23. Why Me?!

Lance waves for Sharna to come closer to him. Still trying to catch her breath, she quickly rushes over. Lance grabbed her arm and spun her around. With a thud, their backs collide. Now they were standing back to back, "Can you burn the ground in front of you?" Lance wanted to take advantage of her magic if he could, setting up a barrier that protects her so he can focus on the fight to come.

"Wait. How did you..." Startled, she was about to ask how he knew about her magic.

"No time. Can you do it or not?" Lance was giving her no time to think, a battle was about to happen, and he wasn't gonna waste precious time explaining.

Sharna shakes her head and begins to focus, "I'll try." She whispers to herself and a small flame starts to form in the palm of her hand. She raises her hand and throws it forward, Sending the small fireball to the ground. Flames erupt where it landed and lights the surrounding ground on fire. She whispers to herself again and throws another fireball. She is aiming to make a semi-circle around her.

Lance left her to defend their rear as he focused on what was coming from the forest in front. 'Vix, I'm counting on you too!'

'Right!' Vixen nods and watches Lance's blind spots.

"Hoooooowwwwwwllll"

The pack of wolves is closing a tight circle around them. Lance couldn't see them yet, but he can feel their eyes, and their murderous intent. "Keep your magic ready, and keep that flame up." Lance patiently waits for the wolves to get close. Charging would put Sharna in danger, and separate them, making it easy for the wolves to pick them off, one at a time. Lance knew this and so he decided to wait them out, and let the wolves come to them.

"Okay! But I can't keep this up forever you know!" Sharna is shaking like a tree, in fear. Lance could feel the vibrations on his back.

Lance knew he couldn't rush out, So he planned to funnel them toward him and take them out himself. 'We can't expect these wolves to be as weak as the last bunch. We are much deeper in the woods after all.'

'You're right, But as long as we don't let up, we should be fine. I hope anyway. If only this tag-a-long wasn't here.' Vixen growled at Sharna, even though she couldn't see or hear her.

'It'll be fine. We got this!' Lance gripped his swords tight.

Several meters ahead, from behind the trees, the pack started to show their ugly saber-toothed heads. They looked exactly like the ones from before, just a little bigger. Lance took the opportunity to scan them.

Trling

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Creature: Saber Tooth Wolf

Level: 8

Health Points: 189

Energy Points: 0

Stamina Points: 74

Armour Rating: 25

Attack Damage: 20 - 35

Skills:

- Bite

- Viciously bite opponent dealing physical damage. +20% to attack

- Claw

- Slash opponent dealing physical damage. +15% to attack

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'They're my level but are weak still. This might be easy!' Lance figured it would take two to three strikes to take one out. Quicker if he hit their weak spots.

'Ummmm, I wouldn't be so sure of that!' Vixen was looking around and started counting all of them.

'What do you mean? I took out almost a dozen the other day, and I had weaker equipment back then. This is a cakewalk' Lance mused as he started to smile.

'There are over 30 that I counted, and that's only what I can see. I can't see past the flames, and there could be countless hiding still.' Vixen was now officially worried. One-on-one, these wolves are nothing, but a pack this size? It went from being a matter of when Lance could defeat them all, to how long till they devour him.

'Well, let's see how this all plays out first. If it ends up that we have to flee, we will.' Now with a grave look on his face, he got ready. Gripping his swords tightly he waited for the pack to make the first move.

He didn't have to wait long. Several of the wolves started to charge at him with saliva dripping from their mouths.

'Flurry!' Once the wolves were inches away, Lance unleashed a fury of attacks. Just as he thought, they didn't go down in a single strike. But that wouldn't stop him, he kept going. Aiming for the weak points whenever he could. 'Around six wolves and two flurries took care of them'

Trling Trling Trling Trling Trling Trling

The sound of the system echoed in his head as he was taking down the beasts.

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Saber Tooth Wolf Slain

Experience: 250

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The experience he was gaining wasn't bad, But he didn't have the time to go over it as even more wolves lunged at him. An even bigger group this time, and he wasn't able to completely avoid all their attacks.

'Rush!' 'Flurry!' 'Rush!' 'Flurry!'

Lance was slaying the wolves fairly quickly, but even he was feeling the pressure. For every wolf that was taken down, two more took its place. He was surrounded and running out of stamina.

Sharna wasn't fairing any better. She wasn't able to kill any, but she was setting some on fire, and paralyzing others. But she too was taking a beating. Cuts could be seen all over her frail, tiny body.

'Shit, this isn't good.' Lance had to focus. He wanted to find an opening to go help Sharna. He ended up deciding to go all in. He activated flurry after flurry, his swords swinging wildly around him as he cut down their numbers.

Sharna was trying her best to keep the wolves away, but she just wasn't strong enough. Even with the wolves either unconscious or running around on fire, she wasn't doing enough damage.

A wolf sees an opening on Sharna and charges forward. She was able to avoid the fangs, but the creature still body-checked her. Pushing her back and falling to the ground. She rubbed her butt and tried to get up, but all the wolves pounced at her. She closed her eyes, covered her face with her hands, and let out a scream...

"AAAHHHHHHHH!!!"

But nothing happened No pain. No growling. Nothing. She stopped screaming and peeked out through her fingers. She saw a male figure standing in front of her, slicing through the wolves like they were paper. Blood and body parts filled the air as the wolves numbers steadily dwindled. The remaining wolves stopped attacking Lance. He stood there, staring down the remaining 3, "I thought I told you to keep that firewall up!" Lance scolded her for not doing what he asked of her. A simple task he thought to himself.

"R-R-Rene!! B-b-but how?" realizing who the man was, she was shocked. Sharna knew Lance was strong, but he just took out more than almost a dozen wolves that wanted to feast on her.

'Not much stamina left. But only three left. We got this.' With three wolves remaining, And Lance's stamina and health almost depleted, the battle turned to an all-or-nothing. 'Rush! Flurry!' He strung combos together and swiftly took out the last of the pack. Blood flies through the air as the remaining wolves' lifeless bodies fall to the ground.

'I counted 47 wolves.' Vixen took in a deep breath as if she held her breath the whole fight, 'Now I have a favor to ask you.' Vixen was relieved that they made it through that alive. Even though she wasn't part of the fighting, she was still panting from the stress of watching the fight go on, Fearing her life may end at any moment.

'And what would that be?' Lance took a deep breath as he tried to slow his heart down. He could feel his muscles aching and every inch of him was sore.

'Stop showing off please!' Vixen started to laugh out loud.

'No promises.' Lance laughed along with her. To Sharna, Lance must have looked like a psycho laughing to himself.