Loss

Note: WARNING This chapter will be a bit more gruesome and violent.

Justin and Kayla both sat around the campfire staring at the flames. The night had been long and exhausting. The werewolves had kept them all night I'm all night, they're previous day sending the remaining wolves in into an angry fit. Twice they had been almost almost discovered by roaming warewolves looking for revenge. Twice they had been almost almost discovered by roaming warewolves looking for revenge.

A few minutes go by when finally Kayla sighs.

" I just don't understand the math. I've been doing calculations for stats our stats for our levels. And there just doesn't seem to be any kind of formula."

"What do you mean?" Justin asks confused.

"Well you know how you get health and mana at every level? That seems to be pretty consistent for every level. But my stats keep adding different amounts to that. For example I might get 50 points to health with one point in Endurance, but the next level I might get 100 hp for just 1 point in endurance. It just doesn't seem to have any rhyme or reason to it."

"Hmmm...I actually noticed that too myself. I've been wondering that too." They both fall into silence. After a time they look at each other and start packing their things with an unspoken agreement to move out.

"Alright we should be able to do this. We are almost there!" Justin gives a reassuring smile then adds in a serious tone. "but we need to be careful. I'm willing to bet we are going to have to fight more at a time now. They didn't seem happy that we killed their friends."

They carefully make their way back to the highway, taking it slowly and cautiously. They reach the road and begin their trek down it. The empty husks of dead cars adding its ominous quiet again. Almost immediately they hear howls behind them. Three sets of hair raising howls echo across the asphalt. As one they start running. The cries never seem to get further away, but neither do they get closer.

"We are being herded!" Justin exclaims to keyla. "It's exactly how coyotes did the cows back on the farm!

Keyla only shoots Justin a worried look and continues to flee beside him.

After a few more minutes of running, Justin finally slows down and stops. The baying behind them never gets further away.

"We need to stop! If we keep this up we will be too tired to fight anything that comes our way!" he exclaims.

Keyla looks at him, breathing heavily. There is panic in her eyes and her voice comes out as a hoarse whisper.

"What do we do!?!"

"I really don't know. It depends on the trap ahead of us. It could be anything. More wolves. A dead end to trap us...I just don't know." he finally answers after pausing. "I...I think...I think we should fight the ones chasing us. There are only 3 from what it sounds like. We can handle three of them!"

There is a hint of desperation in his voice as he says this.

"Take a minute to calm down and catch your breath. We need to unload and kill these Werewolves as fast as possible. Whatever is waiting ahead of us won't wait forever."

After a few moments she nods, a look of fear on her face.

"We can do this Keyla."

"Okay. We can do this." She convinces herself outloud.

The two start making their way back towards their pursuers. As they get closer they can start making out distant grunts. and the shrieking of claws on what they assume is the metal hoods of cars. Eventually they can see the leaping figures of three Werewolves as they sprint towards them, hopping over and on cars. As soon as they are with reach Keyla immediately begins casting. The lead werewolf catches an Ice bolt in its chest and is sent slamming into the side of a car as it misses its jump. The other two wolves yelp in surprise and anger and pick up speed.

(They were definitly not running at full speed. This confirms my suspicions) Justin thinks to himself as he gets his shield up and sword ready.

Keyl manages to jit the second closest two times, a glancing blow in the arm and a solid hit in its collar. Then the third one makes it to them. It slams into Justin's ready shield, sending him stumbling back. He just manages to swing his sword as he is driven back and scores a deep slash across the Werewolves chest, thick dark blood fountains out. The werewolf reels back in pain, and growls gnashing it's teeth at him. This gives Justin the moment he needs to activate Void Strike. The attack sends the the head of his enemy flying, but he is unable to celebrate. The second Werewolf's jaws clamp down on his sword arm in the very bottom of his swing. He has no chance to dodge as it tears into his arm. In desperation he brings the bottom of his shield down onto the Werewolves head. It whines in pain, but only attacks more aggressively. It wraps its arms around Justin and sinks its claws into his sides bringing him into a deathly bear hug. Time seems to slow as Justin panics, then with a herculean heave he brings his legs up enough to shove the werewolf off, screaming as the claws are torn from his body. He glances at his HP and sees he is down to 40% of his health. Gritting his teeth he activates Void Strike yet again this time stabbing instead of slashing. The blade sinks into the Werewolves chest with absolutely no resistance, killing the wolf instantly. Slumping over Justin yanks on the blade trying to free the stuck weapon.

"NO!!"

He hears Keyla scream and is unable to process it and dodge in time...again as the third wolf's mouth slams down on his shoulder barely missing his neck. His collarbone grinds and snaps as it gnaws at his shoulder, it too Grabs him. This time by his arms and he hears a snap and a bolt of excruciating pain causes him to drop his shield. He heaves again but this time he can't push the wolf off. They tumble backwards as he loses balance, the wolf on top of him. The wolf rears its head back, and for a fraction of a second he looks into its eyes.

"I'm going to die here."

The monsters head begins its descent as it opens its booth to crush his head. An ice bolt slams into its face right between its eyes, and it too collapses directly onto of him.

Justin's vision swims and his consciousness wavers. He manages to cast a Heal on himself bring his health at 10% back up to 40%

Shoving the dead body off of him he staggers to his feet.

"Ugghhh that HURT."

Then he hears a noise behind him. A slight whimper. He whirls around and shrieks in horror. As his eyes meet the figure of Keyla there is a scrunch. The jaws of an enormous Werewolf crush her neck as it twists, lifting her body right up and off the ground.

[Alpha Werewolf Lvl 35]

"Oh God NOOOO!" Justin screams. He lunges forward and activates Void Strike. Something breaks inside him, as he shoves the skill into his sword. He pushes it. More. More mana. More power. MORE!

The light and sound around his blade seems to freeze. Waves of darkness pulse out of it. Not waves...the absence of darkness, the absence of light...nothing. His sword slices through the Alpha. The cut expands its edges dissolving widing until the cut is 2 feet wide is left. The Alpha's two halves slump to either side. The edges of the cut jagged and torn.

[SYSTEM ERROR. UNKNOWN SKILL USED. SY%^@×* E$R%^.......SYSTEM CORRECTED. UNAUTHORIZED USAGE OF ORIGIN MAGIC. PENALTY APPLIED. EXTRA MANA USAGE TAKEN FROM HEALTH INSTEAD. THIS IS YOUR ONLY WARNING.]

[ALPHA WEREWOLF DEFEATED x1]

[WEREWOLF DEFEATED x3]

Pain rips through Justin's body as the hp is stripped from his body with the Systems announcement. But he doesn't feel the pain. The numbness keeps him from feeling it.

"HEAL!!" he cries desperately as he casts heal on Keyla. The green glow surrounds keylas body but it makes no difference. Sobbing he cradles her head, a slow moan of sheer sadness and loneliness forces it's way out of his throat. Across blurred vision a system message floats.

[Level up x5]

[YOU ARE BEING WATCHED. T#E VOI% SUBM$TS T@ N@ O%E]