Hazel and Astrid were facing down a small pack of Dire Wolves. There were at least ten of them as they chased the player duo through the forest.
While running, Astrid turned around and shot an arrow at one of the wolves, nicking their front limb. This caused the monster to tumble on the ground as the rest of its pack left it to continue their pursuit.
“Kill it while you can, mage,” Astrid told Hazel.
“I know,” She grumbled. “And it's Hazel, dark elf!”
Whirling her staff at the tumbling wolf, a powerful mana bolt was fired. Before the Dire wolf could even get up, the bolt of magic pierced its skull, killing it instantly.
[Level 2 Dire Wolf has been killed!]
“And that’s the fifth team kill,” Hazel said proudly.
To be safe, she pulled up the dungeon challenge panel to see if that kill counted. And sure enough, it did.
“Good,” Astrid said calmly, despite running through the forest. “That only leaves twenty-five left before we complete the challenge.”
“Yeah…” The mage looked back over at the rest of the pack chasing them. “These guys could be the other nine if we do this right.”
Astrid followed her gaze and made a slight grin. “I’ll graze as many as I can. Then you use that sickle spell from before.”
“Sounds like a plan!” Hazel nodded, tightening her grip around her staff.
Pulling the string of her bow, the dark elf loosed another arrow at the pack, striking one of their limbs like before. She then did the same for the rest in rapid succession thanks to the help of [Quick Shot]. A volley of arrows hurtled toward the pack, striking each dire wolf one at a time. Each shot only wounded the beasts, either piercing their legs or torsos.
It didn’t take long before the rest of the wolf pack were incapacitated as they collapsed on the dirt ground. Seeing this, the player pair stopped in their tracks. Since the wolves were immobile from Astrid’s volley, they were of no threat to them now.
The dark elf and mage cautiously walked back over to the pack, ready to finish them off. Hazel stared at the wounded beasts, watching them struggle to get back up and either attack them or run away.
Despite seeing such a sight, Hazel knew what needed to be done and could not feel remorse for them. Keeping that in mind, the mage proceeded to cast multiple mana bolts at the dire wolves, killing each one at a time.
[Level 1 Dire Wolf has been defeated!]
[Level 3 Dire Wolf has been defeated!]
[Level 4 Dire Wolf has been defeated!]
[Level 2 Dire Wolf has been defeated!]
[Level 3 Dire Wolf…!]
With the pack eliminated, glowing purple fragments erupted into the air when their vessels shattered. Hazel and Astrid watched the dancing lights for a few moments before walking away to continue their hunt.
As they walked, Hazel pulled up the challenge panel to check their current progress.
[Progress: Monsters Team-Killed [14/30]]
“Looks like we only need sixteen more kills,” She noted.
“Hopefully, it will be another large group like that pack. That will speed up our progress quite a bit.”
“Yeah…”
They were making a lot of progress considering that they started their challenge nearly ten minutes ago. Once they killed a few more monsters, their challenge would be completed. Though, that got Hazel to wonder.
What was their plan after the challenge? Do they stay in the forest or attempt to leave the island and investigate the rest of the dungeon?
“Hey, so, are we going to be staying in the forest for the next remaining time or are we going somewhere else?”
Since Hazel and Astrid were partners, if only temporarily, the novice mage needed to know what her partner’s plan was while they worked together. While she didn’t think the dark elf had a plan, it didn’t hurt to ask.
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“Well, we had three objectives to pick on how to survive in this dungeon. We either stay here for thirty days and return home when the timer runs out, take down a sub-boss to leave the dungeon early, or go after the Dungeon Boss.” Astrid turned around to face Hazel with a curious gaze. “Which option do you think we should choose?”
“You’re asking for my opinion?” Hazel inquired, taken aback.
The dark elf creased her brow irritably. “You make it sound like I was going to call all of the shots without asking for your input.”
Hazel remained silent, not even attempting to respond to her comment. She simply stood there and looked at her partner, waiting for her to figure it out herself.
Astrid soon got the picture and remembered their previous confrontation. How she boldly declared to the mage about their partnership and what was supposed to happen. The gray-skinned ranger started to look guilty after coming to this realization.
“Right, yeah, I guess that’s what I did before. My bad.”
“At least you figured it out yourself without me having to spell it out for you.”
Astrid glared intensely at the mage, only for her to shrug her shoulders in a taunting manner. Seeing this, the dark elf sighed while irritably scratching her head.
“Look, I know that my previous attitude was unfair, but…”
“But what?”
Astrid hesitated to answer as if whatever she was about to say bothered her.
“I…can’t put my trust in people right now.”
Hazel stared at the dark elf with an arched brow. But instead of asking what she meant, the mage simply kept quiet. Judging from her comment about trust, something must’ve happened to Astrid to give her such a mindset.
It would be unnecessary for Hazel to pry into her partner’s business since it wasn’t her own. So, she decided to change the subject to avoid the awkward silence they found themselves in.
“A-anyway, about what I asked earlier. Staying in this forest will only do so much for us before we hit a wall in our growth. So, I think once we’re done with this challenge, we should leave the forest island and explore the dungeon. What do you think?”
“I think that plan sounds reasonable. You’re correct that this forest could only do so much for us, so staying here until the challenge is complete sounds like a good idea.”
From what Hazel saw when she looked at the endless void that was space, there were plenty of other islands for them to investigate and explore. Sure, they could just stay in the forest until their thirty days were up, but their main objective while in this dungeon was to get stronger as well.
The player duo could stay here the whole time, killing monsters, but it won’t take long before they run out of XP to farm. What then? It would be better if they kept moving and mapped out more of the dungeon as they went.
“Before we continue with this challenge, I think we should head back to my hideout,” Hazel suggested. “I have some food and stuff that we could eat and replenish ourselves.”
“That and we should probably choose a place where we could both rest. At least while we were in this forest island.”
“Sounds like a plan to me,” Hazel said with a firm nod.
Changing their plans a bit, the pair decided to take a detour back to their bases to gather supplies. After doing that, their next objective was to finish this challenge. And leaving this island altogether.
…
“This is your shelter?” Astrid asked skeptically, staring at the foxhole that Hazel created.
“Hey, cut me some slack, alright? I’m not much of a forest gal. This is the best I could do with the resources and skills I had on hand.”
Walking over to her foxhole, Hazel moved her makeshift cover to the side. Reaching into the hole, she pulled out her pack.
Setting it down next to her, the mage rummaged through it before pulling out two pieces of jerky. She tossed one to the dark elf while digging into her own.
“You have quite a lot of supplies,” Astrid noted, meticulously scanning the bag. “Were they from other challenges you took before?”
“What’s with the sudden curiosity, huh? I thought you wanted to avoid pointless chit-chat?”
The dark elf groaned at Hazel’s comment. “You’re not going to let me live that down, are you?”
“Not really, no,” The novice mage shrugged with a sly grin on her face.
“Well, I take back what I said before, alright? Happy?”
“Sure. And to answer your previous question, they were from my previous challenges. The first loot box I got saved my life in more ways than one since it had food. The island I was stuck on before coming here had nothing edible, so I was running fumes by the time I was rewarded with the loot box. Then there was this.”
Hazel then took out one of the healing potions she received from the loot box. Astrid eyed the glass vial with slight shock.
“One of those healing potions…” The dark elf muttered.
“Yeah. You got one of those too?”
Astrid nodded. “I do. I used to have two of them, but ended up using one after getting severely injured when I first got here.”
“Sounds about right.”
That was what happened when Hazel got severely injured and received her loot box. If she didn’t receive that potion, who knew how long it would take for her to recover from those injuries? Of course, that was only if she managed to stay alive long enough to fully recuperate.
“I’m going to scout the area while you deal with this,” Astrid declared.
“Alright, but don’t take long. I’m almost done, anyway.”
“It should only take a minute or two.”
Saying nothing else, Astrid took to the trees to do a little scouting. Meanwhile, Hazel continued to organize her belongings, making sure she wasn’t missing anything important.
She had her books, her food and water, her potions, and even her blanket and pillow she took from the tavern room. Thankfully, she was more or less carried light, aside from the books, so there wasn’t a lot for her to keep track of.
A minute or so passed by before Hazel received a message from Astrid.
[Astrid Skogr: I found some monsters nearby.]
Seeing the message, Hazel smiled.
[Hazel Thatcher: Cool, that means more monsters for us to team kill. How many?]
The mage waited for Astrid’s reply, and what the dark elf said next got her excited.
[Astrid Skogr: ten Monsters. All of them are Orcs.]
“Ten Orcs…that’s plenty then.”
[Hazel Thatcher: Keep an eye on them. I’m on my way.]
After sending the message, Hazel placed her bag back in the foxhole. Taking it with her would only drag her down. Because now, it was time to hunt once again.