Will of Vienna

The air outside the grand lecture hall smelled terribly of old blood. Michael stood very close to the heavy oak doors. He could feel the frame vibrating. From inside, a dull, heavy thudding echoed against the wood. The mutated giant foxes were ramming into the barricade.

To the ordinary students, the barricaded doors were a protection. But Michael thought differently. Thanks to his 16 points in Willpower, he remained completely calm and read the situation clearly. He knew the doors would not hold forever. Once the boar-like beasts broke through, the narrow corridor would turn into a pure massacre.

Michael turned around slowly. He held his spear firmly in his hand. His voice was not loud, but everyone could hear it clearly:

"We are going in there now. We open the doors and attack them directly at the entrance. The passage is narrow there. But our line is too thin. I need ten volunteers to secure our flanks."

Nobody moved. The students were terrified and looked away.

"That is suicide!" someone shouted from the back rows. "Those foxes are as big as full-grown wild boars! They will kill us all!"

"We are save here and just need to wait for help to come. Why play the hero and risk our lives?!“ screamed another one of them in objection.

But then, the mood shifted as ten students stepped forward. They were all Level 2 and right on the verge of leveling up to Level 3. They didn't have magical talents yet, but they had witnessed Michael’s group fight before. They knew that they were capable fighters and they could profit by joining them. Michael and his team got stronger not by hiding but taking initiative and confronting the monsters. Hiding meant staying weak and being weak meant death. Therefore, they wanted to fight.

They stepped up to the line, tightening their grips around their standard wooden recruit spears and introduced themselves to the rest of the team.

The first one was **Konstantin Gruber** – A tall computer science student.

Next was **Valerie Wagner** – A fourth-semester medical student with cold eyes, who refused to sit back and watch more casualties.

**Tobias "Tobi" Berger** was a track athlete whose competitive drive had turned into a stubborn will to live.

**Alina Sokolov** was an economy student pushing hard for her level-up to Level 3.

Another was **Fabian Lindt** – A quiet youth, younger than the most.

**Elena "Leni" Becker** – A defiant student who refused to cower like the masses.

**Sebastian Krauss** – Another economy student took his place in the line without hesitation.

**Mira Demir** was a fierce girl determined to force her level-up after missing out on previous assists.

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**Julian "Jules" Nowak** – An agile freshman who stepped forward despite his friends' warnings.

**Kilian Wallner** – Jakob's younger cousin, eager to earn a permanent spot in the core line.

Michael looked at the ten volunteers. He felt no pity; he simply worked out the tactics. With ten additional spears on the sides, the monsters wouldn't be able to flank them. The plan was risky, but it was based on pure logic.

*This could actually work.* Michael thought through his plan.

"Exactly 10. Good," Michael said. "Form up directly behind Rashid and Maximilian. Hold your ground. Your level-up is waiting behind this door."

Then he turned to the senior members with the Level 3 talents:

"Sarah, you start. The moment the door cracks open, use your **[Precision Focus]**. Show us the monsters' weak points immediately so everyone knows exactly where to strike."

Sarah nodded and planted her feet firmly on the ground.

"Rashid, Maximilian—you stand at the very front and absorb the first impact. Lukas, the moment your spear hits the monster, make it extremely heavy to kill its momentum."

Lukas nodded and gripped his spear tighter.

"David, you stay in the back and observe the flow of battle. You are our safety net. If things get dangerous or the line fractures, you intervene. Use your **[Gravitational Force]** to bring the monsters' movements to a halt with gravity."

David nodded gravely.

"Jonas, don’t focus on killing a monster off. Instead, shatter its armor with your talent**[Sunder]** and destroy the next monsters defences. Others will finish them off.“ Michael continued while Jonas didn’t look pleased at all.

"Jakob, you know what to do. Attack with your **[Explosion]** but try not to disturb your teammates. And for the ten volunteers, split up. Five to the left, five to the right. Make sure no fox slips past the flanks. Aim for the spots Sarah will tell you, otherwise try to attack their eyes and joints, those are always sensitive."

Some were not satisfied with their arranged roles but they still stuck to the plan.

The group formed a tight wedge. The fear was still there, but Michael's clear plan gave them something to cling to.

"Maximilian, Rashid—open the door!" Michael commanded.

The two Level 3 fighters stepped forward. The thudding from the inside stopped for a fraction of a second. Only a deep, wild snorting could be heard vibrating through the floorboards.

"On my mark," Michael whispered. "Three. Two. One. *Lift!*"

With a synchronized roar, they pushed away the self made barricade and threw the heavy oak doors wide open. The doors slammed loudly against the corridor walls.

Out of the darkness of the lecture hall, the first monster instantly charged forward: a mutated fox, as big as a wild boar, with knobby bone-plates covering its head.

Behind it, in the flickering shadows of the hall, Michael caught a glimpse of the wreckage inside: rows of lecture benches torn apart, dark stains soaked deep into the stone floor, and near the base of the lectern, what was left of a body — obviously student who fell during the second wave. Nobody looked twice. They had seen worse.

In that exact same moment, Sarah's **[Precision Focus]** flared to life. Glowing colored points materialized sharply in her mind—vividly marking the soft flesh at different body parts.

Sarah was the first to react. She shouted the weak points of the first monsters she saw and warned the others. They now knew exactly where to cut.

"Hold the line!" Michael’s voice echoed as the group met the monsters in a phalanx formation.

Rashid's spear met the first fox's shoulder first, the tip skidding off the bone-plate with a screech before finding the softer flesh beneath. Maximilian's strike landed a heartbeat later, driving deep into the spot under the jaw as Sarah had told. The fox shrieked and thrashed, but the wedge held. Two more shapes burst out of the darkness behind it, snapping and clawing past the front line toward the flanks.

Konstantin barely got his spear up in time. A second fox's claws raked across his forearm, tearing through the sleeve and drawing a line of blood before Valerie's spear drove into its side and forced it back. Konstantin gritted his teeth, shifted his grip, and kept his place in the line.

More foxes poured through the open doorway, and the corridor filled with snarling and the wet impact of spear points finding flesh.

The fight had begun.

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