All around Kaden, red, green, and blue glowing wolves rose, almost spectral forms whose light cast color on the white snow of the north. The [Makur] in the pens didn’t just bray, they almost screamed in terror, pressing back against the ice walls of their pen.

“They’re not physical!” Sara called. “I can’t hurt them with my swords. The Horror might be able to, but I can’t.”

“Plague isn’t affecting them,” Eve called.

The glowing wolves converged on the ulfen, whose white fur now glowed with streaks of colors. Then they fell in line behind it, pacing toward Sara, Eve, and Ashi. The ulfen he could handle, the immaterial ones—“They’re mana!”

Kaden ripped at them with [Mana Drain], and was rewarded with an unholy scream of agony from one green watcher. It stumbled, then snarled and spun to sprint at him.

For a beast like this, Kaden knew his weapon, a two-hundred point [Mana Spike] he wielded like a dagger. The green ulf leaped through the air, blurring and slammed into Kaden’s forearm, throwing him back.

Blood gushed as it tore through his gloves, but Kaden slammed the [Mana Spike] into its unprotected gut, then rolled aside to dodge an attack from another red ulf—and another. One grabbed his leg and began to thrash, digging teeth in.

Another two hundred point [mana spike] to its spine made it let go. Which might possibly have been worse, as its teeth had been stopping him from bleeding. “Eve!”

“On it! Use the damage bonus!” she called.

The gush from his legs slowed as [Life Endowment] hit. Kaden used [Mana Drain] to siphon off the last of the green ulf, and formed another [Mana Spike]. Both red ulf still existed, though one had turned pale and see-through thanks to the [Mana Spike].

They struck as one, and Kaden was forced to decide. [Split Second] let him dodge one attack, but the second aimed straight at his throat, going for the kill. Kaden thrust his fist into the monster’s throat and triggered [Soul Binding]

Force-Bind to dual-class as [Slaver?] [Y/N]

Kaden dismissed the binding.

Even with Fortress of stone, the way it tore his flesh was agony. Eve’s healing and his constitution kept him fighting, but the ulf watcher’s jaws had torn through Kaden’s arm. [Mana Spike] didn’t care about how attached an arm was, it materialized in the watcher’s gut.

That watcher fought—to get away, even as Kaden engaged [Destruction Aura]. True to its name, it shredded wisps of light from the watcher. One second more and he would have killed there, but the first watcher hadn’t given up. It bit at Kaden’s shoulder—then shrieked and turned as Trella landed, slashing with inkblades.

“Get back, you can’t hurt it!” Kaden shouted.

“It’s called buying time.” Trella [Shadow Stepped] out of the watcher’s lunge.

Kaden’s mana was perilously low, but he spiked the watcher again. It dissolved into fragments of light.

You have defeated an Ancestral Watcher.

You have received 1x Watcher’s Essence.

You have gained experience.

Trella drew [Mana Darts] and hurled them at the other watcher, but now Kaden wasn’t being attacked three on one. [Vigorous] ensured he regenerated health and mana quickly, and he spiked the watcher with all but one point of his remaining mana.

Instead of attacking, it bounded toward the others, and sank into the body of the ulfen, which glowed green as wounds closed.

While Kaden had fought the watchers, the ulfen had mauled Sara. Blood ran like water from her right am, and her horror’s psuedopods worked only to fend off its gasps. It lunged at Sara—and Ashi dragged her back through a portal to appear behind Kaden.

“[Burning Grasp!]” Ashi slapped the ulfen with a blazing hand just as the portal collapsed. Two shadowy figures appeared to the right and left of the Ulfen, while Trella hauled Eve out of range. The ulfen fought without fear, destroying one deception and then the next. The echos left it furious even though their blows were mostly weak.

“How’d you fight that?” Sara asked. “It would have killed me without the horror. Ashi’s out of mana, Eve’s low, tell me you have an answer.”

“You’ve got the answer,” Kaden said. “Give me a crawling horror.”

Sara summoned a fat foot-long grub with ringed teeth on one end. “I tried, it was too smart. It sniffed the crawling horror and refused to take it.”

“I’m not going to ask. Trella, keep poisoning it. Eve, keep me moving. Sara and Ashi, stay clear.” Kaden led with the Falcrow, and in the instant the ulfen was distracted, he opened his Eldritch Shield and charged, using [Shield Bash].

You have stunned an enemy.

The ulfen shook off the stun and lunged, snapping with jaws that could tear Kaden apart. [Split Second] let him dodge, but his mana was too low. Instead, he used the Levicon blade, slashing with every near miss, until the Ulfen’s blood ran thick down its chin, and it panted.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Any moment it slowed, Trella shot it with Thorn Caster, stacking poison until the boss’s eyes were wide with rage. Every attempt to shove the crawling horror down its throat was met with the Ulfen whipping its head to the side, even when Kaden carved it with the Levicon Blade, until Kaden slammed the horrific grub down in the ice out of frustration.

Call it luck, or maybe lack of skill, but Kaden’s dodge didn’t quite put him out of range, and the ulfen slammed into Kaden, sending him flying into Eve.

Again, it threw back its head. Again, it raised a mournful howl. Stars glittered above and colored streaks flowed through the sky. It was calling for help. Again.

There was no time to debate, only to decide.

Kaden drew Remembrance and activated the [Blood Blessing], sacrificing all but two points of health.

You have selected a (massive) damage modifier.

Every point of mana he poured into [Moment of Speed], every ounce of skill in the charge that sent him hurtling, a blur, at the Ulfen. It crouched, peparing to to strike.

Two steps before Kaden struck, a Portal tore open to his right. Kaden leaped through—and hit the Ulfen from the side. Remembrance’s axe head sank deep into the back of the Ulf’s neck. As it wisted to swipe at him, Kaden’s grip on the axe handle threw him upward, just out of reach.

“[Moon Multiplier!] [Life Explosion!]” Eve suddenly surrounded the ulfen, who opened its mouth to snarl and instead vomitted blood, even as its eyes turned red and every wound gushed.

Kaden’s health burst upward. The ulfen stood, unstead, and leaped over the group, bounding for the exit—straight into an [Agony Cloud] which burned Kaden as well. A [Glass Spider] net sliced down his side, while Kaden held on, pulling himself closer. A burst of lightning struck the Ulfen, thrown from Sara’s open hand, which gave Kaden just a moment to grasp the beast with his legs, hugging its back.

The ulfen leaped sideways to dodge Trella’s Deception and slammed into the pen wall. Though Kaden’s arm shook, he pulled the [Levicon Blade] into his open hand and slashed deeper and deeper. Bone shards flew from the wound.

The Ulfen’s body went stiff, and it cried like a wounded puppy. Then went limp.

You have broken the Rokur Claw.

You have defeated an Ulfen.

You have gained experience.

Pinned under the lifeless beast, Kaden had to wait until Sara rolled its corpse back. He didn’t hesitate, [Field Harvesting] the monster, then repeating it with the dead stalker. In the calfing pen, the orphan continued its lonely wail.

Kaden could sympathize.

###

He sat in the [Makur] pen while the sun peeked above the horizon, one hand on a mother with a calf, one hand on the orphan. See? He sent, as the orphan began to feed. Now you have two.

The mother resisted. It had a calf, it had one, and only one and now there were two, and at least one wasn’t…well, it probably wasn’t its calf. As hours passed, its attitude changed. It had a calf. That calf was one of these. Which one, she wasn’t clear. Maybe there were two. Probably not, but what she was certain of was that there were a bucket of Ice Mana Crystals, and that was what mattered more than which of her two calves she loved more.

It was the one on the left.

A mother wasn’t supposed to have favorites but she did and it was the left calf, the right calf looked lumpy and weird and she didn’t resemble the father at all. There would definitely be questions in the herd. But there were no questions in the Ice Mana Crystal bucket and for now, she kept eating, even as both calves fed.

“Tell me, please, you’re not bringing that home,” Trella said. She sat on the fence, kicking her legs as the sunrise wind grew stiffer. “Trinity, I get. Vip, I understand. Eclipse, I love. Skully stays outside, and it’s not like a [Match Lizard] takes up space. But that…have you smelled it?”

Trella had a point. A [Makur] would be incredibly miserable anywhere else. “I’m not taking it home. I didn’t bring home Explodius”

“But you thought about it.”

Kaden wouldn’t deny it. His limbs were stiff, his health high but his muscles tired from the battle.

Sara had disappeared near dawn to report on their success, taking the three hides and claws with her as proof, and leaving a promise she’d return with them. Kaden let Trella examine both Watcher Essences. “What do we do with these?”

“They’re skill seeds,” Trella answered. “I don’t know what they do, I know that they are.”

That matched how both felt. “They were enlightened. Maybe I could have reasoned with them.”

“Or maybe they’d have cracked jokes about feasting on us,” Trella said. “Let’s go inside. You’re healed, but that doesn’t mean healthy.”

Kaden left the Makur in the care of their handlers. Sara had said the last groundhouse was theirs, low and empty and smelling of stale smoke, but she’d set a heatstone in the circular bulge at the far end and stacked sleeping mats with blankets all around.

Eve worked to fold the blankets, but stopped as they entered. “Kaden. Are you sure you don’t have status effects?”

Kaden shook his head. “I’ll sleep down on that end, if you want.”

“That seems uncalled for. I—I was raised how I was raised. But I seriously doubt this is the moment you’d be untoward.” Eve dipped her head. “You two can have that one. I’m sorry. I really thought I’d be more useful, but those essence wolves weren’t affected by anything I did.”

“Join the party,” Trella said. “I couldn’t scratch them except by [Mana Dart]. You kept us in the fight. Where’s Ashi?”

“She went with Sara to ask more about this Ice Domain. Do you think I could see Vip for a short while?”

Kaden peeled his [Letidyr] off and deactivated [Ice Born]. The air was frigid, dangerously cold. “For a bit.”

He summoned Vip and she bounded off the makeshift beds to lick his face before turning and wriggling to go to Eve, who hugged her until Vip finally went limp, wagging her tail. Eve wrapped her alpha robes around them both and sat down on her bedroll.

*Is that your dog or hers?* Trella tapped out on his shoulder.

*Vip belongs to herself,* Kaden replied. He hadn’t released the bond on the orphan [Makur], but the feelings coming through the bond said it was full, tired, and mildly anxious, all of which Kaden could identify with.

Kaden pulled a pot of chili from his Inventory. It was still so hot it steamed. “Bowl?”

“Please!” Eve took one and so did Trella. Eve fixed better food, there was no question, but Kaden specialized in easy, hearty meals with plenty of food.

“Oooh!” Ashi called as she entered. “Sara, there is thick meat soup!”

Sara looked like Kaden felt. Healing made her health high but a battle just left her beat. Her Horror wasn’t even looking for things to devour. One pseudopod dragged the ground, and she cradled one arm with another. “Drokor wants to speak to all of us tonight. I can say she’s really pleased, but I explained that we’d just fought a difficult battle. It will wait. I’m sorry—I need to eat and I need to sleep.”

Kaden knew what would fix one of those problems, and filled her bowl to the brim. Once the pot had been scraped clean, Eve stored it in her cooking kit, which would clean it. “How’s Burney?”

Ashi drew back the wrap on her chest and took out the lizard. “I will keep him for now. He is made of fire, the cold cannot touch him.”

Sara snored, her head lolled over, her bowl still held.

*She’s going to wake up feeling awful,* Trella said. *Move her?*

Kaden was used to swinging Remembrance. The Cosmic Horror gave Sara real weight, but he lifted her and layed her into the open bedroll. Trella waited for him, wrapping her arms around his waist as they rested. Perhaps the sun was high, and maybe life in the North was beginning that hour, but adventureres slept when they could, and he could.