BOOM!
With a loud entrance, Takeshi slammed his hands on the neck of the charging wolf, a snap rang loud and clear and the sickening crunch afterwards was heard clearly as he and the wolf slammed into the hard earth together, with the wolf cushioning his fall somewhat but the barriers surrounding his body doing most of the work as a fall of 20 meters was no joke.
Picking himself up, he dusted himself off and started punching and caving in the wolf's head for a full minute before being stopping. After doing so he looked to his left where lay the young lady who barely clung to her consciousness and silently watched him clean up for the whole minute.
"Fi-Finished?" She asked weakly.
"Yep. You got a potion or anything to heal you?" Takeshi inquired back naturally.
"Y-yes.. on your left...in..an iron thorn bush..that way..please hurry.." the lady short on energy told him, pointing towards the direction of where the potions were.
-xxx-xxx-
Walking in the direction the lady told him, Takeshi backtracked the direction she ran from before stopping to face off the alpha. Looking at the strewn corpses of charcoal furred wolves he couldn't help but admire her bowmanship as all her arrows were either a head shot or hit another vital area.
Examining the fauna and damage the lady and wolves left in their chase he soon spotted a light grey coloured bush with shiny thorns reflecting off light from the moon above. Focusing further in he spotted a leather satchel inside in perfect condition despite what the thorns around it might suggest.
Walking over and wrapping his arms with barriers Takeshi opened the iron thorn bush and took the satchel out, looking inside he found a metal lunch box, a flint and steel, a book which he guessed was a diary of sorts and a wooden box which contained 4 vials and some other things he couldn't bother to rummage through.
2 of the vials were a bluish colour and gave out a soft glow while the other two were red which he guessed were health potions but decided to see that was true after bringing them to the woman as he couldn't just go off of stereotypes in games and books he read otherwise he might have an early death.
Closing the box and slinging the satchel over his side Takeshi ran back where he came from, not wanting his potential guide in this new world to die before she could at least point him to a nearby town.
-xxx-xxx-
Midnight in the forest quietened down all the ruckus and noise that the day allowed, now that night had fully creeped in the animals and beasts were smart enough to stay quiet, lest they invite trouble and death to their doorsteps.
But unlike the rest of the forest, in a tree hollow a man and woman huddled around a burning campfire that provided warmth to both, the man turning a spit roast as the woman stared at him as she laid comfortably as she could in the hollow tree, which was pretty big compared to its compatriots around which were smaller than it, the reason it was chosen in the first place.
Crack! Snap! Pop!
Glancing at the roaring fire with wolf meat spit roasting over it, Takeshi couldn't help but salivate a little as he was pretty exhausted and needed something to fill himself even if the wolf meat gave off a strong odor.
But it would take a while for it to be ready for consumption so he focused back to the woman who was staring at him, looking better after she drank the blue vials instead of the red, laying rest to takeshi's thoughts about which one was the health potion.
He was instead surprised by how fast acting the potion was, the flesh wounds closed and healed in real time, only smooth unblemished light coloured skin covering what once was, contrasting with the rest of her tanned body but in due time would blend seamlessly once she returned to her routine of hunting.
Taking the initiative, Takeshi decided to introduce himself, not forgetting to turn the spit roast to cook the wolf meat evenly.
"The name's Arthur Crownwell, a nomad and yours?"
"Mollie Frince, hunter. Thank you for saving me, Arthur."
"No worries, I couldn't turn a blind eye especially when I had the strength to help." said Takeshi, omitting the fact he watched her for a while before stepping in.
Wanting to figure out if he could handle the wolf, Takeshi watched the battle unfold beforehand until he was sure he could kill the wolf and had strength left to spare to run away or dispatch her, he of course wouldn't tell her that but by the expression on her face he guessed that she knew or suspected he only intervened in the end with how he was 20 meters up in the air and was near the battlefield when the battle was nearing its end.
"Even so thank you Arthur, I was prepared for death at that moment but no one truly wants to die, especially against beasts ."
"Once again it's alright, but if it's not too much trouble could you guide me to a town which I'm guessing shouldn't be too far from here right? As you can see I don't have a lot on me since I had to ditch my luggage due to a run in with a beast stronger than the wolf you fought a few days ago and well I don't really have a grasp of the place around here."
"Of course it's the least I could do for my saviour."
"Hm."As silence reigned back in excluding the crackle and snapping of the fire, the two waited for the meat to be done, both being not much for words.
Once the meat was thoroughly roasted Mollie took out 2 steel plates seemingly out of nowhere, surprising Takeshi for a moment but he didn't let his face or body betray his surprise and nonchalantly accepted the plate when handed to, but out of the corner of his eye Takeshi spotted a inconspicuous archer ring on the thumb of her left hand.
Not letting his eye linger for too long to not put her on edge he chowed down on his meal, a bit tough and gamey for his taste compared to the deers he's had before but he knew it was mostly because there wasn't really any seasoning, Mollie telling him that she run out the day before and was going to stock up back in town after killing some game but due to the wolf situation it was delayed.
"I'll be taking the first shift if that's alright with you." Takeshi told Mollie, breaking the silence as they finished up with their meal.
"Sure, I would've liked to be first but I myself am tired and exhausted so thanks. Here catch!" Mollie replied, throwing him a pocket watch.
"No problem, have some rest. I'll wake you up in 3 hours." Takeshi said as he catched the watch and stepped out of the hollow waiting for a full 10 minutes to make sure Mollie was sleeping before focusing on the shield symbol on his right arm which he noted couldn't be seen by others as she not once said anything about it to him or glanced at it at all.
Another thing he took notice of was that instead of calling it a shield power, it was more akin to the constructs made by the green lanterns or force fields of violet from the incredibles, he found it interesting, versatile, flexible and was glad it wasn't just the ability to conjure invisible barriers, he would've of course been grateful if he had any power when transported over to this fantasy world but was glad it was something like this.
Using his shield symbol Takeshi conjured barrier constructs and started compressing, expanding, shaping and twisting it all over to get a better feel of his power as he practiced over and over again, from conjuring stationary barriers to moving them around which he found drained him a bit more noticeably but he practiced anyways and rested when he got tired.
He also practiced jumping through the air as he hopped on invisible platforms he conjured under his feet, which was how he managed to get 20 meters in the air when fighting the wolf.
It was exhausting but Takeshi kept at it, not slacking off as he knew every moment counted in a world as dangerous as this and he suspected and somewhat knew that the black wolf from today was likely an ant going by fantasy standards and how a hunter nearly killed it.
He couldn't take chances and had to get proficient and have decent mastery over his powers before going into town with Mollie, even if for only for just a day that was fine.
After 3 hours passed Takeshi went back into the tree hollow and woke Mollie up, taking his time to get into a comfortable position with the pillow Mollie slept on which he guessed was from the archer ring again.
But before truly going to sleep, Takeshi conjured invisible full body armour for himself and then went to sleep.
After 3 hours Mollie woke him up and he practiced and trained again. This cycle repeated for 3 times until it was morning.
As the first rays of sunshine shone down towards the green overgrowth and woke up the beasts below while at the same time putting some to sleep. A man and woman were trekking through the overgrowth as they headed east.