Ben stood in the shadow of the forest canopy and tried not to move, not to make a sound.

  Michael had found a small grove that was on the path of one of the Ice Howlers’ patrols.

  They had been waiting for the last twenty minutes, and Ben had to admit to himself that he had grown a bit impatient.

  He had always thought of himself as a patient man, being happy to spend a lot of time alone in the forest in sync with the environment.

  Maybe the last three months had changed him more than he had thought.

  The constant stress—fights, decisions. Interacting with other people all the time. Always having to be on alert.

  It had to have left its mark.

  In what other ways had he changed?

  And was the change a logical and natural consequence of the events that had transpired or did Energy change them in more ways than just making them more powerful?

  It made the old young again—if their attributes increased. That had to do something to them as well.

  Did he like the changes the systems—Energy—had brought?

  No time to get philosophical!

  Michael signaled that the patrol was getting close.

  Ben risked a glance and saw a group of three humanoids, easily two meters tall, making their way through the trees.

  Their legs bent backward. Ben had once read that it actually wasn’t the knee that was backward, but an ankle that was much higher up than with humans, but he dismissed the thought.

  Their heads looked a bit like werewolves from the movies with a long snout, sharp teeth, and a mane of hair that ran down their backs.

  Ice Howler. Wolfkin. Scout. Energy-Born. Tier 2. Uncommon Challenge.

  How nostalgic, he thought, that the first Tier 2 creatures he would fight in the Blue Mountain Forest were wolf-related, just like his very first fight on Arrival Day had been a wolf.

  They had short-swords, and it looked like their hands had incredibly sharp claws and they wore thick leather armor over their fur-covered skin.

  The plan had been to let them pass halfway through the group so that Michael could attack from behind and Akira would be safe from melee combat, but as they were just a few meters away from Michael’s position the leader of the group stopped, raised a claw to make the others halt as well, and started to sniff the air intensely.

  Ben did not hesitate.

  With a shout to alert his teammates, he jumped from behind the tree and rapidly closed the distance to the Ice Howlers.

  Unfortunately, the wolfkin did not freeze from surprise, quite the opposite.

  The two in the back drew their weapons and leaped forward while the one in the front seemed to steady himself with a deep inhale.

  Ben could see Akira taking a few steps back to get distance from the monsters. Michael was invisible to him, while Jamal and Anne came to his side.

  Before they closed the last meters a lightning bolt hit the wolfkin on the left side. The beast looked scorched and dropped to one knee, but the armor seemed to have taken some of the brunt of the damage.

  Ben prepared to strike at the leader, but what he had thought to be a steadying breath, was the preparation for an attack.

  Unfortunately, it became quite clear what had given the Ice Howlers their name.

  A loud shout burst its way out of the creature’s lung. But it was not just the eardrum-bursting sound but also an ice-based breath attack that made Ben’s face and armor instantly frosted over.

  The pain was intense, but he felt like his Constitution protected him well from the cold damage.

  He chose not to take chances in the first confrontation with the Howlers and activated [Unyielding Retribution], returning the damage manyfold.

  His axe cleaved into the wolfkin’s chest killing it instantly.

  Meanwhile, Michael had appeared behind the creature that Akira had damaged first and stabbed multiple times into its back while Jamal had initially drawn its attention. Despite the damage, the creature managed to get in one attack at Jamal that he managed to block with his shield, but Ben could hear the sharp exhalation from his friend.

  Fortunately, that was the end of the creature as the damage from Michael’s [Backstab] proved too much.

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  On the other side, Anne was fighting against the last wolfkin alone. She held her own, but the creature was half a meter taller than her and had swords, so the difference in reach was significant.

  Ben decided to even the odds by slicing from top to bottom into the creature’s leg, as it went down to one knee, it launched the same breath attack that Ben’s opponent had.

  As he was not sure how well Anne would do against it, Ben launched himself forward, tackling the creature to the ground and thereby redirecting the attack more towards Anne’s lower body than her face and torso.

  As he grappled with the wolfkin, he got a good sense for the enormous strength that the wounded scout could bring to bear.

  However, with five versus one the fight was over in seconds.

  Ben got back up and wiped off the blood that had splattered on his brow from his attack against his first opponent.

  He glanced at Michael. “Do you think that the main camp heard the howls?”

  His friend hesitated for a moment, then shook his head. “Possible but unlikely.”

  Ben nodded. “Let’s hide the bodies anyway.”

  “Happy to but I don’t think it will do much. The stench of blood will alert them easily if they come close to here,” Anne said, already starting to pull her opponent to the side.

  Ben held up his hand. “Stop, you are right. Let’s reposition instead. I think we need to be more aggressive than planned. Akira being our only ranged fighter might hurt us here.” He turned to the man. “That was not your strongest attack, right?”

  “No, the most potent attack is quite loud, I was trying to be stealthy.”

  “That makes sense. As long as we can get encounters with favorable odds, we should stick with that approach. Let’s go.”

  Michael led them in a wide circuit around the camp, near the dungeon portal, trying to get close to another patrol route.

  Their expert for stealth left them once they had found a promising position, to scout closer to the camp.

  It took more than half an hour, time for Ben to go through the confrontation and try to draw conclusions for future fights, until he came back.

  “Took out one forager. Three more coming.”

  “How about we try something different? If they can smell us easily, hiding behind the trees is not a great option. Instead, let’s hide in plain sight…”

  A few minutes later, Ben was lying on the forest floor, writhing and groaning, as another group of three Ice Howlers came down the path.

  They stopped, sniffing, before they saw him, and then growled to each other. Ben thought he would be able to understand them if he had been closer. It made clear what should have been obvious, the creatures had a language and culture.

  One of the three wolfkin came running towards Ben with long, leaping steps while drawing its weapon.

  Ben looked in horror while trying to steady himself with his axe.

  As the Howler was two meters away, he catapulted himself from the ground and surprised his opponent with a low to high strike that bypassed the creature’s defenses and almost cut off one arm.

  The other Howlers yelled in alarm, but were quickly overwhelmed as one was shocked by a lightning strike and the other backstabbed by Michael.

  Jamal and Anne helped defeat those two while Ben finished off the heavily bleeding wolfkin that had tried to profit from a seemingly weak opponent.

  “That went better,” he grinned.

  “It did, boss, but these guys hit hard,” Jamal pointed to his shield that already had two serious dents. “It might be that Tier 1 materials will struggle in this new environment…”

  Ben nodded. “It seems so. We have to be careful…”

  ***

  “Any suggestions on how to go about this?” Ben asked after Michael had returned from another reconnaissance mission.

  “So if it is true that they have noticed their missing pack members and are now holed up, what alternatives are there to a frontal assault?” Anne asked.

  There was silence for a moment, then Akira spoke up. “Can we at least draw them out? What if we prepare a trap and then try to get some of them to follow us?”

  “The one that ran at you seemed impatient, maybe there are more like that, and we can get them out of the camp?” Jamal added.

  Ben nodded. “It’s worth a try.”

  A few minutes later they had settled on a place to set up their trap and Michael was the designated bait this time.

  Unlike Ben, though, he would not lie in wait but try to get some Ice Howlers’ attention by throwing stones at them.

  Ben was kneeling behind a tree, waiting for whatever their plan would yield in enemies. He didn’t have to wait long to see Michael sprinting in their direction.

  One, no two Ice Howlers were following him and they were fast, each step easily twice as long as Michael’s they were closing in.

  The first one stumbled as they were hit by lightning. The second one used their ice breath, but Michael managed to dodge behind a tree, and it slowed the Howler down enough for Ben to have the opportunity to position himself for a mighty swing that cut deeply into the creature’s side and took it out. Meanwhile Anne had dealt with the one wounded by Akira’s spell.

  “The shamans stopped the others, don’t think more will come.” Michael grunted as they came together.

  One upside of the fights so far was that they had collected a Tier 2 core from every single one of their enemies. That was the equivalent of 27 Tier 1 cores.

  It had felt almost too easy so far, but Ben had reminded himself that they had gotten favorable setups and outnumbered their opponents. He was sure that the Howlers would make them suffer soon.

  “So, there are eleven of them left. Two of which are shamans,” he looked at Michael for confirmation who nodded. “If we start with a big attack from Akira, do we think we can take them?”

  “It depends on the shamans, what they can do and whether we can take them out quickly,” Akira said carefully.

  Anne nodded. “The ones we have dealt with so far were classified as scouts. I assume that the group they have at the portal is a rather weak advance force. We should be able to take them, I think.”

  The others agreed and they quickly formulated their simple plan. Akira would lead with his strongest lightning attack and then continue to attack while the three frontliners would hold the line at the clearing with the portal while Michael would try to get a [Backstab] off on one of the shamans.

  They closed in on the camp as Hercules screeched, and he felt the eagle warning him of predators. Ben saw movement on the left, but it was too late. He was hit by what felt like a truck.

  It turned out to be an ice block that had made him fly a few meters through the air. He landed roughly, his left arm hitting a tree painfully.

  All around them, Ice Howlers appeared, racing towards them.

  Ben activated [Strength of the Protector] and heard the first of Akira’s lightning bolts lash out.

  Before he could get back up, movement above him. The form of an Ice Howler closing in to take him out while he was down.

  Hercules shot down from above, attacking the creature’s head, who defended themselves in surprise, despite Ben not being sure that the eagle actually was in a position to damage the wolfkin significantly.

  But it was enough for Ben to get up and attack. The first slice wasn’t sufficient to kill, but in combination with the continued attacks of the angry bird, it provided the opening for Ben to take the enemy out.

  He took stock of what was happening around him.