vampire, close to 5 wolves were surrounding Jamie. Jamie had a firm grip on his sword and he was slightly scared to face these wolves, but he knew that he could win if he tried.

<Lvl 2 Shadow Wolf - Beta>

<Lvl 3 Shadow Wolf - Beta>

<Lvl 4 Shadow Wolf - Omega>

Their levels varied from each other, but none of them seemed like they were the 'big guns.' Surely, this pack had an alpha and he wasn't still here yet!

"Come at me, bastards!" he exclaimed.

One by one, the wolves jumped at him, barking, and slowly started to circle him.

They were slowly trying to trap him, but he already noticed this. Jamie instantly jumped forward and slashed one of the wolves, and the first thing that got slashed was its eyes.

It cried out and backed away, but the other wolves got aggressive after their friend was wounded. 'Oh shit!'

Jamie tried to back away, but there were two more in the back. The Vampire was already engaged in a battle and Jamie was surely alone now!

"You can't fuck with me, bloody ass-holes!"

Jamie swung his sword, just like he trained in Rings. The combat of hack and slash in Rings was very close to real-life tactics, so his mind already knew the swings and the slashes. One wolf leaped from the front, he slashed it. The other jumped at him from behind, and like a dance, he spun around and slashed them too.

<You have killed one Lvl 2 Shadow Wolf>

<1 rare soul gained>

'Too easy!' he boasted in his mind, smirking now. However, he said that too early. He had only slashed three wolves so far and only one was entirely dead.

So, the situation was still dire!

As he stepped back once again, the wolf he had slashed first jumped at him and managed to trip him down. Now, his heart rate gradually increased. He had lost grip of his sword and the only thing that was left were his bare hands.

"Fuck! Fuck! Get away! Get away! I'm not gonna die like this! Shit!" He used his full force on his arms to pull the wolf back and held its jaws so it couldn't bite his head off.

And, a moment later…

The jaws of the wolf ripped apart, and blood fell on Jamie's face.

<You have killed one Lvl 3 Shadow Wolf!>

<One Rare soul gathered!>

"Shit —" he coughed out the blood from his mouth, but soon, the blood turned to smoke and disappeared from his face. However, as the shadowy smoke evaporated from his face, his red Demon eyes gleamed.

This made the wolves squeal and back off, but Jamie was pissed now, and the adrenaline running through his veins wanted more.

Jamie wiped his mouth from his left elbow and picked up the blade on the ground.

'Didn't see that coming!' he thought as he grasped the sword's hilt. The wolves were definitely fucked now. He wondered why he had more strength than the other stats, and now he knew.

However, Eric was too busy on his own. But the numbers had already decreased. He had defeated more than 5 wolves right away, but more and more just kept pouring in. If the pack had more than 30 wolves, they might even harm the innocent people in the village!

"Huh? What the hell…" he cried out when he saw five more wolves charging at him, and this time, he saw two gleaming green eyes approaching from a good distance. He backed off from the wolves and slashed the two wolves in the front to their death, but another appeared from his left!

"FUCK –"

Slash! One slash severed the head of the wolf and it fell to the ground in front of him. And that slash was not from his sword!

Shocked, Eric looked to his side. "Level 1 warrior huh? I knew there was something about you after seeing that sword… you must've been a fucking champ to wield an [Old Eden Sword] in your past!"

Jamie smiled. "I think it's muscle memory!"

Jamie and Eric were now standing in the middle, circled by shadow wolves of various levels.

"The blue and yellow ones don't think too much... They're just out to kill, so you don't need to worry much about those. But, let me deal with the green ones, they're the magical class. You don't need to mess with them, even if you're strong!" Eric said, walking forward. "Oh, and if you see the Alpha… ugh, fucking run and call out my name!"

Eric breathed in and held his sword up. His eyes focused on the four wolves ahead of him, and he saw a clean line connecting them like a pattern.

"Vampire Dash, second style! Activate!" he commanded.

He felt energy burning on his feet, and with a swift dash, he slashed the four wolves in front of him.

[Mana: 9/10]

—>

[Mana: 5/10]

The two departed as Eric chased the magical class wolves that were hiding among the dark shadows of the forest. Jamie kicked the wolves and sent many of the wolves flying into the air and slashed every wolf in sight. "Haha! Losers!"

After two minutes, only two limping wolves were alive. With a smirk, he walked towards them… but, a chill suddenly went down his spine, making him stop in his tracks. Eric was far gone, and that aura was as strong as Eric's.

A strong wind blew past him, and that wind carried the scent of this aura. From the dark shadows of the forest, two red eyes opened.