Astrid and her group trekked through the forest, searching for more enemies to hunt and kill. Whether they were Orcs, goblins, or whatever; none of them were safe with the dark elves hunting them down.
Astrid’s main goal at the moment was to assist in leveling up her team to level ten since she finally reached that goal. She achieved this after leaving the campsite before to cool her head by hunting down some monsters. Thanks to this, they were one step closer to getting out of this place.
As the dark elf captain led the team through the forest, her eyes darted from tree to tree, searching for any enemies nearby. Her bow was gripped tightly in her hand, ready to be fired at a moment’s notice. Surprisingly enough, they haven’t encountered anything since the beginning of their search.
Keeping a close eye out, Astrid noticed that one of her members started approaching her, standing at her side. It was Dolk.
“You need to maintain position, Dolk,” Astrid scowled at him. “Go back to your spot.”
Dolk looked a bit depressed but didn’t follow his captain’s orders.
“Are you sure it’s wise to be this adamant on hunting, Astrid?” He questioned worriedly. “I understand you want us to reach level ten, but shouldn’t we take this a little slower?”
“The longer we wait, the longer it will take us to go home,” She stated with a stern response. “You need to remember that our objective is completing the Dungeon quest and defeating a Sub-Boss. That way, we can go back to our world and protect it from the other three that’s merged with ours.”
“I understand that, but there were two other methods to complete this dungeon as well.”
Astrid scoffed. “Yeah, which was either defeat the Dungeon Boss or stay here for an entire month. Are you suggesting we choose one of those instead?”
“Actually…yes,” Dolk confessed sheepishly, prompting Astrid to stare at him dumbfoundedly.
She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Here she was, trying to get her people back to their world as fast as possible, and one of her subordinates was against it. Not only that, but it was also her right-hand elf as well.
Noticing Astrid’s dumbfounded expression, Dolk raised his hands defensively.
“I’m not saying that we should fight a Dungeon Boss. I’m suggesting the latter option. It would be better and more convenient to stay here for a month.”
Astrid abruptly stopped in her tracks and whirled around to face Dolk. The dark elf subordinate flinched from her actions, clearly realizing his mistake.
“You want us to wait here for a month?” She asked coldly, her words sharp and to the point. “An entire month when our world is currently enduring chaos from the System and the other worlds that merged with ours?”
“I-I didn’t mean it like-“
“It doesn’t matter how you meant it, Dolk!” Astrid snapped. “The bottom line is, you want us to waste our time here for a month while our home is in danger. Can you hear yourself right now?”
Astrid continued to berate her subordinate, much to the rest of her people’s dismay as they continued to watch the scene unfold before their very eyes.
“I just think that rushing things will only make matters worse for us, Astrid.”
“Not worse than what’s happening outside this dungeon! Our people need us, Dolk, and we need to get back and protect them. That is the sole purpose of the Greyvolk Legion!”
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When Astrid and Dolk joined the Legion, they swore to lay down their lives for their tribe and to protect them against whatever came their way. That was their duty and sole mission. And to hear a fellow Legion suggest that they should wait here for a month with everything that was happening, not only disturbed her…but also disgusted her as well.
“Please, just listen to me,” Dolk pleaded.
“And what? Hear more of your cowardice?” She snarled marching closer to Dolk with a disdainful expression. “We cannot stay here for that long, Dolk. If we did, by the time we got back home, everything would be destroyed!”
“You don’t know that!”
“And you do?!”
Astrid and Dolk continued to argue, neither side backing down on what they should do in their current situation. It wasn’t until the pair along with the rest of the dark elves heard the sound of snapping branches and swaying leaves, to which all of them took up arms and prepared for battle.
The group scanned their surroundings, trying to locate the sound from before and see what kind of enemy they were up against this time. They witnessed movements near the trees. Dark shadow figures bolted around, staying hidden within the forest around them.
However, that didn’t stop Astrid from pulling back an arrow and shooting at one of the blurry shadow figures. Thanks to her accuracy and patience, her first arrow struck something. She then heard a loud yelp that could only come from a wolf-like animal after getting hit.
Moments later, after realizing that one of their own was hit, the figures in the trees decided to reveal themselves. Emerging from the shadows were large wolf creatures with silver and gray fur.
Once again, Astrid was familiar with these monsters, as they were another common species back in her world.
“Dire Wolves…” Astrid clicked her tongue, counting every wolf she saw to know how many they were dealing with.
There were at least a dozen of them, all of them around level five or six. Not only that, but the wolves were surrounding the dark elves, preventing them from escaping.
The Dire Wolves snarled at Astrid and her team; their lips peeled back to reveal sharp canines that could easily tear them apart. But the dark elves were not intimidated by this and simply braced themselves for battle.
“Stay as a group,” Astrid instructed her subordinates while knocking another arrow. “Whittle down their numbers as much as you can, and aim for vital areas. Got it?”
“Understood…” The dark elves replied in unison.
Before two of them argued like they were enemies, but now, they were joined together as a full-fledged team.
Astrid aimed her bow at one of the Dire wolves, her arrow beginning to radiate a bright red aura, filled with power and destructions. The monsters glared their menacing red eyes at the captain, waiting for her to make the first move.
And she did, immediately shooting her second arrow at one of the Fractured Dire wolves, striking its skull. That then signaled the rest of the wolves to charge, letting out a chorus of howls.
“Get ready!”
Upon Astrid’s command, the dark elves also attacked, drawing their arrows and shooting at the Dire wolves in rapid succession. Even though only two of the dark elves had Ranger classes, due to their upbringing, all of them were able to wield a bow.
Astrid and the others continued to fire their arrows at the dire wolves, either hitting their skulls or chests, instantly killing them. One of the Dire Wolves lunged at Astrid, snapping its jaw at her to rip her throat out.
Before it could touch her, she drew three arrows and struck its head, neck, and chest in an instant, putting it down without much trouble. Two more dire wolves bolted towards her, likely going to double-team her to even the odds. Only they were both met with two arrows being buried into their bodies, then collapsed on the ground.
Aside from Astrid, the rest of the dark elves were doing fine. When one of the dire wolves got too close to hit them with an arrow, they simply drew their blades and effortlessly slit their throats, easily killing them.
Even Dolk effortlessly slaughtered the Dire wolves, using his twin daggers from his Rogue class and stabbing them through the bipedal hounds' skulls. His strikes were fast and fierce, blurring toward the wolves and piercing their bodies with little effort.
The battle against the Dire Wolves continued for a little while until the last one was brought down by Astrid, who simply used one of her arrows as a weapon and jammed the projectile through the canine’s eye, putting it to rest.
After the fight was over, purple particles from the Fractured wolves scattered into the air, filling the area with a congregation of violet, fluorescent lights, strangely similar to fireflies before it faded away right after.
Once the dark elves were able to catch their breaths, they took a few moments to rest after nearly getting ambushed by the dire wolves.
Before Astrid could sit and rest, she turned to Dolk, wearing a stern expression.
“We’ll continue this conversation after we get back to camp. Is that understood, Dolk?”
He hesitated, pursing his lips. “…Understood.”
Once she got a response, Astrid turned around and strolled off into the forest, making sure that there were no more threats at least until they were ready to go another round.