Since the Moss Wolves stay curled up in what looks like a sleeping position, I take some extra time to think of an actual plan this time instead of the usual headstrong assaults I have been doing. To start with, one of the Level 10 monsters is only a few yards deep into the room, which hopefully might be close enough for me to take the wolf out before it can even rise up fully to its feet. For the other two, they are both much further away. The second Level 10 wolf is about two thirds of the way into the room, and the last, but definitely not least, is resting just a couple of feet in front of the opposite doorway.
Since the room is filled with grass that is shin height in length, I can only assume that the back two Moss Wolves will do that grass entangling Skill that I encountered in my last wolf fight, while the front wolf will try to keep me occupied as my movement becomes restricted. If I just had some fire to set the room ablaze, this room would instantly become much easier. Unfortunately I do not have fire, so I need to come up with another solution to my grassy field issue. I apparently suck at coming up with strategies as well, since other than chopping away at the grass as I traverse the room, I can't come up with any other grand plan besides moving as quickly as possible so that the Moss Wolves won't have enough time to bind my feet in place.
I come out from behind the doorway, and prep myself to dash inside by placing my axe in my right hand, freeing up my tail that had been holding it until now. As I move my body into a position more suitable to take off from, I finally come up with a half decent idea to start off the battle with. If I want to limit how much time I spend in one spot, why don't I take out the closest wolf before even stepping into the room, making it so that I can head straight for the actually dangerous opponents? To accomplish this, I bring my arm back, and aim for the wolf closest to me the best I can, before throwing my axe as hard as I can straight at the Level 10 Moss Wolf curled up about a couple dozen feet away from me.
Either by luck or skill I'm not aware of, my axe thuds right into the skull of the wolf as I bolt into the room chasing after it. The monstrous animal doesn't even let out a yelp of pain, dying instantly from the blow to a vital organ, but the other two wolves still jolt up instantly due to the noise coming from the shattering of bone and the pounding footsteps of a certain aggressive demoness that is mighty pleased with herself right now, if I do say so myself. Right when the remaining two wolves crouch forward and growl at me fiercely, I reach the first corpse and lean down, wrenching the weapon from the skull as I sprint past it, not stopping for a single moment.
I can feel grass attempting to wrap around my ankles, but my momentum allows me to just rip through the verdant bindings with ease. Seeing that its current efforts are proving to be useless, the Level 15 Moss Wolf rises to its full stature and opens its maw as a golden glow begins to rise up from its throat. I stop running in a straight line, swerving from side to side to make myself more difficult of a target for the light that is about to come. My preemptive action bears fruit, as the first bolt of light streaks past me by a few inches, along with the next two volleys missing by other similar margins.
I focus my attention on dodging the rays of light as much as possible, managing to dodge a decent amount as I get closer and closer, with the only impacts being in spots that aren't of immediate concern, like my arm, shoulder, or any spot of my leather chest piece that gets struck. As I do this dodge and weaving maneuver, the other Level 10 wolf has been backing up, and is now just a couple of feet to the side of the Moss Wolf currently blasting me with light. It has been trying to entangle me as best as it can the whole time, but I've managed to break through all of its attempts so far.
My luck runs out soon after though, as once I reach about two thirds of the way to my opponents, my focus on the two opponents in front of me allows an unknown entity to strike the back of one of my knees, causing me to stumble to the ground and tumble a few times. While I scramble to my feet as quickly as possible, a high pitched chiming sound reaches my ears from behind me, and I swivel my head towards the noise, and spot the one responsible for the sneak attack.
Hovering in the air with her rapidly fluttering wings, is a three inch tall humanoid looking figure draped in a bright red flower petal dress, skin a light pink similar to cherry blossoms, and ear length hair as green as the grass filling the room. She is also currently pointing towards me with a relatively massive two inch long wooden needle and laughing at me with her windchime-esque voice. I stare at the fairy-like figure in front of me for a few moments, amazed at her beautiful appearance, but as soon as I receive the results from [Eyes Of Aspirations], my wonder at the magical creature swiftly turns to worry.
{Poisonthorn Pixie: Level 20}
[Current Desire: To Toy With The Dungeon Delver]
My eyes dart to the wooden spike the pixie is directing towards me as she continues to giggle at me, and I now spot that the tip is covered in a miniscule amount of a black liquid. I wipe my hand against the back of the knee that was struck moments before, and I raise it to my face, only to spot a tiny smudge of black blood staining a couple of my fingers.
Shit! The bitch just poisoned me with that attack.
My distraction costs me further, as a blast of light smacks straight into the back of my head, causing me to stumble forward disorientated. Luckily, the Level 10 Moss Wolf that is on grass controlling duty had not yet bound my feet fully, so I didn't embarrass myself any more by face planting in the dirt, but that small upside doesn't stop the pixie from doubling over midair and laughing at me even harder anyways.
Not having the time to worry about how deadly the poison that entered my body is, I decide to abandon my careful approach, and barrel straight towards the Level 15 Moss Wolf whilst covering my head with my bracers. While this action puts the newfound threat in a position to strike me from behind, I put my trust in the part of me that has carried me so far to allow me to reach the wolves and get rid of them so they don't inhibit my movement anymore, my overwhelming Recovery. If I can regrow limbs, no matter how slowly, I truly believe I can handle a bit of poison, especially from something the same Level as me.
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I might come to regret this, as I feel a prick on my other leg followed by another bout of giggling chimes, but I ignore it for now, since my rush allowed me to reach the wolves while sustaining only a few bursts of light against my armored parts and the aforementioned prick of what is most likely another injection of poison. I slam down my axe from above, using [Power Slash] on the head of the Level 15 Moss Wolf before it can blast me again with more light. The last wolf tries to pounce on me, but I manage to smack it down with a [Power Slash] [Tail Whip] as I dislodge my axe, having noticed the incoming attack via my peripheral vision. Since the strike hit it across the back, the wolf manages to survive the initial injury with a deep gash across its body, but I put it out of its misery before it can get up by whipping straight through its neck this time. Having dispatched of the obstacles, I turn to face the Poisonthorn Pixie, which has now stopped its mirthful laughter, and give it a malicious grin of my own.
“Not so funny anymore, now is it? I suggest you run Tinkerbell, cus I'd be more than glad to whup your ass!”
The pixie doesn't seem all too pleased by my taunting, as her face turns from a light pink to a red almost as crimson as mine, with steam actually coming out of both her ears and from the top of her head. I start to chuckle at the comically intense anger coming from the pint sized pixie, but that action became the breaking point. The pixie stops her fit of rage, and lifts up the needle almost as tall as she is towards me, wrath now covering her face, and I now spot the eerie pitch black eyes staring right at me hatefully. She then opens her tiny mouth, a short tinkling chime coming out that reaches my ears and forms words inside my mind, [Splintered Thorn Shot].
Before I fully register the oddity that is interpreting words from music-like chimes, a small green glow at the tip of the needle-like thorn is immediately followed by dozens of identical thorns rapidly shooting out towards my face in a deadly spray. I quickly bring up both of my bracers to block the attack, but the needle-like thorns pierce right through the leather, burying themselves an inch deep into my flesh. I peek around my raised arms to see if the pixie is still shooting thorns at me, only to spot the menace rapidly approaching towards me, arm extended forward with its lance of a thorn. I attempt to swat at her with my arm, but she just swerves around the limb gracefully before proceeding to dive straight into my right eye with all its force.
I let out a guttural scream of pain and slap my hand over my eye, which the pixie dodges easily. Luckily for me, the bitch couldn't get her weapon out of my eye in time, but I'm not sure how great that is since I now have a wooden thorn the length of my pinky sticking out of my eyeball. As I try to ignore the object protruding from my now blinded eye, the pixie flies backwards while flipping me off with both of her hands, which only pisses me off even more.
I charge at the disarmed pixie, flailing wildly as I try to grab at or smack the flying menace out of the air with my arms. My futile attempts seem to have returned her mirth though, as the tinkling giggles start up once more as she seemingly effortlessly dodges me whilst flying backwards. When I try to hit her with my axe, she just dodges over the swing and smacks the back of my hand with enough force to make me lose my grip, disarming me as well. That gets a rise out of the annoyance, as her chimes of glee double in volume after that particular maneuver. I try out using [Light Of Justice] on some of my swipes, hoping that the greater area from the glow might let me deal some damage finally, but the pixie just backs off into the air where I can't reach her and just waits for me to turn off the Skill, making rude gestures and laughing at me all the while. And the moment I turn it off, she just flies back down to the area my arms can reach, just to toy with me.
“Just to toy with me.”
Having been reminded of the results of [Eyes Of Aspirations], an inkling of a plan begins to form. I continue to swipe at her, now trying to seem as frustrated as possible, which in all honestly isn't too difficult to accomplish as the bitch is annoying as hell. I wait for an opportunity where the pixie is fairly close to me and distracted enough that my idea has a chance of working. The moment comes when she gloats after dodging over my hand by posing as if she is lying on her side comfortably, and so I implement an aspect of a Skill that I haven't gotten the chance to use yet, until now that is.
“I’D LOVE IT IF YOU’D TOY WITH ME MORE!!!”
I scream out as loud as I can, and my words cause the pixie to pause midair and turn to face me fully for just a moment, but that moment is all I need. Before she can regain her bearings, a black tendril bisects the creature with a *CRACK* in a single moment, my tail cutting through with little resistance, and the two pieces of her body collapse to the floor immediately after. Moments later, a group of messages on a green screen fills my partially blinded vision.
[You Have Defeated {Sunlight Moss Wolf: Level 10}]
[You Have Defeated {Sunlight Moss Wolf: Level 15}]
[You Have Defeated {Sunlight Moss Wolf: Level 10}]
[You Have Defeated {Poisonthorn Pixie: Level 20}]
[Reward Drops Shall Now Be Generated]
[For Defeating The Guardians, The Safe Room Is Now Unlocked]
As the corpses around me start to dissolve into green mist all around me, I collapse onto my butt, taking a breather after the ordeal. Thankfully my idea of using [Temptation’s Tongue] worked out. Even if it only grabbed the pixie’s attention briefly, that made all the difference. Before I get too comfortable though, I get up and look around for the loot I earned, since I really want to check out whatever this Safe Room thing is sooner rather than later.
As if on cue, a small flash of light at my feet alerts me to the delivery of my rewards, and I look down to see a small leather pouch and bracelet made of entwined grass. Deciding to check the contents in a bit due to my lack of energy right now, I head towards the door opposite the one I came from after picking them both up, hoping that the doorway is what leads to this so-called Safe Room. I open the door easily, and on the other side is a small room with lush grass and a tiny clear pond, all illuminated by the same bulbed plant located in the room I just came from. The moment I enter the room fully, the door shuts behind me by itself, and I am met with a set of welcome messages transcribed on two differently colored windows.
[Now Entering Nature’s Reclaimed Mineshaft Safe Room]
[You Are Now In Relative Safety, Rewards From Combat Shall Now Be Distributed]
Finally, it's about time I got my Levels.