“Ugh, this is starting to become a bit too annoying.” Lauren complained from where she was crouched over the nth wolf corpse, busy cutting into it to get to the mana stone.
James briefly smirked before returning his expression to placid calmness, not wanting to irritate the girl even more. After the last ambush, which had come from underground - as apparently the wolves could tunnel through the loamy forest floor - he had been given the sole role of lookout, which meant he was excused from the gritty, messy work the others were doing.
After dawn had broken and, together with Tea’s team, they had managed to repel the wolf pack, Team 0 had once again picked up their things and started cutting through the dungeon, marching north and cleaning up every wolf pack they could find.
The third had been enough to grant James another level, bringing him to fifty-five and allowing him to place one point in SENSE and one in MIND, taking it up to twenty with the rest of his lesser stats.
If nothing else, we are earning quite a bit of EXP from this place. What a difference the ranks make…
The dungeon exploration was proving to be both arduous and repetitive. James, standing watch as the others harvested the mana stones, couldn't shake the feeling of being subtly manipulated. The wolves' attacks were becoming increasingly sophisticated, suggesting an unnerving level of intelligence behind their coordination.
"Yeah, I hear you.” Daniel finally replied to Lauren's complaint. "But keep an eye out. These wolves are getting smarter with each attack. They are learning from every fight, and I don’t like it.”
Lauren grunted in agreement, her knife deftly slicing through a monster’s hide. "You think they're being directed by the Boss? That it might have been testing us all along?”
Daniel shrugged. “I can’t be certain, but it does feel like they are throwing all they can do at us to see what sticks. If they find a good tactic, I won’t be surprised to see it repeated again and again.”
By now, the outskirts of the dungeon were completely cleared, but the center was still untouched, and James was ready to bet that many more still remained there.
Ezekiel, wiping his blade on a cloth, chimed in. "And if these wolves are any indication, the Boss might be a lot smarter and more dangerous than we initially thought.”
The team took a moment to consider this. The prospect of facing a highly intelligent Boss, one capable of strategically deploying its minions, was daunting. It meant they needed to be more cautious in their approach.
"We need to be prepared for anything.” James said firmly once they were done with the clean-up. "Let's keep moving, but stay alert. Watch for any changes in their tactics.”
As they ventured deeper into the dungeon, the forest seemed to grow denser, the trees towering overhead, their canopies merging into a thick barrier that dimmed the sunlight. The air was heavy with the scent of earth and foliage; the only sounds were the rustle of leaves and the occasional distant howl. Every rustle of leaves, every snap of a twig set their nerves on edge, anticipating the next attack.
They didn't have to wait long.
James noticed another pack fast approaching, this time all bunched up together. Before engaging, they softly padded around Team 0 with a stealth that would have made them unnoticeable without Awareness.
Once they were placed fully behind them, the wolves struck. This time, they emerged silently from the shadows, a coordinated pack moving with eerie precision. Their eyes, glowing faintly in the dim light, were the only visible indication of their approach.
James moved to the front alongside Daniel, engaging in their usual formation but keeping a wary eye for any new trick.
The wolves didn't charge in blindly. Instead, they circled the team, probing for weaknesses, darting in and out of the dense foliage, which seemed to swallow them whole. It was a tense, calculated game of cat and mouse.
Maria was the first to break the standoff, launching a bolt of fire at a wolf that had ventured too close. The fiery arc illuminated the depths of the forest for a brief moment, revealing the size of their assailants.
"Stay sharp, they're testing our defenses.” James warned, his eyes scanning the perimeter.
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The wolves began their attack in earnest, lunging forward in small groups, attacking from different angles. The team responded in kind, their weapons a flurry of motion as they fought off each assault.
James found himself at the forefront, his fists enhanced with mana, delivering powerful blows that sent wolves flying. But for every wolf he felled, two more seemed to take its place.
Daniel was at his side, bashing any beasts that got too close to their mages and providing a bulwark of calmness in the chaos of the battle. Thanks to his efforts, Maria and Ezekiel were able to do their jobs, thinning out the crowd of monsters with gouts of flames or slowing down their movements enough that James could nail them with his powerful punches.
Lauren flitted through the shadows, taking advantage of the wolves’ frenzy to attack them unnoticed, her knives catching the firelight and gleaming with deadly intent, always finding purchase and earning howls of pain.
James groaned in annoyance at feeling another pack close in as they were busy dispatching the last of the previous one. “There’s more coming! Close the ranks!”
Daniel and Lauren, who had been chasing two wolves, immediately stopped and returned to the center of the clearing, just in time for the new monsters to come into sight.
“Let’s see how you like this!” Maria yelled, funneling her anger and frustration at the constant fights into her mana, casting a fireball the size of a van, whose heat could be felt even from several feet away.
With a grunt of exertion, she sent it toward the new wolf pack, scattering them and turning the unfortunate three who had not managed to make some distance into cinders.
The remaining monsters, however, were unbothered and leaped into the fight, fangs gleaming wickedly.
Just as James started considering using much more mana than he currently was in an effort to cut down their number, since it was becoming clear that they risked being overrun if things continued like that for much longer, Tea's team arrived, bursting through the underbrush. Their arrival was like a cavalry charge, turning the tide of the battle. At the forefront, Tea wielded her staff with deadly grace, her wind magic augmenting the team's efforts.
Jean immediately began healing the bruises and fatigue Team 0 had accumulated during the fight, while Joe and Mark aided James in chasing the wolves, who suddenly were on the back foot.
With the additional support, the balance shifted. Sensing the change in their fortunes, the wolves began to retreat, melting back into the shadows from which they had come.
The clearing, now littered with the fallen, was eerily silent in the aftermath of the battle. Team 0 and Tea's team, breathing heavily, took stock of their injuries and the damage done.
“That was too close.” Mark, the Barbarian with the broadsword, commented, lightly kicking one of the monsters to make sure it was dead.
“We would have made it, but your support was appreciated.” James replied.
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to acknowledge the difficult position they had been in. He was well aware of exactly how much each of his companion - and himself - had been holding back to ensure they weren’t caught with their pants down in case another wave of monsters came.
If they had wanted to, they could have dispatched the wolves they had been fighting in short order, but it would have left them dangerously empty - especially Ezekiel, whose buffs and debuffs their strategy depended on.
“There was one weird thing about it, though.” James added, gathering everyone’s attention. “The first pack of wolves came from the south, but rather than immediately attacking us, they circled around and only then revealed themselves once they were all behind us.”
Tea’s frown became pronounced as she considered the implications. “Do you think they are deliberately pushing us toward the center of the dungeon?”
“It’s the only thing that makes sense if you think about it. Considering how quickly they seem to adapt, these wolves are not stupid enough to keep throwing themselves at us after we defeated so many of them.” James replied, letting his words hang in the air for a moment to see if anyone else came to the same conclusion.
“They are probably being directly controlled.” Maria said in a tone of revelation, slapping her fist on her open hand. “If the Boss is forcing them to fight us in all these different ways, it’ll end up with a very good idea of what we are capable of by the time we get to it, and it seems like it doesn’t want us to escape.”
"We need to assume we're walking into a trap.” James said, agreeing with the assessment. "From here on out, we move with even greater caution. We're not just fighting the average monsters; we're up against something that's been planning for us.”
For a moment, there was silence as they all waited to see if anyone would object to walking directly into the enemy’s den, but when no one did, James smiled.
It’s literally our job to do that. If anyone was afraid of a bit of danger, they wouldn’t have come here in the first place. It’s a pity I didn’t get another level, but I do no doubt there will be enough to advance more in the wolves’ den.
The atmosphere was heavy with anticipation as Team 0, now joined by Tea's team, cautiously advanced deeper into the dungeon, having quickly cleaned up the battlefield. The forest seemed to grow even denser around them, the trees towering high above, their thick canopies blotting out most of the sunlight and casting everything in a perpetual twilight.
As they moved, the conversation inevitably turned to speculations about the Boss. They all knew it would be a formidable opponent, likely wielding earth or forest magic, given the nature of its minions and the environment they were traversing.
“I think we should expect the Boss to have set up the terrain against us.” Tea mused, her eyes scanning the dense foliage. "If it's using earth magic, it could have manipulated the ground to make it harder to assail its position, or it might have twisted the trees and plants to fortify its den if it uses green magic.”
James nodded in agreement, his mind racing through various scenarios. "It will also likely have a large pack of wolves with it. The way they've been attacking us, learning from each engagement... It's clear they're being used as more than just expendable foot soldiers, otherwise they would not have kept retreating the moment our victory became inevitable.”
Daniel chimed in, his shield unstrapped and ready to be brought to bear. "We'll need a strategy that lets us handle large numbers without getting overwhelmed. Area control spells, crowd management... that sort of thing.”
Maria, their primary spellcaster, nodded thoughtfully. "I can prepare some wide-range spells to hem them in, but I'll need protection while casting. That kind of magic takes time and concentration.”
As they discussed, they kept their formation tight, constantly on the lookout for more wolf attacks. Their path seemed to slowly spiral inward, leading them towards the dungeon's heart. It was a subtle but unmistakable funneling, confirming their suspicions that they were being corralled towards a final confrontation.
It wouldn’t be difficult for them, considering what their powers are.
The group paused for a brief rest when they finally got close to where the map said the dungeon's center should be. The air was tense, and each Awakener was lost in their thoughts about the upcoming battle.
A deep, powerful howl shook the earth, sending ripples through the forest floor.
“It knows we are here.” James grimly announced, starting to circulate mana.