It went smooth. At least in the beginning.

Geral then Noviel 'pulled' the wolf. Geral attacked it or simply yelled at it. That was enough to make the wolf attack him... or run.

A couple of Wolves ran away, but most attacked. In both cases, it doesn't matter who pulled it, Geral intercepted the wolf, and then the girls shot and killed it in a short time. Geral had to move to the side to allow the girls to shoot it. That needed a bit of coordination between him and them, but they were getting better at it with the time.

Then it happened, when Noviel shot a wolf, it did not attack, but neither did it flee too far. It only hid behind some trees and bushes and howled. Other wolves answered. Geral tried to attack it, but the wolf retreated further into the woods, howling. More and more howls answered.

They looked uneasy at each other. Anabella reacted first:

“We need to retreat to a position that we can defend!”

Noviel wondered:

“Do you think so?”

Awa did not say anything letting 'the big guys' decide.

Geral hesitated but then acknowledged.

“It would be probably better.”

He looked a bit condescending at Awa, who was just eying the trees around: would she be able to climb one in time in case of need?

As they marched towards the town, the howlings came closer.

“It is a whole pack!” - Noviel mumbled, listening to the howls. Even Geral felt uneasy:

“Yes, and they seem to have taken our track.”

They looked at each other and started running. Anabella pointed towards a natural fort formed by giant rocks.

“There!”

Geral hesitated.

“Should we not continue running towards the town?”

Anabella shook her head:

“We are too slow, and they are too close! From here on, the terrain is flat with no other good defensible places. We either make it to the town, or we don't. Here we could fight.”

Noviel agreed. Awa wondered:

“Good place, but how do we block the entry?”

There was an almost two-meter wide gap that led to the small enclosure. It was too late to think about dragging something there to block it. It was again Anabella who told them what to do:

“Geral will be our shield and block the gap. Noviel, you go up there with Awa. From there, you can shoot without hitting Geral.”

Anabella pointed to a kind of stone porch that seemed accessible on the left boulder. Noviel shook her head:

“I can climb up there, but there is hardly room for one person. If we both go up there, I will not be able to shoot. Let Awa go up; she'll be better protected and can shoot her fireballs.”

Awa swallowed. She was barely able to shoot some tiny bolts that did not seem to harm the beasts, but it was not now the time to argue. She pointed at Noviel:

“You go better up there. From up there, you have a better overview. Do you have enough arrows?”

Noviel nodded:

“I do. I have about one hundred in my inventory.”

Anabella agreed:

“Good. That is a good position to shoot. Then Awa will stay here down with me. Geral, take your position... Oh, here they come!”

They did not even get to their positions when a couple of grey shadows came out of the woods. More and more grey shadows. Gerald's eyes went round:

“Oh, fucking fuck! There are many!”

A big grey wolf came behind, and Noviel made the error of identifying it. Great wolf, level twenty-five. She did not say a word to the others, but her face became pale. Most wolves they've fought have been only level fourteen to sixteen.

Anabella saw her face becoming pale, but she could not see the big wolf from her position. She bit her lip and did not ask. She put her hand on Geral.

“Geral, I have set a link to you; I will heal you, don't leave the entry; keep them away from us!”

Geral lowered his visor, covering his eyes. He grinned, looking at the wolves, hitting his shield with the pommel of his sword.

“Come to papa!”

As if having expected his call, about twenty grey shadows lunged out from the cover of the woods running towards their small enclave. It was such an explosive, coordinated action that they all froze for the first moment.

Noviel's first arrow whistled with no visible effect. Noviel cursed, taking her next arrow, but the wolves were already there. Three wolves jumped at Geral simultaneously, one over his shield, the other towards his neck, and the third tried to slip below to bite his ankles. Meanwhile, a couple of wolves tried to jump on the giant boulder that was to his left but missed, falling back, whilst more ran around looking for another way in.

Geral made the error of lowering his shield to block the crawling wolf whilst slashing with his sword at the wolf that was jumping at his neck.

The third wolf tried to bite him over his shield, trying desperately to find purpose with his hind legs, but a fourth wolf jumped now over Geral's lowered shield.

Geral raised his shield again, pushing the wolf backwards whilst slashing at the other one that was trying to bite his plated boots; however too late for the fourth wolf that was already behind him.

Noviel shot an arrow that hit the wolf, but it still landed behind Geral and jumped at Awa.

Awa screamed in panic, and a blast of fire erupted from her eyes, engulfing the wolf. Geral wanted to turn, but Anabella screamed:

“Don't turn! Keep the others away!” - whilst she hit the burning wolf with her staff at the same time as an arrow struck it in the eye. The wolf fell with a yelp.

More wolves were jumping at Geral, and at that moment, Awa ran at him and placed a hand on his back. High flames engulfed him.

“What? What?”

Geral stood confused, almost afraid of those flames. It took him a couple of seconds to realize the fire was not hurting him.

Sweat was running on Awa's brows as she made efforts to keep up the flames around Geral, but the spell had its desired effect as the wolves retreated. It was then that the giant wolf came running.

Noviel saw it:

“Oh fuck... Watch out!”

Her warning came too late. The others saw it only when the wolf was in the air jumping over the giant boulder that was blocking the way. It landed with its paws on the boulder and jumped further straight at Anabella. An arrow from Noviel ricocheted after hitting its shoulder bone. Anabella had only the time to place her staff in front of her. The wolf bit the staff as she was pressed and pushed back. Her spell seemed to wash without effect over him.

Awa turned, and her eyes flickered again, a blast of fire engulfing the wolf for a moment but with little to no effect. The wolf pushed Anabella further back, her hands too weak to keep him away. She crumbled into a sitting position fighting hard to keep the giant wolf away from her.

Geral thought that everything was lost when Anabella slipped to the ground. But it was a calculated risk on her side as she could now touch the other wolf, the dead one, with the end of her stab. She whispered a spell, and the dead wolf jumped to its feet.

The giant wolf lacerated her feet, but the undead wolf jumped at him without a sound. A ferocious battle ensued.

Geral could not see that, as he had to turn to face the attacking pack in front of him. He screamed as the grey mass pushed him. Awa pressed her hand again on his shoulder, igniting her flames, but the wolves continued to press. Blood started running from her nose as she made the fire stronger.

Geral heard Anabella's scream as well as furious howls behind him. He stepped backwards, almost crushing Awa between him and the boulder when the giant wolf ran past him.

A howl followed.

He could not believe his eyes as he saw the grey mass suddenly breaking up and spreading in the woods as fast as they came. He turned to see a beast standing near him. He almost had a heart attack. He raised his sword, but a panting Anabella stopped him.

“No, no! It is mine!”

Hers? He watched it. It was the dead wolf. As he made a step, Awa slipped and fell to the ground. She was already not by conscience for some time and was only kept standing between him and the rock.

Anabella came to look for Awa.

“Is she wounded?” - as Noviel wanted to climb down, Anabella replied:

“I'll check! Stay there and keep an eye on them.”

Noviel nodded and climbed back.

“OK, boss.”

Geral looked at Anabella.

“You are full of surprises.”

He was also panting. A concerned Noviel asked:

“How bad is she hurt?”

Anabella shook her head.

“Only mana exhaustion now. Keep watching for them!”

Gerald pointed towards the undead wolf.

“Necromancer? But how did you heal?”

Anabella shook her head tiredly. She was washing the blood from Awa's face.

“This little mage here did some great spells, huh!” - She raised her head and looked at Geral - “Undead priest. Do you have a problem with that?”

“Oh!”

He shook his head at his turn.

“No. Are you a player too?”

Anabella laughed.

“No.”