Return to Jorgaldur Volume I: the battle mage

Outside

It had to be a clear area, surrounded by forest and full of low level mobs, 2 or 3, but what he found was forest. Maybe trees were younger in the area that was supposed to be clear, but it didn't change that he was surrounded by vegetation.

The red sun of Jorgaldur was high and its rays filtered through the thick foliage, but that didn't tell him where to go. He was in the middle of the forest, with no way to orient himself or return to the beginner's area.

He looked around, fearful, but nothing that looked dangerous could be seen, and he wondered where he should go.

"If only I had a map and a compass..."

And then it appeared in his mind. It was a map of the area that pointed at his position and where he could see some locations and clears, but most of it was in black, as if it hadn't been discovered.

"Or as if the terrain had changed," he thought.

Nearby was the Sacred Spring, a safe place to rest, at least in the game. And it seemed like a good idea to go there.

He walked as quietly as possible through the forest, missing Goldmi and his detection skills, feeling that thousands of eyes were watching at him and trying to convince himself that it was his imagination. But halfway, a nearby howl intimidated him. Soon they were footsteps, and after that, he saw shadows, followed by figures of huge black wolves.

He ran to the spring, expecting them to act like normal wolves and follow him until he tired. But soon, one of them approached and tried to bite him, though it failed since having to dodge the blow of the axe.

Soon another tried it. They seemed to have lost the initial prudence and not think of their prey to be any threat. And so it was, since those abyssal wolves were from level 8 to 10, as he could clearly see when he looked at them.

He managed to chase the other one away too, but he wasn't fast enough to keep a third from sinking his claws in. Clenching his teeth, he cast the healing spell twice and summoned fire on the axe, hoping it would scare them.

But although for a moment they stopped attacking him, the truce hardly lasted a few seconds. They weren't attacking head on, their tactic was to tire him out and weaken him, and they could dodge fire and axe relatively ease. And it was impossible for Eldi to get rid of them, because they were much more agile in the wooded terrain, and faster, even with the skill activated.

Again an attack, but this time the wolf was met with a surprise. While he easily dodged the axe, he was unable to react to the Double Edge effect, and received the second blow, which cut and burned its face, so it backed down, surprised. He hadn't damaged it too much, due to its level being much higher, but it didn't expect any damage.

"148/160, not much," Eldi lamented.

He could see the health points of the wolf, and they ended up going down to 140 due to the effect of the fire. He hoped that with that demonstration they would keep their distance, giving him a break, but he was wrong. The wolf he had wounded resumed the pursuit, heading directly at him, furious, completely changing tactics while his companions tightened a circle around him.

He kept running, casting Rabbit Spirit again when its effect ended, and seeing how his enemy was getting closer and jumping on him. He stopped its fangs with the handle of the axe and added fire to it, but could neither avoid the claws that sank into his shoulders nor falling on his back.

The wolf didn't yield even though the fire burned him, while his companions were also rushing on Eldi, but, to their surprise, their prey escaped them.

He cast three times Basic Healing, until he managed to move his arms again and barely felt pain, and while running desperate. Eldi almost had no mana, he was tired and had barely managed to keep his weapon. He could hardly use Feline Response once more, which had just saved his life. He promised not to complain about his name again.

The wolves were soon in pursuit, and resumed it again after sliding on the ice layer that Eldi had created. It had been an idea of Goldmi, who used to have many proposals somewhat absurd for an MMORPG, but that, surprisingly, some had ended up working.

They soon reached and surrounded him, being the wounded wolf, whose life had dropped to 120 by the burning, the first to advance towards him. All others stared, as if wanting to let their comrade take revenge.

The wolf attacked, dodging the axe easily because Eldi wanted to conserve all the energy that was possible, although soon he regretted. The attack on his hands made him release the weapon, leaving him defenseless and unable to pick it up again. He used his healing spell once more, getting back their mobility, but not releasing him from pain.

The wolf came closer, preventing him from retrieving the axe, and when he got close enough, he jumped on him.

Eldi, with a speed and synchronization of which his former self would have been surprised, took his spear from the inventory, covered it with fire and cast Perforating Impact, managing to surprise the wolf and driving the spear through its open jaw.

He could hardly have pierced a wolf five or six levels higher, but the inside of the body is more vulnerable and the beast collapsed in agony.

Its comrades attacked as soon as they saw it falling, but Eldi took advantage of it to cast Feline Response with his last energies, and then move forward with his little strength remaining, looking for his only way of survival and praying that his ingame knowledge was valid there.

The wolves immediately rushed at him, and in a few seconds they reached him with their claws. The shield with which he had equipped blocked some attacks but not all. He crawled as he could while he was bleeding. And when the fangs of one of them approached his neck, they stopped. The wolf stood up, leaning on an invisible shield and looking at its prey with piercing eyes.

Feeling an unbearable pain and barely able to move, Eldi observed the wolf, the little life that he had left and that was decreasing with the bleeding, his insufficient mana to heal himself, and a source of crystalline water that was a few meters away from him, showing him that he had reached his goal.