It was Daddy. Daddy Wolfertinger, who was probably out hunting for dinner and instead came to find his wife dead. How fucked was I? Very fucked and this time there was no Alice Ex Machina to come and rescue me.

I moved to a section of the cavern without line of sight to the outside. I couldn't get out but I was banking on the Daddy Wolfertinger being bigger than the Wolfertinger Bitch. If the female had trouble getting inside this cavern, my only hope was that the male wouldn't fit. Or if he did try to come inside, he would be a sitting duck for my arrows.

I could hear the monster prowling and growling outside. Daddy Wolfertinger was mad.

What should I do?

It was a monster who could shoot bolts of lightning from its antlers. It was fast when leaping, had wings to fly, and a wolf's vicious cunning. They could take out the fur of their prey and use it for bedding, indicating a good amount of intelligence. Daddy Wolfertinger should be higher leveled than the female.

It also explained why no creature came to investigate the loud noise. The Wolfertinger family were the apex predators of this section of the forest. And they might've used their lightning attack several times, teaching the other creatures to stay the fuck away.

I needed a battle plan. First order of business was to make sure Daddy Wolfertinger couldn't zap me. I placed the pup inside a burlap sack and tied it so he couldn't escape. The gaps in the fabric would allow him to breathe easily. Next, I drew my brand-new short sword and stabbed it on the ground right after the entrance tunnel. If Daddy Wolfertinger tried to shoot lightning inside, the sword would ground the attack. For good measure, I also stuck my machete in the ground and removed anything metallic that I could. My daggers and knife, the belt buckle. I tied a length of rope around my waist to keep me from having a wardrobe malfunction.

Then, it was time to play the waiting game. Either the Wolfertinger would try to come inside or it would camp outside. I waited for half an hour and then checked. Slowly, I crept toward the entrance. I saw to huge wolf paws and stopped. Daddy Wolfertinger was the size of a Warg. So, whoever reported the sighting, saw (and survived) Daddy Wolfertinger.

I could shoot at its paw but what good would it make? No other body part was in sight. Did I want to anger Daddy Wolfertinger? No. I wanted him dead or gone. I could see the female's corpse too. Could I use that? No.

Smoke bombs. Aluminum chaff. I needed these things.

Daddy Wolfertinger barked and howled. I saw the monster pacing outside. Yeah, it couldn't come inside, it was too big for that especially with the giant-ass antlers I expected to find in its head. It was weird for females to have antlers but monsters often didn't follow logic.

I readied my arrow, bowstring slightly tensed. Daddy Wolfertinger prowled. I saw a slice of belly and hindquarters and let my arrow fly. It bounced off of the fur, the same thing that happened when I first shot Chainmail. The monster's HP pool was big enough to shrug my sneak attack. Getting shot sent Daddy Wolfertinger into a frenzy. The monster lowered its face to look inside and was greeted with an arrow to the face. That arrow bounced again.

The Wolfertinger's HP threshold was a fifth of its pool. It indicated it was a monster bred for physical combat, a warrior instead of a spellcaster. Or the current theory about monsters said. Nobody knew for sure and the System would only let the secret out if you went there and pried it out of the System God's gnarly hands.

Despite knowing the next shot wouldn't do jack shit, Daddy Wolfertinger withdrew and lowered his head. Yup, the antlers were almost double the volume of the female's. It charged way faster too.

Lightning shot toward the entrance faster than one could blink. It surged to the two weapons and sunk into the ground, electrifying it and dealing secondary damage through static. It was painful but didn't break my own threshold. A check on my resources told me it ate twenty percent of my HP. The pup whined and cried in pain.

Hearing one of its pups cry, even if it was the rejected one sent Daddy Wolfertinger into a true frenzy. The monster leaped at the cavern entrance and slammed into the cliff face with its antlers at full speed. Given that the female could, mortally injured nonetheless, leap ten meters in a single bound, the monster struck the rock with the force of a runaway carriage.

Dust and sand fell from the roof. I moved underneath a slanted solid slab of stone. If it fell, I would be instantaneously crushed but it was better than the loose rock mixed with soil I saw above the main cavern. Then it rammed the cliff again. I heard Daddy Wolfertinger's antlers scratching the rock, a desperate attempt at getting inside and rescuing its sole surviving pup or maybe avenging its female.

Over and over, it struck, each attack causing more and more stuff to fall down. On the tenth or so attack, the cliff gave in and a slice of the cliff face fell down. It crashed over the frenzied slavering Daddy Wolfertinger and blocked the entrance. A plume of dust soared up and clouded visibility inside the cavern.

I coughed. The Wolfertinger pup whined and cried. I lifted it and laid the monster (still inside the burlap sack) on my lap. I rocked myself back and forth, thinking how I would leave this place.

When I woke up, I heard faint bird calls. A single ray of sunlight entered the cavern, snaking between the rocks. I didn't make a sound. A quick check told me the Wolfertinger pup was still alive. I set the sack aside and tried to move without making any noise. The lantern was low on MP and I used mine to refill it. My pool was too small to completely top it up but it would last for a few more hours.

It was already day outside. I heard sounds of a creature eating. Flesh ripped, bones crunched, and a jaw masticated. Despite some sunlight reaching the inside of the cave, it only did so after bouncing on a few rocks. I had no line of sight to the outside.

The cave-in moved tons of stone to block the entrance. A big slab of rock was blocking the outside, along with several small bounders that rolled inside. My short sword actually stopped them from rolling too far inside. The machete had been knocked into the back.

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Great.

I went back to underneath my solid slab of rock and sat down. I needed to wait.

*

*

The baby Wolfertinger accepted some meat jerky bits and drank water from my canteen. I hadn't packed many supplies for what should be a short trip. Fuck. At least I would die with the knowledge that I saved one adventuring party from death at the hands of a monster they had no business fighting, if they came expecting Wargs.

I cut the four pup corpses and set them to bleed at the back of the cavern. The female corpse was probably lost but I could still sell these four if I got out.

Like that, I stretched my resources to last two days. It was how long Daddy Wolfertinger took to finish devouring the female's corpse and move out. I heard it howling one night and then taking off, the heavy flaps of its wings fading in the distance.

The next morning, the fourth day of my one-day trip, I dumped all fifteen Attribute points in Strength. Retrieving my short sword, I noticed it was ruined. One of the rocks it stopped dented the blade. Well, at least it saved my bacon if it stopped more rocks from falling inside.

I slowly rolled the small bounders to the back of the cavern. Moving with determination placed the burden of exertion into my Stamina Points, saving me from burning too much energy on the task. I minded my heart rate and took frequent breaks. Going fast or desperate here would spell my doom.

On the fifth day, my water ran out. I didn't do as advertised and drank my own body fluids. It didn't help. I had cleared the entrance of all boulders except for the big slab that slid down the cliff face. In a corner, I could finally see the outside. Though I couldn't see what was left of the female Wolfertinger's carcass, I could see an antler's tip.

Oh, well. Pushing against the slab did nothing. It should weigh a dozen tons at least.

I took my dented short sword and poked at the sides. It was a mix of dirt and rocks and maybe I could dig enough to let me shimmy through. I poked at a strip of dirt and roots behind a large rock for hours, digging a groove. When the short sword was halfway inside, I jammed the thing and used the hilt as a lever, forcing the rock out. I pushed and pushed, each cycle moving the rock a few millimeters ahead. Once I could fit my hands in the gap, I tried to push it off. Bracing my leg against a curve, I used my whole body to force the rock out. It shot out of its place and rolled down, causing another two rocks above it to crash down. one of them smashed my right-hand thumb and rolled off.

Hissing, I clutched the thumb and blew on it. It was burning and flaring with pain. My fingernail was blood red. Did it crush the bone? I didn't dare try to move that finger, not that I could. The pain was blinding, worse than sticking one's finger in a closing door. I didn't need to check to know that the falling rock had also crushed my HP threshold.

Against my will, I drank another healing potion. Bigger flasks like the ones Alice gave me in the previous expedition could be drank in portions but these smaller ones were for single use only. The thumb itched as it healed. I could swear I felt the bones coming together.

But the way out was clear. I repacked my backpack, placing the exsanguinated pup corpses at the bottom and then reserving space above a blanket for the weak Wolfertinger pup.

I pushed the pack out first, then waited. If the Daddy Wolfertinger was waiting to ambush, there was a chance it would go for the pack. Nothing happened. I wiggled myself through the hole and took a lungful of fresh forest air. Over the last few days, I grew used to the stench of carrion and rotting blood.

Checking my surroundings, the clearing was the same. The female corpse was almost entirely eaten. I cut the head with the antlers, tied it to the back of my pack, and started my long hike back to town.

*

*

These woods weren't supposed to be dangerous. But the Wolfertinger family was an outlier. Monsters were first spawned, then they bred once the breeding season came around. That was one reason Al-Mi'raj were so dangerous. Their breeding interval was too short and months after a pack spawned, you could be dealing with hundreds of vicious and hungry bunnycorns.

Which meant that either the Wolfertinger couple migrated here from somewhere deeper in the wilderness, or it spawned here and already lived a full breeding cycle. Given the rarity and power, it was most likely that they migrated.

I kept one eye ahead and another in the skies. I dreaded hearing the flapping wings and then the lightning discharge. If these antlers sold well, I would buy a lightning protection amulet. Fuck that shit. It hurt like hell.

I left two quests in my route unchecked. I was desperate to reach civilization. But when I came near a farmhouse, I knew I had to stop. I jumped the fence and walked to the front porch. They had a bell hanging next to the door so I lightly rang it once.

"Coming!" A man's voice came from inside. Soon, a muscular man with a thick black beard answered. "Who are you?"

"Greetings! I'm George, a Scout at the service of the Adventurer's Guild." I said as I displayed my badge.

"How may I help you, Sir George?" The man asked, clearly intimidated by the badge. "I'm Lewis the Farmer."

"Pleased to meet you, Lewis the Farmer. I need water and any food you can spare. Would you have some milk and maybe some fresh raw meat? My pup is starving. I have coin, I can pay."

The Farmer looked at my bare chest, the spiderweb lightning scars still somewhat red. Then his eyes widened as he stared at to the runic bow held in my left hand.

"Nasty fight you got yourself into, Sir George," He remarked. "Come inside, I think my son has some clothes that fit you. And don't worry about paying. If you were out there fighting monsters in the woods, you already paid for what we can spare."

I smiled and fought the tears that wanted to well up. "Thank you."

"No, thank you for your service, George the Scout. Now, I don't think I have to tell you that but you should take it slow. Dirty as you are, with a voice that hoarse, you must've spent some time without sustenance out there."

Addressing people by name and Class was an old honorific. Back in town, it was almost unheard of but in these rural areas old traditions died slowly.

"I appreciate the concern, anyway."

Lewis had me sit on the dining table, a rough slab of wood polished by use, not by craft. Then he gave me a mug of water, repeating the warning about drinking it slow. Next, it was a bowl of milk for the Wolfertinger pup. I produced the monster's head only, both hands clamped around its torso so it wouldn't try to spread its wings and reveal that I had a monster and not a wolf. The pup greedily lapped the milk.

"Cute little thing you got there," Lewis the Farmer said.

"I came to investigate Warg sightings. Then I killed its mother and brothers. This one was the weakest of the litter and wasn't aggressive. Thought I could bring it and see if I can tame it."

"Wargs? I heard old Mc Donovan talking of wargs and about sending a letter to the city. Glad you came to take care of it. Wargs can be vicious on the livestock and a neighbor lost two cows two weeks ago."

"The male is still around. I couldn't kill it. I got its last location and will report it to the Guild. If you can warn your neighbors, nobody should go to the woods north-east of here."

"Shit, that's where Mc Donovan lives."

"I don't think he'll be in danger, but it pays to be careful."

"Again, thank you, George the Scout. Whatever did that number on your chest must have hurt."

I couldn't say it was lightning because Wargs didn't shoot lightning. While I was sure a Lightning Warg existed somewhere, it wasn't prudent to stack lies on top of lies.

"Like shit. But it is fine now. I think I'll have a big scar but women like battle scars, don't they?"

Lewis laughed. I laughed. Lewis' wife laughed. Wait, what?