The three Direwolves were horrifying. They continued treading from the woodline, walking lowly and watching the tiny humans. Their jaws were bloodied, and small pieces of human and Goblin flesh were dotting their teeth.

It became apparent that the Goblins that had run off, nor the men chasing them, would come back alive. The men watched as blood fell to the ground.

Bruce gritted his teeth. There had been much loss of life that day, and it looked like there was about to be more.

Geth was already prepared to cast State Change, hoping that it could buy enough time to get away. What happened next was strange to everyone present.

The two dark grey wolves standing to the sides circled around the small group and darted past them. It was apparent that their goal was to destroy the structures behind them, not necessarily the people on the field.

While the two wolves took off, the black one remained and stared down at the small party. The look that it was giving off was that of contempt. It was as if it were saying they weren’t worth its time. It casually strolled forward, letting out a low growl as if warning them not to move.

‘As if I would sit still and wait to be eaten.’ Geth thought. ‘Albus, do you have any ideas?’

:This creature relies on Agility. It definitely has Strength superior to yours, but it shouldn’t be enough to kill you. Still, there’s no chance of you defeating it. The best option would be to blind the creature and make a break for it:

A thought occurred as he read Albus’ words. He felt dumb for not having tried it before. The only problem was if it didn’t work, the wolf would likely target him right away.

Behind his back, a premade earth brick appeared in his hand from his satchel. The men behind him were shaking, and just at that moment, one of them took off, trying to escape. The wolf’s attention was instantly split.

Geth used the opportunity to make his move. He threw the brick as hard as he could towards the wolf’s head. The Direwolf noticed the movement and looked directly at the brick flying towards its face. An amused expression showed on its face and it seemed to scoff at the small object.

It was exactly what Geth needed. He activated State Change and the brick instantly turned into a liquid, splattering over the Direwolf’s wide-opened eyes. The creature yelped in surprise, suddenly unable to see its targets.

“Run!” Geth yelled, and the group scattered. The remaining men ran off in different directions, while Geth and Bruce sprinted past the wolf towards the woodline. As they passed, the wolf could hear their steps and swung its claws low and to the left.

The sharp claws tore through the meat in Bruce’s thigh, shredding through muscle and severing the bone. His leg dangled in place, pouring fresh blood onto the ground.

Geth jumped under him as he fell to the ground, hoisting the man onto his back and casting Restoration on him. Even if it didn’t have vision, the wolf still had its sense of smell. The blood on them completely gave away their position.

Bruce had already fallen unconscious and Geth was supporting nothing but dead weight. The Direwolf was slowly gaining on them, smelling at the ground and following the smell of iron.

Just when the wolf was less than five yards from the duo, an arrow came whistling out of the woods, burrowing itself in the creature’s backside. The wolf stopped following Geth as it angrily sprinted in the direction the arrow had come from.

Geth sighed in relief, tossed Bruce upon his shoulder, and started sprinting towards the woods again. With his Strength being so low, and Bruce having such a large build, his movement was slowed tremendously.

As he entered the woods he glanced back, a feeling of regret showing on his face. There were enough cores out there to Level two or three dungeon systems. It was really a waste.

He sighed, then turned and continued dashing into the brush. As he was running, a figure silently appeared beside him. Filthy was running next to him, with Geth’s black cloak making him difficult to see in the shadows. They nodded at each other and kept sprinting.

****

After running for what felt like hours, they had not only left the first set of woods but crossed over the hilly area with the decomposing bodies. It had only been half a day since he’d first been here with Til, but the features on the bodies had already begun to fade into nothingness.

Geth watched as the Mana ate away at the last bits of skin. The thought occurred to him that the Mana he was using could be derived from the energy or life force of others. Albus didn’t interrupt that thought, which he took as an affirmation.

When they’d finally made it to the next set of woods, Geth put down Bruce’s body. He’d casted Restoration constantly until the bleeding stopped, but he hadn’t had a chance to look at the damage. Filthy carefully removed the shredded bits of clothing.

The wound was terrible, though Restoration had stopped him from bleeding out, it couldn’t repair the damage. Shreds of meat dangled from the man’s lower thigh. Most of his bone was exposed, showing that it had been completely shattered down to his knee. The lower half of his leg was just dangling uselessly, barely hanging on to the upper portion.

Filthy spoke first. “It would be best to remove the damaged parts while he’s still unconscious.”

Geth nodded in agreement while taking one of the swords out of his Inventory Satchel. This one had almost no rust on it, and it was a bit sharper than the others.. He gave the sword to Filthy, his Strength was much higher and they needed to make sure it was a clean cut.