“Attention!” The leader's voice boomed everywhere, getting the attention of both the expedition members and random bystanders.

Surely some skill of his [Captain] class must have helped him spread it. Not a very good one, seeing how it couldn't be directed to the interested parties.

“You are all assigned to your own squad. Move as one. Your squad leader orders only are second to mine. Obey them and me, and you will be coming back alive.”

He paused, scanning the public.

“Good! Locate your squad and let's get going!”

I glanced over the smaller subgroups and tried to find back the man who was in charge of mine.

Double axes, heavy metal armour strapped in tightly to his body. No beard, and also no hair.

A quick exchange confirmed that he was indeed Philip, and that I had been assigned to the first contact team.

Or, as he described it, the mad lads that rush in first to keep the monsters busy and away from our precious mages.

“Because, surely, you have good reasons to be at the front. Right?”

He had asked right after saying precious mages. My class must be showing as [Mage], or perhaps [Shaper].

I reassured him with a few words and move on.

My team was composed of the double wielding Philip, a [Meister] with a big-ass sword, someone who's class said [Rogue], a normal looking city [Soldier], and me.

There were no tanks whatsoever. I expected someone to be using a shield, but apparently that was not a thing for us. It was for other teams, though, where I managed to identify a few of them.

We marched in a chaotic blob of people with no traces of military discipline whatsoever.

Shouts. Friendly bouts. People going off trail.

It all reminded too much of a school day out, just that the teachers also joined in the fray.

There was no such thing as a debrief or tactics, and the strategy was go ahead and kill as many things as you can.

Our team, that much I eventually managed to get out of my squad leader, could be affectionately called cannon fodder.

Make contact with the enemy, that's why we had a [Rogue], and rush in. We were not expecting heavy enemy tactics, according to some intel that I had not seen, so it should be fine.

We didn’t come close to the forest I had travelled for days. In fact, we didn’t even leave the road at all during the one and only day that we travelled. I had most likely walked in circles for quite some time. Likely, the opposite direction to the city too.

But as a matter of fact, we were getting close to the place. Vegetation started drying up. The sky became clouded. The air poignant with stagnant air. It just felt wrong.

The brotherly spirit in our expedition died with the nature around us. People tensed. Weapons were being drawn by the moment. And soon, the moment come.

[You have entered a dungeon]

I also was feeling funny. My smile grew from side to side and my legs were shacking with anticipation. This was the world I had been summoned to. This was what I was looking for.

“Let’s have a good time!” I said aloud.

That gifted me some nice looks. Mostly of confusion, but I could see some smiles for some other like-minded madlads. I was likely not the only one who came to the expedition for adventure.

For power.

“Our little friend here wants blood!” The [Captain] used the opportunity to intervene. “I hope you don’t let him take all the glory!”

Laughs erupted all over the squads. I still smiled, but I didn’t join on the fun. I was actually intending to take as much of the glory as humanly possible. System-enable humanly, but that’s beyond the point.

“Assemble squads and get in battle formation! From this point on we are bound to find corrupted life, be ready to fight at any moment!”

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“Yes!” Acknowledgements were shouted unanimously from all the members.

I quickly made my way to the front, past the [Captain] and any other person except the [Rogue] on my team.

I rolled my shoulders.

Popped my hands.

Stretched my back.

And summoned two bright arms from the hole on my chest.

I was genuinely curious about the corrupted life, and the more we walked the more I was. Seconds seemed to be minutes, and I would swear it took an entire hour for us to hear the first signs of them.

Howls.

And our [Rogue] appearing out of breath right next to my squad. His face was contorted, and I wasn’t sure if it was only exhaustion.

“Pack of fifteen.” He managed to say in between hectic breaths. “Decomposing wolves, possible fire attribute, couldn’t confirm.”

The howls had stopped, but now we could hear growls of fury from barely a few steps ahead. Our scout had brought them with him. Intentionally? I didn’t think as high as him, but it was all the same to me.

“We are first into battle, aren’t we?”

I said, paying no attention to answers and only focusing on the bright red spots on my area of vision. They clearly want us dead if I go by how well defined they are.

I ran as one of my energy arms extended in a motion triple as fast as me. Fifteen wolves quickly become fourteen, my arm impaling one of them right through the snout.

['Corrupted wolf' has been defeated — 40xp] [Error #46 has leveled up]

I directed it to the next one, commanding it to turn as I still made my best to reach them. I could keep some distance, but then I had to expend more energy, and that wasn’t the moment to be doing that.

The pack didn’t stop to mourn their dead companion. In fact, they didn’t even care about it. They continued their attack and rapidly closed the distance between us.

I could move my energy faster than they moved, and with a few more turns I managed to get another one of them before they could jump right onto me.

My vision flared on my left; my other energy arm springing into action to intercept the wolf jumping onto me. There was no coordination among them, making interception easy.

I undid the other arm. Solid becoming particles in mere microseconds and coming to me in the blink of an eye. Immediately, it reappeared and stabbed the wolf to the side.

One. Two. Three.

Three spots became brighter than the others. Much brighter. Too bright.

My eyes turned round, even if that didn’t make me see any more. The reflex came as my area identify understood why the points were suddenly that important.

“Fu-”

[You have lost 2 energy]

The first fire breath impacted right on my energy arm. It was not a ball of fire, rather a flaky flame that lost power as it tried to go further.

[You have lost 19 energy] [You have lost 12 energy]

I was not so lucky with the remaining two skills—if they could be called that. One hit straight to my face. The other on my leg.

It hurt.

It hurt beyond my physic. It hurt in my magic. It hurt like the stairs.

System! Energy?

I didn’t have time to read through my whole status, and thankfully the system understood. On my right corner a display made its permanent house, 317/390. Not bad.

I was analyzing my best next action when four more wolves went to a new color of red. They were close. I swear I could feel them breathing on my neck. I had to do something, anything.

Anything!

And that’s what I did.

I sent a pulse of energy, a really close and localized one. The smallest area I could compact around me.

And I made it bright. Bright enough to blind anyone within the area itself.

I didn’t have to worry about it, I wouldn’t go blinder, but the wolves were another story. They whined and cried loudly as they scratched they already half-missing faces.

They tore themselves apart, uncaring if they lost an eye or two in the process.

Now or never.

I let loose five arms, four of them targeting the aggressors and the remaining pushing me from the floor to gain some distance from them and the newly incoming flames.

['Corrupted wolf' has been defeated — 43xp] [Error #46 has leveled up] ['Corrupted wolf' has been defeated — 36xp] ['Corrupted wolf' has been defeated — 37xp] [Error #46 has leveled up]

Nine to go, 293/450 energy. Not as good as I wanted, but could be worse.

I was tempted to curse at my team, who was staring at me and the wolves without moving an inch. I really wanted to shout at them for not doing anything. But, hand’t I just gained 3 levels?

I was up in the air, flames missing me as they hit my previous spot. Wolves were hot on my pursuit, jumping right after. Not letting me go.

I managed to get another one, my one of my arms had just penetrated its side when suddenly… I felt the heat. I saw the pitch black color of the beast I had just pierced.

I felt my skin as the beast became a flame itself.

[You have lost 2 energy]

My arm took the hit, a seemingly small price to pay. Small, until the whole thing exploded and the conflagration reached and surrounded me.

[You have lost 39 energy] ['Ignis wolf' has been defeated — 85xp] [Error #46 has leveled up]

“Not cool!” My energy was at 249/480, and the only reason it was not lower was that I acted quickly.

My skin was surrounded by a thin layer of energy. Particles really, far from a second skin that covered me perfectly. But enough to stop my body from being badly hurt.

This fight had taught me something. Hits on my energy were more lenient than direct hits on me. I maybe rushed into action, but I was a fast learner.

And I learned that I couldn’t let the beasts too close to me. They would immolate themselves before I could kill them. And there were too many for me to tank it.

I used the dead body of the wolf to get some backwards motion while throwing it into the rest of the pack.

The rest of the expedition was moving. And so was my squad.

I had annihilated half of the pack, almost, and I definitely counted that as a victory.

And, while I could have helped finish the rest, I decided recovering my energy was more important. Decision the [Captain] might not have approved?

“Kid! What in the name of Saints was that!?”