“On your left!” Elizabeth shouted.

“Got it!” Kori shouted back as he cut down a Demon Beast. The two of them had barely walked for two hours when they were ambushed and surrounded by Sabertooth Murk Wolves, a class D Demon Beast. These huge grey wolves had massive fangs the size of butcher knives and were as sharp and hard as one too.

This pack had six wolves and an alpha, including the one Kori just cut down. The alpha had a scarred eye and his fangs were the size of Kori's katana, its remaining eye full of intelligence and looked at them as a cat would a mouse.

“Don’t cut up their fangs too much. They’re valuable materials.” Elizabeth warned as she fended one off with her hunting dagger.

“Yeah I know!” Neither of them had any magic yet and fending off Demon Beasts without them was a struggle.

There was a small city nearby, they could probably rest for the night there and hope it has a Guild. Right now, they just had to get through this pack of Beasts.

“Kori! Just freeze them all!”

“I’m not allowed to take off my gloves remember?"

“Just do it!” Elizabeth was panting through her teeth. How had Kori not noticed how tired she was? She looked like she was in the verge of collapse. To hell with the consequences Kori thought.

Kori immediately took off his magic suppressing enchanted gloves and shoved them down his pocket, careful not to freeze his pants. Kori then faced the wolves, with a deadly look in his eyes. Frost formed on his hands as he looked at the wolves with an intent to kill.

A wolf jumped on Kori, but Kori simply grabbed its snout, hard. It immediately froze before the wolf could even touch him and shattered before him.

The other wolves were more surprised and backed off. But Kori would not let them escape and ran through them all, freezing them before they could attack him. Wolves froze left and right, each with a terrified expression before shattering.

All the remaining wolves were frozen except for the alpha. But it was nowhere to be seen.

“Kori, behind you!” Elizabeth warned. But it was too late as the alpha wolf pounced behind Kori and pinned down his arms. It opened its mouth, and sank its huge fangs into Kori's left arm and pierced through it. Elizabeth cried out in despair.

Kori couldn’t feel his arm. He felt cold and hot at the same time as the pain coursed throughout his body and his lifeblood was pouring out like a broken dam.

Elizabeth could only watch in horror as the huge wolf bit into Kori's left arm. Kori cried out in pain, bleeding way too fast. Elizabeth squeezed her dagger until her knuckles turned white. She steadied herself and threw herself at the wolf with a cry.

Elizabeth's dagger sank deep into the alpha wolf's heart, and fell as it gave a whimper. Its blood poured onto Kori, making him look like road kill.

Kori was breathing hard, still pouring out too much blood. Kori would bleed to death or die of infection if not treated immediately. Elizabeth braced herself, gently put her hand onto his wound. Kori yelped as a fresh shock of pain swelled on his arm.

“Kori please, just hang in there a little longer, I’ll do my best for you too…” Elizabeth pleaded. Kori couldn’t respond, he was out of mana and dying fast.

Elizabeth willed her mana into Kori's wound, praying to the gods in hope that Kori will be saved. Then, a bright yellow light shined at the palm of her hands. Miraculously, Elizabeth had succeeded in Light magic, a small healing spell. When Elizabeth removed her hand however, Kori was still severely bleeding, a bit slower but still too much.

Elizabeth channeled all that was left of her mana into Kori's arm, each cast of magic slowly restoring his lifeblood, reattaching nerves, reconnecting muscles and tissue, and patching up his skin. Out of mana, Elizabeth blacked out along with Kori, without seeing if it was successful, and if Kori would live.

Kori woke to a warm light on where it had been hot and cold a few minutes ago. He felt his arm slowly being restored and healed. It was as if the miracles of the gods themselves had saved him. He looked at his arm and there was only a scar where the wolf had bitten him. It was big and ugly, but he wasn’t dying.

He stood up feeling a weight on top of him. It was Elizabeth, sleeping soundly on him. Kori got embarrassed and freaked out for a second, until he saw her blue lips – a sign of mana depletion. Had she saved him? Elizabeth didn’t know any magic as far as he knew. But it was the only explanation. Kori owed her a lot.

The Sun was setting, threatening dusk and darkness. At night, there would be even more dangerous and powerful Demon Beasts about. He had to find shelter fast. He might have enough time to make it to the nearby city, Evergreen.

Kori, picked up Elizabeth, carrying her in his arms and making his way to the town after gathering their things and harvesting the fangs from the alpha wolf and the wolf he had cut down. Kori himself didn’t have much mana, and carrying all of them was a tough task.

He stashed away the huge fangs in his separate bag for Demon Beasts parts. All this weight on Kori severely slowed him down. If the city’s guard sees him, they should take him in, seeing the emergency situation. He just had to make it to the vicinity of Evergreen.

Just an hour later, he saw the city. Just a little more. He was still covered in the wolf’s blood, but the scent of the wolf corpses was probably stronger, drawing away some Beasts.

Though, clearly, not all Beasts were drawn to the rotting corpses of the wolves. A faint roar sounded in the distance, most likely attracted to the smell of the blood covering Kori.

Kori panicked and quickened his pace. He was so close to the city gates; he couldn’t give up. But this Demon Beast was closing in. The ground was trembled, big slow stomps and falling trees could be heard. Kori was absolutely terrified. He wouldn’t let this be a repeat of 8 years ago. He would make it to safety, and Elizabeth wouldn’t have to worry about him.

Another roar echoed through the quiet dark night, closer this time. He heard the guards shouting orders, preparing for battle.

Kori managed to take a few more steps closer to Evergreen before the Demon Beast burst out of the forest with a deafening roar. A class C Demon Beast, the Minotaur.