Wolf attack

Cindy continued to carry me for almost half an hour at a fast pace before we finally encountered a danger. I heard a noise in the thicket and as I turned my head to see what it was, a wolf jumped towards us.

There was nothing I could do since I was being carried by Cindy. Just as I thought I was going to die, Mark jumped between us and the wolf and blocked it with a short sword. Cindy quickly put me down and took out her dagger as well. I thought it was just one wolf but another appeared from behind us and started charging towards us.

Cindy blocked the second wolf and made it retreat. Now I was in the middle while Cindy and Mark faced the two wolves. I did not have a weapon but even if I did, I wouldn't have been of much help anyway. Cleo and Leana had taught me some basics during our journey but there had been no time to actually practice. Now all I could do was watch as Cindy and Mark fought the wolves.

To my surprise, Cindy did not wait for the wolf to attack again. Instead, she took the initiative and charged forward bravely. The wolf tried to avoid her but she was still able to slash its body. The wound wasn't deep though and Cindy retreated so that she did not go too far from me. I appreciated her even more for protecting me even at such a time.

On the other hand Mark was fighting the second wolf. He had not been able to hit it but he was still able to keep it at bay. As I watched, I realized that this wasn't the first time they were fighting together. It seemed they had some experience fighting as they didn't look panicked at all. Mark continued to defend while Cindy attacked the wolf. Soon Cindy found an opening and fatally injured the wolf. Once the wolf was down, she thrust her dagger into its head to finish it off.

Once Cindy was done with the wolf, she did not waste any time and attacked the second wolf. Mark coordinated with her and they brought down the second wolf in only a few seconds. They really were F ranked adventurers. Maybe too strong for it even. If this is F ranked, wouldn't E ranked adventurers be even stronger?

"Are you alright Ren?" asked Mark once he checked to make sure both wolves were really dead. Cindy went to scout around and make sure there aren't any more wolves nearby.

"Ah, I am fine. Thanks to you two, the wolves never got anywhere near me."

As Mark and I were discussing the attack, a few minutes later Cindy returned while dragging a wolf by its legs. The wolf was on its back and Cindy was dragging it by its two hind legs. While it was still alive. It kept struggling, trying to get back up, but it was being held firmly by Cindy.

As I was staring in shock, she stopped in front of her and lifted up the wolf by its legs.

"I found this one trying to run away. I think this one was their leader and had been the one to plan this attack."

This wolf seemed to be smaller than the other two. With Cindy holding it up, it couldn't even reach the ground. Both of the other wolves were around 1.5 times this wolf. I couldn't understand how a smaller wolf could be the leader of the bigger wolves.

"I see. This wolf must have gained intelligence recently." said Mark.

Cindy looked at my bewildered face and said "This wolf is likely a magic wolf. These kinds of wolves are smarter than the average wolf. If they survive long enough, they can get almost as smart as humans."

I nodded my head subconsciously. Magic wolves? This was my first time hearing about these.

"Why … why did you bring it here? Shouldn't we just kill it?"

"Yes, eventually we can kill it. In fact, the magic core in it is quite valuable." nodded Cindy.

"But this wolf is quite weak at fighting. I thought it was good for training?"

"Training?"

"Yes, I thought we could use this wolf for your training."

"My training?" I was surprised at this turn of events.

Cindy nodded again, "Yes, since you are an unranked adventurer, you will need to be able to fight before you can become a ranked adventurer. It is costly to get training to fight real enemies. This way you can save some money. We will get the magic core from it after training."

I gulped. This girl is really a training maniac! She wanted to train me right here in this forest with a real wolf? But after some thinking, it didn't seem like such a bad idea. With both Mark and Cindy here, I wouldn't be in real danger.

"I don't know much about fighting yet. Last time I fought a wolf, I almost died."

"Don't worry, I will make sure to protect you." said Cindy seriously.

It was believable for me with her holding up that wolf with one hand. With the last of my doubts resolved I said "Alright, let's do it"

Mark and I stood on the opposite sides while Cindy stood on the side. We formed a triangle so that the wolf would not be able to run away. Mark had given me his dagger, while he carried the short sword.

Cindy had been carrying the wolf the whole time and now finally she threw it in the middle of the triangle that we formed. The wolf immediately got up and tried to make a run for it. But Cindy blocked it and kicked it back to the middle right away. The wolf tried from another side but received the same treatment from Mark.

Finally it came my way. I attacked it with the dagger but it avoided it. I kept trying to attack it but the wolf was fast enough to avoid all my swings. It seemed to have realized that I wasn't as strong as Cindy and Mark. Now it only tried to leave from my direction.

I kept attacking while the wolf kept avoiding. Sometimes it would launch an attack but I was able to block most of them. Sometimes Cindy or Mark would block the attack if they thought I might get injured. I continued to practice this way and finally hit the wolf after 5 minutes.

After 15 minutes of training of this kind, I was quite tired and sweating all over. I had a few scratches but mostly I was uninjured. I looked at Cindy and said, "I don't think I can continue. I am really tired."

Cindy nodded and quickly grabbed the wolf by its legs again and flipped it on its back. She made it look easy but there was no way I could do something like that.

Mark brought a rope and he tied the wolf's legs up. Cindy dropped down the wolf but now it couldn't run away when all of its legs tied. Mark also tied up its mouth for safety.