Chapter 25: Eastern District Gate Challenge (6)
Theodore kept his eyes on the faint shimmer that marked where the new spawns would break through.
It wasn’t really anything dramatic, just that thin ripple of light in the air, but the sound that followed — a low growl that vibrated through the damp ground — always settled in his chest.
But this time it wasn’t goblins.
The shimmer widened, stretched, and gave way to a small pack of wolves.
They moved with that slow, coiled tension you saw when a street stray was about to snap at your ankle, except these would do more than snap if you let them circle.
Theodore counted four of them, rough fur patchy and slick along their ribs, noses twitching as they spread out across the clearing.
He didn’t flinch when one snarled, flashing yellowed fangs that looked more real than any of the neon armor patches the rookies outside liked to brag about.
So no toothbrush.
He took two small steps back, boots pressing into the damp mulch as he angled himself behind the heavy fallen log he’d clocked the second he walked in.
It wasn’t much, just an old birch that had rotted enough for its bark to peel in thin strips, but the ridge it made in the clearing floor was enough to break the wolves’ line of sight and funnel at least one of them into a bad angle if they thought they could get clever.
The first wolf broke off from the pack, hackles bristling along its spine as it snapped at the air in a half-feint, testing his reaction.
Theodore didn’t give it one, he held his ground, shifted the weight on his back foot so the blade would catch at the right height if it lunged. When it finally did, muscles bunching as it sprang, he pivoted tight against the side of the log, letting its momentum carry it just far enough for the blade to slide under its jaw in one clean arc.