75 Chapter 75 Games (1/2)
Joseph stood up. The heat stones were recharged and it was time for them to go. They hadn't seen any other barbarians for hours before stopping to rest.
”Joseph,” said Stella softly.
”Yes?” he said, turning towards her after they had been walking for another couple of hours.
”This is boring. No wonder you're overthinking things.”
He laughed. ”I'm just trying to make sure I'm prepared. I want to think of as many things that can go wrong as possible so I can try and be ready. I was almost poisoned but had TEST FOOD that day. I was poisoned and almost died, but had managed to get breath emission at a high enough level right before then. Now I'm about to go up against some ancient evil with no real knowledge about it. If my mom knew, she would cry.”
”See? Look on the bright side. You're with me.” She smiled at him, and he couldn't help but smile back. She so rarely smiled it was a treat when she did.
”I totally agree that you are the best perk about this whole trip!” he said, grinning widely.
”Want to play tag?” she asked. It was a game the street kids had played when she was older, but she had been too afraid of the big kids catching her, so she hadn't really played.
”Oh, please! You would destroy me!”
”What if I give myself a handy cap?” she asked, with a small smile.
”Like what?” he asked suspiciously.
”I'll only hop like a bunny,” she said, with a smirk. Twitching her nose, she held her hands up to her chest and gave a cute little bunny hop.
Joseph couldn't help it. His eyes went wide and he started laughing.
”Alright,” he finally agreed, grabbing her hands. ”You're it!”
He broke into a run, but only made it about thirty feet before she caught him. They spent the next two hours with Stella hopping like a bunny while Joseph tried to catch her. They made great time, but he finally had to stop. The temperature had been dropping significantly. Lunch was quick, only lasting long enough for their heat stones to recharge. They gobbled some food down, then got back on their way, playing more tag until it was supper time. Snow had started to acc.u.mulate, so they had slowed down some.
Stella slept first so he could recharge the rocks. With night vision at 9, he could see shapes moving towards them in the dark. There was a huge pack of wolves. He counted them as they approached. There were 23, though 5 looked pure white.
”Stella?” he asked softly, trying not to make them attack.
She was immediately awake, looking around and noticed them.
”Dire wolves with winter wolves leading,” she whispered.
”What are those?” he asked.
”Winter wolves are a magical variant of the dire wolves. They're immune to the cold. They also have a breath attack if ice spikes that I'm not sure your CREATE FIRE can vaporize quickly enough.”
Nodding he stood up, and regulated his breathing in order to draw mana into himself. As soon as the nearest winter wolf was in range, he cast IGNITE FIRE. He could feel it resisting but he didn't care. His incredibly high will forced it to burn, and it caught. All of the wolves panicked when their leader caught on fire.