CH 31: wolf pack

John carried on moving through the buildings as he guided his party around goblin groups and what seemed to be goblin encampments. At around 19:30 John decided that everyone should take refuge in an abandoned building.

"why haven't we met any other people yet?" a girl named rosey asked as she slumped down

She was one of the archers and had proved useful when a few stray goblin party's appeared. John didn't have an answer but had given his best guess.

"according the last census there were around nine billion people in the world and as an estimated one billion were killed for not completing the tutorial that left a rough number of eight billion people. We also need to account for those dying in the tutorials by normal means such as the teachers and many other students at the school so realistically there should be less than five billion people left in the world after the tutorial meaning a whole fifty percent of people would of died during the first seven days. Another thing we could add on to this is that we don't know if everyone had the same clear condition as us and some may of been harder or easier there could of been some where people had to kill each other to complete it or a certain number had to die before the tutorial cleared aswell as people may of killed others due to mass panic and chaos. " John continued to list other possibilities which caused many people to grow pale from horror.

As everyone slept John checked his status to check his growth and was pleased except from his practically frozen level up speed which hadn't seemed to move despite a couple hundred added on. After this he decided to swap between controlling magic whilst being awake whilst simultaneously using his (magic tracking) skill to check how it moved. After his attempt at control he jotted down on a notepad, one of many which he took from the school before they left. He kept experimenting with better ways to move magic through the body outside if magic veins and he made only a small amount of progress.

When he wasn't practicing his control he was reading through the books trying to gain any knowledge on how to use magic aswell as activating skills which didn't cause any sounds meaning that the skills that had 'shout' in the name couldn't be used as he had to shout in order for them to activate. He managed to find some ways to better utilise magic but they only worked to a small degree but any help was greatfully used and implemented.

John tried to read through the book he gained from the goblin mayor but it seemed to be in a strange language that he couldn't understand thus he decided to leave it alone for now. In the morning everyone ate a bit of goblin meat which hadn't given a prompt on gaining an innate talent in fact any goblin meat eaten since the first time hadn't given another prompt.

Setting out once again early in the morning they continued their travels until they were ambushed by wolf like monsters. These monsters looked the same as wolfs apart from them being around five and a half foot tall with pitch black fur with hints of red and orange scattered throughout and a single horn protruding from the centre of their head, their eyes were all bright yellow except for one who had bright red eyes similar to the color of fresh blood. Using his (inspect) skill he was able to see some basic info.

(author note: I'm sorry I had forgotten to add (inspect) to John's skills previously so I'm sorry for any confusion)

[name(s): lower beta flame wolf x6 lower alpha flame wolf x1

HP: 15/20

STR: 16/22

AGI: 21/27

MAG: 20/22

DEF : 15/19

Note: these wolfs have all gained a fire affinity and are led by the alpha. If you can take down the alpha the betas will become omegas and will lose all order and run away ]

(author note: the first numbers are the betas and the second numbers are from the alpha)

Everyone got into a defensive circle to protect the archers and got ready to fight.

"everyone focus on the alpha, the one with red eyes." John informed his party before crouching down ready to pounce on any wolf who dared to get close

John activated every skill he could to give his party an edge over the enemy's which caused a low growl to emit from his mouth. As if the growl was a signal a wolf dashed towards John its claws become coated in a thin coat of flames. John barely managed to parry the attack with his sword but as he did so the wolf spun around kicking out with its hind legs like a horse aiming straight at John's chest. As it did so an arrow covered in wind magic flew past John's head and hit the wolf in the backside causing it to yelp in pain as it stopped the kick and lept away before facing back towards the group.

As soon as that happened every wolf jumped immediately towards the centre except from the alpha who stood away observing the humans with a great interest. Everyone struggled against the wolfs as they became hotter under the flames, the only one unaffected by this was Terry as her affinity gave her protection from heat although only to a small extent. The circle stayed as more and more arrows were let loose from the bows hitting the wolfs slowly lowering their HP.

[+120 xp -> +132 xp]

John heard the notification ring in his ears but ignored it as he continued attacking the wolf infront of him. With Terry using her flames and David using his club with earth magic surrounding it causing it to become heavier many wolves were left with large injurys. Seeing this John quickly shouted at the others before running off towards the alpha. With his (strengthening) and (dash) skills he managed to get to dodge any incoming attacks and reach the alpha relatively quickly.

John and the alpha stared at each other as they walked in a circle always staying opposite of each other. John was walking carefully as practically all of the alphas stats were higher than his except from HP which was tied. A strange glow emitted from the alphas eyes before John saw the betas jump away from his party whilst still keeping their guard up, expecting the humans to attack at any moment.

[side quest: alphas challenge

The Alpha has created a formal challenge between leaders. You must fight in a 1v1 and defeat the alpha or die.

Rewards: alphas respect/drops (dependant on whether or not the alpha dies)

The pack leaves you alone

Failure: your death and possibly your party's ]

John saw the quest and smiled. This was how he would gain a monsters respect.

"everyone leave the wolves alone but keep your guard up." he shouted before turning back to the alpha

As though they had both agreed a clash occurred as they both charged forward. The alphas flames were hotter than the betas but that much was expected. John deflected as much as he could with his sword but it proved useless as he was hit more times than he could block or parry.

[class (predator) activated]

[you will gain the strength needed to defeat your enemy ]

John ignored the notifications as he continued to block as much as he could and everytime he could he would activate (energy drain) he also learnt from this was that the skill worked more if he had direct contact with the target.

[skill (energy drain) level up]

[skill (heat resistance) gained (passive)]

[skill (burn resistance) gained (passive)]

[skill (goblin skin) level up]

[skill (strengthening) level up]

[skill (passive regen) gained (passive)]

[skill (bleed resistance) gained (passive)]

[skill (iron will) gained (passive)]

.

.

.

John heard multiple notifications ring but he dismissed them as soon as they appeared as he didn't want to lose concentration during the battle. Many more hits were dealt to John but he manged to direct most of them to less important areas such as his arms or legs rather than his major organs and his head.