Battle with shadow wolves (2)

The red lines, which could be barely made out, lined the creatures' necks, vertebral columns, and across their stomachs.

{The lines that player sees are the critical hit spots of the creatures.}

The interface spoke out.

"That's nice," Mark said with an excited tone, a grin appearing on his face as he prepared himself for a split-second attack.

One of the wolves that dashed towards him jumped after closing distance, aiming to slash his neck with its claws as he ducked, avoiding the attack.

He moved away from the wolf's path and rose to his feet halfway through the attack, managing to land a hit right across the line that marked the creature's belly.

{Critical hit activated.}

{Critical hits acquired.}

The wolf fell to the ground, turning into cubes of code in a matter of seconds and causing the others to hesitate with their attack as they saw their brethren taken down that easily. Mark turned around, staring at them with a satisfied expression as they slowly stepped back, seemingly retreating.

"This is really easy now that I can see the right spots," he muttered, the grin on his face widening.

Unaware that the alpha wolf he thought he had taken down had regained its stability after enduring the pain of losing its eye, Mark praised himself as he watched the other wolves move away.

The alpha wolf stared at Mark, with him remaining oblivious to it. Murderous intent poured out of its eyes as a black aura started to envelop its body.

"Hawoo!"

It howled, alerting Mark that it was still in the battle, the black aura that coated its body intensifying.

Mark shifted his gaze towards it without hesitating, as he ignored the others, dashing towards it as he knew the alpha was the most dangerous, and he had to take care of it first.

Dashing at his max speed, he reached arm's length in a matter of seconds, throwing an attack that aimed for the creature's neck, planning to deal an instant kill.

The creature, aware of Mark's plan, leaped away, avoiding the attack, and landed in the shadow of the tree, vanishing, seemingly entering the ground.

A puzzled expression appeared on Mark's face as he couldn't believe what he had just seen. He shifted his gaze around to check on the others, not finding any of them, putting him in a state of stress as he maxed his guard.

His eyes began darting around the surroundings, trying to pinpoint their location, but he couldn't since the shadow of the tree had covered a wide area.

The ground beneath him suddenly quaked, alerting him that he was about to be attacked as he leaped out of the way, landing a few inches away. One of the wolves emerged from the shadows, aiming its claws at Mark.

Knowing he'd been caught in a corner, he decided to leap away once more, aiming to dodge the attack, but couldn't as he felt as if his feet were glued to the ground.

"What the—?"

He muttered, a dreaded expression appearing on his face in an instant as his gaze shifted to the ground, which seemed darker than the rest of the shade the trees had cast. Turning back to look at the wolf, which seemed to be on the right track of ending his life, he struggled, trying to leap away within the split second but couldn't, as his leg wouldn't budge.

Having no other choice but to block the attack, the wolf also started to envelop itself with the black aura, opening its mouth and aiming for Mark's neck. He pulled out his dagger, blocking the attack with it as the wolf bit through, almost shattering it with that one attack.

The force of the attack pushed Mark away as he landed in the unharvested herb field.

{Player HP: 7/58}

{Enemy HP: 50/50}

The other wolves were all at level ten, not bearing the same attack power or HP as the alpha. Hence, Mark was surprised as he saw the attack he had blocked dealing that much damage.

"I'm going to die," he said, dread lurking in his tone as he couldn't think of any way to survive.

To make matters worse for him, the other wolf, accompanied by the alpha, simultaneously jumped out of the shadows, all of them emitting the black aura as they closed in on Mark, their jaws loosened, proof that they were prepared to wrap things up.

Mark tried to run, but couldn't, as it seemed he was still under the paralysis that had trapped him earlier.

{Player is currently in a healing herb field.}

Mark suddenly realized, as the thought of retrieving some of the herbs from his inventory popped up in his mind. But seeing he hadn't any time left, he decided to take desperate measures.

He turned around and uprooted some of the herbs, shoving them in his mouth without hesitating as his HP began to recover at a rapid pace.

Without even chewing, he swallowed all the herbs, seeming like a hungry goat after a famine.

{HP maxed out.}

The interface spoke out in a matter of seconds.

"Wow..." Mark thought. Without giving him the time to praise the efficiency of the herbs, the wolves pounced on him, slashing and biting him as he kept on devouring more herbs, shoving them in his mouth while tears dripped on the ground, expressing the pain he was going through.

Knowing there was no other way, he decided to unleash his final move. A red aura enveloped his body, and his temperature began to increase.

"Burst," he muttered, his body igniting once more, as he exploded, pushing away the wolves but not dealing instant kills.

Enduring the pain, he stood up, knowing there was no other chance for him to get rid of the wolves as he moved, dragging his entire body along, even though a single wound couldn't be made out on him.

He first went to the unconscious alpha, slashing its neck with his dagger, dealing an instant kill, and then turned around to end the rest.

To his surprise, one of the minor wolves, seeing him kill the alpha, also decided to attack, Mark catching it in the middle of a mid-air attack.

Knowing it aimed for an instant kill, he had no other choice but to block its attack with his dagger once more since his body was too weak to dodge.

The wolf bit into the dagger, pushing him to the ground as he fell on the corpse of the alpha wolf before it turned into cubes of code in a matter of seconds, then falling to the ground.

{Weapon durability}

{Critical}

The system interface said as Mark could see that his dagger was fractured.

With his other dagger, he stabbed the wolf in the neck, dealing an instant kill as he lay flat on the ground afterward, not being able to raise the corpse of the wolf off him as he waited for it to turn into cubes of code.

Afterward, he stood up, once again dragging himself to the final wolf, who was still unconscious, and killed it, it being an easy kill for him.

"I'm finally done," he muttered with an exhausted tone as he moved closer to the tree and leaned on it to rest.

Before a system reward could activate, another notification popped up.

{Player has found gateway to secret Labyrinth.}

{Automatic entry into labyrinth}

{Activated}

Mark instantly shivered, shocked by the turn of events, as in a split second he found himself in another plane.