Just as Ben looked up from his downed opponent he saw Jamal extend his [Bulwark Stance] to block an attack against Anne that could have proved fatal. But the distraction cost him as one Ice Howler managed to cut into his armored leg.

  Michael was fighting against one of the shamans, but the other one was nowhere to be seen while Akira tried to provide relief to the others with a constant barrage of lightning strikes.

  Ben sent a mental message to Hercules, hoping the bird would understand—it was curiosity about where the second shaman was, using the first one as an example. The eagle sent what passed as confirmation back and leaped into the sky, or rather, the space below the tree canopy.

  In total, he counted nine opponents and they were under enormous pressure.

  With all the power of his twenty-five points in his Body attribute he leaped towards the opponent that tried to flank Anne.

  He crashed into the wolfkin, sending it flying and used the rest of his momentum to attack one of the other wolfkin going after Anne, who was using [Flurry of Blows] to attack the last of the Ice Howlers.

  To Anne’s—and Ben’s—surprise the perk was not sufficient to kill the monster. Tier 2 beasts were sturdy.

  Ben had to dodge and pull on all the skill he had learned over the last three months to stay ahead of his opponent and the first one he had pushed away earlier, who had returned by now.

  Back to the basics.

  Breathe. Defend. Defend. Enter. Strike. Strike.

  For the first time in a long while, Ben managed to enter the Flow he had trained for so hard.

  With the next strike he managed to take out one of his opponents, but the news was not all good.

  He heard multiple shouts from the Ice Howlers and Jamal staggered, his armor and skin frozen.

  Thunder roared through the forest.

  Akira had launched his main lightning bolt against one of Jamal’s opponents.

  Ben did not hold back, either, and launched [Unyielding Retribution] against his other opponent, killing it.

  Anne was still busy but it looked mostly under control, so Ben ignored her and ran to Jamal with a couple of quick steps.

  Two dead wolfkin spoke to the fight that Jamal, with the help of Anne, had been through, but it was clear that he was on his last legs as he tried to defend against two more opponents.

  Just as Ben arrived, a blast of cold air reached them from the direction that Michael had been fighting with the shaman and Ben saw his friend going down.

  With a shout and without any regard for his own safety, Ben hacked and slashed at the Ice Howler in front of him.

  He suffered a cut into his arm where his bracer’s protection ended, and his armor deflected another hit, but he did manage to land a vicious hit of his own that almost took off the leg of his opponent, who wasn’t completely out of the fight yet. But it had to be enough. Jamal and Akira would have to deal with it.

  He raced off to the left where he had last seen the shaman with Michael.

  His friend lay on the ground, white frost covering his body. The shaman was nowhere to be seen.

  He called for Hercules while he knelt down beside Michael who did not move.

  Ben’s heart raced in anxiety. Was he too late?

  He grabbed a healing potion from his bag of holding while reaching out to his friend’s neck to check for a pulse.

  Faintly – but it was there.

  Relief flooded through his body as he tried to feed the semi-frozen man the potion.

  Half of it was in Michael’s mouth as he felt another massive impact in his back.

  This time he didn’t fly through the air, but crashed into the ground, and the valuable potion spilled onto the forest floor.

  He could feel the fury from Hercules as the eagle attacked the shaman that must have somehow passed him by and attacked from behind with another block of ice that it had summoned.

  Ben groaned but did not give in to the temptation to pause, even for a single breath.

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  He had to hope that the potion he had fed to Michael would be enough to keep him alive. In the meantime, he had to help his companion.

  His injuries slowed him down, but in the blink of an eye he was back on his feet and rushing towards the shaman that was about ten meters away from him.

  Hercules had wounded the shaman, and blood matted the beast’s mane on his head.

  As he took the last step before he could attack, a lightning bolt crashed into the monster, breaking its concentration and leaving a deep burn mark on their shoulder.

  Ben used the opportunity and began an attack like he didn’t do often anymore these days. Instead of a controlled slash or cut, he led the axe all the way to the side, opening himself up in a way that would be dangerous against another melee fighter, and then, with all his power, cleaved horizontally.

  He yelled his frustration in a loud cry and felt the impact on his wrists as the attack hit his opponent in the side and cleaved right through to the beast’s spine.

  Exhausted, he kept himself from dropping to one knee and instead looked back to where Anne and Jamal had been fighting before but saw them jointly finishing off the last of their opponents.

  That freed him up to run back to Michael, who looked less like an ice block and was taking some deeper breaths as he shook himself.

  “Do you need another potion?” Ben asked worriedly.

  His friend shook his head.

  Ben clasped his shoulder. “You had me worried for a moment.”

  “Me too,” Michael responded with a rare smile.

  The others joined them. Both Jamal and Anne were in the process of drinking healing potions as well, Akira looked tired, and all their gear had taken quite the beating.

  “Those Tier 2s are tough cookies, boss.”

  Jamal sounded quite exhausted.

  “That is…”

  Ben interrupted himself as he felt uncertainty from Hercules.

  The eagle swooped up into the air.

  At the same moment, wolf howling could be heard in the east. Then the west. The calls were answered from the north.

  “Shit,” Anne was the only one to react verbally, the others seemed too tired.

  Jamal raised his shield. “I am almost out.”

  And indeed, the Tier 2 attacks had broken off parts and dented it, and one attack had even left a hole.

  “So am I,” Akira added. “Maybe two or three attacks left. Then it is down to this,” he patted the staff in his hand.

  “Let’s rush to the clearing. With the gate at our backs, we can’t be flanked as easily,” Ben suggested.

  The others nodded and they started to run.

  Over the short distance, Ben felt how his wounds started to rapidly heal. That should mean that [Unyielding Retribution] was back as an option. However, [Strength of the Protector] had run out and wasn’t available for the rest of the day.

  The howls of the wolf pack accompanied them on their way.

  The clearing was empty except for the rest of the camp of the Ice Howlers.

  Ben took a couple of deep breaths and entered [Meditation]. Even if just for a minute or two, it would help him find his center again.

  Fighting against the Howlers on a one-on-one basis was very doable for him, even two on one, but more was a stretch – and even more so for the rest of the team.

  This was different from the Tier 1 dungeons they were running on a daily basis. There, it was mostly a question of the quantity of enemies.

  He wondered what the dungeon itself would be like. But for now, he needed to concentrate on the present.

  The howling of the wolves came closer and closer.

  It sounded different from what he had come to be used to around the settlement. Even from the Dire Wolves they had been fighting for a long time.

  They had taken on a formation around the dungeon portal with Akira in the back, Jamal and Ben at the front, and Michael and Anne covering their flanks.

  Hercules was perched on a tree nearby, his emotions conveyed nervousness. Predators were coming that he would not face alone.

  Ben could see movement in the shadows around the clearing.

  All around them.

  This was not a small pack.

  “Boss mom is probably sitting in a warm office right now, drinking tea. This seems unfair.”

  Ben chuckled and realized that he had needed this. His worry about Michael earlier and the uncertainty about what awaited them next had gotten to him.

  “I will let her know that you complained.”

  “No need, boss. No need.”

  “Good. Let’s all remember that we trained hard for this. The systems would not have given us this mission if we couldn’t do this. Let’s stay sharp.”

  Michael grunted supportingly.

  The shapes stepped out of the shadows.

  They were wolves. But huge. Significantly larger than dire wolves.

  Snow white fur and teeth long enough to be shaped into daggers.

  Tundra Prowler. Energy-Born. Tier 2. Common Challenge.

  Behind them, the shaman that had been missing.

  Ice Howler. Wolfkin. Shaman. Energy-Born. Tier 2. Rare Challenge.

  Ben counted at least a dozen of the wolves, but they moved quickly, in and out of the shadow.

  “One large bolt in a few minutes, or multiple small ones?” Akira asked.

  Ben thought quickly. If they could take the shaman out of the picture quickly that would be great, but maybe he could do that faster than waiting for Akira’s cooldown to go away.

  “Change of plan: I’ll go after the shaman, you guys hold the line and I rejoin as soon as possible. OK?”

  “You are not invulnerable, boss.”

  “I know, but if we let the shaman shoot at us from afar we are also in trouble. I promise to try to rejoin you right away.”

  Jamal just sighed.

  The shaman was just standing at the edge of the clearing, apparently content to let the Prowlers dash in and out, feinting to attack.

  This was a game not in his team’s favor, Ben was sure. A moment of inattention combined with an attack by the wolves and another massive ice bolt could spell their doom.

  “On three. One.”

  The others tensed. Ben signaled to Hercules to provide a distraction.

  “Two.”

  The eagle leaped from his perch, flying towards the shaman, who raised a hand to point at the bird.

  “Three!”

  Ben weighed quite a bit now, but his strength overcame his inertia easily and he sprinted forward with a speed that would put Olympic athletes to shame.

  Two of the Prowlers tried to place themselves between him and the shaman.

  Ben leaped.

  The wolves were tall; he jumped higher.

  He landed close to the shaman who had realized that he had fallen for a distraction.

  It was too late.

  Ben had raised the axe behind his head during his jump and now accelerated the weapon with all his strength forward, cleaving right through the shaman’s chest.

  He had fulfilled his objective, but now he was separated from his team by a dozen angry white wolves.

  He took a deep breath and raised his axe. Time to get back to his team.