Hazel stared down at the pack of Dire Wolves surrounding her. Her eyes darted around, hastily scanning every single monster that she spotted lurking within the darkness.
Using Identify, the Dire Wolves levels ranged between three to seven. There wasn’t a single one she spotted that was any higher. However, just because their levels were lower than Hazel’s, didn’t mean she had the advantage over them.
In fact, it was the Dire Wolves that had the upper hand in this situation, and that was because of one factor; their numbers. Hazel counted at least over a dozen or so of the purple-cracked monsters encircling her location.
It was only a matter of time before the Dire Wolves would charge Hazel in unison and rip her to shreds, turning her into their dinner. Or was it their lunch? She hadn’t checked the timer yet, so she had no clue regarding the time.
Though, looking at her current situation, that was the least of her problems right now.
“Okay, don’t panic, Hazel,” she told herself with a strained voice. “You’ve taken down hordes before. This one is no different.”
On the contrary, this horde was very different. At least, compared to the Fractured Human horde. With the Fractured humans, they simply shambled around like zombies, moving at a snail’s pace.
But these Fractured Dire Wolves were the opposite. They still retained their speed, making them incredibly fast and, more so, vicious to the core due to their feral and rabid mentality from the corrupting influencing their vessels.
Because of this one fact, Hazel couldn’t let her guard down with these monsters. She knew that if she showed weakness, these furry creatures would take advantage and rip her apart. And that was the last thing Hazel needed at the moment.
The novice mage stood her ground, keeping her eyes trained on the pack of Dire wolves just waiting to get a piece of her. Beads of sweat streamed down her face. Her heart pounded against her chest like a drum.
She wanted to run away. To flee for her life and to avoid getting torn apart like a piece of meat. But she couldn’t do that. No…she wouldn’t do that.
Running away wasn’t an option in this situation. Not only because she was outnumbered, but the fact that escaping wouldn’t solve anything for her.
Hazel needed to stand her ground and face her enemy head-on. Aside from the monsters within this forest island, there were bound to be even stronger and more dangerous creatures in this dungeon.
If Hazel couldn’t handle a pack of Dire Wolves, then she might as well not even bother to explore the rest of the dungeon. If she wanted to survive in this place…she needed to get stronger. And the only way to do that was to kill her enemies before they killed her.
That was all that mattered in this dungeon.
Hazel gritted her teeth as her mind raced to come up with a plan. She couldn’t fight the pack in her current position. The Dire wolves surrounded her from all sides, including her blind spots. If she focused on one side, she’d be vulnerable to the rest.
She needed to get into a position where all of the Dire Wolves were in her line of sight. That was the only way she could ensure her victory.
“I need to make a path…” Hazel muttered, staring ahead of her.
All of her paths were blocked by Dire Wolves. So, to escape, she needed to forge a path herself.
Hazel’s eyes darted between the wolves and her pack placed against a tree. Should she grab her bag when she tries to make a break for it?
The novice mage shook her head. No, if she did, then the bag would weigh her down. And that meant death.
She would deal with her pack later. For now, it was time to get this show on the road.
Sharply inhaling, Hazel then sprinted toward one of the small groups of wolves surrounding her. The dire wolves saw this and immediately crouched down, positioning themselves into a pouncing stance.
While running, Hazel raised her staff toward the monsters and fired several mana bolts in rapid succession. The condensed rods of energy tore through the air and made their way toward the wolves.
The monsters tried to move away from the bolts, but due to the speed of her spell, none of them could escape and were killed by the bolts. Their bodies jerked back from the force of the spell as they collapsed on the ground.
Once they were down, a path was made for Hazel and she took the chance to escape.
[Level 3 Dire Wolf has been defeated!]
[Level 2 Dire Wolf has been defeated!]
[Level 5 Dire Wolf has been defeated!]
[Level 1 Dire Wolf has been defeated!]
She sprinted past the fallen dire wolves as they slowly fractured into purple fragments, not even bothering to glance in their direction. As she ran away, a howl could be heard from behind her as the rest of the Dire Wolves gave chase. She could hear the numerous trotting paws coming her way, signaling her that she was now being hunted.
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But Hazel didn’t care, since she had a plan.
Looking behind her, Hazel saw as the pack of Dire Wolves single-mindedly chased her. Their glowing violet eyes filled with malice and hunger. They were slowly gaining on her, the distance between them becoming shorter and shorter by the second.
Despite her Agility stat being at thirteen points at the moment, it was frighteningly clear that the Dire Wolves were still faster than her. Which meant it wasn’t before long until the ravenous wolves caught their prey.
She needed to act quickly before they got too close.
Without hesitation, she whirled her staff around toward the pack and fired several more mana bolts at them. Unlike before, the dire wolves managed to avoid the spell attack, weaving to the side before getting back into their positions.
“Son of a…!” Hazel stifled a curse, using her frustration to come up with another solution.
Then an idea popped into her mind. A very dumb and dangerous idea.
Out of desperation, the novice mage stopped in her tracks, digging her shoes into the dirt to forcibly halt her momentum. She then whirled around to face the Dire Wolves, watching them close the distance in seconds.
Once they were mere feet away from her, several of the wolves lunged at her. Their mouths were wide open as if they were ready to dig their canines into Hazel. But that wasn’t going to happen.
Before they could sing their teeth in the mage, Hazel hastily cast Mana Shield just in time. The blue transparent dome materialized around her, instantly defending her from outside forces.
As for the wolves that lunged at her, with their current momentum, they were unable to stop before crashing into the Mana Shield with an audible, reverberating thud. One of the dire wolves was even unlucky enough to not close their mouth in time and intentionally tried to take a bite of the shield.
And to no one's surprise, its teeth ripped out of its gums and fell on the floor along with its body. Hazel was a bit surprised that the wolf didn’t yelp in pain, but then again, these were technically undead monsters, in a sense, so they couldn’t feel anything. Including their teeth forcibly falling out.
As the wolves that collided with the shield collapsed on the ground, the other Dire Wolves stopped moving while witnessing this. Some of them even looked surprised and horrified by witnessing their own get thrown back from the magic force field protecting Hazel.
And Hazel used their surprise to her advantage. Her shield soon disappeared once the timer was up, and the mage quickly took action. She whipped her staff out and cast a Baneful Sickle at the pack.
A malicious purple crescent blade materialized in front of Hazel before barreling toward the horde with frightening speed. Unlike before, the dire wolves couldn’t react in time as the baneful sickle cut through a small portion of the pack, cutting them to pieces like butter.
Their severed bodies fell to the ground and then burst into fragments just like the other members of their pack. Seeing this, the other Fractured Dire wolves were alarmed by their deaths, even going as far as stumbling backward as if to avoid getting caught in the crossfire.
Hazel wasn’t done and quickly rapid-fired Mana Bolt at the remaining pack. The fractured wolves were assaulted by the stream of bolts and were killed off one by one. Some were killed in an instant, taking a bolt of mana to the skull. The others weren’t so lucky and were severely wounded, having their limbs severed or torsos pierced instead.
After firing nearly a couple dozen mana bolts, Hazel ceased her assault, making sure that she still had mana to spare. She wasn’t afflicted with a pounding headache, which meant she wasn’t at her limit yet. But just to be safe, she held off from firing another bolt to check the current state of the pack.
And from what Hazel witnessed; the dire wolves were nearly exterminated to oblivion from her mana bolt barrage. A good majority of the fractured canines were currently shattering to pieces and floating in the air as purple light fragments. As for the remaining ones, they struggled to get back up as pieces of their bodies were missing like paws, tails, and portions of their torsos.
Seeing this, Hazel’s smile deepened at the sight.
“Ha! Looks like numbers don’t mean shit, huh?” The mage taunted the surviving pack.
Hazel felt a wave of relief wash over her along with pride and joy bubbling up within. Although she was determined to survive, she didn’t expect her plan to work this easily. Especially when she was the one at a disadvantage.
But, she somehow won the fight. And intact as well.
However, despite killing so many Dire Wolves, Hazel didn’t receive a Level up yet. Thankfully, there were still a few of them left, so maybe killing the rest would do the trick.
As Hazel raised her staff at the leftover pack, she was prepared to launch another volley of bolts to end them. Before she could, though, a chill snaked down her spine.
Just then, the novice mage heard a fierce snarl from behind her. Hazel didn’t even attempt to turn around to see what it was and simply jumped to the side out of pure instinct. Just then, something managed to claw at her side, ripping through her robe and digging into her flesh with ease.
A sharp pain radiated from the wound as Hazel tumbled on the ground. Laying there for a moment, she hastily pushed herself off the ground, not wanting to remain vulnerable when there were still enemies around.
Speaking of which, what the hell just attacked her? The snarl from before sounded like a wolf, but Hazel thought that all of them were in front of her. Not behind.
Did one of them get past her blind spot while she was busy with her barrage? But how could she have missed that? Better yet, how could that one dire wolf slip through her fingers and sneak behind her so easily?
With a hint of fear and anger on her face, Hazel raised her head to glare at the Dire wolf that managed to wound her. Only for her eyes to widen in shock at what she saw.
The monster appeared to have been another dire wolf with a fur coat and purple cracks spread across its body. However, this wasn’t your normal dire wolf.
It was at least twice the size of the others, and its fur was completely coated in violet, similar to the cracks across its vessel. The larger dire wolf stood tall and confident as it looked down at Hazel with its menacing purple eyes.
The aura the monster emitted was heavy, to the point where Hazel felt an invisible pressure weighing down on her. She managed to hold her ground but knew that she couldn’t resist for long while facing this creature.
Confronted by this large Dire wolf, Hazel used the opportunity to try and identify it. It was obviously different from a normal Fractured Dire wolf, so Hazel wanted to know what it exactly was.
And what she discovered only made her situation worse.
Level 15
A dire wolf that was enhanced from the Mana Overload that corrupted its body. Unlike its brethren, this dire wolf has become a beacon of power and authority for its species, allowing it to hold a certain amount of influence over the members of its pack. It is highly protective of its pack members and will eliminate anything that poses a threat to them.
Hazel stared at its description, slowly realizing her current situation. And while faced with the supposed beacon of power and authority, the mage could only mutter this.
“I’m really starting to hate this fucking dungeon…”