St. Peter was truly a small place. Some called it a city, but it was more akin to a village. Three to four hundred people lived in it.

Its urban planning had been extremely simplistic. There was one street in the whole village. It was straight, albeit for going up and down, and every house was pretty much built over this one street.

In his past life, the three demonic beasts had all come from the same direction. The street’s end pointed East and West. The monsters would come from the East and go unnoticed for the first hour. However, after a few stealthy kills, one woman would scream like a banshee right before getting her throat ripped off.

“Jake, can you say it one more time?”

Jacob had explained the plan more than once already, even if it was straightforward.

“Sure. I get in front of the wolf while pointing the stick at it,” Jacob showed the subpar weapon in his hand, “as soon as it engages me, you go in and whack it over its head. The leaves will cut the eyes in a matter of seconds and blind the monster. After that, it’s like stealing candy from a baby.”

It was most definitely not like stealing candy from a baby. Jacob was making it sound way easier than it would actually be. However, as said before, he couldn’t frighten a poor fifteen-year-old teenager like that.

“What if it charges at me first?” asked Francis for the umpteenth time.

“You keep it busy, and I do the whacking.”

“What if we meet two wolves at once?”

Well, if we do, we pray. We pray really fuc***g hard.

“We use the sticks to poke their eyes out. Then, once that’s done, we swiftly gang up on one and kill the other right after.”

“What if we get all three at once?”

Well, if we do, we are dead. Like, sooooo dead.

“The same strategy with two. Just avoid the third with some sideways jump.”

Maybe do a cartwheel too. Who knows, it might work.

They soon arrived close to the Eastern end of the street. Their school was dead in the middle of the little city, and it hadn’t taken more than five minutes after breaking the branches off the tree.

Jacob was sweating and panting. It had been quite the struggle: his body now felt like a ragdoll filled with sand. Crohn’s disease meant he was malnourished most of the year. Only when the chronic inflammation gave him some respite, he could put some weight and feel better.

With the arrival of Qi and Magic, humanity had discovered how to concoct pills and miraculous medicines. In his past life, Francis had gone a long way to secure some medicine that would make Jacob less useless.

In this life, Jacob was sure he could not only make those medicines and pills himself, but he could also put off part of the disease by simply cultivating his Qi. He had not been a great talent, but he was the last human standing against the Black Dragon. Jacob had more time than anyone else to cultivate and study. He made up for the lack of talent by acquiring nigh-infinite time to study and research.

While reminiscing, his sixth sense picked up something. He was a battle-hardened warrior, and even without Qi or Magic, he could feel the presence of the enemy.

Shit luck, as always.

Two wolves emerged by the trees bordering the street.

Their fur was reddish and brown, quite ordinary for some Demonic Beasts. However, what stood out were the massive fangs sprouting from their maws. They looked like sabertooth, but nastier.

The eyes were not just ferocious or cold like ordinary wolves: they contained malice like no Earthly beast ever had. Save for house cats, obviously. Little devious monsters—

Anyway.

Jacob wielded his branch, spread his legs, and lowered his butt. The fuc***s were heavy. He needed good grounding in case they were going to jump.

Francis copied his movements without being told. The guy was smart, thankfully. With a bit of luck, no one would die nor be terribly maimed by the end of the day.

Probably.

Jacob moved forward, closing the distance with one of the two wolves.

“Get closer. You don’t want to give the Demonic Wolves space to pounce. So get the stick at their eye level.”

Countless years of hunting and fighting had made Jacob’s movements smooth even in his current body. If he had had a tiny bit more strength, he could have taken care of this alone.

The first Demonic Wolf jumped toward Jacob.

Not that quick, it appears.

He sidestepped and simply struck the branch out. The leaves carved the beast’s weak fur like paper.

A shallow wound.

The fight had just started. There was no way a superficial wound like that would deter the wolf.

Glancing at his friend, he saw Francis struggling more than he had imagined.

His friend was too nervous, and the grip on the branch was clearly not firm enough. The wolf had started clawing his way forward. If Francis kept at it like that, he would lose his branch and die within the next minute.

“Grip your branch tighter and move around more! Meet the claws with thrusts! It will bleed its paws!”

Jacob’s wolf, thinking it could catch his enemy distracted, jumped upon him again. For a master like Jacob, the next step was obvious.

He did not put any strength in his swing. Instead, the teen just moved his branch upward, took a step forward, and dropped his body to the back.

Jacob had perfectly calculated the distance, and now the wolf was on a trajectory that would impale it on his stick. Indeed, the metal coating was no joke.

The wolf managed to twist mid-air and avoid getting killed on the spot. However, the stick still penetrated a few inches in his ribcage, dislodging a couple of bones and breaking a few others.

Jacob rolled and got on his feet smoothly. But, unfortunately, he was already exhausted by those two simple movements, and his mind was getting foggy.

I do really suck, don’t I?

Jacob gritted his teeth and repositioned the branch, shifting his weight from one leg to the other.

“Frank, hold on a minute. I’ll finish this fucker, and I’ll be there.”

I would fuc***g kill for a proper sword right now.

Francis was not doing well. He had lost balance, and the wolf had left bloody claw gashes on his shoulder. Jacob knew it was nothing in a duel to the death, but for a rookie like Francis, it had been like being stabbed through the heart.

His friend’s look was distorted by fear, and only his superior self-control kept him somehow together.

If Jacob didn’t kill his wolf soon, he would risk getting his friend badly hurt

He changed his grip, going from a standard one to a reverse clutch. The branch was so heavy for him that it made him make a desperate choice.

This is going to hurt like a motherfu***r.

Forbidden Technique 64, Forced Flow

Jacob used a Forbidden Technique to force Qi in his veins. It was a pitiful amount, but it gave him all the strength he needed.

His skin raptured along the arm holding the makeshift weapon. Thick blood trickled down from the whitened fingers to the ground.

A sharp pain was building in his head, but his training took over.

The wolf jumped him a third time. This one, though, Jacob was not found wanting. He pivoted rapidly, and with a swift blow he opened the beast’s abdomen from the sternum to its pelvis.

For a moment, his entire body had gone through the motion of one of his great skills. But, sadly, without Qi and Magic, it was impossible to recreate said technique.

Viscera splattered all around in a gory display of war.

Jacob gritted his teeth, powering through the pain, and ran toward Francis, who had ended up several meters from him.

What he saw next stooped his heart.

The third wolf had emerged. And it was not a normal wolf…

It was an Alpha Demonic Wolf.

Francis was going to die in the next two seconds if Jacob didn’t come up with something. And it would be all Jacob’s fault for dragging a child out here to fight monsters.