"If you're weak get in the middle! Knights form a ring! Any capable fighters join in!"

Some of the braver members of the academy prospects, or those trying to impress others, moved out into the ring. Aithen considered his options carefully. Sir Kenzo had told him during their training that the majority of his improvement began after he had awoken his life force during a life or death battle, but there was a lot of risk involved in this method as you would be literally risking your life. He said most mages can strengthen their body as they strengthen their magic, or temper it directly with their powers, so there was no need for Aithen to take that kind of risk. Furthermore, Although his swordplay techniques had improved greatly, he was still relatively weak and wasn't sure how strong the wolves would be.

'System, are there any possible benefits I could reap from fighting the wolves?'

[Well, besides the possibility of awakening your life force, you could gain some system points by killing the beasts. They have all collected some amount of world energy in their bodies, with the stronger ones having more. This is a good opportunity to earn some points, just stay in a safe spot and farm the ones that you can catch out.]

'Alright! I'll circle the inside of the ring of knights looking for an opportunity. I see that Lucas and his gang have decided to join the defense. This would also be a good chance to take care of them as well.'

At the moment, no Forest Wolves could be seen and everyone was on edge. For several minutes no one moved, waiting anxiously for the wolves to show themselves. By now, the sun had set completely, and because the moon had yet to rise, it was nearly pitch black outside. As people were just beginning to hope that the Forest Wolves may have left, the bushes below the trees started to rustle loudly. Slowly, coming from every direction, dark green wolves that blended into the darkness around them left the cover of the trees. They had bright yellow eyes that glowed in the night, which Aithen thought would probably be pretty disadvantageous given that such eyes would alert prey of their presence.

Sir Kenzo shouted from one part of the ring, "Prepare for a fight! There seems to be around fifty of them, so as long as we can each kill one we'll make it out of this! Remember to-"

A loud howl, coming from within the forest cut him off, and immediately after it stopped, all the wolves sprinted towards the circle. The fight had begun!

Before the wolves had charged, Aithen had the system status check one of them. He was fairly confident it would work but figured it would've been smart to test it on something else beforehand.

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//STATUS//

Name: ????

Race: Forest Wolf

Strength: 1.4

Agility: 1.8

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Const.i.tution: 1.2

Intelligence: 0.6

Skills: none

Spells: none

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'Interpreting this one's stats as the usual for Forest Wolves would mean that, in general, the average knight we have would be stronger, but the difference isn't large enough to where we'll be able to avoid all losses.'

By the time the wolves had charged, Aithen had rotated to the side where Lucas and the other four who had helped kill the previous AIthen were. They moved behind a guard, and they looked to be preparing to help him face the wolves. Seeing them ready to risk their lives in the defense, Aithen considered whether or not it was truly worth it to kill them. He had never worried about having the moral high ground and knew that his life and needs always came first, but he didn't like to go against what he felt was right. He could earn a decent amount of System points from killing them, but would he regret it? He decided to wait a little longer, because as he often said, there was no rush.

Within moments the leading knight made contact with two of the wolves. Lucas' group spread out around one of the two, planning to attack it together and let the other knight handle the other wolf. Aithen thought this made sense, and, getting caught up in the intensity of the moment, he moved to help the solo knight. The knight noticed him, and they efficiently took down the beast, weakening it with constant cuts, both of them staying a safe distance away from the wolf's jaws. Just as Aithen delivered a deep slash to the weakened wolf's neck, he noticed the wolf in Lucas' group suddenly, throwing caution to the wind, dive for one of their members. More than fifteen meters separated Lucas' group and Aithen. There was no way to reach them in time, but as long as the group worked together they should be fine. However, cowardice seemed to freeze them all in place, as the wolf lunged, the boy that was targeted dropped his sword and tried to run to the side, resulting in his left arm getting caught in the beast's ferocious jaws. The other four members of the group backed up in horror as the boy screamed and flailed around. In the meantime, Aithen and the knight he had been fighting with rushed over. Unfortunately, the screams or maybe blood had attracted another wolf. With no time to speak, the knight he was with moved to intercept the incoming wolf as Aithen moved to attack the wolf mauling the boy from Lucas' group.

The wolf noticed the running Aithen and rose from the boy to face him. The boy had gone silent and may have already died, but Aithen couldn't worry about that at a time like this. The wolf was much stronger than him and a few mistakes would result in his death.

"Attack it from behind" shouted Aithen. With the help of the group's remaining members, his chances of taking the wolf down without injury would rise greatly. They had pretty s.h.i.+t stats in all honesty but anything would help.

"Haha, thanks for catching its attention Aithen! Actually, I think we'll get going!" laughed Lucas, a sneer plastered on his face. With that said, the group backed off further, moving into the forest. apparently they didn't wanna run back to the middle before the fight ended, worried that it would make them look like cowards.

Aithen cursed under his breath, circling the wolf, their eyes locked. He couldn't let his focus off of the wolf. With his peripheral vision, he had confirmed that everyone was currently occupied with fighting and he wouldn't be receiving any immediate help. Luckily, the battle seemed to be going well, and as long as he lasted long enough, someone would free up and come help him.

The wolf swiped at his leg with a claw, which Aithen used as an opportunity to slash at the front leg of the beast, stepping back as he did so. The wolf, clearly crazy with bloodl.u.s.t, unexpectedly moved towards the blade, taking a deep slash to the leg but clawing Aithen's arm at the same time, ripping a cut along his tricep. Keeping a clear mind, Aithen noticed that the wolf was now off-balance, and, ignoring the pain, he slashed horizontally across its face. His strike had blinded the wolf, blood dripping from its eyes, and without a second of hesitation, Aithen moved to the side and chopped at the wolf's neck, killing it instantly.

After that, he caught his breath and stepped away, a.n.a.lyzing the situation from a distance. The knight that had been close to him was finis.h.i.+ng off a wolf in the distance. Bodies littered the ground, mainly canine ones. There was no sign of Lucas' group in the area. Aithen took the time to apply the medicine Katherine had given him to his wounded arm. Just as the catastrophe seemed to be coming to a close, Aithen noticed Lucas and the remaining three members run rapidly from the forest, out of breath, being chased by the biggest wolf Aithen had ever seen. It was at least three meters long, two meters tall, and shook the earth as it ran. The wolf was already on top of them and some were bound to die. Aithen was the closest to them by a long shot since he had stepped towards the forest to look at the clearing from a distance. When they had left him to fight that wolf on his own, Aithen had decided that he would get them killed if they chance came up, and now was the perfect opportunity. Lucas was slightly ahead of the others and only a few meters from Aithen. Before anyone could look their way Aithen had to exact his revenge. He began to run back towards the others, with Lucas right behind him, and, as he expected, Lucas had tried to trip him. Expecting this, Aithen stopped, turned, and shoved the off-balance Lucas into his three other group mates, then turned and sprinted faster than he had ever before. Hopefully, those four would act as a meal and stall the large wolf for the time it would take Aithen to escape.

As he sprinted, he screamed as if his life depended on it in order to attract the attention of any nearby knights. However, when they noticed him he only got some strange looks. By now, he realized something was off. Risking a turn, he noticed that the wolf was gone, along with the bodies of Lucas and his group members.

Falling to the ground, Aithen's mind was a.s.saulted by a chorus of "DING" sounds. It looks like the system has lots to tell him.