In hindsight, it should have been obvious to Hikaru.
After all, everyone knew wolves traveled in packs not in pairs, therefore if there were two wolves in a clearing, it meant there were more wolves around the area somewhere. Hikaru almost felt embarrassed that this need to be pointed out to him.
Btu there was a more pressing emotion, worry. Hikaru wasn't worried about fighting a pack of wolves, with nameless by their side they could easily carve their way through any pack, what made him worried instead was the pack leader.
Just as the girl had said, pack leaders were usually stronger than the rest, this meant the leader wast going to be a simple acolyte like them, it could be an acolyte menace or a paragon threat or worst of all, it could be a paragon menace like nameless. This would mean nameless would be tied up fighting it, this meant he and the girl would have to deal with the rest of the pack.
For a brief moment, a though crossed his mind that they could simply leave the girl to fight the pack by herself and avoid the confrontation. Hikaru was hesitant to this however, the reason why they had come to the astral realm In the first place was to hunt and fight beasts so they could get stronger and richer. Why then would they run away from a fight with beasts simply cause it was dangerous, wasn't danger something Ethereal should deal with normally?
He decided to stay for this reason and this reason alone.
… not because he didn't want to leave the beautiful girl alone with a wolf pack… no, that was something a pervert would do, not him at all.
He tuned to nameless. Don't fight the wolves, wait till the leader comes and take it out.
Nameless nodded expressionlessly, and Hikaru sighed before rushing to one of the two wolves
The wolf was already moving before Hikaru reached it, it covered the distance between them in less than three seconds and lunged at him. Hikaru swung his sword at it.
The sword hit the wolf and then… bounced off it. Hikaru didn't even have time to be surprised, the wolf crashed into him, its full weight hit him and threw him back. The wolf's jaw snapped at his face and Hikaru grunted as he shoved it back, creating half a meter of space between them. He swung his sword again and missed the wolf, it lunged again and tried to bite him, but Hikaru was quick to block it with his blade
The wolf's teeth clamped down on the blade with a force than drove Hikaru's arms downward but he twisted it and yanked it free. The wolf was disoriented for a moment and Hikaru smiled as he used to opportunity to stab it.
The sword went into the wolf's back and as Hikaru's smile grew, it suddenly raked his side with its claws.
Arghhh. Hikaru cried as pain shot through his body, the wolf's claws had caught exactly the same wound the hog caused. He dropped to the floor.
As his back hit the ground, it knocked the air out of him and the wolf was already above him. Hikaru hastily got his boot up and kicked it hard in the chest, it stumbled back a bit and he rushed to his before it recovered,
The wolf came at him again and he swung his sword at it. It ducked and barreled into him, Hikaru felt his sword fly loose from his grip and land on the ground to his left. The wolf tired to bite his face and he grabbed the neck with both hands and began to try to wrestle it away. They struggled like this for a moment until Hikaru looked and saw the blade not too far away from him. He reached for it and picked it.
He held the sword tightly and brough the blade up, then with all the strength he could gather, he drove into the wolf's throat. Die you bastard, die!
The beast thrashed more powerfully now, trying to free itself but Hikaru held onto it with all his strength and pressed the sword further until finally it stopped struggling and collapsed on him.
He heard the familiar notification and it felt like music to him
[Wolfhound killed]
[+1 Soul Core]
He sat up and looked across the clearing.
The way the girl fought was different to how Hikaru fought. She was more elegant and more deliberate, it was like she could control every part of her body almost perfectly.
Her eagle had gone in first, it suddenly flew up and then attacked the wolf from above, tearing across its back before it could do anything.
Howling in pain, the wolf snapped upwards and tired to bite it, but the eagle moved out for the way and its jaws closed on air.
The girl came from behind and lunged at the wolf, she stabbed it twice in quick succession with her dagger and it turned quickly, trying to bite her.
She moved back and the wolf rushed forward trying to press its advantage, however this was a fatal error, the eagle was now in its blind spot and struck at the wolf, aiming to tear its back again.
This time however the wolf was quick enough to avoid disaster, it turned talk and caught the bird midair, dragging it down to the dirt.
The girl immediately ran towards them and drove the dagger into the wolf's flank, forcing it to release the bird. It scrambled away from the wolf, shook itself ad then flew up into the air once again.
The girl was still with the wolf, she stabbed it a second time and drew out the dagger to stab it the third time but it slammed into her and she tumbled into the ground with an ooof sound. The wolf lunged at her head trying to bite it off but she pushed herself away from the spot and it closed around air.
She then slashed again and the blade opened a line across the wolf's muzzle, driving it back with a pained howl.
The eagle perched from above and pinned it down, it pinned it down for only a few seconds but the girl didn't waste, she rushed to the wolf and sunk her dagger into its ody again, this time she held it down while the eagle also pushed from above. As she wolf fought to be free, she twisted the dagger further making it shriek in horror.
Eventually its stopped moving and went limp, the girl then pulled out the dagger and stood up. She looked emotionlessly at the wolf, then at her eagle who ruffled its feathers and looked back at her.
Hikaru tried not to gape at her, there was a line of blood across her nightgown and he didn't know if it was her blood or the wolf's, her hair was ruffled and stained with dirt and blood, yet she remained impassive.