As a tingle runs down my spine and along my tail, I look around myself warily, taking in my surroundings and inspecting the circling predators growling at me hatefully in the dim lighting. The Moss Wolves seem to be waiting for me to do something, as they have yet to get closer to me than a few yards, weaving around the trees, but not letting me out of their sight for a single moment. Since they are using this time to size me up, I might as well do the same, so I inspect each of the five to try and spot anything to my advantage. Through this, I spot various small injuries on the four regular Moss Wolves, ranging from bite marks to tiny patches of fur that have been singed by something, signs from recent battles that are visible on all but the Alpha, who is the one both unscathed and most intimidating with its stature twice the size of its other kin.
Besides the injuries, I manage to spot one thing behind one of the wolves that I can use to my advantage, so I rush towards the unfortunate Level 21 wolf to make the first blow count as much as possible. Seeing my sudden movement, the two closest wolves to my target, the ones with Levels of 17 and 19, rush in front of the higher Leveled wolf to intercept me, whilst my target leans down in the now familiar pose of a {Sunlight Moss Wolf} preparing to use their light attack from their maw. Unfortunately for her, but fortunately for me, this is what I hoped would happen, as right when the now unmoving wolf starts to build up light in the back of her throat, a barely visible streak of dark wood spears into the side of the Level 21 wolf before she can even notice.
Unbeknownst to the wolves due to their focus on me, I managed to spot an Arboro Sapling preparing to attack with one of its gangly limbs behind the encircling Moss Wolves, which is why I chose this particular member of their bunch to go for. As the Arboro begins to lift up the skewered wolf into the air, eliciting a painful whelp out of the wolf, the two wolves that are intercepting me turn their heads momentarily to see what is happening to their packmate, which allows me to strike them unheeded during their brief moment of inattention. I swing my fist as hard as I can into the weaker of the two’s heads while simultaneously dispatching the Level 19 foe with a fatal [Power Slash] enhanced [Tail Whip] along his neck, almost fully decapitating the Moss Wolf in that single strike. Sadly, my punch did little more than anger the wolf I struck, and so she turns to me angrily and leaps on top of me, tackling me to the ground and biting down on the arm I lift in front of my face to protect myself. Whilst she tries her hardest to gnaw through the worn leather bracer protecting the limb, I see a series of bright flashes fly over me soon followed by the sound of cracking bark.
Deciding that I can ignore that for now, I try to strike the wolf mounting me with my tail, only to realize it is pinned beneath me due to the sudden tackle, and I can't manage to wiggle its way out from the awkward position I am in. With my most powerful offensive ability being not that effective against these {Sunlight Moss Wolves}, I place my free hand on the muzzle of the wolf gnawing on my left arm, and activate [Restful Touch] on her to hopefully put the wolf to sleep before she does too much damage to my arm. As the seconds pass, and the Level 17 wolf mounting me begins to thrash her head more and more sluggishly, I watch about a dozen more bolts of light pass overhead and presumably into the Arboro that struck the Level 21 Moss Wolf. Luckily for me, as the eyelids of the wolf mounting me begin to droop and her jaw begins to loosen, a pained bark can be heard from one of the two wolves that are behind me, and I turn my head over there to see that another Arboro has began attacking the remaining two wolves, although less successfully since the opening strike didn't do much more than slash across the Level 23 wolf’s side with a fairly shallow blow.
Pushing the now sleeping wolf on top of me to the side, I finish her off as I get to my feet before she can wake up with the usual slash to the throat, then take in the battlefield once more to regain my bearings. Firstly, I check on my arm, seeing that whilst dripping with black blood, the now ruined bracer had protected it enough that the gashes in it are mostly shallow and not too inhibiting, with the pain being somewhat manageable compared to what I have become familiar with. Secondly, the Level 21 wolf is still alive, although just barely, as she lies on the ground and breathes heavily with ragged breaths. The {Blackbirch Arboro Sapling} that impaled her is riddled with holes and unmoving, dead from the onslaught of attacks it received from the light attacks. I look behind me to see the remaining Moss Wolves are both occupied with a pair of Arboro Saplings, so I rush over and finish off the injured wolf so she doesn't get a chance to make any attacks on me, just in case.
After another successful throat slitting, the whooshing of air belatedly alerts me to an attack, as a nearby Arboro pierces through the side of my right thigh with one of its long arm-like limbs, creating a deep gash as I stumble to my knee from the surprise blow. I manage to dismember the appendage with my tail before it can retract fully, and I start to sear my wounds shut with [Light Of Justice], stopping the flow of blood as the tree monster starts to regrow the damaged branch-arm at the same time. Glancing over to the two Moss Wolves, I see that they have finished off one of their opponents, and are almost done with the second, so I get back up and start darting towards the Arboro attacking me so that it won't hinder me further.
In less than a minute, I manage to topple the lively tree with little difficulty, and just in time too. As the Arboro crashes to the ground, I look over to see that the last two wolves are just finishing up with their pair of tree-like opponents. Fortunately they haven't yet dealt the final blow, so their attention is not yet back on me, which gives me the chance to try out my newest Skill, [Shadows Of Doubt]. The light from the Luminvines beneath me seem to dim down as the shadows around me deepen into a darker shade, concealing my form in the reduced lighting.
With my new ability coating me, I start to creep towards the last two wolves as the Alpha proceeds to deliver the final blow by smashing one of his paws forcefully into the damaged trunk of the Arboro, sending splinters flying everywhere as it topples down. Having dispatched their foe, the two begin to scan their surroundings for any other living trees that might be hiding in the surroundings, only for what looks like confused expressions to appear on both the wolves as they look right past me with their eyes, not noticing me whatsoever. A grin begins to appear on my face as I approach the last of the normal {Sunlight Moss Wolves}, trying to leave the Alpha for last as I am unsure if I can take him out as quickly as the rest of its pack.
I manage to get within a few feet of my chosen wolf without notice, and as I ready my tail to strike him down, he begins to turn his head towards me whilst sniffling at the air. The sudden attention makes me pause in my steps, and I stare at the wolf as he continues to sniff towards me with confusion. It seems like he still can't notice where I am exactly, even with the close proximity, but his sense of smell is picking up something that is alerting the Moss Wolf that something is wrong. Not wanting the fairly high Leveled wolf to have any more time to potentially break through my Skill, I lash out at his head with my tail, cutting a deep slash through his eyes and into the skull, cracking it with enough force that he drops instantly from the surprise blow.
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This breaks my concealment however, and the Alpha that had been searching for my location turns towards me instantly and unleashes a bolt of light at me, striking me on the hip and causing me to stumble back a couple of steps from the force. His light breath is quite a bit more powerful than any I have been hit by so far, and the hole burnt through my trousers and underwear reveals a section of skin a shade of dark burgundy that is similar to the burns I incur with prolonged usage of my [Light Of Justice] Skill. Unfortunately, this injury isn't caused by a prolonged exposure to a Skill, but a projectile that the Alpha wolf is already sending another of after a second’s delay.
As a second bolt of light strikes me on the chest, I start to rush towards the {Sunlight Moss Wolf Alpha} that is only about a dozen or so feet away, wanting to close the distance due to my lack of range, even if his prodigious size means that he is most likely still going to be a large threat in close range. He manages to strike me with three more bolts that all strike me on my leather chest piece in various spots, slowing my momentum each time I am hit, but in that time I close the distance enough for me to use my [Power Slash] [Tail Whip] combo on him. I only manage to graze the Alpha wolf’s right shoulder though, as he leaps to the side, effectively dodging most of the blow and making it so that I only leave a shallow line of his amber-colored blood to stain his thick, green fur.
After his skillful dodge, the Alpha Moss Wolf smacks me forcefully with one of his paws and sends me flying into a nearby Shaded Blackbirch Sapling, knocking the air out of my lungs as I crash through the thin tree’s trunk. Before I can get back up from being tossed through a tree, the Alpha leaps on top of me, pinning me down with one of his front paws atop my chest, and begins to prepare another light based breath attack, this time at a much closer proximity. Except instead of the swift bolt I was expecting, the light in his maw keeps growing in intensity, portions flowing out the sides of his mouth in flame like wisps, and I soon realize that this isn't going to be an attack I can just shrug off.
I desperately try to slash through his throat like all the previous wolves, but even without him dodging, each slash of my tail leaves only small cuts through the thick fur, but with nothing better to do, I raise my arms in front of my face to attempt to mitigate the incoming attack as I keep on slashing relentlessly at the wolf above me. Moments later, a torrent of golden light erupts from the mouth in a continuous ray, bombarding my arms currently guarding my head, burning the limbs with increasing intensity in a nonstop flow.
As the scent of burnt flesh begins to enter my nostrils, panic starts setting in and I try something different. Wrapping my tail around the neck, I activate [Tail Whip] to try and break it with the sudden movement, but that only manages to move the Alpha’s head downward, causing the devastating ray of light to burn a streak across my torso, burning a line straight through my battered chest piece and causing the worn leather to tear along the path of the beam, searing a line of burnt skin onto me at the same time. The beam did strike the paw holding me down, but nothing more than some burnt fur came about from the friendly fire. After the brief redirection, the Alpha just returns its focus onto my arms without ceasing the Skill’s usage, trying its hardest to burn a hole through my skull.
With that idea failing spectacularly, I then try something extremely stupid. Reasoning that I will most likely lose functionality in the arm anyways at this rate, I stick my right arm into the mouth of the wolf over me and as deep into his throat as I can manage, the light based Skill still barraging it all the while. The sudden intrusion seems to surprise the Alpha for a moment, but since the burning pain continues to grow on my right arm, the surprise isn't enough to stop him from using the Skill, and he just bites down instead, causing me to scream in pain as his teeth dig deep into my shoulder. What this does do though, is free up my charred left arm enough for it to painfully search through a small pouch on my hip, retrieving a small, toothpick shaped object from within, and sticking one point into the stubby tip of my tail. By the time I start pouring Mana into the Thorn Of Minor Paralysis, I have lost all feeling halfway up my forearm, with the burning ray of light starting to have tiny offshoots peek through the fangs currently tearing at my right shoulder and burning small sections of my body all over with the radiant light.
It is worth it though, as I use my now scorpion-like tail to pierce the bite-sized spear into the back of the Alpha’s head, continuously pumping mana into the weapon to inject as much poison as possible into the wolf as I can. The wolf seems to ignore the small prick on the back of his head, deciding to continue to ravage the arm inside its jaw’s clutches. The seconds pass by slowly, each moment having more and more light escape from the gaps in the Alpha’s teeth, along with more of my arm getting burnt away at the same time, but with poison entering into the wolf at a continuous rate at the same time.
As I feel the grip on my shoulder loosen, fear fills me, as if the Alpha Moss Wolf redirects his attack on my head now, there is now not much left to defend from the ray of searing light from killing me in but moments. Luck is on my side this time though, as the loosening jaw isn't due to him redirecting his attack, but from the poison setting in, causing the wolf’s brain to be paralyzed, ceasing bodily functions in but moments. The wolf topples to the side limply, completely immobile, which reveals the devastated state of my right arm as my shoulder is fully released. Everything past my elbow is gone completely, burnt to ash from the continuous stream of magic, with the remaining section up to my elbow burnt black and stinking of burnt flesh.
Trying my hardest to ignore both the pain and the weird sensation of having a missing arm, I struggle to my feet with extremely ragged breaths escaping my lips, the exertion from the battle making me exhausted. Despite this, I loom over the paralyzed wolf beneath me, and even if I can't spot his breathing anymore, I begin to hack at the Alpha’s neck with my tail after removing the Thorn Of Minor Paralysis from its tip. I do not want to risk him surviving the paralysis, so I stand there and stare down at the wolf as my tail slashes at his neck over and over again, until a pool of amber blood covers the grass beneath my feet. Only then do I cease, breathing heavily as I stand there, body stinging all over from countless burns.
[You Have Defeated {Blackbirch Arboro Sapling: Level 10}]
[You Have Defeated {Blackbirch Arboro Sapling: Level 10}]
[You Have Assisted In The Defeat Of {Blackbirch Arboro Sapling: Level 10}]
[You Have Assisted In The Defeat Of {Blackbirch Arboro Sapling: Level 10}]
[You Have Assisted In The Defeat Of {Blackbirch Arboro Sapling: Level 10}]
[Reward Drops Shall Now Be Generated]
The series of messages reminds me that I am still not safe due to being in a Dungeon, even with the defeat of the monsters, and so I begin to stagger back towards the Safe Room as green mist begins to rise from the toppled Arboros around me. Items are the last thing on my mind right now, as my current state is the worst shape I have ever been in, and being somewhere lacking monsters is my top priority. Thankfully I don't encounter any more Arboros on my short trip, and so I stumble into the Safe Room once again, and am met with the welcome message I have been looking for.
[Now Entering Nature’s Reclaimed Mineshaft Safe Room]
[You Are Now In Relative Safety, Rewards From Combat Shall Now Be Distributed]
As the door closes itself behind me, I collapse to the ground and instantly fall unconscious, stamina completely drained from the battle.