"Open Inventory Equip Laser Rifle." My hands morphed into the rifle as I quickly brought it to bear on the three wolves. When they saw the gun forming, the wolves immediately started running towards me. They seemed slower than the wolf that attacked me before. At the same time, I felt as though I was slower, my body not reacting as fast as I remembered it. It must be the increased Intelligence.

With the split-second I had before the wolves could reach me, I did the only thing I could think of. I activated one of my abilities. I yelled "extreme jump" at the top of my lungs, causing the wolves to flinch. A surge of energy seemed to rush into me as I jumped. I shot upwards, feeling as though I had just been launched from a cannon.

I felt like the Hulk, easily clearing buildings with a single leap. I admit, despite the desperate situation I was in, I was smiling the entire time. I was even with the second story before I started to slow down, the laser rifle now cradled in my fully formed arms.

The wolves were growling below me, one of them attempting to jump upwards. That one managed to jump a good ten feet in the air. They must have some strength status points or something. I felt gravity take ahold of me as I almost reached the third-story of the five-story apartment building. I panicked as my stomach dropped before I remembered one of my other abilities.

"Flight!" I yelled. My fall slowed slightly, but I was still heading right for the wolves. This whole event felt like it had taken about three seconds, which meant about two seconds in reality. I don't know how I was able to come up with the numbers so fast, must be the increased intelligence was helping out in that department.

I raised my laser rifle and started firing as I fell. I kept the trigger depressed as I concentrated my fire on the wolf that had jumped. The beam of bright energy lanced out, my vision darkening as it did so. The laser burned a hole through the ground a little to the right of the wolf I had been aiming for. Molten metal appeared as I sliced right through the nanites that made up the ground. With a twitch of my hand, I corrected my aim.

The laser played over the wolf, starting with its left should and trailing back towards its tail. Blue lights counteracted the lasers deadly energy but, about halfway to its tail, the laser penetrated the wolf and bisected its lower half. Glowing metal shone briefly before it was enveloped in grey goo as the wolf dissolved.

At that point, my fall had stopped as I started hovering above the remaining two wolves. I took aim at the wolf in front of me, the laser beam already moving towards my target. The one on the left leaped up towards me as the laser dug into his companion, causing me to flinch and let go of the trigger. I floated backwards, my feet trailing behind me as I moved away from the wolf that was attempting to rip my shoulder to shreds. The wolf was still able to grab my ankle though, causing me to shout in pain as it dragged me down towards the ground.

The wolf I had been attempting to shoot was missing its left ear, but it looked fine otherwise as it started running towards me. I aimed my rifle towards the wolf biting my ankle and fired. The laser beam hit it right in the face, causing the wolf to let go of my ankle out of reflex. I shot upwards, no longer being held down. The fur of one of the wolves brushed my thigh before I was back in the air.

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I willed myself to fly backwards, my body moving in response. I aimed past my feet as they trailed behind me, my back pointed towards wherever I was going. I fired a laser beam at the wolf that was missing its ear. The laser didn't quite go through its skull, pausing briefly as the shield that it had managed to regenerate desperately tried to stop it. Then, the laser went right through the wolf's skull. The wolf turned into a very familiar pile of grey goo, its body disappearing as it melted into the ground.

The other wolf was still chasing me. It leapt at me once more, attempting to grab my ankle again. I lashed out at the wolf, my kick almost landing. I missed, but it did make the wolf pause. I was about to pull the trigger for the laser rifle, but I slammed into the wall of the apartment and fell to the ground, stunned. Note to self, impacts can turn flight off.

When I managed to get my wits about me, the wolf already had its jaws open, ready to bite down on my head. I freaked out and attempted to fire the laser rifle, but the wolf had learned. It grabbed ahold of the rifle and bit down, hard. I heard crunching noises as the rifle splintered in its mouth. Hold up. The wolf that just chewed through metal was the same one that had gnawed on my foot?! Those shields were for real!

I didn't have any time to contemplate that as the wolf grabbed ahold of my skull with its jaw and started squeezing. I was staring right down the thing's throat. While the walls of its throat seemed fleshy, there was a noticable lack of saliva. Becoming panicked, I yelled out "Open Inventory Equip Sword" down the wolf's throat. That is a very weird experience that I do not recommend to anyone.

The sword formed in my right hand, which I promptly stabbed into the wolf's side. There was some resistance on the first stab, which the wolf growled at. My entire head vibrated when it did so, its jaws remaining clamped around my skull. My SP had already went from 410 to 360 from the constant bites of the wolves. As the pressure on my skull increased, my SP quickly dropped to 317 and then to 274. The second stab met with more success as it sliced through the wolves side. The wolf let go with a howl before snapping at my hand. Gathering all my might, I twisted the sword.

The wolf slumped over top of me before dissolving. The cold liquid washed over me as it melted into the ground. More blue screens appeared in front of me.

Combat has ended! You have defeated 3 wolves, level 10 Loot gained: 10 shards

I just laid on the ground. I just couldn't muster up the will to move right now. My emotions were shot from what had felt like a near death experience. The trauma of looking down a wolf's throat as it attempted to bite through my skull left me feeling weak.

I managed to finally sit up, but I still didn't try and stand. I just wanted to curl up into a ball and hide right now. To distract myself from my fears, I studied the numbers and bars in my vision.

There was my red Shield bar, currently at 356. Then my EP that was still at 410. Right below that was where the monster wave timer had been previously. There were some numbers there and a couple words too. What? The monster wave had already started. Shouldn't it just be 00:00? 

I peered at the letters and numbers attempting to read them. Monster Wave Completion 218/10,000. As I watched, the numbers ticked up by 3, bringing the first numbers to 221.

So. There was a total of 10,000 wolves that needed to be killed before the monster wave was done. Just peachy.