Will of the Battlefield

The White Forest fell silent.

Not the peaceful silence of an untouched wilderness.

This was the silence that settled between hunter and prey, before blood ran down canines.

The wolves spread through the pale trees with practiced precision, circling the students without haste.

They were not rabid creatures driven by hunger alone. These beasts hunted together, their amber eyes watching every shifting foot and every trembling hand.

They were waiting. Garret watched them with half-lidded eyes. "...Hm."

The alpha wolf lowered its massive head and growled.

The surrounding pack answered. Twenty throats, perhaps more.

The sound rolled between the white trunks like distant thunder.

Sky swallowed. "...There’s too many."

Rimon tightened his grip around his sword, his palms already slick with sweat.

Conor quietly drew both swords.

Max had no weapon in his hands yet. His eyes were moving instead, counting.

Twenty-nine...

No.

Thirty-one.

He spotted another two hidden farther back.

"They’ve secured backup," he muttered.

Garret slowly stretched his shoulders; his joints cracked loudly. Then suddenly, he remembered something.

Several students immediately relaxed. Surely, their instructor would kill the wolves.

Instead... Garret yawned.

Then, to everyone’s disbelief, he walked toward a fallen log, sat upon it, and crossed one leg over the other. "...Go on."

Nobody moved.

Conor blinked. "...Master?"

Garret lazily pointed toward the wolves. "They’re yours."

Sky stared. "...You’re joking."

"No," Garret replied.

Simon almost choked. "But... they’ll kill us."

Garret shrugged. "They’ll certainly try."

Thane scratched his head. "...Pervert."

"Hm?"

"I thought you were coming."

"I am," Garret smiled, "to watch."

The students erupted.

"What?"

"Master!"

"This isn’t training!"

"We’ll die!"

Garret’s expression remained almost painfully relaxed. "I’ll interfere... only if someone’s life is truly in danger."

His gaze swept across every face. "If you’re bitten, I won’t move. If your arm breaks, I won’t move. If you panic... I certainly won’t move."

He leaned forward. "The day a beast politely waits while your instructor saves you... is the day I’ll retire."

Silence answered him.

His voice lost every trace of laziness. "You wanted to become warriors. Earn it."

Then he turned toward Max and Simon. "Strategists."

Both looked up.

"You’re not here to swing weapons. You’re here to keep these idiots alive."

Max inhaled deeply. "...Understood."

Simon nodded.

Garret looked toward the warriors. "Front line."

Conor. Thane. Sky.

To the remaining weapon users, he said, "Move."

Nobody hesitated anymore. The formation slowly shifted.

Then Garret’s eyes landed upon Edwin and Evelyn. His tone changed instantly. "Lord Edwin. If you would, remain beside me."

He looked toward Evelyn. "And Lady Evelyn, the same."

The shy girl immediately nodded. "...Y-Yes."

Edwin... did not.

Instead, he reached over his shoulder. Metal whispered as a sword emerged.

The blade shimmered with a peculiar silver-blue sheen unlike ordinary steel. Even beneath the forest’s pale light, it reflected almost white.

Thane’s eyes widened. "...Sindhium."

Edwin smiled. "You know it?"

"I am an Ironforge. Who else knows about it more than us? It costs a fortune."

Edwin laughed. "True, I bought this one."

Several nearby students looked at him. "You... bought a Sindhium sword?"

He nodded casually. "Mostly."

Garret sighed. "Lord... I’d prefer-"

Edwin interrupted politely, "I appreciate your concern." He smiled. "But... I’ve never hidden behind anyone."

Then, without another word, he walked toward Thane, stopping shoulder to elbow beside the giant. "If you don’t mind."

Thane grinned. "More people means more hitting."

"I like that answer," Edwin said.

Garret watched quietly. He almost failed his cool act, but somehow, he didn’t move. Then, he simply smiled. "...Very well."

A cold wind swept through the forest. Leaves drifted around the formation.

The alpha wolf lowered itself, its muscles tightening.

Garret quietly spoke one final sentence. "Begin."

The alpha exploded forward, and every wolf moved with it.

The White Forest erupted.

"WALL!" Max roared.

The warriors instinctively obeyed. Conor stepped left, Sky right, and Thane moved directly into the center. Others quickly closed the gaps.

Simon pointed. "Don’t chase! They’ll flank!"

The first wolf reached them, too fast. Its jaws opened wide enough to swallow a man’s forearm. It leapt directly toward Sky.

Before anyone reacted, a shadow moved.

Thane. One enormous step, his axe describing a single brutal arc. There was no elegance, no hidden technique. Only monstrous strength.

CRACK!

Wood met flesh, bone shattered. The wolf’s head separated cleanly from its body. Blood painted the white leaves crimson as the corpse crashed into the frozen earth.

Silence followed, but only for a heartbeat. Then every wolf attacked together.

Three lunged toward Conor. He ducked beneath snapping jaws as one sword stabbed upward. The wolf twisted unexpectedly, too intelligent. Its companion immediately struck from the side.

Conor barely rolled away. "Damn!"

Sky defended desperately. Her spear thrust once, twice. Keeping another beast at a distance, the wolves didn’t rush recklessly. They probed, testing and learning, waiting for mistakes.

Simon shouted from behind, "Left!"

Conor turned just in time. A wolf’s teeth snapped inches from his throat.

Then... something unbelievable happened.

Edwin moved.

Until now, everyone had assumed he was merely a cheerful blacksmith. Perhaps capable, nothing more.

Instead... he stepped forward with astonishing calm. His breathing remained steady and his grip relaxed as a wolf bounded toward him.

The beast weighed nearly as much as a grown man. Its claws reached his face.

Edwin swung once, only once. The Sindhium blade flashed; there was no dramatic roar. No unnecessary movement, just perfect timing.

The wolf stopped. For an impossible second, nothing happened.

Then... its body slowly separated, beginning at the shoulder and ending near the opposite hip. Both halves slid apart before collapsing into the snow.

Silence. Absolute silence. Even the remaining wolves hesitated.

Conor stared. "...What?"

Sky forgot to breathe.

Rimon blinked repeatedly.

Max licked his dried lips. "...Impossible."

Thane looked toward Edwin. "...You’re a blacksmith?"

Edwin scratched his cheek sheepishly. "...Mostly."

Garret covered his face with one hand. "I knew it."

Another wolf charged. Edwin stepped aside. One clean thrust pierced its throat with no wasted motion. No flourish, just efficiency. He withdrew the sword before the body even collapsed.

Thane burst into laughter. "You’re fun!"

Edwin laughed back. "So are you!"

The two charged together. Thane became a storm. Every swing of his oversized axe carried terrifying force. Trees splintered where blows missed. Wolf skulls burst apart when they connected. No beast could block him. No beast dared remain before him.

Beside him... Edwin looked entirely different. Where Thane resembled an avalanche, Edwin was flowing water. His sword scarcely seemed to move. Tiny motions, minimal effort. Every cut fatal, every step measured.

Their styles couldn’t have been more different, yet... they somehow complemented each other perfectly.

The wolves adapted. The alpha barked sharply.

Instantly, six wolves ignored Thane altogether. Instead... they circled toward Max, the strategist.

Simon saw it first. "They’re targeting command! Protect Max!"

Conor sprinted. Sky thrust her sword.

Two wolves slipped through regardless. One leapt directly toward Max’s exposed back. The strategist froze; he couldn’t move in time.

A blur of brown hair passed by.

Evelyn.

The quiet girl who hadn’t spoken ten words all morning appeared seemingly from nowhere. A slender dagger flashed two times. The wolf yelped, its eyes bursting with blood as it crashed harmlessly before Max.

Before anyone thanked her, she had already stepped backward, lowering her gaze once again as though nothing had happened.

Max stared. "...Thank you."

She quietly nodded. "...You’re welcome." Then she immediately stepped inside the formation again.

Conor whispered, "...She scares me."

The alpha watched everything. Its instincts screamed. These weren’t frightened prey. These cubs bit back, hard.

It released another howl.

The surviving wolves slowly withdrew several paces, circling once more, looking for weakness, finding none.

Garret smiled from atop his fallen log for the first time that morning. He finally stood, not because the students had failed, but because they had survived the first exchange.

His lazy smile widened. "The real hunt..." he said, lifting his axes onto his shoulders, "...starts now."

Far across the White Forest, more answering howls echoed through the trees. The first pack had not come alone.