The group was once again thrust into chaos. Having lowered their guard after not noticing a guarding monster near the tree, one of them got reckless, and as a result, he paid the price.

The culprit behind his death was a wolverine. The beast was large even before the Awakening, but after being enhanced by mana, it grew even more, almost reaching to the neck of an adult man, all while standing on all four legs.

But the worst part was the fact that the increased size didn't cause its agility to decrease much, no, perhaps it was even higher than before.

And such a beast was currently lurking close to the group freshly after dismembering their companion. It could be seen why the humans would panic.

The constant battles ever since they descended into the dungeon, however, have made gathering into a defensible formation, or at least coordinating efficiently into a reflex. As such, the exploration group didn't let themselves be stumped for long before gathering yet again.

Lan was observing all the while. In comparison to their battle against Tag and Nacht improvement was rather significant. Additionally, they were currently fighting a single opponent instead of two.

Soon after the humans gathered, it became apparent that neither party wanted to make the move first, causing a stalemate to occur, humans wary of the stalking wolverine.

The beast got tired of waiting first and struck from amidst the shadows. It emerged from the bushes and attacked with its fearsome claws, lashing out at a warrior who stood at the periphery of the formation.

As if he was expecting this, however, the warrior who wielded a sword and a shield brought his shield forward and blocked the strike, deep gashes getting carved into the previously nearly intact shield, and the man himself stumbled backward. But he himself did not fall.

The beast then attacked another fighter, who happened to be the axe-wielding Onheim. It lunged at the bulky man, but instead of biting into his throat, it caught the handle of the axe in its mouth instead, the man had reacted in time. He then kicked it away and attempted to slam down his Greataxe on it, but it avoided the strike.

Still, it was slowed down and out of cover, Rangers and Mages didn't miss the chance.

Arrows and shockwaves flew out, and while the wolverine managed to avoid the first ones, a shockwave of mana knocked it out of balance, and two arrows pierced deep into it.

With an enraged and pain-filled snarl, the beast charged back into the fray, not even bothering to hide anymore, being provoked to the limit. This time another warrior, who was the last remaining member of Onheim's gang, was the target.

The man, not expecting to be charged, attempted to slash out at the beast which was now at arm's length.

He landed the hit, stabbing the weapon into the shoulder of the beast, but the giant weasel slammed into him, throwing him onto the ground.

One second the man was fine, and the next he was on the ground, screaming as he was getting mauled by the enraged beast's claws. Normal wolverine's claws could easily slice through frozen meat, so their effectiveness could be imagined after being evolved with mana.

The Rangers were the first to react, Leopold among them didn't bother notching another arrow in the bow but instead threw his close-combat dagger at the beast.

It flew out with an unnatural speed and hit the side of the wolverine, piercing deeply into it.

The weasel was influenced by the momentum carried by the flying weapon and was thrown a short distance from the man. Or what remained of him.

As it landed on the ground a second later, other rangers already had arrows ready, piercing the side, neck, and head, attacking it while it was staggered.

The wolverine fell heavily onto the ground. It tried to lift its head but lost the strength to do so. Soon enough the body turned into a mist of mana, leaving behind a green crystal filled with Life Mana.

By the time the wolverine's corpse was gone, the group barely got back their bearings and noticed what was left of the unfortunate man.

His body was left mauled and cut apart, the body being completely unrecognizable. Some group members emptied their stomachs on the spot - that's how gruesome the sight was.

Meanwhile, Marilyn was feeling guilty about the two deaths. Her carelessness after a victory cost them two lives. Had she not let the group relax, there might have been no casualties.

But now they had two more to bury, both having suffered a cruel fate.

Looking at the sight of two bodies being covered with quickly reddening cloth, she understood what her mistake was and what decision she needed to make. But it could wait after the friends of the two have finished their mourning.

"Jackie was always so cheerful, and his jokes were so bad... But did he deserve this?"

"Henrick was so competitive, always a good drinking buddy. And yet he dies a dog's death."

A solemn atmosphere gripped the group yet again, similar to the aftermath of the battle against the two wolves, morale being critically low.

And upon staring at the crowd- no, a battered group of people, Marilyn was made even surer of her decision. She clapped her hands to snap people out of their fear and mourning and to gather attention.

"I don't have any motivational speeches to make, nor are we going further."

All eyes gathered on her, some questioning and some hopeful.

"We are getting out of here. This is as far as we go. Leo, get that crystal. We must get that to the Tower Master."

Soon enough the group gathered yet again, but this time they set off on the Path where they came from instead of delving further into the unknown. Morale was broken and their friends were lost, they quickly trudged along the known path, all while cautiously looking around. Some members of the group seemed to be paranoid, eyes flicking between the trees and flinching at shadows.

A clearing where they battled the boar came into view, seemingly nothing had changed. What the humans didn't see was the trampled vegetation that was quickly regrowing, and glimmers of predatory eyes eyeing the empty Place of Power.

Stolen story; please report.

Fortunately for the unaware humans, they quickly got through the open space, once again getting surrounded by the trees and leaving behind the place which had an eerie atmosphere.

Following that, the winding and twisting path offered no surprises or attacks, the familiar clearing instead coming into view. Alarmingly enough, however, the corpses of arachnids who they battled here were absent, and that was strange considering that most were left behind, only the biggest one yielding a crystal.

Upon a closer look, clear drag marks covered in blue blood could be seen leading into the darkness under the trees. Additionally, blood splatters could be seen here and there, as if another battle had happened there.

But the humans instead only had the tunnel leading upwards in their eyes, not bothering to stop for a second, wanting to get out of these caverns full of death and mystery. This time Marilyn was in the rear, protecting the group instead of leading it. A sharp contrast to how they descended here.

The tunnel itself wasn't long and hadn't shown any danger so far, and it remained that way, fortunately. The group then once again came to the chamber where they fought the two wolven beasts, some remnants of their camp still remaining.

However, they noticed an unnerving detail this time. The bodies they had left behind were missing. Their bodies were previously covered in special cloth to prevent their smell from leaking out and attracting scavengers, leaving them safe to pick up on the way back.

But now both the bodies of the fallen and the cloth covering them were gone as if they were never there in the first place.

This only caused the humans to further tense up, some beginning to tremble, panic intensifying.

However, that fear turned into damn near hysteria when they saw the next thing.

A pitch-black wolf emerged from the shadows, its eyes burning crimson. A pure-white wolf shimmered from amidst the light, its eyes shimmering gold peering into them.

Two wolves stood at the opposite ends of the clearing, having the humans between the two. Two wolves came back from the dead, and they remembered their enemies.

"Shit, I'm dreaming, right? Please tell me this is just a dream..!"

"No... It can't be!"

"We're all gonna die!"

Marilyn had boasted the greatest mentality out of all of them, but even she had begun feeling fear and hopelessness creeping in. And if she was unnerved, it could only be imagined how others felt.

The first two break was, kind of unsurprisingly, Onheim. He was already frightened by all the deaths around him, and his gang was completely annihilated. He was only briefly emboldened by victories, but in the face of almost certain death, his true face was revealed.

"Onheim, what are you doing?.. Onheim!"

With a *clank*, his axe was dropped and abandoned on the ground, and the man himself was on the run, leaving behind the group. Tears and snot streamed down his face as he tried to flee from his doom.

The key word was 'attempted'.

The black wolf seemed to meld with the shadows, disappearing into the darkness, before emerging in front of the fleeing man and swinging her claws.

The man himself was running, but all of a sudden his world seemed to spin, leaving him greatly confused. When his sight stabilized, he saw a headless body stumbling forward before falling over. He was then plunged into eternal darkness.

The group instead saw him running one moment, and being beheaded in the next. Seeing the manner in which he was killed only added to the panic, which caused the remaining to tremble even harder.

At the same time, the white wolf already moved behind them, cutting off the path to retreat.

Marilyn saw the situation and quickly thought of a plan.

"Anna, Leo, break through the front, make a path. I will hold off the white wolf."

The one-eyed ranger and sneaky rogue heard and nodded. Even Anna who also trembled in the face of death, refused to give up her life without a fight.

And soon...

"Now!"

Marilyn abruptly turned backward and surged with light gathering on her sword to an adversary covered in white. At the same time, an arrow was loosened from Anna's crossbow on the move, and Leopold holding a dagger in his hand rushed forward with extreme speed.

The black wolf avoided the arrow, and once again began to battle with the rogue. Recognition flashed in her eyes, the former foe battling her once more.

"Remember me eh? Let's dance!"

Leopold and Nacht once again began their dance of death. The wolf may have been defeated the previous time, but she has learned and is eager to continue. She is eager to win this time.

Meanwhile, Marilyn fought against Tag on her own, sword and shield flowing in her hands. She bashed, sliced, and stabbed, occasionally trying to blind her opponent.

But Tag wouldn't just stand there and take it. He deftly avoided the strikes, leveraging his size and higher agility. However, his bites were met with a shield, and slashes with his claws were often deflected or dodged.

Marilyn seemed to lose her perception of everything but the battle in front of her, her vision narrowed down to the wolf in front of her and the weapons in her hands. She instinctively understood that a mistake would be fatal.

She knew that she would not win on her own, the beast would simply outlast her in terms of stamina, but she knew that she was only stalling for time, biding her time to get help from others when they finish the black wolf.

The brief moment of thought led to a mistake though. Seeing the incoming wolf she realized that it was too late to escape, so she braced her shield for another biting attack.

But the white wolf showed his intelligence by merely making the attack seem like a bit, instead bashing into her and sending her flying wide-eyed.

Marilyn quickly got about her wits and flipped around, stabbing her sword into the ground, trying to stabilize herself. The sword, however, got stuck in the ground, causing her to lose her grip on it.

She lost her balance yet again and rolled several times on the ground. In this position, she caught sight of Anna and Leo fighting the black wolf, arrows flying, and blades dancing. But in her absentminded state, she noticed a detail.

"Where... Is everyone?"

The problem was that she could see ONLY those two, the rest of the group being nowhere to be seen. It didn't take her long to figure out what happened. They had fled, leaving the three behind to their deaths.

"Those motherfuckers..."

Marilyn got back up on her knee before standing up. Her armor was tattered by all the battles, her helmet having been lost after being thrown.

She stood up with a chuckle which soon broke into a laugh, brown hair covered in dust cascading on her face.

Marilyn's steel-colored eyes then refocused on Tag who was approaching her slowly, as if he was in no hurry to finish her off, sure of his victory. The gaze of steel and the gaze of gold met before both foes rushed toward each other once more.

Marilyn fought with her fist and shield, not even trying to find her sword. She slammed her fist into the side of the beast, before deflecting a claw strike. That left her open, however.

"Gah-"

She gasped in pain as she felt jaws clamp down on her shoulder, armor creaking and being bit through. She could almost feel how the metal was creaking under the pressure.

In those moments she couldn't help but think.

'I was a good leader... Wasn't I? And yet... And yet!'

Force once again gathered within her, light surging on her fists, her eyes regaining focus.

"THOSE COWARDLY BASTARDS!!!"

With a roar-like scream, she slammed her fist down on the jaw that was clamped onto her.

"WHY SHOULD I..."

She again gathered her strength...

"DIE FOR THEM?!"

And punched once again. And again.

Eventually, Tag let go with blood flowing on his jaw from both the wounds inflicted on the woman and by the woman.

Marilyn herself stood breathing heavily, blood streaming down her arms, eyes bloodshot.

At the same time, Leopold was still in a dance of death with the black wolf, strikes and dodges being exchanged rapidly.

As an arrow once again flew towards the wolf, the beast did the unexpected. Instead of dodging the arrow, she lunged towards it. The projectile hit her, but the black wolf was unperturbed, instead surging towards the one who shot it.

Anna's eyes widened before she was bodyslammed by the beast, being sent flying with her ribcage cracking.

The wolf then returned its focus back to the rogue it was battling with previously, her gaze seemingly saying 'Now there are no distractions left'.

Leopold stared into the eyes of the pitch-black wolf, he could almost see the grin that spread on the face of the beast. He responded with his own which was full of thrill.

However just as they were about to once again lunge towards each other, they were distracted by an unfamiliar sound.

Sounds of screeching and wind flowing sounded out of the tunnel leading outside, causing the people and beasts present to look toward the source of the sound.

It didn't take long for the perpetrator of the distraction to reveal itself, taking the form of many birds surging into the chamber.

Their feathers were gleaming like a razor's edge, blood flying away from them, the sound of their approach giving out a feeling of impending death.