A New Friendship

No-one dared to move. Shortly after, a group of 3 people rushed behind the wolf. When they saw the situation, they slowed down and walked towards Kary, keeping their faces towards the creatures. Kary used that time to check up on the wolfs stats.

~Steel-mane Alpha Wolf~

Level: 6

Race: Canine

Strength: 6

Dexterity: 8

Intelligence: 4

Wisdom: 3

Toughness: 14

Although it looked a little tired, it still was a tough opponent. The party made it to Kary and started talking to her.

" Hey fellow adventurer, my name is Anthony. These are my friends, Carol and Marc. You seem in a tough spot. Mind helping us out and we'll help you? " The man asked. they had already looked at Kary's stats and knew she was strong, but she was fighting 4v1.

" The name's Wandering Hero. What are you proposing, Anthony? " Kary answered, refusing to give her real name.

" I propose we switch targets. You look strong enough to hack that damn wolf to pieces. we've been trying to for hours and now he's running away from us. I think he's annoyed " Anthony said, half smiling. " We can handle the lions while you take the wolf. Win-win. What do you say? "

Kary knew she wouldn't win against the Lions, their numbers simply overpowered her. She looked at her stats to make sure they weren't going to die while she fought the wolf.

~Anthony~

Class: Guardian

Level: 5

Strength: 12

Dexterity: 6

Intelligence: 5

Wisdom: 6

Toughness: 14

Armor: 20

Attack: 1-3

~Carol~

Class: Swashbuckler

Level: 4

Strength: 9

Dexterity: 8

Intelligence: 5

Wisdom: 5

Toughness: 10

Armor: 15

Attack: 2-5

~Marc~

Class: Berserker

Level: 4

Strength: 12

Dexterity: 8

Intelligence: 3

Wisdom: 3

Toughness: 12

Armor: 12

Attack: 2-5

She thought " Well I'll be damned. They took their real names as character names "

She then thought that maybe they would be ok against the lions. She could always go back to help them once the wolf was down.

" Okay. I'll do it. But you'll have to add me to your party. Otherwise, you won't get the EXP off the wolf, and I won't get it from the lions" Kary said.

" Done " Anthony answered, and as soon as he said that, Kary received a party invite. She accepted it. They then swapped around and faced their respective targets. Kary now in front of the wolf, was a lot more confident in winning. As such, she took the initiative and dashed out to give the first blood.

After a while of fighting, the wolf that had already been tired out by running away from the others let down its guard and got punished instantly. Kary slashed at its leg, cutting it off easily. When the wolf fell from losing its foreleg, Kary swiveled and brought her sword down to behead it. Only the fur around its neck started shining even more under the moonlight. Her sword made a clear metal to metal 'DONG' and bounced off.

" So that's why you're called Steel-mane, huh " Kary said. She had already been expecting such a thing. She had even been surprised when she cut the leg off so easily. She now understood that the fur was softer on the legs. Knowing that she had to finish him off anyway, Kary thought of the only other way to go about it.

Knowing that the wolf wasn't able to pounce at her anymore, Kary focused on her body. She felt the little stream of fire again and this time, she tried to reroute it towards her hand and into her sword. After a few seconds, she managed to break the stream's path and direct it towards her sword. Opening her eyes again, her sword was now burning bright.

She felt her energy being drained through her hand. She evidently knew she couldn't maintain this very long, so she didn't waste any time. She slashed out again at the wolf's neck, who this time, watched the blade come down, a look of terror in its eyes. With a clear 'Shlurk' 'Thud' the wolf's head fell to the ground. She spun around without wasting time and ran full speed to get to the pack leader.

her party members had slain one of the lionesses already. Now Anthony was baiting Hhe other 2 while Marc and Carol were fighting the pack leader. They looked to be having a bad time.

" Let me help! " Kary shouted, dashing in with her burning sword.

Carol and Marc just watched on in awe as she started fighting the pack leader alone like it was nothing. They had been fighting him 2 on 1 for a while now and they weren't making any progress. As for Kary, since she took it by surprise, she had managed to inflict a serious wound to its side already. Marc and Carol decided to try and distract the lionesses for Anthony, seeing that Kary had the pack leader well handled on her own.

Only half an hour later, the fight had ended. The party of three had finished with the 2 lionesses 10 minutes ago but never intervened in Kary's fight. They were watching her technique in amazement. Just as she finally slew the pack leader lion, her sword went back to normal. She smiled, then shivered and passed out. Keeping the sword lit for so long had completely drained her. She needed to rest.

The three others, seeing that she had only passed out, gathered the loot, without picking anything and started a fire. They put a blanket over Kary and started guarding her like she was some kind of royalty. In truth, she had impressed them so much, that they were unwilling to leave her alone in the wilderness. They started discussing whether they should stay with her after or not. All three voted to stay in a party with her.

Only Carol seemed a little reticent. She had always been the only girl in their little group. But she couldn't deny the feeling she had when she saw her fighting 1 on 1 with that beast. There was a sense of worship but also a little fear. What if she decided to kill them all to take all the loot. Carol thought Kary would definitely be capable to pull it off.

After deciding to stay, they established a schedule for watch duty and started going to sleep one after the other. The rest of the night would be rather calm. Creatures in the vicinity could all see the bodies of 2 super predators lying there. It was enough of a deterrent for them.

The next morning, the first one to wake up was Kary. When the sun started warming up her face, she woke up with a jolt. She thought she was dead after the fight. When she saw Marc and Anthony sleeping on the other side of a dying fire she relaxed. She looked around and saw Carol coming back from a small forest not far from them. She was carrying wood for the fire. Kary didn't even see the forest last night. Upon arriving at their little camp, she saw Kary awake.

" Rise and shine, Hero " Carol said, with a sarcastic smile.

" Did you guys guard me all night after the fight? " Kary asked, a little too tired still to be mad at Carol's sarcasm.

" Yeah, we did. Once you finished off the pack leader, you just lumped over and fainted. You were exhausted. I guess that trick you pulled off was really taxing on you " Carol said, dropping the wood in the fire. She then started pulling rations out of their bags. She mixed in a little bit of meat from their kills to make an extra portion for Kary.

" But you guys must have been tired too. Why guard me and not think of yourselves first " Kary asked, a little confused.

" Why would we do that. We aren't savages you know? Plus, we took turns sleeping so all is fine " Carol answered. She smiled. She could understand the way Kary thought. She had been a solo player before too, so she understood how it could seem weird for people to protect you when they barely know you.

" We voted on keeping you in the party while you were out last night " Carol added.

" What now. How could you decide that without my opinion? " Kary said, getting mad. She thought they were going to force her to fight for them.

" You can debate that with Anthony when he gets up, but I warn you, he won't back off easily " Carol said in all seriousness.

" Are you threatening me? " Kary asked, her eyes going cold. Carol shivered from the intensity of her look.

" I would never dare. Not after seeing you fight those monsters 1v1. I'm simply saying that Anthony is stubborn as a mule, and once he's settled on something, he doesn't change his mind. Ever " Kary calmed down after that statement. She understood that their intentions weren't bad. Thinking about it, maybe she wouldn't mind having people watching her back right now. She knew she wasn't totally in the right mindset to be stuck in the wilderness alone.

" Fine, I'll stay with you guys. At least until we reach a city. Then we can talk about it again " Kary said resolutely.

" That's all we ask " Carol joyfully said.

With that settled, Kary started eating. She was famished. By the time she finished her breakfast, Anthony and Marc were starting to show signs of waking up. Half an hour later, they finally got up. Carol mocked them on how Kary had wakened before them and how they were lazy bums. From what Kary could understand, the reason why it was always Carol who took last shift on watch duty, was because both guys were really heavy sleepers and once they fell asleep, there was no way to get them up till morning.

The boys started eating, still half asleep. By the time they had finished, they had finally came to their senses. Anthony then asked the crucial question, since he was sleeping when Kary accepted to stay.

" How should we call you, Wandering Hero or do you have a simpler name? "

" Call me as you wish, I still don't know you enough to tell you my real name. Sorry " Kary apologetically answered.

" Then could we shorten your name a little? How about Wanda? Would that be okay? "

" Sure, call me Wanda " Kary shrugged.

" Okay, Wanda. Then I'd like to ask you a question. Would you mind staying in the party with us a little longer? We have a feeling that we could get stronger just by being in a team with you. If you ever wish to leave, we won't force you to stay " Anthony asked solemnly.

" Cut the bullshit Anthony " Kary said, glaring at him. " I know it under trustable sources that you won't ever let go of me that easily " she added. Anthony shivered. He felt like a mountain had landed on his head with just one look from Kary.

" I.. I.. I.. would never.. " Anthony stuttered. Only when Carol burst out laughing did Anthony understand. He had been played.

" Relax Anthony, I already agreed with Carol " Kary said, breaking out her nicest smile.

" But... When? " Anthony was still in shock.

" This morning while you were still sleeping. Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere for now " she tried to soothe him.

" You should see your face you big oaf, Hahaha! " Marc added, laughing out loudly. He had been watching silently from the sidelines and caught on quickly on the subterfuge. He guessed that Carol wouldn't be so relaxed if the answer would have been negative. So he had patiently waited for the time to hit the nail on the head even harder.

" You LITTLE !! " Anthony exclaimed, jumping at Marc. The 2 of them rolled around in the dirt hitting each other. Marc was laughing all along and finally, when Anthony let go, he laughed it off too. Kary looked at Carol with a gentle smile and said " I guess we're 2 moms to these children, are we? "

Carol simply laughed and nodded.

The joyfull group then started packing and left. The original group of three had came from a town, on the other side of the little forest. That was why Kary couldn't see it. That was where they were headed.