27 The End of the First Battle

Foster stared at the message in front of his eyes for a few moments, before he could feel his body practically collapse under his own weight. At that point, he noticed that Octer had already escaped the influence of this 'fear', and was trying to distract the huge wolf as much as possible. Soon, Lynol had become able to move as well, and the two of them were fighting against this monster together, while Foster was just squatting there on the ground, unable to do anything yet.

This wolf was strong. So strong that despite all the damage that it had taken so far, it was still able to fight back, hurting both Lynol and Octer quite a bit in the process. Slowly, the fear affecting Foster faded away, but instead of letting him return to a normal, calm mindset, he was feeling nothing but anger.

He was pissed that it didn't seem like he would be able to help his friends out during this fight, and he was furious that this monster attacked them in the first place. And of course, he was also incredibly angry at the fact that no matter how hard he tried, he wasn't able to use the abilities that were given to him properly.

And as Foster was thinking about that, an idea popped into his head. He wasn't sure if it was going to be as helpful as he hoped it would be, but it should do something at least. He slowly closed his eyes and concentrated on his arm as he propped himself up on a tree next to him.

When using the 'Single Strike' martial skill, Foster imagined his hand as something of a hammer, something that could cause intense damage with just a single strike, as the name said. So maybe if he wanted to use 'that', then he just had to think of a particular thing.

It was something that he had seen and felt plenty of times before. Foster thought back on when he was just a child, when he saw and touhed a dead body for the first time. That disgusting coldness that gave him the chills just thinking about it... That exact feeling was concentrated right into Foster's body. It flowed through his arm and poured out of his hand onto the giant tree next to him.

However, the tree gave way. The part that Foster touched suddenly rotted away in the most disgusting way. The feeling of that muck on his hand nearly made Foster gag, but he had seen and felt worse than that.

But that wasn't the important part right now anyway. He managed to use a spell. Foster managed to cast the 'Chilling Touch' spell. It felt like his hand was freezing over after he held it into a freezer for an hour straight. He was able to ignore the smell as he rushed forward.

He approached the giant wolf, and while he was running jumped onto a larger rock so that he could have a better angle for this attack. Foster leaped toward the wolf, and used his momentum to strike it one more time, with the 'Chilling Touch' spell active and covering his hand. And Foster managed to hit the huge wolf's eye.

The moment that the cold flow of this spell flowed out of Foster's hand, the wolf let out an incredibly loud yelp of pain as it pressed its eye shut.

Both Lynol and Octer were staring at Foster, unsure what exactly he just did, "I'll explain it later! Just keep going!" He yelled out toward the two of them, and immediately afterward, all three of them attacked the huge wolf once more.

Attack after attack hit the wolf, but Foster noticed that he wasn't able to use that spell too much more. Just two more times before he ran out of mana, so he would have to save that just in case. Instead, he used the Single Strike martial skill. It seemed to exhaust him a bit every time he used it, but it was usable much more often than that spell.

Octer made sure to keep the wolf's attention as much as possible, blocking any of the strikes that could have injured either Lynol or Foster.

Lynol's heavy strikes at the wolf's body did extreme damage, even stunning the wolf every once in a while.

And while Foster's attacks seemed to do the least amount of individual damage, the speed of his attacks was the greatest, and still ended up inflicting a good bit of damage every time.

But there was one thing that surprised Foster the most. The way that these three were able to fight together was incredible. With just a few words or even just glances, they were able to understand each other, and reacted accordingly so that they could make sure the wolf was going to go down soon.

And then, at some point, the wolf just stopped moving altogether. It still stood there, it was still breathing, and its heart was beating faster than it had ever before during this fight. Before Foster knew it, the wolf focused its weight onto its front legs, preparing to let out one more of those ear-shattering howls. But he wouldn't let it do that.

Foster ran forward, his own legs nearly giving in under his own weight, but soon reached the wolf anyway. He jumped just one more time, with both Lynol and Octer right behind him. Foster focused on his hand, and soon felt the cold spell return to his fist. But that wasn't where it ended. It seemed tough, as if Foster was forcing something together that wasn't supposed to be together, but he added the Single Strike martial skill onto the Chilling Touch spell.

With all of the force that Foster had left in his body right now, he swung his fist forward as he slid slightly under the wolf's body, and struck at its throat. He let out a deep grunt as his fist hit the wolf's skin, and could feel all energy leave his body.

Foster stumbled to the side and fell to the ground. Slowly, he turned his head, and saw Lynol stab his greatsword into the wolf's throat, right where Foster's attack had weakened its flesh and skin. And while he was still holding onto it, he moved to the side and made way for Octer, who was holding his huge, incredibly heavy shield on just one edge, his fingers buried deep into the bent, damaged metal. By twisting his whole body around, Octer managed to swing the shield at the handle of the sword

It was pushed further in, and with a loud crack, pierced the wolf's spine. And while the huge wolf's body dropped to the ground, so did Lynol and Octer's. They fell to the ground right next to Foster, incredibly exhausted after this excruciating battle.

Somehow, in an impossible feat, the wolf was still able to move. But it was nothing but a reflex, and its body fell to the ground again the next moment, as a message appeared in front of Foster's eyes.

---

[428 Experience Points rewarded]

[You have leveled up!]

[You have leveled up!]

[You have leveled up!]

[Your {Martial Necromancy} Skill has leveled up]

---

Foster let out a loud groan as he slightly turned his head, looking at these two that he just fought a battle that they could have very well died in together. And he didn't know why he felt this sudden urge to say this, but he did. He didn't even really care about those messages, even as his body started aching even more than before the moment they appeared.

"Octer, Lynol..." Foster let out quietly, and he noticed that the two of them were listening. They only let out light groans, but it was still enough.

"I'm an Otherworlder." He explained in a blunt tone.

"...Cool." Lynol replied, just as blunt, and Foster couldn't help himself but start laughing at that reaction.

"Eh? Wait, what'd you just say? Oi, Lynol, what did he just say?!" Octer yelled out, but his confusion was drowned by Foster's laughter.