I quickly assessed the situation and realized that we needed a plan. We couldn't outrun the wolves, and fighting them head-on would be suicide.
At that moment, I remembered something that the system told me when I was still in the lab yesterday. [Your way of thinking is too narrow, August.]
At that moment, I thought that I understood what she meant, but it was only part of it.
'Now that my nanobots have got an affinity, can I actually reproduce this affinity?' I wondered and decided to try. I put my hands on the icy ground and let my nanobots circle us. The wolves were momentarily taken aback by those little robots.
However, there wasn't as much nanobots that I thought. I couldn't make that much in the first place.
But it was at that moment that a skill shone brightly. I quickly understood what it meant and decided to use my skill 'self-replication', and the number of nanobots started multiplying.
There were 10 times more nanobots... no maybe even 100 times more. The wolves took a few steps back as the nanobots stood tall.
And right at this moment, I activated their ice affinity, and they all started releasing cold air.
It was cold. Extremely cold. I could see Julius and Roselle shiver behind me as well, but we had to bear with it.
Thankfully though, the freezing sensation lasted only for so much time, and once we came back to our senses fully, the three of us could see a giant wall of ice around us that defended us against the wolves.
At this moment, I got a new notification from the system, but I put it aside for now as the wolves were charging toward the wall.
The wolves attacked the ice wall with all their might, but it didn't even budge. The nanobots had created a barrier that was impervious to their claws and teeth.
However, the wolves were not giving up so easily. They kept clawing and biting the wall, trying to find a way in. But the ice was too hard and too thick for them to break through.
As we watched the wolves attacking the ice wall, I realized that we couldn't stay here forever. The wall was holding up for now, but we didn't know how long it would last.
"We can't stay like this forever." Roselle pointed out as I nodded.
"W-we need to find a w-way to get o-out of here. B-but we c-can't attack them." Unfortunately, even though we wanted to do something, we couldn't attack through the ice wall. Sure we are protected, but we are also blocked as well.
I looked around for any other possible escape routes, but there were none. We were surrounded by the pack of wolves, and the only way out was through them.
Unfortunately, my magic energy was running low, so I couldn't do much right now. Even re-shaping the nanobots would be hard.
It was at this moment we heard a sound.
It was the sound of arrows being shot from somewhere. It was fire arrows. They flew straight to the wolves and started killing them.
What surprised me more though was that all those arrows were fired by a single person. And the corpses even started to burn down under the great flames.
'Don't tell me...'
I couldn't believe it. Was it...? No, it can't be... right?
Once the wolves were all dead, I decided to reshape all the nanobots into creatures. I had just the right amount to make 2 dogs, 2 cats, and 2 praying mantes.
Roselle and Julius looked at me as if they didn't know what to do. They could see the man who saved us walking toward us. He was excluding confidence from his way of walking, and even better, he was as handsome as a pretty girl.
'Is it really him?'
Lyra Blackwood in 'Chilling Embers' was really handsome. So handsome that it was hard to describe it with words. He had dazzling blond hair and gem-like emerald eyes. His jawline was strong and his eyes looked like they could pierce into someone.
Moreover, in the book, Lyra has a fire affinity. As for the post he had chosen, it was the 'Weapon-master'. A post that allowed someone to use all existing weapons like they were training with them since their childhood.
And the person who rescue us was... the same as Lyra in the book.
The man looked at us from top to bottom before looking at our bags. There was an awkward silence, but thankfully, Roselle and Julius broke it.
"Thank you, sir, you saved our life." Roselle smiled brightly and clapped her hands as she was more than happy.
"You're amazing sir!" Julius has stars in his eyes yet again. Was he easily impressed? "You killed them so quickly that it was amazing."
The man only nodded before looking at me. Was he expecting me to say thank you as well?
Strangely enough, even if this man was Lyra, I couldn't help but not feel right about him. He wasn't like the Lyra I pictured. He looked like he was ready to kill anyone whereas the one in the book was someone kind.
"Thank you." Strangely enough, I didn't stutter in front of him. Was it because I knew it for a long time? I couldn't tell.
"Who are you guys?" He asked us.
"Oh that's right we didn't introduce ourselves. I'm Julius and I have the post 'Chronomancer'."
"As for me, I'm Roselle and I have the 'Telekinesist' post."
I shook my head with a sigh. Didn't I tell them not to disclose personal information to strangers? I can't remember. But even if I didn't tell them so, weren't they aware of how this information could be used against them?
Truly they still believed that everything was still the same as before.
"And you?" He looked at me.
"What?"
"Aren't you going to introduce yourself as well?"
"I'm August."
"And your post?"
"Why should I tell you?"
"I saved your life."
"And?"
"And?" He asked back.
"Why would I disclose my information to someone I don't know? Surely you aren't taking me for a fool, right?" I was impressed with myself as I didn't even stutter once in front of him, yet felt a little bad for Roselle and Julius who looked down after my words. "And isn't it a proper courtesy to introduce yourself first?"
He looked at me with eyes full of anger. If he could smash my head right this instant, I was sure he would have done so. Though, he couldn't act rashly as I had my creatures in front of me, ready to attack if something happened.
And at that moment, the thing I was the most afraid of happened.
"I'm Lyra Blackwood." He was the same protagonist of 'Chilling Embers that I knew, yet he was different in his personality.
'Did the book really become reality?' I was dazed for a moment but quickly came back to my mind once Lyra continued to speak.
"There's a shelter nearby. If you want to come, you can." Julius and Roselle's eyes shone brightly. "However, you'll have to share the food as we have a lot of people."
They both nodded furiously as I shook my head again.
It wasn't at their behavior though. It was just that I was surprised that Lyra didn't make his own shelter and joined one instead.
At this moment, another message came from the system.
[New affinity has been detected.]
[Fire affinity: 15%]