Chapter 11

[Name- Marion Blackrose]

[Level- 3]

[Class- Dark Reaper]

[Stats]

{Str- 16}

{Con- 14}

{Dex- 18}

{Wis- 7}

{Int- 7}

[Skills]

{Rapid Shot- Shoot multiple projectiles in quick succession}

{Identify- Get a description of the item}

{Shadow Sense- Even Shadows have senses}

[Money- 16S 95C]

After looking in the greenhouse, finding only dust and vines Marion left through the same way she came.

Throwing the front doors open they slammed against the opposing walls.

THUD

“I’m glad to be done with that” Marion says as she stretches, hearing several joints pop. “Won’t be missing this place AT ALL. Let’s get going, gotta sell this stuff.”

With a short hop off the porch Marion was on her way up to the mountain town.

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About a mile in the woods Marion heard a noise.

CRRAAASSSHHHHHH!!

The shockwave hit her seconds after the sound.

WOOOSH!

If she wasn’t paying attention, it would’ve knocked her down.

“WTF!!” Marion shouts then, reasons that Lilith must’ve imploded the house or something. The mountains are much easier to see now, so the town can’t be too far off.

Suddenly, the forest went dead still.

No wind. No birds. Even the insects had silenced their song.

Marion dropped into a crouch, her every sense straining. Her breath slowed. Her fingers tightened on her bow.

Then—movement.

At eleven o’clock, partially shrouded by brush and shadow, stood the biggest, blackest wolf she had ever seen. Its fur drank in the light. Eyes like molten gold locked on her with terrifying intelligence.

She didn’t breathe. A quick check—thank the gods—she was still upwind.

Then—

CRACK.

The wolf moved like lightning.

A blur. A wall of muscle.

It slammed into her with the force of a battering ram. She flew backward, into a tree.

WHUMP.

The air left her lungs in a gasp of pain. Her ribs screamed in protest. At least two were cracked—maybe three.

AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

The wolf’s howl split the air like a blade.

It echoed through the forest—ancient, angry, hunting.

That howl bought her a heartbeat.

She used it.

THWIP. THWIP. THWIP.

Three arrows. Center mass. All buried deep in its massive chest.

The beast reared back with a snarl—but its legs faltered. Blood bubbled from its mouth.

It leapt—but came up short, its body slamming into a tree so hard the trunk cracked with a thunderous CRUNCH.

The wolf crumpled. Its limbs spasmed once… then went still.

Silence returned.

Marion didn’t move for several seconds. She sucked in a breath—then cried out, her hand instinctively clutching her side. Pain like fire rippled through her torso.

“Fuuuck... way too close,” she hissed through clenched teeth.

She knelt beside the fallen creature. Up close, it was even more monstrous—its paws bigger than her head, muscles coiled like steel cables. The canines were the length of daggers, and just as sharp.

A predator of predators.

She harvested what she could—fangs, claws, hide—all valuable. All painful work with her ribs on fire.

Bloodied and broken, she finally slumped against the same tree that had nearly shattered her. The shadows were long now. The danger had passed—for the moment.

Marion dragged her pack closer.

“This’ll have to do.”

She started building a small camp, pain etching every movement, but alive.