“So what now? We were already struggling against the debuffed version, what can we do against the real deal?” Elise said.

“Only one thing to do. Keep trying.” Darryl said. “Retreat isn’t an option considering how fast it can run.”

He tried to sound resolved, but Darryl couldn’t help his voice from trembling. The Woolf still had a third of its health left even before its Con debuff turned buffed instead, and its health was visibly regenerating a bit faster now. A lot of that damage had been dealt when they mobbed up on it, so saying that they manage to reduce less than half its health pool by normal means was more accurate.

No one had to use any healing yet, but both spellcasters already drank a mana potion just to keep going. They were running out of juice too fast at this rate. Meanwhile the Woolf clearly just got a second wind.

“Oh yes, dearies. Keep trying. Make nana proud.” The Woolf gravelled.

The Woolf burst forwards and another one of those brightly flashing blasts from Mr. Geruet stopped it in its tracks. The moment the spell was cast Raphael advanced to strike, only to hastily retreat as the Woolf lashed out before he could.

“Damn, he recovers fast. I don’t think my Staggering Smite will be of much use here.” Mr. Geruet said. “And there’s a two hour cooldown on my Retardation Field so don't count on that one appearing again this fight.”

“Is it a light-based spell?” Thomas asked.

Mr. Geruet nodded. “Radiant damage, but yes.”

Thomas quickly threw the Blinding Staff at him. “Use this, maybe it will increase the effect as well.”

Most of that exchange had gone over Darryl’s head, as he had rushed in to protect the others from the Woolf’s attacks while they said it. The Woolf was wary of his shield now, trying to flank or ignore him. That worked as shielding as well, but Darryl knew it wouldn’t last and only required him to make one mistake to screw them all over.

“Ten seconds!” Ben shouted from the other side of the hall. Seems like the minute he needed to study the Woolf was almost up, hopefully he could bring the damned thing down once his multipliers kicked in.

The Woolf ignored Ben and shrugged off the Magic Missile striking its snout as it reached over Darryl to strike at Elise. Standing three metres tall it could easily loom over him without his shield being in the way, and his shielding skills were useless when going on the offensive. It seemed that the Woolf grasped that, now that its intelligence was no longer debuffed. With just one arm Darryl couldn’t strike or stab it in its now undefended belly without dismissing his shield, either.

Elise retreated, and the Woolf parried Raphael’s hew when the Frenchman tried to lob off its claw. Darryl let go off the Paladin Plate and relied on the strappings to keep it in place as he scrolled through his inventory. The Woolf was ignoring him in a way that made it very vulnerable, there had to be something he could do…

“Darryl!” Elise shouted, and he immediately threw himself to the side. The Woolf’s pinky raked his elbow and it growled in disappointment. A split second later and its claws would’ve dug into his back.

Not that the current situation was much better, as Darryl landed on his side with the Woolf smiling viciously as it looked down at him. He raised his shield and braced himself, only for the Woolf to place its foot on the shield and push down.

“Why won’t you hug your grandmother, Darryl dearest? I’m so lonely most of the time, spending time with you kids always brightens my day.” The Woolf growled. “Now sit still, Nana has some hard candy for you if you behave.”

The weight was immense, unnatural beyond even the Woolf’s massive size. It was almost as if the furry predator was filled with lead, though subconsciously Darryl knew this was actually a bullshit application of its high strength score similar to enemies turning into goop, rather than its true weight.

Elise pressed forward and swung her bat trying to hit it with the tip. The Woolf didn’t retaliate but leaned back to let it pass by, not shifting the balance of its foot enough for Darryl to unbalance it and instead effortlessly keeping him pinned while fighting the others.

Which was bad. Darryl wasn’t just the only one able to survive a hit from this thing, he was also the only means of blocking that they had without damaging their magical weapons. And dodging only worked half the time, sometimes the Woolf was just too fast or too cunning to allow it.

Sure, keeping him pinned would prevent it from moving as well, but that didn’t matter as much as one might think. They didn’t have much range and nothing that packed a real punch aside from Ben’s attacks, so the Woolf could ignore what it considered little more than bug stings as it killed a defenceless Darryl.

Either he died, or they had to come in close after all. With its length, the Woolf didn’t even have that much of a range disadvantage against the two-handed weapons that Elise and Raphael used.

Darryl squirmed and struggled, but the slightly aerodynamic v-shape of his shield only served to keep him pinned without any means of escape. He looked up at the beast, which was currently more interested in the active threats, and then noticed an odd detail he missed until now.

At some point during the battle the little demigriff had joined the fray by biting the tip of the Woolf’s tail. The Woolf completely ignored it, and it held on to the tip only by the grace of its lithe infant body being lesser than its jaw strength.

Well, at least it should decrease the Woolf’s regeneration speed a bit, Darryl mused. All little bits helped, and the strange sight had actually helped him forget his dire situations for a moment and clear his head. Long enough to give him an idea.

Mr. Geruet shone brightly and an orb of light flew at the Woolf. It struck and the orb blew up, staggering only its left arm as the Woolf’s right claw shot out to strike at Elise. She committed, and with the bright blaze it seemed like she wouldn’t see the claw in time.

Darryl twisted his leg as much as he could with the shield pressing down on it, and kicked at the Woolf’s other leg. It didn’t visibly react, but Darryl felt the enhanced kick of his Spartan Sandals against the beast’s shin unbalance it.

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The Woolf heeled over just a little bit, and likely would have been undaunted had its footing not already been wobbly from pinning Darryl down. Its left arm tried to move to balance it out, only for it to still be staggered. And so, it had to use its right arm to not fall over.

Elise’s swing struck it in the side and the Woolf keeled over, and as its claw attack missed her she pulled back to have the kanabo’s spikes graze its tender flesh. At the same time Raphael’s greataxe struck its other side, scoring a deep gash.

Darryl kicked again and again, the awkward and half-pinned kicks dealing paltry damage and not moving the Woolf any now that it steadied its footing, but at least he was doing something. Then he suddenly shot away, skidding a couple of metres on the floor as the Woolf stopped pinning him and used his own Spartan Kick to launch him away.

It was still on him, figuratively if no longer literally. As Darryl had to give his everything to not roll or spin in a way that would remove the cover of his shield, the Woolf easily kept up with him and eagerly waited for some exposed Darryl to strike at.

The moment he stopped moving the Woolf struck, leaving a long gash in the dungeon floor where Darryl’s feet had been moments ago. He curled his legs under his shield and braced himself for the Woolf to slap it aside.

The Woolf didn’t do that though, instead pivoting on itself to put the pressure on the off-guard Elise and Raphael instead. They hastily broke off their pursuit and raised their weapons to block, and as they shielded themselves the Woolf instead braced itself to lunge straight through them and get the casters. Darryl tried to scramble up but would never make it in time, and neither brawler would be able to strike the Woolf off course once it jumped.

Then an explosive bolt struck the Woolf in the back and its health dropped further than any attack had managed yet. Just like that it went from a third to below a quarter of its health. The Woolf snarled as the blast knocked its pouncing frame onto its knees and it scrambled to turn around and see to the greater threat at once.

Raphael pressed on, making a wide swing to hit the Woolf unless it would jump back. The Woolf ignored him as it hopped over the weapon and dashed past. It rushed past Elise with ease, her attempt to get between it and Ben rendered futile with a single mighty step to the side. She struck out to hit its leg and hopefully make it fall, or trip it up with her kanabo.

Instead of stopping or ignoring her, the Woolf kicked at her like a horse. It was an awkward kick with the talon-less heel, but she overextended in her haste and couldn’t block or dodge it in time.

It struck her in the gut and made her double over, half her breakfast violently regurgitated from the impact. She barely managed to steady her swing, her bat crashing against its hip before slipping from her grasp.

Elise fell back and already popped a health potion before she landed on her butt. Her bat clattered on the ground as Darryl rushed past her, and a barely visible silver string shot forward. Raphael’s belt whirred and the Frenchman was reeled in.

The Woolf had learned from the last time, though, and suddenly ducked at the last moment. Raphael flew overhead while his axe struck nothing but air, followed by a crash landing with the axe clattering on the floor as it skidded several metres away from its owner.

“Keekebo! I see you.” The Woolf gravelled, rising up so slowly it couldn’t be anything but dramatic flair, and then its claws struck out with lightning speed.

Raphael screamed as the claws dug into his chest as if it were made out of butter, his health bar immediately falling from full to near zero as he coughed up blood. If it hadn’t been for Thomas’s constitution buff, that would’ve been an instant kill.

A green light enveloped him, pushing his still plummeting health up while the Woolf pulled out its claws. It licked the talons of its right claw while raising the left one for a casual swipe that would finish off the adventurer.

The next moment Darryl kicked him, sending the Frenchman flying to safety with a surprised yelp and much less damage taken than the claw would have done. The Woolf pointedly ignored him and instead returned its attention to where Ben had been before. Darryl ran in the direction as well, despite not seeing the kid anywhere. Considering Ben’s shadow cloak and the Woolf’s keen smell, that didn’t mean anything anyway.

“Oh, hide and seek? How fun!” The Woolf said, howling the last word. “Come out come out wherever you are.”

The demigriff snarled through the mouthful of fur it was clinging on to when the Woolf started to waggle its tail, swinging the little calf around wildly. Once, twice, three times the little bugger proved stronger before the centrifugal forces won.

The tiny thing shrieked in surprise and fear when it went flying, forcing Darryl to stop and quickly move his left arm before the demigriff became a red splatter on his shield. He managed to catch the thing as if it were a rugby ball, the demigriff immediately biting his nipple the moment it realised it was no longer freefalling.

Darryl ignored the minor damage as he quickly placed the pet on the ground, having to awkwardly push and nudge it until it released his flesh. He quickly dropped a pet biscuit and left the demigriff to its own devices as he resumed running after the Woolf.

Elise caught up as he did that and was a few steps ahead. A blood-soaked but determined Raphael popped a health potion and was not far behind. Darryl quickly finished the trade and Elise took out the spear of the Heavens.

Her bat clattered on the ground as she stopped and dropped it, readied herself and threw the thing. A second javelin appeared and struck nothing as the real spear dug itself into the shoulder wound that Raphael had scored what seemed like an eternity ago.

She picked up her bat and Raphael slowed down a bit so that they were side by side. Darryl was a few steps ahead, readying his shield.

The Woolf turned around and howled angrily, its brief search for Ben fruitless before they caught up. Its claws struck out and impotently raked across Darryl’s shield, but as he was still moving there was no retaliation and his shield was violently pushed against his chest. The collision slammed the air out of his lungs and Darryl saw black spots as he forced himself not to topple over.

The Woolf raised its head with incredible reflexes, the Magic Missile aimed at its eye striking the bottom of its jaw instead. It looked back down again before any of the frontliners even realised a spell had been flung, and took a half-step forward to once again loom over Darryl.

Elise jumped back and struck at the swiping claw, missing but forcing the Woolf to quickly retract it. Raphael jumped back as well when the left claw came for him, his attack awkwardly flubbing from the manoeuvre.

The claw already turned inward to strike at Darryl’s back, but this time he knew how to react. He quickly selected Y and the torch ignited as he pressed it against the Woolf’s chest. The stained dress didn’t catch fire, unfortunately, but it still yelped in surprise and jumped back.

Darryl quickly put the torch back in his inventory and grabbed the shield’s handle to once again truly have it equipped. Elise stood to his right, readying her bat to counter-attack whatever it might throw at them, and Raphael did the same to his left.

The Woolf bared its fangs, stepped towards them with its right claw raised high for another attack, and fell over dead.

The next moment was rather awkward, as the Woolf went completely limp and fell over Darryl like a sack of potatoes. A very heavy sack, Darryl immediately realised when he tried to step back and immediately felt a reasonable weight double the very moment that his Stalwart skill stopped working. Where before he stood undaunted, if not a bit confused about the situation, now Darryl fell back under the weight and found himself floored with a dead granny woolf pinning him down.

Ben panted and still shook from the fear and adrenaline, but as he pulled his backstabber dagger from the Woolf’s back he forced a smile and looked at the ceiling. “Goodnight, nana!”

“Eh, 6/10.” Elise managed to squeeze in before the world froze.