“What was that?” Edric's voice trembled; the aura or whatever pressure he felt sent shivers down in waves throughout his body.

  “Something else is inside … might be the mother of it,” Aeris said

  “Wait, mother!, It’s a child! It's already huge, but you're telling me it was a child”. Edric felt his mana and energy drain with each passing second.

  “Shush, something is coming,” Aeris said, gesturing to Edric to quiet down. TAP-Tap-tap, footsteps were heard from the cave. These steps sounded to have more volume than the wolf pack , as the sound grew louder, the beast's shadow became visible from the entrance. It was huge, able to shadow Aeris from the entrance.

  Aeris grabbed a potion from her belt and drank it. Based on its red color it seems to be a health potion. Immediately, the cuts and bruises on her torso were starting to heal, though not completely.

  *ROAR*

  A terrifying roar that exudes an aura comes from the cave. Aeris managed to still stand, but Edric was on his knees. His chest tightened very slowly, even breathing became a challenge.

  Stand up, you stupid legs. Edric slaps his knees to cure the numbness. But to no use.

  Aeris didn’t look back instead, she brought the saber close to her chest, closed her eyes and whispered a chant. It looked like a priest praying. After saying the chant, she opened her eyes, and she swung the saber. Fire enveloped the blade. Illuminated the night forest.

  TAP-TAP-TAP

  The beast was out, its neck came out first. Edric was shocked from the size, its head is almost the size of the cave entrance. Aeris crouches down in a runner’s position. Edric tries to aim the gun and shoot but nothing comes out.

  You stupid thing fire already. Edric tapped the gun like it was jammed but he was low in mana. Despite his amazing capacity , the fear caused by the aura drained it. Whats Aeris doing-

  Aeris swung her sabre at the beast from a distance, and crescent waves of fire launched forward. It was about to hit the wolf but it jumped forward towards the side just enough to dodge it. The flames hit some rocks, Aeris swiftly moved to the side, to escape the beast's line of sight.

  What the heck should I do? Edric moved back and tried to hide behind the bushes. I am so useless, goddamnit! What should I do? Can Aeris finish it off? Or will she be killed? Thoughts bombard his head.

  Wait, there's one thing. Edric reaches his bag and grabs a potion. It was the attribute potion. Without thinking any further, he chugs the glass like beer.

  Disgusting. Edric thought. What should I do now?

  Nothing happened after the potion; he sat in a meditating stance. As he started breathing, he felt a chill flowing across his body. He didn’t exactly understand what it was, but tried to condense it.

  Meanwhile, the wolf targets Aeris, it slashed its paws horizontally. Aeris saw the approach and leaped in the sky narrowly dodging it. The paws crush the trees, she uses the downtime to slash its limbs as she was about to land.

  One,two, three waves land on the wolfs arms , causing visible wounds on it’s arms. But despite its bleeding state, it didn’t affect the speed. Aeris would run out of strength if she doesn’t do something.

  She looked around for the beasts weak points. The wolf raises its paws in the air and slamed in the ground. Aeris dodges left, using the paws as a ramp and started running on it. She focused on the eyes, eyes are one of the softest organs in most beasts, she planned to bombard it with slashes to crush its’ sight.

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  The wolf seemed to understand her plan, it started shaking like how a dog shakes water off. She almost fell but she used a bomb from her belt, using the small explosion she used the force, to launch onto the torso.

  She grabs onto the fur with all her strength, climbed up onto the back. She moved toward the head.. In just 3 steps, she could close the distance and she can stab the eye. It was about to be over until-

  The wolf jumps in the air towards the tree. It uses the tree as support and falls on its back. Aeris falls off the beast, the beast shadow looms over her, she is about to be crushed. She rolls left, the beast lands, and barely misses. Shockwave emerged from the ground on impact.

  She got up and ran towards the cave, thinking a closed space could reduce her mobility.

  But the wolf pawed and struck her before she could get out of range. She crashed into the rock walls of the cave exterior. A small stream of blood flowed on her face, her vision started to blur, as her consciousness was slipping. She slaped her face, trying not to go unconscious, and looked forward. The beast opened its jaw, preparing to use its aura to attack.

  If Aeris couldn’t move, she had no strength and the attack could kill her. An aura of magic covers the beast's mouth, it completes the preparations and is about to fire. It fires-

  *Boom*

  The attack missed. Aeris looked closer to see that the wolf was on its side. Aeris was confused; the attack couldn’t have missed it was too close. A sudden chill is felt, almost like it's winter. She looked at the beast; its leg is frozen by ice. She looks back at the trace of magic and sees Edric with a gun in his hand, pointing at the leg.

  Edric glances at his status window.

  [New Ability: Ice bullets]

  Ice bullets, pretty self-explanatory, but damn that mana was hard to use. Edric completed assimilating the attribute potion, which brought about his new abilities. Any second later, and she would be dead meat.

  The wolf broke the ice with a hard shake, got back up on its feet. Looked back, sniffs in the direction of the mana. *SLASH* Aeris interrupts the beast before it catches on to Edric’s scent.

  Is she acting as a decoy? At the state she’s in!. Well, I can't let her down.

  The wolf attacked with its paw, Edric shot the paws . It slowed down the beast just enough for Aeris to attack. Next it tried to jump in the air, Aeris looked at Ed and moves out of the way. Edric shoots the bullet on the ground , it becomes an ice spike and impaleed the beast.

  The beast was still not dead yet but was close. There was still a quiver of life left in it’s blood shot eyes. They got in rhythm with each other. Edric stopped the attack from afar , Aeris uses this chance to chip off the limbs. Eventually she manages to cut off the limbs.

  The wolf is bleeding out, droped on the ground. Edric gatherd all his remaining mana and shoots the head, it freezes it completely. Aeris gathered all her flame and cut the head off.

  Silence.

  Then—thud.

  The beast’s body collapsed, shaking the ground one final time.

  Edric dropped to one knee, panting. Aeris stood over the corpse, shoulders heaving. Blood and sweat dripped from both of them.

  “Nice shot…” she rasped. Her voice is still as monotone as ever.

  He chuckled weakly. “You too… didn’t think I’d be the one saving you today.”

  Aeris smirked—but winced, clutching her ribs. “Don’t get cocky…”

  Edric rusheed over to help, grabs his health potion.

  “I don’t need it” Aeris acts tuff despite looking terrible. Flicked his hand away

  He didn’t care .He grabbed her mouth and forcibly made her drink.

  “What the hell” She scoffed.

  “Calm down, let's rest in the cave. I will start a fire” He says as he goes inside. Aeris sat down, leaning against the rocky wall she let out a deep breath. Her eyes half lid but could still track Edrics movements.

  He stepped into the cave careful not to slip on the uneven ground. The air was thick with a metallic scent of blood. He gases upon a dead wolf lying on the ground. It was smaller compared to the mother but still big as a tiger. Poor thing he thought , a sense of guilt oanged his chest but survival didn't offer the luxury of sympathy.

  Returning outside he gathers twigs, leaves and dried wood to make the fire. Aeris rested by the wall, observing silently. Edric rubbed a few pieces of rock and sparked a fire. The cold air became warmer.

  There is a deep silence between them , save for the crackling sound of fire. Edric took his dagger and cut open the wolf. He used sticks as skewers and cooked the meat over the flavor.

  Now Edric has never eaten wolf meat before, heck he barely cooked except a few dishes here and there. The only instinct he had was from those documentary survival shows. Which worked quite well.

  “Here eat this” Edric gave Aeris a skewer. She reluctantly took it , he would have forced her anyway.

  “Tastes like crap” she said smugged

  “Well it's the best we got,” he said as he took a bite . “ Ya awful” The meat was still gamey, with a hint of blood in every bite.

  The cave was quiet but peaceful. They ate the meat slowly, the bushes outside rustled occasionally could be by the wind or maybe a creature.

  “ Tomorrow, I will take you to Lester's inn. Its close”

  “Well, it's not as if you would listen anyway,” she mumbled

  “ Consider it my treat for saving me” he smirked.

  “ Just doing the job. Nothing special “

  “Ya ya, let's sleep. We've got to get the money Tomorrow “ Edric made a bed of some leaves. Again thanks to those survival shows . He laid down on one side and closed his eyes . “ Good night”.

  “ Ya ” she said in a low voice as she leaned against the walls and closed her eyes.

  Both of them slept soundly like a baby. The job took an unexpected turn but this won't be the end.