"While the System may show heavy favoritism towards sentient life when if first comes, it seems to only extend to the tutorial and relocation, as there is no recorded instances of the System interfering to the favor of sentients in anywhere near similar levels, and it has been long suspected that the only reason non-sentients weren't sent to a tutorial was that it is more beneficial for them to stay behind and adapt with their environments."
-Loremaster Squibb, Overseer of the Royal Library
----------------------------------------
Slowly but surely, the hours passed until the setting sun caused our surroundings to darken, our cue to head to the den and prepare the ambush, and after looking for a proper place to wait we found no better location than where we had waited the previous night, and so we took our positions behind trees and waited, each of us looking in a different direction to ensure we would see them coming as soon as possible.
Just like the previous night, it wasn't until the last wisps of sunlight started to fade that we saw them, this time Arnold being the first to spot them and alerting everyone, and after a quick check to confirm that their levels and numbers were the same before we all readied our opening attacks, with me having already made a maximum mana bear out of Lightning, as I was worried that it would be too slow if I used Crystal. They were too far away for me to effectively use Lightning, so I prepared a crystal spike, imbuing 100 mana to ensure that it would do damage, aiming at one of the level 12's as we had decided previously to target the weaker ones first to get a numbers advantage. Feeling the energy leave my skin and amass into the desired shape, only a nudge away from solidifying, I looked to the others and we shared a brief nod before we all launched our attacks simultaneously.
Silently, two crystal spikes, two crystal spears, and one arrow streaked through the forest at the unsuspecting coyotes, who seemed to have been less fortunate with their hunt tonight as they carried no carcasses with them, and while the two spears missed their targets, one thudding into a tree and the other flying past into the darkness, the other attacks all met their mark, my crystal spike tearing through the stomach of one of them and causing its intestines to spill out, while Roxy's lodged into the flank of another, not quite strong enough to pierce through but still doing substantial damage, and Amy's arrow went into the neck of the level 10, only discernible by the blood that spurted out of the newly made hole.
Barely a second after all of our attacks landed, the coyotes reacted, turning towards the source of the attacks before charging at us, the one that Roxy hit significantly slower due to its wound while the other two collapsed. Bounding through the forest while howling and growling at us, the remaining coyotes closed the distance, coming within 5 meters before being intercepted by Roxy, Jordan, and my bear, crossing the 30 or so meters between us in mere seconds, with the injured one not far behind. Unfortunately, they seemed much smarter than what we were used to fighting, as they all backed up after being intercepted rather than trying to fight one on one, not giving Arnold the time he needed for a sneak attack. As they retreated a few paces and regrouped, dodging a hastily shot arrow from Amy, I ordered my bear to pursue them, causing it to charge at them with a crack as it made full use of its speed to close the distance, still slightly slower than a hawk with similar cost, but fast enough that the coyotes were barely able to react before it reached them and caught one of them in its maw, making it cry out in pain as arcs of lightning crackled from the bears teeth and into its body.
Shortly after the bear landed its bite, I felt its energy rapidly drain as the other three coyotes, including the alpha, rained blow after blow upon it to free their comrade, all but ignoring the retilitory shocks that came, managing to make my bear dissipate after only a few seconds due to the fragility that all constructs made of Lightning shared. Even though it was unable to finish off the coyote, though it was close, it did buy the rest of us precious seconds that we used to prepare out next attacks, Roxy bracing herself and making crystal walls in a v shape to force them to attack from the front while Arnold slunk behind trees to await an opening, Jordan standing next to Roxy similarly braced. Meanwhile I had made two hawks out of Lightning for 20 mana each, intending to use them to harass the coyotes during their charge and saving the remaining mana for a strong Lightning bolt on the leader.
Once the coyotes finished the bear and looked to us, I saw the leader quickly flick his head towards their den before letting out a powerful roar before they all charged at Roxy and Jordan, no choice but to run headfirst, but they were all much faster than previously, the two that were injured seemingly ignoring their injuries even as blood trailed behind them as they ran as fast as their uninjured packmates. This time they didn't retreat after their initial collision, instead sending the level 12, which was the one my bear had injured, to occupy Jordan while the other three focused on Roxy, who was barely able to withstand the simultaneous assault, managing to avoid any serious injuries but quickly accumulating scratches with new ones appearing every second. Trusting Jordan to hold his own, I used my remaining mana to shoot a Lightning bolt at the leader while I had my two hawks divebomb the other two, using [Detonate Construct] once I felt them take damage from the recoil of their strikes, dealing decent damage and managing to stun all three long enough for Amy to kill one with an arrow while Arnold stabbed the other through its ear, leaving only the leader and the one that was fighting Jordan, which quickly fell as whatever was letting it ignore its injuries seemed to fade, causing its reactions to slow enough for Jordan to finish it off.
If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
Seeing all of its comrades fall, the last coyote let out a mournful howl before shaking off the remnant electricity from my attack and attacking Arnold with renewed vigor and hatred in its eyes, desperate to take out at least one of the invaders responsible for the death of its pack. Lacking any defensive skills, Arnold was barely able to avoid the initial bite of the coyote, his eyes barely having a chance to widen at the sudden danger before a follow up swipe with its claws sent him flying, colliding with the crystal walls Roxy had made before slumping down, either having lost consciousness, died, or being too injured to move. As if to punish the mistake of turning its back towards her, Roxy landed a deep slash on the Coyote, her blade glowing more vibrantly than I had ever seen before as it nearly bisected the beast, stopping it from pursuing the downed Arnold as it collapsed to the ground after a single failed step before succumbing to its wounds, ending the fight.
Immediately after it fell, we all rushed to Arnold, readjusting his body to see the extent of his injury, the pool of blood beneath him and his lack of reaction making us all worried. Checking his breath, which was shallow but present, we stripped him of his chest piece and examined the four jagged red lines across his stomach and chest that were still oozing blood. Washing the wound with water, we saw that while not as serious as we originally feared, the gashes only being half an inch or so deep, he was still clearly unconscious and who knew what injuries he had that we couldn't see, as he had collided pretty hard with the wall. Applying some of the paste that my mother had given me and wrapping his wound as best we could, we used some hide as a makeshift stretcher to lift him, hesitating for a second about where to actually bring him.
"We have to get back to town, I know there's at least one person with some kind of healing class."(Roxy)
"No, it's too dark, we're more likely to get lost, and then we'll all die."(Amy)
"Shit. Shit shit SHIT! Okay, his breathing is shallow, but its stable, we'll rest in the coyote's den until the sunrises, but as soon at it gets bright we leave and get to town as fast as we can."(Roxy)
With the still darkening sky as our backdrop, we carried Arnold to then den, and it wasn't until we were inside that we realized why the coyotes had fought so hard and hadn't even attempted to run, yipping from the depths causing all of us to instinctually tense for yet another fight before our eyes adjusted to the dark and we saw six coyote pups, all bigger than they should be but still clearly young and still level 1, as they cowered in the corner near a partially eaten deer that I recognized from the previous day. Relieved that there weren't any more enemies, we quickly had a very uncomfortable conversation about what to do about them.
"We should kill them."(Amy)
"WHAT! They are just puppies! Even if we leave them alone it's not like they can do anything to us!"(Roxy)
"Yet."(Amy)
Hearing Amy's cold suggestion that she gave with an even and unflinching tone, Roxy was the first to react with an exclamation, clearly unwilling to to kill the pups, but one word from Amy was enough to make her go silent as we all looked towards Arnold, remembering the strength of the coyotes we had just fought, and after a few moments Jordan silently got up and walked to the pups, Roxy looking away as he unsheathed his blade and quickly ended the trembling pups, his knuckles white on the grip of his sword as Amy gave him a nod and I got up to throw the bodies outside, desperately trying, and only barely managing, to keep the bile in the back of my throat from rising up and making me vomit. Returning to the den and all but collapsing as I sat against the wall and watched Roxy halfheartedly search for loot, to which she found nothing but dirt and some scattered bones, I checked the system message from the fight as a way to take my mind of things.
Congratulations, you have defeated a Level 10 Giant Coyote and gained 50 EXP Congratulations, you have defeated a Level 11 Dire Coyote and gained 100 EXP Congratulations, you have defeated a Level 12 Dire Coyote x2 and gained 400 EXP Congratulations, you have defeated a Level 13 Dire Coyote Alpha and gained 400 EXP
Seeing the numbers made me pause for a second until my brain realized the problem, all of them except the first one were way more than they should be, and unlike the deer I fought in the tutorial this time there was no system message explaining why.
"Uh, could you guys check your system messages from the fight? I want to confirm something."(Mason)
All of them opening their messages after hearing me speak, I saw all of them have the same brief moment of confusion before it was replaced by a greater confusion tinted with happiness.
"I'm assuming you're talking about the EXP from the fight?"(Jordan)
"Yeah, only the first one gave the expected amount, the others all gave double, and I don't know why."(Mason)
"Maybe because they were above level 10? Two classes, or whatever animals have, means two times the EXP?"(Roxy)
"Maybe. Either way I'm not gonna look a gift horse in the mouth."(Mason)
With no one having any solid answer, the conversation died quickly as we all drifted to sleep, all of us exhausted from the fight, Arnold's breathing having becoming slightly less shallow over the hour or so that it took me to fall asleep, not that I had any real medical knowledge beyond some basic first aid. The next morning, the first thing I did was make a crystal stretcher for Arnold, only the frame actually made out of crystal as we used hide for the part he was held on, and a large sled for the coyotes, me and Jordan carrying the stretcher while I made a bear for the coyotes, and we made our way back to town, Arnold's wounds being better than the previous day, once again highlighting how superhuman we all were with our levels and stats, but still far too serious to stay in the forest. Even encumbered as we were, our numbers and levels meant that none of the forest animals bothered us as we walked back, going as fast as we could while keeping the stretcher stable. With the speed we were going at, we managed to reach the town with a few hours remaining before sunset, and we beelined to the town hall to get some actual medical aid for Arnold, who had slightly stirred during the trip but had not awoken, gathering a large amount of attention due to the six large Coyote corpses being dragged along by a semi-transparent blue bear alongside me and Jordan carrying Arnold.