"Wolves."
She muttered under her breath, her gaze shifting to the group who had also noticed it, then back towards the grass.
She could hear the rustle of movement, the soft padding of paws on the earth— but she couldn't see them clearly, making it difficult to tell how many there were.
"How many?"
Samuel asked, looking around.
"I don't know, but I can smell them. And they're close."
Edwin, ever the sensible one, immediately moved into a position that would allow him to protect the group, his stance calm but alert.
Seraphina scanned the grass, her senses sharp, with her eyes, she could even slightly make out their shadows in between the leaves; their shifting frames as they slowly moved around.
"I'll handle this."
Seraphina said quietly, drawing her sword, and moving ahead of the group to deal with the wolves on her own. From what she could tell, they were just normal wolves.
Such wolves could be killed by most people, even a normal person without knight training could kill a wolf if they had moderate experience— let alone an apprentice knight such as herself.
"I want to test myself and see how much I've improved. It'll be fine."
Samuel raised an eyebrow, he was a bit disappointed that he couldn't take part in the action, especially since he had been dying of boredom all along, but he didn't object.
Edwin also didn't object, he knew that Seraphina could handle herself against wolves, and remembering the conversation they had before, he knew he had to allow her to experience challenges and couldn't protect her always.
"If you're sure."
"I'm sure."
She said, her voice steady, and she didn't hesitate any further.
The first wolf appeared from the trees, its fur grey and matted, its eyes gleaming with hunger. It was followed by a few more, lean and ready for a fight— they followed a common pack strategy as they surrounded the girl.
They bared their teeth and growled, circling the three of them, but their focus was primarily on Seraphina.
She stood tall, her stance firm, and her sword ready— she waited for them to make the first move.
The leader, a large grey wolf with fur that almost blended into the shadows and a size almost double that of the common wolf, stepped forward, eyeing her carefully.
The others followed, their movements slow and calculated, their bodies tense.
Seraphina's heart pounded in her chest, but she forced herself to stay calm.
She could handle this— she wasn't scared; it was just the adrenaline rushing through her body.
The first wolf lunged without hesitation towards her.
As if waiting for that exact moment, Seraphina sidestepped quickly, feeling the breeze from its passing. She then slashed her sword towards the side of the wolf as it passed her; the wolf yelped in pain, stumbling back.
But she was already moving again, taking the initiative this time.
The others came at her, one after the other, but Seraphina was faster. Her blade moved with practice, as she stabbed it into the wolf that attempted to attack her; finishing it off in the process.
The others didn't have the chance to save their comrade, which seemingly angered them, their aggression lashing out in the form of violent attacks. The wolves were strong, but they were no match for her speed and skill.
In moments, the pack was left with scattered numbers, some of them had died, been injured, or even abandoned the pack and ran away, the remaining wolves were only fighting because the leader hadn't moved yet.
A standstill covered the field as neither side wanted to make a move, Seraphina straightened her back as she looked towards the leader with her violet eyes; their eyes seemingly meeting.
"It would be unfortunate to kill you, why don't you just stay with me?"
Originally she was planning to just kill the wolves, but after seeing the size of the leader, as well as the capabilities of the normal wolves, she was somewhat interested in keeping it as a pet.
It wouldn't be much aid in a fight, but having a wolf could be cool— at least that was her general thought. Naturally, the leader had no interest in submitting to someone who had killed their entire pack, even if it was going to die.
As if angered by her words, it growled and attacked her personally; the other wolves joined the assault in a last-ditch effort to finish her off.
Seraphina didn't panic, she closed her eyes as the wolves jumped at her— in her mind time seemingly came to a slow, her body felt as if it was moving at a slowed pace as everything outside of her mind seemed to come to a still.
For a second she felt her entire body, every inch of it— her thoughts flowing through her entire body, and in response, her body reacted to her will.
With a slash forward, her blade seemingly glowed slightly, cleaving through the bodies of the incoming wolves with ease it didn't have before; their bodies dropping to the ground as they failed their attack.
Opening her eyes, she exhaled and time seemed to come rushing back all at once— her body started to ache in an instant. She drifted slightly as she stabled herself, looking at her blade, then at the corpses before her— shocked.
"What was that?"
She questioned, and Edwin stepped forward with a smile on his face— like a proud father looking at his child growing up.
"That was aura, congrats, you broke through."
"Good job, you're a damn genius."
Samuel said with a pat on her back— his tone much more friendly and joyful than Edwin was, a smile plastered on his face. If one saw him, they would think he was the person that broke through.
"How?"
Seraphina wasn't doing anything particular— the fight wasn't hard either. It wasn't like she was in a desperate situation that made her breakthrough, it was just that while she was fighting, she felt something inside of her.
She couldn't tell what it was originally, which was why she closed her eyes and focused, trying to draw whatever it was out— she didn't expect it to be aura.
"It's different from person to person, maybe your path is just experience. I suppose that's fitted."
Edwin said, clearing up her doubts, and turned to grab their bags. They had finished gathering most of the herbs, so sticking around here longer wasn't worth it.
Plus they had to go back to celebrate.
The sun began to dip lower, casting long shadows over the field as the group made their way back to the city. Seraphina made sure to pick the last of the herbs they needed to complete the quest— it wasn't a lot but she didn't want to come up short on their first quest.
Soon enough, they had arrived at the city; they planned to drop the herbs off then return to the inn and have some food.