The howl was loud, almost deafening, and sent shivers down my spine. I ran to the cave entrance before looking around to see what had caused that sound.

A massive figure appeared from the trees. I threw my torch to the center of the clearing to be able to get some better sight of what had just appeared.

I backed off further towards the cave entrance and shouted inside.

“Nira, get the others up, quickly!”

I was certain she’d heard me and I turned to what was in front of me. The figure had stepped out of the shadows towards the torch and I could make out some of its features. What was before me was a giant wolf, at first glance. Its size rivaled my own, it was probably slightly bigger than me.

There were several things that set it apart from a standard wolf, besides its size. First, it was clearly missing a lower jaw. How it could howl in the first place was beyond me. Then, there was the fact that its fur was completely ruined. Through its fur, several bones were visible. I didn’t mean ribs showing under skin or anything, no - bones were literally outside of its skin. Besides the bones, there were patches of wounds all over its dark grey fur, they seemed to be infected too.

It had eyes that glowed with an eerie red light. They scared me, and made me doubt I could win this fight on my own.

This was an alpha if I’d ever seen one.

This ‘wolf’ seemed to be more conservative than the others and it eyed me carefully while circling the clearing. I imagined it was looking for an opening.

It didn’t take long until I heard sounds coming from behind me as my companions appeared one by one. Each of them had to carefully pass the threads, which, in this case, proved to be a hindrance.

Nira carried a torch and provided more light.

“What in the world is that thing?” Seralyn was the first to speak.

“I have no idea. It looks like a wolf, but this isn’t a normal one for sure.” I said, my eyes still fixated on the beast before me.

“That thing...” Velariah looked at the beast. “It looks… dead?”

“But it’s not,” Draco said in a neutral voice with his shields at the ready.

I carefully approached the beast with my spear sticking out in front of my two shields. I had no idea how this beast would fight and I’d start with a defensive stance to learn.

Seralyn had already begun bombarding the beast with arrows. Several struck its side and one erupted in flames. This triggered the beast to make its first attack.

It targeted Nira, but Draco was quick to react and blocked its (for him) massive paws with his shields. I struck the beast in its side, earning a weird sound coming from its throat.

It sounded like a yelp of pain, but the sound was… distorted.

Nira flew up onto its back and created large wounds with her claws. The beast turned its attention to the harpy, who simply flew upwards before it could strike.

Velariah took the opportunity to strike its right flank as I used my blades and my spear to pierce its left flank.

Fire erupted from both my blades at once and I could see them glow as power coursed through the steel.

This dragon-blessed steel really was quite something.

The flesh that I had just skewered sizzled as the beast cried out in pain. I dragged the blades down its body before stepping back as it turned to face me.

Its eyes started to glow even brighter. As if in a haze, it fixated on me and I held the shields in front of me. The beast started clawing and biting its way to me, but I blocked each and every attempt at an attack. In the meantime, I saw Draco and Velariah strike one side together as Nira assaulted it from above and Seralyn attacked it from afar.

This beast was by no means natural.

It just kept on going, no matter how much we injured it. I could see… was that green blood? Pouring out from the wounds, but it didn’t slow down. In fact, it seemed to get angrier and angrier.

Its attacks intensified in both speed and strength, but my shields held firm. In the beginning, I managed to weave in a few attacks with my spear, but as the battle, and its bloodlust progressed, it became harder to do so and I was forced to focus on defense.

More fire erupted from the side that Velariah and Draco were literally hacking away at. I hoped this beast would, at the very least, slow down soon from its injuries.

A momentary lapse in judgment from my side caused a wound in my arm as it brought its teeth down into it after knocking my shield aside.

“Fuck!” I shouted in pain.

I could see Draco grow to his black-scaled form in the corner of my eye. I blocked several more attacks after regaining my wits. Then, Draco leaped at the beast’s face with both axes and brought them down with massive force, causing its head to turn to the other side from the impact.

I took the opportunity to take a few steps back. Nira landed next to me and put her hands on my injured arm to start healing it.

A familiar green glow enveloped my arm and Nira’s eyes opened wide in shock.

“What’s wrong?” I asked. That look in her eyes… I didn’t like it one bit.

Nira’s head turned around to the rest of our party.

“That thing is venomous! Don’t get bitten!” She shouted.

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“Understood,” Draco replied.

“Can’t bite me when it’s dead,” Verlariah shouted as I could see her sword take on a faint white glow.

She brought the sword down on the beast’s side with an overhead swing.

The beast roared in pain. While it did, Seralyn shot an arrow in its face - more specifically, one of its eyes.

“Nice shot,” I commented, as Nira finished repairing the damage in my arm.

The wound was still there, but the pain had mostly faded and I could move it as freely as I could before. I took a look at the wound and saw two large circles where the beast’s canine teeth had pierced my skin.

Venomous?

I wasn’t going to waste any time contemplating it. Draco was still holding the beast at bay with his shields, while Velariah and Seralyn assaulted it. I created some distance between myself and the oversized wolf and charged with all three weapons.

I reached the beast and drove all of my weapons into it as deep as I could. The beast let out an unearthly roar once more and I backed off again.

“What the hell is this thing?” I asked Velariah, who had also taken several steps back.

“I think we’re all wondering the same. All I know is that this thing should not be allowed to live.”

“Agreed.”

There was no denying this thing was an abomination. This was truly a monster.

Velariah charged the monster with her glowing sword and drove it deep inside its flank. The beast turned around to face her before she could retrieve it and she had to back off as I jumped before her and blocked the next bite.

Draco pulled back out of the battle and shrank down to his usual form. Velariah ran over to him and handed him a red potion for energy.

Seralyn shot another arrow, this one pierced the beast’s skull and did the trick.

The massive wolf fell over onto its side. Velariah’s sword was still embedded in the side that was now on top.

I carefully walked up to the animal and noted it was still alive. It was breathing heavily. I was about to strike its head with my weapons when Seralyn appeared next to me with an arrow drawn. She released it and sent an arrow into the wolf’s brain from point-blank range.

After that, the beast went completely still.

Seralyn grasped her head and stumbled. Nira was quick to make her way over to her, but Seralyn halted her before she could start healing.

“That was nothing bad. It seems I evolved my inherity.”

I was wondering when that would happen. She had done a lot of work so far and killed her fair share of opponents.

I was about to congratulate her when Velariah stepped forward.

“Wait, what?”

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“The beasts around here are not supposed to possess corium, not unless they are goblins, trolls, or dungeon creatures.”

“You think this was a dungeon creature?” I asked.

“I would expect so, but I don’t know of any dungeon in the area. Draco?” She called out to the lizardman.

Draco shook his head. “I’m not aware of one in this area.”

“Well,” Seralyn said as she nocked another arrow.

The tip of her arrow became engulfed with a bright red flame that illuminated the area quite well, almost making it look as if it was daytime. She then shot the arrow into the wolf’s head where it sizzled into its flesh, doing quite a bit of damage to its organs.

“Hm, that does look like a pretty neat ability.”

She turned back to us.

“I won’t complain about it. However, it is odd, as you say.”

“Any of you guys get bitten or hit?” I asked.

They shook their heads.

“Nira, can you check them anyway? You can detect venom, you said?”

She nodded. “I can, but I cannot cleanse it.”

“Well, we have potions for that,” Velariah said as she walked over to her sword.

Nira started working on checking our group for any traces of venom as I started a new thread, seeing as the old one was completely ruined.

I was using a new torch that Draco handed me to light the way. When I was about halfway done, I heard very soft whimpering. It was almost familiar…

I traced the sound and very carefully approached the source with my spear and a blade ready.

I found something in the old thread. Something small had gotten itself completely stuck and entangled. When I crouched to observe it, I was surprised.

It was a wolf pup.

What the hell was a wolf pup doing here?

I thought about the fight and the events that transpired moments prior. How the wolves had shown no sign of intelligence the way they did when I first ran into the same wolf species.

I came up with the hypothesis that the large, half-dead wolf that we killed somehow commanded these beasts into fighting until the bitter end. I imagined this wolf pup had fallen victim to its influence.

I lowered my spear and carefully picked up the young wolf that seemed to be crying for its parents or fallen kin. Its whimpering was pathetic and it broke my heart.

Poor thing…

It seemed quite defensive when I approached, but when I ungloved a hand and allowed it to smell my hand, it seemed to calm down. I was able to pick up the entangled pup without too much of a hassle and carried it with me as I quickly finished creating the thread.

I approached the others who were standing in front of the cave, looking at me and the ball of silk in my hands.

I was half expecting them to call me crazy or reckless. It was Velariah who spoke first.

“What’s that?” She asked curiously.

I looked down at the animal in my hands and noticed that it was probably hard to see what it was with all that silk around its body.

“It’s a wolf pup that was stuck in my thread.”

“A wolf pup?” She asked curiously and brought her face closer to the animal.

The poor thing was still whimpering and now shuddered in my hands.

“I couldn’t leave it behind.” I continued. “Let’s get back inside.”

They did as I suggested and made their way through the threads inside. I continued the thread through the sticks that Draco had carved and finished by planting the thread to the floor near the center again. I then sat down with a leg on my thread and started to free the wolf pup from its bonds.

“Do you want a knife?” Velariah asked as I laid my spear to the side and started taking my gloves off.

I shook my head. “My pedipalps seem to work better.”

I put the beast down and noted it was scared of us.

“Draco, you got some meat? Something without a lot of salt, preferably. Some water wouldn’t hurt either.”

“You plan on keeping it?” Seralyn asked.

I wasn’t sure if she said that with sarcasm or was truly caring.

“Well, I can’t leave it here, can I? It will probably die without its parents.”

“I guess you’re right.” She said softly.

Maybe she really wasn’t so evil, after all.

I freed its mouth as best I could and let it get more familiar with the smell of my hand. Draco handed me a strip of meat wrapped in leaves. When I unpacked it, I noticed the meat was still raw.

I had no idea he carried raw meat.

“Do you eat this, Draco?” I asked.

“Yeah, jerky is mediocre at best. Raw meat is much more preferable. These are special leaves that keep it fresh for a long time.”

That confirmed that Draco would be able to eat raw meat without issues. I wondered if I could do the same?

“Thank you, Draco,” I said as I reached for a knife.

I cut a small piece off of the strip and held it up to the pup’s nose. That seemed to cause it to overcome its fear as it sniffed the small piece of meat and eagerly took it in its mouth.

“That’s pretty cute,” Velariah commented.

I looked around and saw the others observing the small animal with all too much interest.

“You guys should go back to sleep. I believe it was your turn for guard duty?” I asked Velariah.

“Yup, and it just got a lot more interesting.” She smiled.

“Heh, at least we won’t get bored, now,” I replied.

“As if the two of you would ever get bored together,” Seralyn giggled.

I could feel my face run red again at the brunette’s comment.

She had done it again!

They seemed disappointed but did as I suggested. Soon enough, it was only me and Velariah that were awake. Us, and a puppy.

I cut several more pieces of the meat and fed the creature while slowly undoing it of its bonds with my pedipalps. I managed to free it and, apparently, gained its trust.

Some food and help had done the trick. Animals were such simple creatures…

After feeding it, I took the canteen that Draco had put on the ground next to me. I opened it, put some water in the palm of a hand, and held it to the tiny wolf. It eagerly slobbered up the liquid. When it was finished it started playing with my hand, licking and tapping it with its paws.

“It seems to like you,” Velariah commented.

The elf stood up and sat down next to me, her eyes not leaving the wolf pup for one second as she did so.

She started to approach it with a hand as well, but the pup backed off and looked at it with hesitation. I took hold of Velariah’s hand with one of mine, indicating that there was no danger to it.

Velariah giggled. “You’re good at this.”

“I always wanted a puppy back on Earth,” I said. “I prepared for this moment all my life.” I chuckled.

The pup sniffed my hand, then Velariah’s, and licked hers. It seemed that it recognized her hand as friendly.

The pup suddenly seemed eager to play as it ran up to Velariah and jumped against her body. I petted it, and it turned to jump against my chitin instead. I dangled a pedipalp in front of its eyes and it seemed to reach out for it the same way a kitten would try to reach for a toy.

The attention span of a puppy…

It was so cute! I wanted to keep it!

It played with my pedipalp for a while, until it seemed to get tired. Then it cuddled up against the chitin below my torso and fell asleep.

“Seems it got used to my body sooner than you when I first met you,” I said with a grin.

“It’s because you’re cute,” Velariah replied. “He saw it far sooner than me.”

“Heh, I doubt everyone would agree.”

“Not everyone has to.” She assured me.

“Hm, maybe you’re right,” I replied.

Velariah cuddled up against my side. I put my right arms around her as I looked at the small animal in front of me.

“I’m so taking it home,” I said after a while of observing it sleeping peacefully.

“Fine by me, but I doubt it will be able to join us when we’re out.”

“You think it will like Elly?” I asked.

“Are you kidding me? Everyone likes Elly. I’m sure they’ll get along.”

“Hm, you’re probably right.”

Velariah leaned in and it looked like she wanted a kiss. I quickly looked to see if the others were still sleeping.

This elf was so reckless.

When I confirmed they were still fast asleep I returned the kiss. Velariah’s lips got more delicious by the day. Maybe it was just me getting more confident. Either way, I could feel my heart beating as fast as ever when we engaged in this intimate act.

I looked into the elf’s eyes after the kiss. They were begging for more. I answered the call in her eyes and took her in for another deep kiss.