Deafening howls echoed through the grove, signaling the approach of countless enemies.

What do we do now? With creatures all around ready to rush us down, each potentially as strong as the one we had struggled to handle just now.

We could run back into the cave, only to be hunted through those halls, but I had a feeling that wasn’t a good idea. I couldn’t imagine myself going into those halls without being crushed by falling rocks. Or maybe that was just my pride talking?

While the other two were panicking, I asked Thraisly, {Are all [hellish foxhound]s that strong?}

“Oh, uhh...n-no, they most certainly aren’t. That one was quite large and may have nearly been a master class.”

The only other option, then, was pushing forward. Given how sturdy the plants were, they could provide us decent cover against the mob of [hellish foxhound]s.

Cobaltio leaped off my shoulder and flew into the sky. Over our [draconic bond], I could feel my face sting a little, mirroring his own wounds.

Scouting.

I let Cobaltio do his thing while I thought about what to do next.

“We should get back into the tunnel.” Dota began, unperturbed by my [drake]’s new wings. “We’re surrounded by enemies, and we can easily retreat into the tunnels, which are much more defendable!”

I shook my head. {The tunnels that nearly killed us.}

Thraisly sent the two of us a concerned look as she began to thread vines around our little clearing.

“And what if we made it to the end of this grove, and found no passage, or just as bad, it ended up collapsed?”

The general layout of dungeons wasn’t something unknown to many people, even my sheltered self. There were rooms, passages, stairs, dead ends, and traps. One room typically led to another, and to complete a dungeon and destroy its core, it usually required overcoming a series of challenges. With that in mind, this ‘room’ was likley to lead to a passage.

But if the dungeon worked the way I thought it did, with its ‘cooldown’ on the [earthquake] spell, and we ended up at a dead-end at the end of the room...we were dead.

So it was a bet.

Since I was level 10, I could choose a class, and that would help me in later fights...however, I figured it would be best if I didn’t choose my class quite yet. I didn’t know what was up ahead, and if things got too dangerous I could end up regretting a rash choice.

{And if those crossroads collapse, and we’re forced} wipe, write, {to fight every [hellish foxhound]?} I asked, glaring at, one of Dota’s eyes challengingly.

“Then we’d be overwhelmed, no question about it.”

A yawnlike yell came from above as Cobaltio returned, then landed on my shoulders.

Passage further in, creature over there.

I immediately pointed my fist to the right while unclipping my sword, and Dota shot at a hound that was running at us deep in the brush. Evidently, his bolt struck true, because the hound yelped in pain.

As it got closer to us, I saw just how small it was in comparison to the one we had fought. It was still quite large, yes, but was less than half the size of the previous one. Instead of blindly running into us, it crept into cover.

“Well ain’t that a storm!” Dota said. “It’s waiting for its friends to come and take us down.”

{Well, I guess that means just one thing.}

“Which would be?” Thraisly asked.

{We need to book it.}

“Huh!?” Dota said before I ran to the overgrowth and briefly slowed to wait for my comrades.

“Wait, we’re running now?” Thraisly asked, swiftly leaping onto Milo with what I presumed was a skill, then running after me.

“Fine, but if I die, its yer fault, you got that!” Dota said, running after me after unsheathing his sword.

Sounds good to me, since I’m already damned!

I thought about our options as we ran through the woods. I couldn’t send Cobaltio to scout anymore, since his wings had just run out, and we were dashing through dangerous woods filled with vines, ‘lava’, and ravenous foxhounds.

My new Sunday afternoon!

My biggest assets were my allies, of course, but if worst came to worst, I had a whole selection of classes at my disposal -I could class-up whenever I needed to, into whatever I needed to!

So, for the time being, I ran straight to the center of the grove, where the hazardous overgrowth was least prominent.

While I and Dota hastily chopped at the thorns in front of us, Thraisly moved the more dangerous vines out of our way with [nature’s wrath]. Even at our jogging pace, though, more and more foxhounds were piling up behind us, getting ready to begin an assault. I could see dozens of them when I looked back, cautiously flitting between and over vines and bushes.

And while, thankfully, we could finally burst into a sprint once we got closer to the middle, the foxhounds could do the same.

That was when the real struggle began.

I reached out my hand, and Thraisly grabbed me and helped me onto Milo, who could now move much freer. “So, what’s the plan now!?”

Well, the skill the [hellish foxhound] used to reveal our location had ended nearly a minute ago, but there were still almost two dozen foxhounds behind us. I put my sword away since it wasn’t going to be needed for another minute or so.

{Create a diagonal [barrier] to push the foxhounds into} I wrote, only to be short on space.

“Got it!” Thraisly reached out a hand, and a [barrier] deflected the pursuit of five of the fastest wolves, sending them bouncing into their compatriots behind them. They began to have a short scuffle over their klutziness, with a few bites snapping around in the confusion.

{tell Dota to prepare his crossbow, and throw in} wipe, write, {a [fire bolt] if they get close}.

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Thraisly yelled to Dota, who had activated [avian ancestry] to keep up with Milo, flying not far away. “Get your crossbow ready!”

He put his sword back using his [quick swap] skill, then tumbled to the ground and shot at the foremost [hellish foxhound], which was just as big as the first one we had fought, dwarfing the others near it. He quickly fluttered back into the air.

It suddenly gained speed, sidestepped it, then dashed at us and pounced, leaping into the air.

Nuh-uhh! I know your tricks!

I held out my slate, and Thraisly wasted no time taking it so I could ready my sword. I stood unsteadily on Milo just as the [foxhound] leaped and jumped to meet its attack. Just as I did, I felt clay brush against my ankle.

“[nature’s wrath], [fire bolt]!” Thraisly yelled as I flew towards the foxhound’s open mouth, notifying me.

As its claw swiped towards me, a vine restrained it, and a bolt of fire exploded in the creature’s mouth, making its head recoil up, exposing its neck. Cobaltio’s [death wing] propelled me just as far as it had with [draconic embuement] because he had been damaged and let me meet the creature right where I needed to.

I swung my falchion into its neck, cleaving through half of it with the help of my [decapitator], [monster hunter tier 1], [swordsmanship tier 1], and [ruthless striker tier 2]. Try howling now, f...

The word started with an f...how did I brain fart this hard on this fundamental curse!

Fine, try healing now, sucker!

Whatever...

I slammed into its bloody neck, and was sent tumbling forward along the ground, before being stabilized by [death wing], Cobaltio coming in clutch once more! I hit the ground running, only for the creature, in its dying breaths, to spit lava at me.

I felt Cobaltio was ready to body block it again, but the lava was actually blocked by Dota, who briefly flew behind me to block it with [fire barrier].

Well, it would be unfair to my friends if I didn’t say they came in clutch too!

As I neared Milo, I had to dodge another foxhound’s pounce, leaping to the left with the help of [death wing], then running to her side and climbing back on with Thraisly’s help.

“Milo, now’s the time!” Thraisly yelled once we were halfway through the cave. The mule sped up drastically. Damn, those speed abilities must be common! ...but quite effective nonetheless. Milo dashed through the clearing, creating a gap between us and the wolves, the strongest dying on the ground. Thraisly handed my slate back. “Nice job, everyone!”

I nodded.

“Ya sure look happy for somebody close to dying!” Dota said with humor. “Who would’ve guessed you were such a daredevil type!”

Oh, yeah, I was smiling.

Winning was my mojo, after all!

You gained 46 Exp!

Cobaltio gained 20 Exp because of [shared experience]

In combat...

After not long, we approached the end of the clearing.

“Ok, everyone, things are getting thicker! Time to get off and clear the way!” Thraisly said just as Milo’s speed dropped, the skill giving us almost a half-minute of distance between us and the foxhounds.

I leaped off Milo, then began chopping the overgrowth down with the help of Thraisly.

“Sorry, my leg is...it can’t take anymore,” Dota said, strained. I’d almost forgotten. “I’ll fly over the woods, you two catch up with me.

“Alright, I’ll use some healing magic when I get the chance,” Thraisly assured him.

I cut through the roses and vines for almost a minute, Cobaltio blocking me from the lava that occasionally sprayed from the plants I chopped down.

“I see the exit,” Dota yelled from above. “Its really high up a-”

He fell from the sky, falling onto the serpentine tree from above, then quickly stumbling to catch up to us.

I briefly looked up to see that the cave sloped upward for two dozen meters, not far from where we were. It was too steep for Milo to climb at any reasonable pace, with two people atop, though...

Once we got to the edge of the slope, I looked behind us. Not far behind, the foxhounds bounded through the woods, rapidly approaching.

“Dang it, [avian ancestry] ran out just too late. How do we get Milo up there? Or even me?” Dota asked.

I quickly assessed the situation and formed a plan -a fairly standard one by my standards. I shuffled through my pack, then threw Dota a bundle of rope, and pointed to the circular exit of black stone up the slope.

“Oh, yeah. I guess there is a shadow up there.” He said. We climbed up the slope individually, even Dota, but Milo found it difficult to make it up, despite mules’ affinity for difficult terrain.

Then, once he got close enough, Dota disappeared and reappeared in the shadowy cave exit using his [shadow step]. “Tie it to Milo!” he yelled to us as he threw down the rope.

I helped Thraisly tie the rope around Milo’s body, then took out Houndcleaver while she climbed to the top with the help of the rope. Once she got to the top, she tugged on Milo with Dota, helping him walk up.

Ok, Houndcleaver, time to really live up to your name!

An army of foxhounds began to climb up the slope after us, and one quickly pounced on me.

Get away from me, you ugly hound!

I cut down at it, lodging my falchion into its forehead with a satisfying crack of splitting bone, sending it back down to the ground, where it belonged!

You gained 12 Exp.

Cobaltio gained 2 Exp because of [shared experience].

You leveled up!

Stat up: Str: +1 Dex: +0 Con: +1 Wiz: +1 Int: +0 Cha: +1

In combat...

Another leaped from the side before I could move my sword, so I tried to knock it aside with my shield but only managed to throw its maw away from me. Thankfully, a [fire bolt] exploded in the creature’s side just as it got disoriented, sending it rolling into its comrades below.

“Yee-haw, yee-haw!” I heard behind me, Milo terrified as more and more foxhounds rushed up the slope, targeting me and her. I shuffled up the slope, closer to the mule and on more fortified ground.

Two foxhounds struggled to get to me but lunged to bite my legs, so I slashed horizontally to dissuade them, cutting the left one’s eyes, sending it backing off, blinded and off-balance, but only aggravating the other one.

It managed to bite my leg, its fangs digging straight into my flesh. My vision was enveloped in static as the pain overwhelmed me. It quickly faded into adrenaline.

The foxhound had begun to drag me closer to its friends, so I stuck it with houndcleaver for a second time, lodging it in the creature’s skull.

As it lost balance, it tried to take me down with it, keeping me in a death grip as it slid down, but I had more than predicted that behavior. Before it had the chance to move me an inch, I used my sword’s edge, buried in its nose, to pry its jaws open, and barely got my leg out in time to watch it fall into the crowd.

You gained 14 Exp.

Cobaltio gained 3 Exp because of [shared experience].

in combat...

I climbed up to Milo who had moved to only six feet from the ledge. Still, five foxhounds had begun to bound near me and looked ready to die for the cause.

Then, the floor began to shake.

The earth trembled as another earthquake rocked the ground, sending the foxhounds tumbling, and me gripping onto whatever handhold I could get.

“Saya, get up, now!” Thraisly yelled.

You don’t need to tell me twice!

Milo hadn’t fallen because of the rope, so she and I climbed further with the occasional help of Cobaltio’s [death wing]. Finally, I reached the edge.

“Get on!” Thraisly yelled before helping me and Dota onto Milo. Milo didn’t need to be told to activate her speed-up skill for the third time and dashed through the tunnel as it quaked.

I saw the ceiling crack, the origin of the tremors not far ahead of us, causing dust to fall onto us.

“Put in everything you’ve got, Milo!!” Thraisly roared.

Milo put the hoove to the stone and dashed through the tunnels. I got a sense of deja vu as we passed the origin of the cracks, and stones began to fall behind us. The tunnel itself seemed to chase us out, the cracks racing along the mine’s ceiling.

I looked behind us one last time and in the vague light of the grove. I could have sworn I saw a shadowed figure running.

But my vision was murky, and dust quickly obscured its form. Seeing nothing else to do, I held on tight to Thraisly as the tunnel roared of falling stones, and we sped through the earthquake’s deadly approach.

About a minute later, the sound faded away and was replaced by silence.

Milo came to a stop and wasted no time falling to her knees after we jumped off.

We were home-free, at least for now.