Ch 21. Individual Action

The guards looked at me strangely, given that practically no one ventured out alone, not to mention they had seen me yesterday with a group of newbie adventurers and I certainly looked the part. They tried to persuade me but ultimately their job wasn't to keep people in, it was to keep monsters out, letting me pass after some insistence. 

I stood outside the walls, looking over the tall grasslands. A little more intimidated now that I was here without support, but I wasn't about to turn back yet.

I ran through scenarios in my head, thinking of how I could deal with swarms of muck rats by myself. From what I had experienced before, the muck rats were mostly helpless in close combat. No matter how many came, as long as I didn't expose my face I would be relatively safe. I was even stronger now than I was before, having leveled yesterday. 

Whatever doubts I had pushed me to put on my strongest class combination, [Adventurer] and [Swordsman], putting my leftover skill point into [Sword Mastery] to squeeze out every advantage I could get. 

Steadily I made my way to the hill we surveyed from last time, walking with my sword and shield ready in hand, straining my ears for anything amiss. 

The hill let me look get a good look of the surroundings, I could see the muck rat packs in the distance, but the thing that caught my attention were the blood stained and skinless bodies resting at the bottom of the hill where we had left them last time. There were two grey wolves tearing into the corpses, these were by far larger and more powerful than any muck rat. I was tempted to ignore them and move on to easier prey, but these two had certainly noticed me by now. If I ignored them and went after rats they could very well follow me and attack me while I was at a disadvantage. 

Thinking about it logically to calm myself, I was now more than twice as fast and powerful as the average man, and I had every advantage over these wolves. These were enemies I should be able to beat. 

Walking down the hill steadily, I approached cautiously not lowering my shield and weapon as two wolves began snarling at me with teeth exposed. The tension rose every step I took as the wolves realized I wasn't going to be intimidated, they spread out somewhat so they would be attacking from different angles as I kept playing over possible scenarios in my head, trying to psyche myself up for combat. 

I stopped when I was at the bottom of the hill, the two wolves barely five meters away while I tried to goad them into attacking first by creeping closer. They backed away slowly, taking a wider angle apart from each other before I soon realized the wolf that was breaking away from my target intended to get behind me. I decided to break forward towards the closest one, jumping back at the last moment to avoid the jaws snapping at my midsection and moving sideways to avoid the other wolf lunging in from behind. 

The two were back in front of me now, as I rounded towards them again, holding my shield in front of me and my sword pointed down off to the side. 

This was certainly a different type of fighting than I was used to, forcing me to move actively rather than waiting around for the enemy and relying on armor for protection. I didn't want to have to trust this armor to keep me safe from those teeth, the wolves being at least three times heavier than the scrawny muck rats. 

I was hesitant now to charge in, with how the other would react immediately. These truly were monsters better dealt with in groups.

Trying again to goad one into attacking, this time successfully. The wolf rushing me once I got too close, allowing me to deflect its mouth away with my shield while I stabbed deep into the exposed neck from the side. The other wolf took advantage of the situation, coming at me from the side before I could escape and catching my left leg with its jaws. Biting through the leather, but the teeth only going barely through. Sparks racing through my mind as it shook my leg back and forth, pulling me off balance and to the ground, dazed. It came for my face but I was able to hold it in place with my shield before stabbing at it wildly with my sword. 

I could feel my heart beating in my ears, blood pumping furiously from the adrenaline as I sat down, still a little dazed at what had just happened. I was alright, the armor did its job. I thought to myself, trying to feel around the wound and inspecting the teeth marks on the leather seeing that it didn't look too deep. Taking out my potion from the belt that I'd kept all this time and pouring it onto the punctures, stopping the blood near immediately as it foamed on contact. There were more expensive versions of health potions, but all of them essentially served as hemostatics, designed to close up wounds and prevent injuries from bleeding out. If you were injured too badly, they wouldn't help much, but in a situation like this it was perfect. The wound itched, but being mostly superficial, only a quarter inch deep or so, with help from the potion it no longer bled any more. 

I took out my mirror briefly, seeing that I had gained two more levels in [Adventurer] and three in [Swordsman], surprising me with how much higher the experience gains were than from muck rats. Two wolves gave even more class levels than the thirty rats had earlier in the day, good news in a way, but given that I haven't level up yet it seemed to forebode the amount I would need for each of my general levels as the requirements became increasingly harsh. I dumped the five points into [Sword Mastery] going for the immediate benefit. From what I could tell and what I had heard from the system, these mastery skills didn't suddenly make you an expert, but they did greatly improve your existing skills. I would still benefit from experience and techniques, but my basic proficiency had increased dramatically and would continue to amplify my abilities as they grew from training. 

Leaving the corpses where they lay, I dusted myself off, struggling to regain balance for a moment before finding my footing. I climbed back up the hill to look for the nearest pack of muck rats. Burning with a conviction that I would be getting level five today.