Alpha took the lead and cleaned the way before the other two rushed forward, leaving Alpha to delay their perpetrator. Miya and Sho quickly took the narrow place's detail into their mind, checking for possible threats before going back to support Alpha.
The trio finally arrived at their destination.
The place was an underground tunnel leading to the giant underground market in Terra Station, that is, before the Super Phenomena. The tunnel didn't have anything there, as it was created for the purpose of passage, however, the tunnel that was supposed to be big enough had shrunk in size thanks to the three barks, roots and branches. Just the entrance was barely enough for a wolf to pass by. But it was exactly because of that they had suddenly gained advantageous terrain.
The down side was that it was a dead end. The tree branch had cut off the passageway.
Still, it was the perfect place to limit the activity of the wolves. Sho was very pleased with the area. When he was observing the wolves earlier, he discovered how they were slower in corners. Thus, he came to the conclusion that it would be better to take the fight in an enclosed place. If they wanted to fight the wolves here, they could chip them slowly but surely. And having limited wolves in the area with the passage only allowing one to three wolves at a time, of course they won't let the wolves go in three at a time, they would limit them one at a time.
However, they had to be prepared in this life and death situation. When the wolf king trapped them in the forest, they knew only death awaits them even if they struggle. At least here, they have little hope of victory.
The least he knew was he, Alpha or Miya were ready to risk it all to survive.
*But before that, we need to know the weakness of the wolves. And that's where my power lies.*
"I've used my skill. I can take away their senses within a short while. I can use this depending on the situation. But the problem is that if I add people to protect, the ability takes a shorter time to be used. With three of us, I certainly can't make use of this for us to run away from the wolf territory." Miya explained quickly.
Divulging everything about her skill. She was panting heavily. Her wound was aching so bad, that she was starting to lose some of her senses. She knew the situation was now severe. She could use the skill to go out and survive on her own ever since the wolf pack cornered them, but her sense of justice prevented her from doing this. She's a human with high morality. Leaving people to their death left a bad taste in her mouth.
She had experienced how people kill other people or monsters eating humans while he ventured out alone. She didn't want to experience that with the people she was with.
Although she didn't know the two men, that didn't mean she would just leave them behind when the situation was too much for her to handle. In her opinion, who would stay with her if she herself didn't stay with people? If she wants people to cherish her, she has to stay with them!
It was naive, it was childish. But it was what Miya really thought. All facade vanished in the face of death.
"I can find their weakness," Sho immediately said. He would love to explain how his skill works but he knew the two were smart and no further explanation was needed. Judging from Miya's hastened explanation, they didn't have much time for chitchat. He knew she was risking herself by using her skill, she was in no good condition. From the three of them, Miya suffered the greatest injury. So, he got straight to the point. "But I'm rendered useless if I do. I need both of you to cover for me. I'm sorry, Miya, I know you're not healed yet…"
"It's fine. It's better we know their weaknesses!" She said firmly. "I'll bet everything with this. With you two. We can make it."
"I can buff both of you. But I can't heal. I can only boost our overall skills and physical status. I haven't unlocked all the potential yet. But with my skill, we can fight everything if we find their weakness," Alpha said with certainty.
"While we're at that, take cover for me first."
"Take cover?"
"I'll have to put down my bag and give you some first aid med," When Alpha got the two shocked look. He sighed. "You know it's hard to fight while having a backpack that isn't suitable for fighting, right?"
""AH!""
Both teenagers realized what he meant. The backpacks they were carrying was actually loot of the scout team. It was just a plain school backpack. Sho had lost his things when he entered the murlocs' zone, while Miya didn't carry her backpack when she went out to attend one of her private classes, piano lessons.
"I'll take cover for us, Miya's using her skill so it would be less of a burden for me to take over." Even though Sho was the weakest among the three, no one opposed the idea.
They were in the same boat and felt it was natural to give trust to each other.
Alpha made way for Sho to repel the wolves, it was actually hard, but Sho's strong willpower made him push the wolf instead of it pushing him. He himself didn't know how it happened, he just wanted to do his task.
It didn't take long for Sho to stand on guard. Alpha just put down his bag and took out three test tube bottles with transparent yellow liquid, giving the two to Miya and drinking one. "These are first aid meds. Drink it. Too bad it's useless to take healing potion now. But this would help stop the bleeding of our wounds. It's just a bandaid, not a fix. Don't overdo it. I'm done, take your potion, Sho, I'll handle this."
The two nodded. Sho was already familiar with potions. He took healing potion before, although he was curious on where Alpha got the potion, he didn't ask because now wasn't the time. On the other hand, Miya also has a certain familiarity with potions, though not healing potions. The potion she gave Sho that removes their natural scent was actually a potion too.
Finally the three finished preparation and came up with the conclusion.
Sho and Alpha knew that without Miya, they couldn't create such a tight plan. Miya's primary use of her skill was to rob the wolf leader's observation of them.
So that they could discuss their plan.
Having an intelligent enemy was hard for the three. And knowing the giant wolf could understand them was the worst possible outcome. Wolves have a strong sense of hearing. Even if they were far away to discuss, if they didn't have Miya's skill, they would be just sitting ducks.
However, no one really wanted to give up and succumb to despair. They would hold on to this hope until their last breath.
Even if the three of them didn't have the same reason for wanting to live, having the same goal to survive was enough to trust each other.
After the three came to agreement, she immediately dispelled her skill.
Though they have only one weapon each, baton, kubaton and knife, Alpha and Miya didn't have any trouble with the use of their weapons. Alpha was clearly trained, while Miya seemed to have been educated in self-defense. The two attacked and defended the passage so that no wolf could pass. And although they were strong, they couldn't do damage to the wolf at the front at all.
They were in a stalemate.
Still, knowing this, Sho became relieved. He could finally use his ability now.
Sitting in the corner with the backpacks beside him, Sho activated his skill.
*Overview: Fenrir look-alike wolf pack weakness.*
He wanted to just state Fenrir. But then, he thought, what if that wasn't Fenrir? Wouldn't he have wasted seconds? Or maybe minutes–from the headache to the moment he catches his breath–for useless information.
He deduced that his skill would work better the more specific he was.
Unlike when he first attempted to use the skill, there wasn't a flood of random information in his brain. When he realized he could use his overview to do specific tasks, he had tried yesterday to experiment with his skill. There was also the knowledge of Alpha's Character Information of glitch skill that he became certain he wasn't using his skill proficiently. And now, having a specific path, he didn't need to browse through random information anymore when he entered the World of Information.
Once he entered the World of Information, he was welcomed by the view of shelves of thousands or millions of books; screens and scenes that showed unknown content because of the blurry layered separating him from those.
He calmed himself and decided to focus on his task. Even if the time moves differently from this World of Information, he couldn't say for certain how long the difference was. He hadn't been able to experiment with his skill yet because of the great downside it brought him.
He focused his mind on the information he was looking for, then, an image of a book emerged in his eyes. The book's cover has the very same image of the wolves they were currently fighting. He wanted to read the whole book. But knew he didn't have time or could withstand the pain from the skill. So, he focused his skill to go to the weakness of the wolf.
Feeling his nose flare, he stopped the skill. He had a lot of information and didn't need to guess anymore unlike when he fought the murlocs. "Fire… stomach… tail." he said, gasping at each word.
He just realized how weak his current being was after exiting the skill.
Did I bite more than I could chew? He jokingly thought. Although his skill now gave much more information, his body couldn't keep up. He felt far weaker compared to when he first used his skill. He couldn't even move his fingers because there was a constant pain in his head. He had a considerable will for not screaming amidst the pain.
He touched his upper lip after thirty seconds of trying to move his muscles. He then discovered there was blood that came from his nose. It was the reason he felt there was hot liquid coming in his nasal. "Need a minute…" he gasped again. He knew he couldn't rely solely on Alpha and Miya to take care of all the wolves. He needed to help them if they wanted to survive.
Only by working together could they truly get out alive.
Alpha didn't say any word, instead, he put everything into action. He used his skill that buffed them up. Sho could feel his situation was slightly better than before. He didn't get healed, but there was an uplifting feeling that his physical status was limiting him. He could also see how Miya and Alpha became faster and stronger as they danced between the wolf that was trying to invade the path.
They looked like tango partners who had danced for a long time. Each and every step they made complimented each other making them both look gracious as if they were really dancing instead of being in a fight.
When Miya slid down the wolf's stomach, Alpha moved and caught the paws that tried to go after Miya. He striked fiercely, bouncing the paw out of the way. He was trying to distract the wolf's attention back to him. As he was doing that, Miya raised her kubaton while still on the momentum of sliding.
She casted her skill once more, but this time, she just erased her own presence instead and cut through the wolf's stomach with the help of the sharp tip of kubaton. Sho was awestruck because he didn't know how sharp the point was until this moment. It was uncommon for kubaton to even have sharp points.
On account of the wolf's ignorance of her presence, it thought it was safe and focused only on Alpha. When the wolf finally realized the damage in its stomach, it was too late for it to defend or stop Miya. It was running at full speed trying to reach Alpha. Because of its fast speed, it did the damage to itself.
Blood poured from its gutted stomach, the cut was not too deep to let its gut come down, no amount of power could make Miya cut too deep with her kubaton. But the wound was still deep enough to be fatal. Struggling, the wolf tried a last attempt to murder the one who hurt it. But it was futile.
Miya already recast her skill after the edge of her kubaton was out of the wolf's stomach and she hurriedly ran away, not looking back at her artwork. When she was far enough, she dispelled her skill materializing behind Alpha and in front of Sho.
Sho didn't miss the detail that her skill canceled the moment she engaged with the enemy.
The rest of the wolves who saw this let out an angry howl seeing their brethren slowly fall to death. The nearest on the tunnel didn't hesitate to push forward and pounced towards Miya. It clawed towards her the moment it reached MIya. It even ignored Alpha because the only compact place that prevented the wolves from raining inside was the entrance of the underground tunnel. The rest were large enough to fit in three wolves.
Miya, gritting her teeth and knowing she wouldn't be fast enough to avoid it, raised her wounded left arm and her right arm with the kubaton to block the attack. After accepting the impact, she was thrown deep in the underground near Sho.
She coughed blood as her body hit the root.
Sho, seeing this, didn't hesitate to stand and take her post, blocking the angry wolf that wanted to continue charging at Miya. Even though he could still feel the recoil of using his skill, he knew if he didn't come forward, Alpha would be in trouble.
*We only took down one. Even knowing their weakness, how would we win this fight?*