Doubt and primal fear spread in the minds of the team.

[We should have been content with the 200 points. Why was I stupid enough to agree? 15 points Aegon! When were 15 points worth your life?] Aegon was battling with himself, as if entering into a state of shock he started muttering his motto.

“My current potential does not consider my future encounters.”

“My current potential does not consider my future dedication.”

“My current potential is only based on my present self.”

“My current potential does not…”

*Slap*

A slapping sound woke our protagonist from his stupor, turning to the side he saw Bella's cheek becoming reeder.

Aegon along with Percy and Roy cracked a self-deprecating smile.

[Are you doubting yourself kid? Your plan is pure genius, trust in it!] Aegon soon erased all doubts from his mind, he felt awfully confident in the group's plan, mostly because he made it. His previous fear and lack of confidence were certainly unusual for him.

[Maybe I'm becoming a pussy? Or is there something else at play? There must be something else going on….]

Nodding his head he reassured himself once again.

[I'm no pussy. It must be something else.]

Meanwhile on the other side of the clearing the alpha, as if knowing that his appearance was enough to stun his opponents, made a move.

His paws hit the ground and propelled him forward.

Linda shook her head to dispel her own doubts and fear, she grabbed tightly onto Tank’s back and commanded him to charge.

The rhino lowered his head, making his three massive horns appear even more dangerous, and similarly rushed forward to meet his opponent.

The two massive beasts were on a collision course.

As they neared each other the alpha placed all his weight on his hind legs in preparation to jump in order to cover that final distance and evade the rhino’s terrifying horns.

But suddenly a dark green lizard wiggled his way out of Linda’s backpack and, standing on her shoulder, screamed as loud as he could.

As the scream spread Travis broke from his own stupor and rushed from his hiding spot with his oversized sword in tow, he hadn’t been noticed yet.

The alpha’s body became petrified for a split second but in a battle of life and death a split second was all it took to lose one’s life.

In the very next moment Tank’s horns impaled the wolf's right side, three gruesome wounds appeared where the horns hit, the beast howled in pain and in its eyes one could see blind madness.

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In response its left paw flew towards Tank’s back, intent on taking Linda and her lizard with him to the netherworld.

Yet at that moment Travis appeared from behind his rhino and slammed his huge sword downwards with tremendous force, the wolf’s claws missed the fragile human by only a few hairs, yet they still wreaked havoc on the rhino’s side.

Five deep ghastly wounds erupted with small fountains of blood, losing his strength Tank fell to the ground and the alpha managed to free itself however with his gravely injured body he slumped and scrambled to get back up again, its cries echoed in the forest, when it was close to gaining its footing an arrow flew silently and hit the beast in its knee which made it collapse once again with another pain laced howl.

Aegon was looking at the beast with a degree of pity.

At last another arrow hit the beast directly in its eye and the wolf's conscience faded away, never to return to his mortal body.

As Aegon walked to the center of the clearing his mind was conflicted, he was dying to boast about his geniality but he truly felt that the beast's death was cruel, he felt dirty bragging about killing something this way.

But at that moment Bella rushed past him, running towards the heavily injured Tank.

A slight annoyance prickled his mind but reigning in his emotions he remained silent even as Bella used her two remaining healing shards on the massive rhino.

[You're bigger than this.] He took a deep breath.

“Hehehe.” A tiny giggle escaped his lips.

[Bigger hehe… that’s what she said.] A smirk appeared on his face and his earlier sour mood was instantly lifted and forgotten.

Travis was worriedly looking at his partner, paying close attention throughout the whole process of his girlfriend breaking the healing shards on top of Tank’s injuries and letting the beast absorb its contents.

Tank squirmed a bit, looking to be in heavy pain, and lost consciousness soon after, that aggravated the young man’s worry even more but seeing the injuries closing and the beast’s ragged breathing becoming steadier he managed to calm down.

With his partner's health stabilized the unnamed leader of the group plopped down on the floor looking exhausted.

After a few seconds of sitting in silence he raised his voice.

“Our job here is done but, seeing as Tank is unconscious, we can't go back just yet. Someone take one of the alpha’s fangs as proof and then we can just rest here for a bit…, or go for a walk, do whatever.” Having said his peace Travis closed his eyes once again and laid on the ground resting.

Aegon noticed it in Travis' manner, his speech showed some slight discontent and not thinking much he commented aloud.

“A bit cranky huh?”

Travis opened his eyes once again, took one good look at Aegon’s face and closed them again.

The rest of the group also looked at Aegon with weird expressions, silently wondering how someone could be so oblivious to his own hypocrisy.

[I won't lower myself to his level.] With this though Travis erased the hypocritical bastard from his thoughts and laid there in silent meditation.

Feeling the silent judgment from his group, Aegon decided to follow Travis’ suggestion and wandered towards the cave’s entrance.

As he walked he approached the alpha’s corpse and stopped to take in the details, with the wolf’s overall appearance and recalling its actions during the battle he couldn't help but superimpose the alpha’s appearance with Kuro’s.

[Is this a Direwolf?]

With the seed of doubt planted in his brain he couldn’t rest easy and circled the beast’s body a total of ten times taking in every detail. In the end he concluded that they had indeed fought against a beast of the same species as his partner.

This discovery made him once again think about the cruel pain he made a member of Kuro’s species go through but he soon forgot about those ethical thoughts and dove right into making the most of this opportunity by imagining his partner's future based on the diseased alpha, though he ended up a bit disappointed.

He didn't learn all that much.

[A pity he died too quickly, I could have learned so much more if he had given more of a fight.]

Sighing, he continued his walk distracted by his own thoughts and soon found himself at the entrance of the cave.

Taking one good look down he saw… nothing….

“How is this shit so dark…?”