The carriage jolted forward.

Bowen snapped the whip in a motion stronger than ever, spurring the horse into a faster pace as the wheels followed suit by catching in the ruts of the road, rattling the entire structure.

It did not take more than a minute for the village to appear, for Miren to shift from a distant view to the streets around them.

Bowen jerked on the reins and the carriage halted.

Rinna jumped down from it the instant its wheels were fully settled on the dirt road. She was followed almost immediately by Lissa who joined the battle as soon as she touched the ground, instinctively reaching for the katana’s hilt in the process.

Ash followed them.

By the time they reached the village, the battle had already commenced. It had started with the formation of the defenders’ wall - guards forming a single line of defense, raising shields and holding spears, while fang wolves advanced and attacked them, penetrating some areas of the defense and being repelled by others in a relentless back and forth.

At least half the villagers were trying to protect themselves, women dragging children behind shut doors and men - people untrained in battle - trying to defend themselves with farm equipment.

Ash stared at the wolves.

After the first sweep through them he stopped counting.

There were too many of them. More than a pack which had attacked them on the road - a lot more than that. The difference was not subtle.

A pack was a group of animals moving together for survival. What he was looking at was something else - something that had a shape to it, a deliberate arrangement. It was not hunger that drove them. Or if it was, it was not the ordinary kind.

Wolves moved through every hole in the defensive line and around its sides, advancing with a relentless determination and attacking whatever they saw fit. No sooner did the defenders close a gap than a new one appeared somewhere else in the defense perimeter.

Rinna and Lissa had already entered the battle.

He recognized both by the results of their actions - Lissa moving through the enemy pack with a speed and precision he had witnessed before, killing the wolves with each swipe of her katana and Rinna attacking from the opposite side with the help of her wand, casting Aqua Slash on several targets at once.

They managed.

But that was not the same as doing well against the wolves. Even from this distance, Ash could see the signs of difficulty - Lissa moving with more determination than before as if trying to overcome something.

The wolves were not just larger; the gap between each attack on them caused the defensive line to move backwards by an inch each time. They didn’t look like an accidental collection of packs; they were a single unit - one which decided to attack the village for whatever reason.

Ash looked down.

Lying on the ground and half-covered with the dirt left by the carriage wheels was a rusty sword - its handle wrapped in leather that got dry in the summer heat. Old and forgotten by its owner.

He picked the weapon up.

There was a brief moment when the weight felt strange in his hands, awkward - but then his grip adjusted and everything became clear.

"Let’s see what I can do with this," he whispered.

He remembered the wolf and the tree he broke. How easy it was to break the latter after the punch to the wolf.

Points distributed into strength had purpose; and he had done that a couple of times already before his left hand moved without his permission to give the final blow. He wanted to know how much power that meant now.

He ran ahead.

No longer cautious, no longer moving like he was exploring unfamiliar ground. With a quick step he approached the battlefield, causing the pack to scatter - at least one of the wolves decided to check who this new threat was. Before it even took a step towards him it stopped, growling loudly.

They held each other’s gaze.

The yellow of the eyes glittered in the last bits of sunlight left.

And then the wolf acted.

With a powerful leap it tried to bite Ash with all its might - the entire mass of the animal coming down with its jaws open wide.

But he moved aside, letting the beast pass through his side as he raised the weapon and brought it down on the enemy, severing its head cleanly at the very peak of the jump. The body fell on the ground; its head rolled a few feet away. For a split second they stayed like this.

And then they disappeared into thin air.

Reward screen popped up on the side.

---------------------

[✦Fang Wolf Defeated✦]

[Rewards]

[EXP + 200]

[SP + 30]

[★LOOT DROPPED★]

> Magic Stone x1

> Wolf Fang x2

--------------

Ash glanced at it long enough to recognize the rewards. Then he moved his attention elsewhere.

"I never knew using a sword would be this much fun," he murmured.

Cards and hands - these were the weapons he used so far. In his previous life he used to sit at tables for weeks and play games involving cards.

It felt strange - different to use such a weapon in a fight as it gave him something he never had before - feedback from the enemy’s body through the handle and the immediate reaction to his actions.

He enjoyed it.

That was unexpected. He had not anticipated a body this young and this unfamiliar carrying that kind of instinct.

Something pulled him out of his thoughts.

At least three wolves left their companions at the battlefield to join the circle around him, each of them staring at him attentively, waiting for the answer to the question the whether he was still worth killing.

That was the question.

Ash looked at the trio in front of him. A breath moved slowly through his body, calming everything inside him.

"This is going to be fun," he said.

And he charged at them.