"Shit."
Marilyn cursed. They were expecting casualties, but not this early. The fact that they already had a man down before the boss didn't paint a nice picture.
Still, the dead would remain dead, and nothing would change that. The rest of the party had to move forward.
But there was a standard protocol for when someone died on an expedition, as taking the body back or burying it usually wasn't an option.
"Take his gear... He will no longer need it. Keep some memento to give to his family if he has one."
While looting the dead may have been seen as disgusting or unacceptable before the Awakening, nowadays anything that upped your survival chance was good. And leaving no waste behind was one such thing.
As such, the usable armor and the weapon of the dead man were taken, mostly by his former teammates.
After that the mages healed the serious wounds, others were bandaged and healed by mundane means. A person evolved with Mana healed faster than the regular one.
Soon after the party was on the move again. In truth, this cavern wasn't that big, only 100 meters in length, but for some reason, it felt bigger when they were traversing it. Still, Anna knew the way, and mages felt mana, so in a minute now fifteen people stood before the boss room.
Anna still had memories of fleeing with her life from this place, but now she went in again like a fool seeking death. But she carried the knowledge of the boss, and she would pass it on in hopes of reducing the lives lost.
"Heads up everyone! Beyond this short tunnel dwell the bosses! You heard me right, bosses, two of them, at least the last time I've been here... They were wolf-type monsters, and were strong at ambushes."
The fourteen people murmured amongst themselves, some with uncertainty, and some with excitement, as it was unprecedented for a Monster Nest to have more than one Monster Boss.
As such they were both fearful of the challenge and the unknown, but excited at the rewards it might bring, as the bodies of Monster Bosses were highly valuable.
In fact, there were urban stories of legendary Explorers killing a boss and obtaining its power after eating their heart and drinking their blood, or something along those lines.
Meanwhile, Anna continued.
"Make sure to stay in formation, and don't, under any circumstances, spread out! Cover each other's backs and we'll get through this just fine!"
Seeing that there were nods and words of agreement, Anna returned back to her previous position, as a Ranger's place wasn't in the front. Marilyn's party yet again marched first, followed by the rest.
Soon they entered a room illuminated by the light of a crystal from above, entering a clearing surrounded by trees and bushes. Anna gulped. This place was familiar to her. Almost too familiar.
"On your guard, we might be ambushed at any moment!"
The party of fifteen then started changing formation, from a linear one to a circular one.
However, as they were preparing for the ambush, the ambush was already prepared for them.
It all started with a woman's scream. They recognized her voice, she was one of Marilyn's, a Mage of her party. One moment she was about to retreat backwards, and the other she was gone.
It didn't take the group long to find her though, she was caught in the jaws of a white wolf that shimmered into existence right next to her. She was now hanging from them, bitten at the waist, staining the pure fur crimson.
"Help m-"
As she was reaching out her hand towards her friends, her words were interrupted by the wolf clenching his jaws, snapping her in half.
"Katie, NO!"
The scream towards her was only heard by the white beast and two halves of a person under his feet. His eyes were staring toward the humans with eerie intelligence, observing and assessing them.
All of a sudden they snapped onto Anna hidden amidst the crowd. She shuddered, as she felt cold under the sheer hatred of that gaze. The beast recognized her.
She was, however, snapped out of her daze by the whistle of arrows, and blasts of mana directed towards the wolf by the enraged companions of the dead girl.
The wolf was already on the move, the projectiles missing him entirely, mutilating the ground and the corpse.
"Get into formation! Don't waste your ammo!"
Marilyn took command of the crowd, trying to prevent any further damage.
Meanwhile, the light bent around the wolf when he moved, blurring the edges of his figure, and making him harder to hit. The white beast was circling the humans at a distance, occasionally running closer, looking for an opening.
And that opening came in the form of another one of Onheim's party, who preemptively swung down his hammer in anticipation of the wolf. But he was not prepared for what the cunning predator had in store.
The wolf watched the previous battle of its partner with the humans, and he knew the value of deception.
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So, when the hammer was high in the air, he slowed down his momentum, not charging in. Instead, light gathered in his golden pupils, then erupted in a bang of light, blinding all who were looking.
That included the hammer-wielder, who lost his grip on the weapon, instead crying out in pain and covering his eyes. The wolf didn't need a bigger opportunity. The man was wide open.
The white wolf lunged, grabbed the man by the throat with his jaws, and...
*snap*
There was now a headless corpse on the ground.
But getting that close didn't come without a price, as he was now close enough to be targeted by ranged attackers, arrows flying in.
The white wolf lowered his stance and dashed backward, some arrows missing, but two found their mark in his side, and a wave of mana blasted him backward.
The humans actively rearranged themselves, the close combat Warriors facing him, with Rangers and Mages in the back. The wolf however looked at them with a sneer in his eyes. They didn't know an important thing.
He was not going to fight alone.
Behind their lines of defense, a black shape emerged from the shadows, two crimson eyes, like burning coals, locked onto their target, one of the archers in the back.
The charge was silent, the lunge soundless, she was only detected when the target noticed a movement in his peripheral vision. But by then it was too late for him.
The black beast, the wolf of shadows, bit down on his shoulder, just like she did with her previous prey. But this time, she made sure to finish the job. She clenched her jaws and pulled.
The man didn't even have time to scream before his entire left shoulder along with his arm and part of his chest was ripped away.
The teammate standing near him felt something warm on his cheek and turned around, only to see the archer spray blood and collapse on the ground, a confused look remaining on his dead face.
"FROM BEHIND!"
The shout startled the rest of the fighters who were already dealing with the white wolf. While they were indeed warned about the possibility of another boss being present, when they were attacked by only one they were relieved. And that was their mistake that cost them yet another life.
But, commendable enough, the group rearranged themselves quickly, a portion of the Warriors shifting back to the rear to protect the vulnerable Mages, while Rangers were currently fighting the beast.
Meanwhile, the shadow wolf also scanned her prey, and her eyes also recognized a former foe — an escaped prey. She was feeling vengeful for the last battle, as she was one of the humans who killed her.
Perhaps irrationally, the shadow wolf charged towards Anna, ignoring all others who could've been easier to attack. She lunged.
Anna, however, was luckier than the archer who was killed. She noticed the black wolf charging towards her, flowing around or pushing away all other humans, just a moment before she was in Anna's face.
And that moment allowed her to avoid death. At a price.
The wolf used one of the humans as a foothold, then attacked Anna with a downward strike of the claw. Not a typical attack of a wolf, but it would have gotten the job done, had Anna not leaned backward at the last moment.
As a result, the attack that would cleave off Anna's head in half or off her shoulders instead crossed the left side of her face.
"AAgh-!"
With an agonized scream, Anna landed on her knees, blood streaming down her face, three visible and deep gashes crossing it from top to bottom, her left eye blinded.
The black wolf stared at her with partial satisfaction. Although the wolf didn't kill her, Anna was the one who blinded her the last time they met. An eye for an eye.
Fortunately for Anna, when the wolf was charging towards her to finish her off, it was intercepted by a shield bash from the side and then slashed with a dagger while flying away.
"Anna, you alright? Don't you dare die on me here!"
It was Marilyn, armed with a sword and shield coming to the rescue. At the same time, a masked man with a dagger was engaging the black wolf in battle, that being Leopold.
Anna tried to respond, but any movement of the facial muscles on the left side of her face caused intense pain to flare up.
Seeing no response, Marilyn dragged Anna to the center of the formation where mages stood, and left her there, before charging back into the fray against the white wolf.
Meanwhile, the black wolf and Leopold, the two agile fighters, were fighting each other. It was a new experience for both of them.
For Leopold, it was the first time he had fought a beast that had no fixed pattern of attack and fought with intelligence. And the black wolf hadn't yet fought a human so agile, one who would so deftly evade her attacks, often counterattacking.
Even the slightest mistake could result in a severe injury or death, especially so for Leopold, who unknowingly began to grin under his clothed mask.
Had they fought one-on-one, mano a mano, it would be uncertain to what the outcome would be, but unfortunately Leo wasn't alone. The wolf was reminded of this by an arrow infused with mana through her neck with unnatural sharpness.
She stumbled, glaring at the attackers, who were members of Leo's party, a Ranger, and a Mage, who was infusing mana into the arrows in the quiver.
Leo didn't miss the opportunity, stabbing his dagger into her neck as well, repeating the action multiple times.
The black wolf staggered, not being able to keep her balance anymore, only glaring at Leopold.
"It was a good fight. But today I win."
He finished her off with a blow through the eye, without any pain.
On the other side, the white wolf was still in battle, although multiple arrows and gashes that leaked blood marked his sides, a particularly nasty one on his snout.
But such injuries didn't come without a cost, as many humans bore claw marks, and another warrior belonging to Onheim's party lay dead, ripped apart.
But he was exhausted by the prolonged battle, even with a mana body, battling so many by himself was taxing. He then saw his partner die yet again and decided that it was time.
Marilyn noticed that the wolf suddenly shifted his stance, no longer circling humans at a distance, charging in instead, his eyes locked onto his target, that being her.
She braced for impact, readying her sword for a counterattack. But when she saw light gather in the wolf's eyes she placed her shield in front, having already seen the result of such a move multiple times.
As expected, a flash of bright light soon emerged, followed by a wolf tackling her. She fell on the ground, the beast on top of her, its jaw trying to close around her neck, but being hampered by the shield.
While the shield was on top of her, creaking and threatening to break under the jaw force, her right arm patted the ground around her, searching for a dropped item. When she found the familiar handle, she grabbed it and stabbed the sword upwards.
The sword pierced the neck of the weakened white wolf. Soon the force clenching down on her shield lessened, and the monster slumped on top of her, drawing its last breath.
Soon that very corpse that pressed down on her with its weight started to disappear, turning into a white mist, as if the entire battle was an illusion. After that, a crystal glowing with white dropped on top of her shield with a *clink*.
Marilyn then got up, grabbing the unknown crystal, staring at it in wonder. She was quickly snapped out of her reverie by the cries of the wounded, and the stench of blood in the air.
She watched as four corpses were stripped of their equipment and then covered with a cloth.
She watched as Anna was lying on the ground with Mages healing her, the entire left side of her face being scarred and covered in blood.
Footsteps sounded near her. After turning her head, she saw Leopold with one hand holding a blood-soaked dagger, and the other throwing a black crystal up and down. He stood next to her.
"We won."
Marilyn then looked towards the tunnel that they hadn't yet explored, one which presumably led even deeper into the Nest.
"Did we truly?"