Within the bare moonlight seeping through the tiny holes within the intersecting weave if leaves and branches, multiple figures moved hungrily, each one with their agenda.
"It went that way!" A scrawny boy said, pointing to a particular shadow.
Without missing a beat, the lean man beside him dashed dynamically.
Several growls emanated from multiple invisible sources, their figures masked by the all-encompassing darkness.
Lieren's eyes abruptly grew wide.
Turning around with guarded vigor, he placed his dagger in front.
A large ravenous bestial eye glared at him through the darkness.
Straining his pitiful muscles, Lieren swung his arm wildly, pushing the Silver Wolf away.
Though brief, it left the boy aching and exhausted.
'I should really exercise more.'
Even with mana flowing through his veins and into his scrawny body, a weak boy is still a weak boy. That much was for certain.
Regaining his focus, Lieren glared at the Silver Wold wildly. He, too, had a ravenous glint to his eye, along with calculated intelligence.
With a flash, the darkness seemed to scatter somewhat, allowing him to see the bestial creature in front of him.
The wolf, about a meter tall on all fours, stood proudly. Its trenchant fangs sprouted out of the beast's mouth like tusks, stretching downward, past the wolf's jaw. Its eyes contained apoplectic fury and wild intelligence. Its silver hide shined with burnish moonlight, making the beast noticeable under a light source, but otherwise invisible when situated in a forest that hindered light from passing, and anybody foolish enough not to bring a lantern out on a dark forest.
'Truly unfortunate.'
From what the boy knew, wolves, especially mana-enhanced ones, held a semblance of intelligence. Though limited by their savage instincts, making them relatively predictable.
That is, if you can catch up with them.
The wolf growled and snarled, stretching its herculean legs, sprinting away from Lieren's prominent peripheral.
The boy quickly ameliorated his internal mana into from Enhancement to Fortification, the two main abilities of Augmentation, reinforcing his skin with mana and tightening his muscles, reinforcing them beyond the scrawny boy's otherwise smirching pitiful physical prowess.
His eyes strenuously wide open, the boy paid rapt attention to his surroundings, going as far as using Enhancement on his ears to better predict the beast's movement.
The dried leaves rustled intensely under the Silver Wolf's sinewy legs. Amidst the darkness, Lieren could just about make out the nebulous image of a silver coat reflecting moonlight. He followed that image for much as his body allowed, expending focus and energy like never before.
The boy's eyes glowed brightest blue as his eyes pursued the wolf's blurry silhouette.
Then, in the literal blink of an eye, suddenly disappeared from view, it's numerous afterimages with it.
A cold chill ran down his back as if blocks of ice has been poured by his spine.
'Behind!'
Before Lieren could think of anything else, his body was already moving, twisting his waist and adjusting his footing mechanically.
The boy, having learnt his lesson, dodged to the side, avoiding the Silver Wolf's deathly-sharp steel claws by a hair's breath.
In the same motion, he thrust his sword in the beast's neck, using Imbuement—an application of Detachment—along with Enhancement to sharpen the blade's edge and pierce through the beast's impenetrable hide.
With a sickening crunch, Lieren's dagger pierced through the Silver Wolf's hide and flesh, ripping through muscles and nerves.
It desperately howled in agonizing pain, its throes of suffering echoing throughout the forest of dark shadows.
A cold chill, this time much more urgent, crept Lieren's back. He hurriedly dislodged the dagger from the Silver Wolf's dying body…well, tried to, anyways.
With a desperate squeeze, the wolf blisteringly tightened its muscles and held onto Lieren's dagger through pure will and physique alone, reminding the boy of the abysmal difference in power between the two of them, even on the brink of death.
'Crap!' The boy cursed inwardly as another bestial presence rushed apart.
Hot fire emanated from the boy's leg as another Silver Wolf ripped through Lieren's skin and flesh with its razor-sharp canine teeth, piercing through it and drawing fresh crimson blood.
The pain not only enveloped his leg in burning hot pain, but spread through the rest of his injured limb, eventually reaching his already strained mind, loading it with the torturous sensation of ripped damaged flesh and ripped skin.
Fresh tears, not of grief or morbidity like before, but of terror and fear. Fear that…perhaps, this really was the end.
The boy felt death closer than ever before.
It took Lieren's damn hardest to keep his internal mana control active, the Fortification preventing the vicious wolf from ripping his mutilated leg from of his body…for now.
He had seen death, gazed at it with his very eyes, taking everything in with fearful eyes and shaky hands, feeling the bonds of restriction wrapped around his wrists and neck almost like a collar. But he persevered through it all, harnessing that pain and learning from it. So that, next time, he could finally take that last step.
For now, however, now was the time to rely, not to destroy.
With a desperate yell, Lieren copied the Star Wolf holding his dagger: "H…Harita! H…Help..!! Please!"
In the blink of an eye, a bright green aura flashed by, bisecting the wolf furiously sinking it's fangs into the scrawny boy's leg and the wolf holding his knife in one clean swing of his pitch black, somewhat celestial katana.
Kneeling down so fast that his knee dug into the ground, Harita pulled out a handkerchief and wrapped it around the scrawny boy's crippled leg, a shadow of its former self, with familiar ease, easing the bleeding somewhat.
However, it was only a temporary fix. Anything more would require healing magic—a rare form of Augmentation that requires deep insight into Enhancement and Fortification.
Harita, now that Lieren is mostly distracted and his Resistance has unconsciously waned, took notice of the wild mana within him, swirling and coalescing into his muscles and bones, desperately trying to keep his leg intact. Whether this was intentional or subconscious, Harita did not know.
Nevertheless, he still picked the boy up carefully and deferentially, taking careful but efficient steps to keep the prone boy safe as he regarded Lieren's moribund state.
A green stroke of light pierced the dark forest.