Someone was stuck in the tree that the wolves surrounded. I turned to Karla who just shrugged her shoulders and said something about hitting two birds with one stone. I guess we would be doing a little hunting and helping someone out of a tight spot. We pulled out our weapons and waited for at least one wolf to be off it's guard before attacking.
Two wolves tried to climb the tree; that was our cue. With these two not paying attention to their surroundings, I rushed in and did a wide swing attack which hit the remaining three wolves. Two were knocked to the ground but the third only took a step back and crouched to prepare a leap attack. I knew about that attack pattern, it was common in hunter-type creatures of medium size, so I was ready to parry that attack. The wolf only managed to bite into the handle of my battle axe. Using the wolf's momentum, I rolled on my back pulling it clear over me, throwing it to the ground. I completed my roll and stood up. I then jumped towards the wolf swinging my axe down hard.
Karla held back to see the effect of my attack on the wolves before engaging. As soon as the wolves fell down she charged in before they would be aware of her presence. She stabbed the first wolf multiple times not giving it any chance to fight back. She didn't even wait for it to explode into shards of light before slashing the second one.
The two that were busy with the tree now turned their attention on us. Well on me to be precise. Karla was still engaged with her second wolf and at that moment they seemed not to care about her. They quickly moved to either side of me. "They're trying to flank me?" I worried because my fighting style left me vulnerable on the side that my battle axe wasn't. I could probably defend myself against both but only if I didn't attack. I would have to wait till Karla finished her wolf before being able to do anything.
Or maybe not. With a ruffle of leaves, and a high pitched war cry a girl came down with a sword skill activated on the wolf closest to the tree. The wolf went down, spread eagle, with a dagger in it's back. The girl grabbed the wolf and tried to hold on. "I'll keep it busy, get the other one!" she yelled. Without hesitation I swung at the other wolf. It took four solid hits to destroy it.
The girl struggled with the wolf as it tossed her around. It managed to throw her off its back and quickly turn around and attack her. She instinctively raised her left arm to block it. But that just gave the wolf an easy place to bite. "Ah! Get off of me!" she cried in vain. The wolf had a solid hold on her arm and was viciously moving its head to cause more and more damage. The girls health points were draining fast. Panicking, she tried to stab it with her dagger but wasn't letting the sword skills charge. I charged my sword skill and let it do it's work.
The wolf exploded a moment later. The girl was still flailing her dagger wildly, her eyes were closed and tears were streaming from her eyes. "You can stop now." I said. She stopped moving and opened her eyes. "You've got to wait for the skills to charge if you want to be effective." I scolded. "Did you do that?" she said in reference to the remaining sparks as they faded. I nodded as I put my battle axe on my back. She quickly got up, ran to me and hugged me by the waist.
"You're my hero! You saved me! Thank you!" she beamed, hugging me and resting her face on my breastplate. I just stood there surprised, with my arms in the air. I hadn't had time to put them down after I stored my battle axe. I looked up and saw Karla a few meters away, leaning on one foot with her arms crossed, and looking slightly annoyed. "I ... ah ... you can let go now ..." I suggested.
"Opal! My name is Opal." she chirped. She gave me a little squeeze before letting go. "It's a good thing you came by. I can usually handle the mobs on this floor, but a pack is too hard for a single person, so I climbed the tree in the hope that they would give up and I could head back to town. But they never gave up. I've been stuck up there for two days." she explained. "I bet if we partied together we'd be much more effective. It could be my way of paying you back for your troubles. What do you say?" she proposed.
Karla coughed as if to clear her throat. Opal turned around, surprised to see her there. "Oh, hello. I didn't see you there. Can I help you?" she said curtly. Karla raised her eyebrows at Opal's words. "Well for one thing, you were hugging my partner." Karla retorted. "Opal this is Karla, a friend of mine." I sighed. Opal just looked at me waiting for something. "And your name is?" she asked.
"Wolf." I said with a little hesitation. This girl was making me feel very uncomfortable. "I like that name. It's nice and short like mine." she approved. She flashed a large warm smile at me then turned towards Karla. "So you're ... Karla right? That's a ... quaint name. I hope we can be friends." Opal said, though I sensed a certain restraint on her part. Karla looked at me and rolled her eyes.
"Your dagger's just a beginner level one, it's not a particularly powerful weapon for this floor, you should have at least upgraded it." Karla indicated. "Oh this? Ha ha, you're so silly. This is just a weapon I had in my inventory as a backup." Opal mocked, then promptly went to search the base of the tree. She grabbed the end of a long stick, and pulled it out of the underbrush, "Ah, here it is. I dropped my spear climbing the tree. This is what I usually fight with." she proclaimed and proceeded to twirl it once and show it off.
An awkward silence fell between us, Karla was not impressed and I didn't know what to make of Opal. "Well, now that you're safe, I guess you can make it back safely by yourself. Or will you need an escort?" Karla said. I sensed a little condescension in her voice as the town was in fact quite close by. Opal shook her head. "I didn't think so. We'll be on our way, as we have some things to do. Are you coming Wolf?" Kala pressed. As I followed Karla, Opal called out:
"See you later Wolf."