Hours later when the uneasy wolf fell asleep Jaebum was finally able to stand up. His body numb Jaebum stretched and headed towards his potion room. On his way downstairs the wizard stopped for a second outside Yugyeom’s room debating on whether he should apologize for screaming at the younger. Deciding to let the fuming Yugyeom cool off Jaebum continued on his way to make a potion for the werewolf.

Once inside the potions room, Jaebum went straight to work by first picking the ingredients that he needed. Although the healing potion Jaebum needs to make was simple it needed lots of patience and careful brewing. After half an hour the wizard was finally done and ready to start on a stronger potion to fortify the wards around the house. Since the hunter had shouted of his return when he was better prepared Jaebum had not been able to get it out of his head. The hunter had seemed experienced and that meant Jaebum need to bring out the big guns. Throughout most of the morning and evening, Jaebum poured himself into making complicated potions, even those that required specific rare ingredients that he didn’t have.

After hours of slaving away in his potions room, Jaebum was finally done with potion making, but his job wasn’t done yet. Jaebum still had to go to his force field and wards to re-enforce them.  The wizard packed all the potions into his satchel then donned on a heavy cloak and made his way outside. Jaebum made a stop at each ward, four to be exact, and re-enforced them, he almost misses a few since it had been a long time since he had to re-enforce them. The wards had to be easily overlooked so most were in the form of an innocent looking tree or rock. While re-enforcing the ward Jaebum decide to add more to be on the safe side, four more were added. Eight wards were overkill for such a small house and one hunter, but better safe than sorry. By the time Jaebum was done he was exhausted and ready to drop, for each ward he had to pour some of the potion on it then chant a complicated spell. The spell alone left Jaebum weak if used once but the wizard had to do it eight times and then even more tiring spells for the actual force field.

Jaebum was lucky to be already on his way home and done with his re-enforcing before it got dark since that was when the hunter was supposed to come. On the door steps to his house the last rays of the sunset hit him and Jaebum let out a deep sigh, he had a bad feeling about tonight. Once inside Jaebum went back to his potion room and grabbed the healing potion meant for the werewolf. Slowly walking up the stairs practically dragged himself to the extra room where the wolf was staying. Again the wizard didn’t bother to open the door and barged right in. The wolf was still asleep in the same place and Jaebum didn’t have the energy to wake him so he left the potion on the nightstand with a simple note that read Drink it. Before the wizard could take a step towards the door he was tackled by a half asleep wolf. Too exhausted to move Jaebum accepted his fate and drifted off to sleep while curled around the werewolf, he could deal with all the chaos tomorrow.

Except tomorrow didn’t arrive; Jaebum was jolted awake by a powerful blow to his force field in the middle of the night. There was a dull throb by his ribs and he was still very much tangled up with the wolf. Jaebum carefully maneuvered out of the wolf’s embrace, a paw had been thrown over his back. Looking out the window Jaebum hoped to see who was trying to intrude, although he already had a good idea of who it was. In the distance Jaebum could see the faint glow of a torch and with it came another blow to the force field that knocked the air out of the wizard. Still, the force field stayed strong, it was a good thing Jaebum had added the extra wards because without them the dull blows he was receiving would be much worse.

The same pattern repeated for a while until a particularly nasty blow was dealt that had the wizard falling to his knees and letting out a pained gasp. At this the once slumbering wolf leaped out of the bed, teeth bared with a deep growl leaving its throat while he stood protectively over the kneeling Jaebum. When the wolf deemed the room to be free of a possible threat it turned towards the wizard and nudged his snout against Jaebum’s head, a low whine escaping its throat when the man didn’t respond.

“Yah, that hunter is really something.”

Jaebum was by no means a weak wizard but when a particularly strong blow to the shield hit he was down to his knees. It felt like his ribs were broken and digging into his lungs which made it hard to breathe. The wolf by his side kept whining and the wizard was starting to develop a pounding headache, there was a constant buzz in his ear and everything was starting to blackout around him. Finally, Jaebum let out a shout. Telling everything to shut up and for a moment everything was quiet, but the noise quickly started again.

Here on his knees trying to control his breathing Jaebum wished he had put up offensive spells around the house. Truthfully, Jaebum would have been able to put the spells up if there had been fewer barriers, but at the time it didn't seem that important. The wizard wasn't expecting the hunter to full on attack the field, especially with such powerful hits. Whatever the hunter was using was blessed or masterfully crafted to be able to bring Jaebum to his knees.

After what felt like an eternity the blows slowed down, they came less frequently, but just as powerful. Hopefully, the hunter would give up soon. The wolf which Jaebum had somehow blocked out was still whining and rubbing his head against the wizard's shoulder. Deciding that he didn't want to spend the rest of the night on the hard wooden floor Jaebum slowly tried to get up, his knees were still shaking and his breath was uneven, but Jaebum pushed through it. With the help of the wolf, the tired wizard finally made it to the bed and collapsed. He was knocked out cold but was sweating and shivering. A fever overtook the wizard but all the wolf could do was lie down next to Jaebum and hope the fever broke. Throughout the night the wolf stayed up and watched the wizard sleep.