The lever goes down. I hear the mechanism's click and then the metal grate opens. The time until the creature appears, a zombie bear identical to the previous one, feels eternal. I can see the stands have filled again with skeleton mages. The wolf doesn't waste time. Three minutes is all that's going to last the three mana points its lick restored to me. I assume they won't let us rest between this level and the dungeon's last one, so three minutes is all that separates us from victory or defeat. And he knows it. He immediately teleports to the bear's shadow and tears it apart with two quick slashes from behind. His claws have a sinister dark glow, I guess he's activated shadow claws. It's as if neither the putrid flesh nor the zombie's bones offer more resistance than butter to a knife. Without losing a split second, with a third slash he separates the bear's head from its body and lunges at the mages. He doesn't waste mana on his shadow howl, directly goes from shadow to shadow reaping enemies at great speed. Like before, none of the normal mages can finish their casting, those in the stands either. I force myself to close my mouth, I'd only need to be drooling at the huge wolf's incredible elegance, at how precise and lethal his strikes are, executed at a speed that escapes me. I run toward the third metal gate and pull the lever moments before the wolf finishes his work. He gives me a quick glance and teleports to my side, ready to finish the next threat when it arrives. And not even seven seconds have passed. I hurry to move away from the open door to get to safety. The third creature is also a zombie bear, only bigger than the previous two. Doesn't matter to him, the seed of evil finishes it with the same two slashes from behind, using the third to separate its head from the already lifeless corpse. This time there are many more archmages and, along with the skeleton mages in the stands, there are also archers. As soon as I see them, I duck into the nearest bear tunnel, dodging a couple shots by a hair. Sheltered, I wait for the fighting noise to stop, which sounds much more intense and lasts a bit longer than the previous times. When a few seconds pass, I see yellow flames on the arena floor, I guess this time the archmages must have been able to cast their spells. No problem, they extinguish as soon as the wolf finishes them off. Then he teleports in front of me; he's enormous, barely fits in a passage the bear passed through without problems. He moves his muzzle to point outside.

"Yes, let's go," I tell him.

Instantly, he's no longer in front of me. I run toward the arena, swatting away the popup windows appearing before me. As soon as I exit the tunnel, I stop for a second to look around. The flames have left their mark where they burned: both on the arena and on the stone of the stands, there are completely blackened patches. A soft growl reminds me we need to hurry.

"Which way?" I ask him.

I glance at the counter I have in the right corner of my vision, with the spell's remaining time. 2 minutes and 17 seconds.

For all response he jumps up to the stands. I follow as fast as I can, which unfortunately isn't much. Almost a minute later I'm in the box, whose back door is open and leads to another spiral staircase descending. Before I can start going down the wolf snorts and grabs me by the back, holding my backpack between his teeth. Immediately he descends at full speed down the stairs. I scream, startled by how sudden it is. As soon as we're down he releases me. The access closes and a window notifies me we're in the dungeon's third level and the boss room.

47 seconds left. No wonder the seed of evil got impatient. If only he'd done it earlier and helped me up the stands too…

I haven't even recovered from the sudden trip when my ally is already in the other corner of the huge cavern we find ourselves in, fighting with a creature that was hidden in the shadows.

Lich, level 5.

I read, straining my eyes.

All I can see is a tall, skeletal creature, covered by a hooded robe whose dark tone matches that of the chamber's stone walls. Its hands, with long bone fingers, protrude from the sleeves. One of them grips a mage's staff much more decorated and ostentatious than those of the box's archmages. It has a huge stone that emits a milky light and is held by several skeletal hands carved into the handle's wood. There's also something, a sinister aura surrounding it, that chokes my heart and leaves me staring at it scared. The wolf has put me down on the floor and I, just seeing the creature, feel unable to move, barely even breathe. Its presence exerts a sinister, terrifying pressure that makes me want to run in the opposite direction, or start digging in the ground with my bare fingers, anything to get away from its sight. And yet, I can't move.

Thank goodness the wolf is immune and doesn't waste time. In that second that for me goes beyond panic, he has such magic resistance that he hasn't even noticed the enemy aura's effect and lunges at it. The lich strikes its staff's wood against the ground and long bones, curved like elephant tusks but much larger, quickly surge from below, interposing between him and the wolf. My ally has to dodge with a jump to avoid being impaled by the bones, which keep sprouting from the ground trying to wound him. At great speed, so much that I can barely follow it, the wolf circles the lich looking for an opening and the bones end up covering a circular crown that completely surrounds the creature.

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43 seconds.

Part of me expects the shadow wolf to teleport to the boss's shadow, inside its defensive circle. However, I realize there isn't enough space as the enemy is practically in contact with the bones. I'm still scared and unable to move or take my eyes off the scene. The wolf uses his own shadow aura to lower the boss's defense and attack, I don't know if he succeeds. Meanwhile, it chants something and hits the ground with its staff again. Throughout the cave, the human bones carpeting it begin to animate with dark energy, which makes them take shape at dizzying speed. Necromancy. A branch of dark magic. In the game used by villains with the most corrupt and despicable souls. Raising the dead is a spell with more than five minutes casting time. That boss, surely its staff is magical and allows it to store some spells, ready to be unleashed at will.

The wolf, who has covered his claws with magic and is destroying a path through the bones, notices the new enemies. Before they can attack him, he opens its jaws and casts shadow howl, leaving them all paralyzed. I'm still under the lich's terrifying aura effect, unable to feel relief. If not, I certainly would feel it, because if those skeleton warriors changed target and came for me, I'd die in seconds.

Speaking of seconds... the counter shows 37.

The wolf has a dark energy ball, an area attack. But his mana is limited. I see the sinister glow on his sharp nails and confirm he's bet on empowering his claws. The bones shatter before his attacks, breaking easily where the shadow wolf lands his slashes, to fall to the ground afterward, their weight claimed by gravity. My ally, however, goes so fast that the first bone fragments haven't even touched the ground when he's already cutting the last ones separating him from his enemy. The latter seems to hesitate for an instant, one in which even its aura weakens and I feel momentary relief from the fist of terror gripping me, I can almost move. It passes quickly, too quickly, and I see the creature has summoned a bone shield that shatters before the wolf's charges.

34 seconds.

It's too fast. The boss emanates some kind of dark light that detaches from it like a nova. It does nothing to my ally, but it frees the skeletons and causes their empty eye sockets to burn with a dark red flame. While the creatures head toward the wolf, the lich regenerates its shield again and again and each time the wolf breaks it easily. The boss is retreating, the curved bones at its back moving to let it pass. Many skeletons have reached the wolf's position and are striking him with swords. His skin, tough, doesn't show even the slightest scratch. Some grab his hind legs with their bone hands, but the seed of darkness is very strong in this form, so he ignores them, keeps advancing as if nothing was trying to restrict his movement.

Several seconds pass. The boss finally reaches the cave's corner, which was nearby, running out of places to retreat to. Without wasting an instant, the wolf breaks its last shield and lunges with open jaws at the lich's neck vertebrae. With his enormous strength, amid a crack, he breaks them. Before the skull can fall to the ground, he's destroyed it with a couple of attacks from his claws. The bluish lights in its eye sockets go out. The skeletons, which were still determined to finish off the wolf, collapse to the ground in multiple piles of bones. When silence falls, I hear only my agitated breathing. The shadow wolf still has 26 seconds left; but they're no longer necessary. My god, if time had run out and that creature had still been alive, even dying, I couldn't have done anything. I feel totally out of my league. This contract, the shadow wolf, seems like a gift fallen from heaven to give me an overwhelming advantage, but I'm very aware it has a price I neither asked for nor want.

Before I can give it much more thought, several popup windows appear before me. I'm too surprised by what just happened to read them immediately. Instead I keep staring at the wolf, who returns to my side like nothing happened and lies down, resting his huge head between his paws at the level of my fingers. Is he actually expecting me to scratch between his ears?

Congratulations. You have just completed the dungeon at insanity level.

Calibrating reward.

Congratulations. You have leveled up. You are now level 6 and have one free attribute point to spend.

The remaining seconds must have passed because the shadow wolf, whose head I've hesitantly petted, transforms into the puppy that immediately jumps into my arms and licks my face.

"That breath..." I protest.

I do scratch behind the little one's ears while still trying to process what just happened. Did we really win? Well, that "we"...

Calibrating reward.

Searching for what your heart desires most.

Calibrating reward.

Reward calibrated.

You have obtained the Ring of Resistance.

Before my eyes, the popup window disappears and in its place is something that shines so brightly it forces me to narrow my eyelids. Gradually the light loses intensity and I can see it's something small, a ring. I hesitantly stretch out my hand and, when it stops glowing and begins to fall to the ground, I hurry to put my palm underneath and catch it. It's a metal ring, by the shape it seems meant for a man and has a seal engraved on the square part on top.

Ring of Resistance. Legendary item. Offers the possibility to resist an unwanted destiny.

"But, how does it work?" I mutter while trying to figure it out.

Ability 1. Locked.

Ability 2. Locked.

Ability 3. Locked.

The user does not possess sufficient level or power to unlock them.