Once the battle began, Sir Albert’s team quickly got into their positions, with Sir Albert and Baldur in the front, Sal’ Karn in the center, and Magnus and Celinus in the back. Q and Brie decided to take a position between Sal’ Karn and Magnus/Celinus, and the whole group gathered at the fireplace, while keeping an eye on the wolves who were surrounding them.
“Stay near the fire!” Magnus yelled as he shot out a fireball at a group of wolves. “You don’t want to get caught fighting in the darkness.” Once he finished speaking, the fireball landed and created an explosion of flames on the ground. Though most of the wolves he aimed at dodged the fireball, the rest were hit directly and were dealt decent damage while getting the [Burned] status.
The other members were doing what they could to keep the wolves at bay. Sir Albert and Baldur were side by side, swinging their weapons in wide arcs to keep the wolves from approaching, while Sal’ Karn hid behind them and fired his crossbows at the wolves. While Sir Albert and Baldur did take some damage from the wolves, they ignored most of it since it hadn’t damaged them that badly. Q and Brie however, had chosen to stay near Magnus and Celinus in order to protect them when needed.
“[Enchant - Defence]!” Celinus cast her spell and a yellow aura appeared around each of the party members. “This will only last for 5 minutes okay? And it took a bit more than a quarter of my mana, so make good use of this!” She told Q and Brie as she began preparing another spell.
“Gotcha. [Tri-Spark]!” Three bolts of lightning flew from Q’s finger tips and directly hit a wolf on the head. The wolf became [Stunned] and froze in place for a moment, and Q simply said, “Brie!”
Brie immediately understood and dashed towards the wolf, attacking its vital spots and finishing it off within seconds. “These wolves are not much of a challenge…” Brie frowned as she searched for another wolf to attack.
“That’s because they have yet to group up. We need to take out as many as we can before they do so, or else it’ll be troublesome later.” Magnus said as he cast another spell. “[Firewall]!” A giant wall of flames erupted all around Magnus and Celinus, and the two looked over at Q and Brie.
“Don’t mind us, we can protect ourselves. Just go out and take ‘em down!” Celinus said as she pointed her staff over where Sir Albert was fighting. “[Light Regeneration]!”
Sir Albert’s health began to slowly fill up, and he took a second to look back and flash a smile before continuing to fight off the wolves. Q and Brie exchanged a look, and they both ran out of the formation, set on wreaking as much havoc as they could. For the most part, the wolves were fairly easy to deal with for the two girls, as their speed was higher than the wolves and they were able to dodge with relative ease.
Within a few seconds, the two of them stood back-to-back, surrounded by six wolves who had broken off from the main group to attack them. Sal’ Karn noticed this, and just as he was about to say something to the other members to help them out, the two girls began to move.
The two were completely in sync, moving together as if they had one body. Where Q would use a spell, Brie would instantly follow up with a stab from her sword. When Brie locked down a wolf, Q would push away whatever was engaging her to help Brie take down the wolf. At one point they even began to mix their attacks together, as the two stood on opposite sides of a wolf and knocked it back and forth with their attacks. Within a minute, they were able to take down the six wolves, and moved to rejoin the group.
Baldur whistled as he watched the two return to the fire. “Looks like these roses have quite the thorns ‘eh?”
“Y-yeah…” Sal’ Karn felt slightly embarrassed that he thought to help them earlier.
“A wonderful display of skills you two! But remember, the battle is yet to be won!” Sir Albert cried out as he comboed a wolf using his skills. “[Staggering Blow], [Rising Uppercut], [Heavy Slash]!” His first attack made the wolf dizzy and disoriented, his second attack sent it flying into the air, and his third one hit the wolf with such force that it was blasted backwards at least 5 meters upon impact.
“Nice moves!” Q complimented Sir Albert. There were now less than 5 wolves around, and it seemed the wolves were just about ready to run away. For a moment, the group was contemplating going after the wolves, when they suddenly heard a loud howl.
*AWOOOOOOOOO~!*
Sal’ Karn took in a sharp intake of breath. “There are at least 20 enemies now!” He said, shocking everyone in the party. “And that’s not all…” He continued, “We have a ‘big one’ coming towards us.” Everyone’s grip on their weapons tightened, and soon enough they were able to see the source of the loud howl from earlier.
[Alpha Shadow Wolf] - Level 30
The Alpha was only slightly larger than those of the normal wolves, but it had more muscles and darker fur than the rest. The most striking feature was a strange spiral horn sticking out of its head, which was pure black. Behind the Alpha were more than 20 wolves, each one growling and glaring at the players with hatred.
“Oooh boy, this is going to be a tough battle.” Celinus drank a mana potion and prepared another spell. The other members were similarly readying themselves to fight... all but one of them, that is.
“T-that fur… those eyes… Wolfy!?” Q cried out. The other players stared at her in confusion, but she continued to look hard at the Alpha. “N-no, that can’t be. I killed Wolfy already… They probably just reused enemy models. Yeah, that’s it. Hahaha.” Q tried to deny that the Alpha in front of her was the wolf she had faced in the tutorial, but she was still visibly shaken. No matter where she looked, the Alpha seemed incredibly similar to the wolf she faced in the tutorial, so much so that it even had scratch marks around its eyes.
While Q was still confused, the Alpha noticed her and widened its eyes. Suddenly, a determined glint appeared in its eyes and it let out a loud howl. The rest of the wolves also howled, shaking the air and causing the players to cover their ears in an effort to protect themselves. A dark blue glow began to seep out from the Alpha’s horn, and it seemed to cause a change in the other wolves as their red eyes slowly turned blue. Their fur also darkened, becoming incredibly hard to see in the darkness. The most surprising change though, was something that Q never thought she would see in this game.
[Alpha Shadow Wolf (Wolfy)] - Level 35
“Haha… hahaha… what the hell is this game...” She laughed weakly upon reading the name.
The Alpha continued to glare at Q, and then barked at the other wolves. The other wolves parted to the sides, leaving a straight line leading right to the Alpha (Wolfy). The Alpha stood there, looking down on Q as it waited for her. “Well if you insist that much, it'd be rude of me to refuse.” A smile slowly formed on Q’s face. She turned to the others and said, “Guys, leave the Alpha to me. We have some unfinished business.”
“Are you sure you can take it on alone?” Sir Albert asked worriedly. “And what do you mean by unfinished business?”
“No time to explain! I'll be going first!” Q ran forward to meet the Alpha. The Alpha similarly ran forward, and the two began slashing at each other with their claws. Their speeds were somewhat similar, though the Alpha had more speed when dashing forward, whereas Q would be faster with turning and dodging. Their first exchange of blows ended with both sides receiving a few slashes, though the Alpha came out on top due to its higher damage and defense. “Geez Wolfy, you sure got quite the upgrade…” Q looked at her health bar which was reduced by 10%. The Alpha only responded with a growl, and the two began fighting again.
Meanwhile, the other players had to deal with the rest of the pack, all of which were moving eerily slow. The only thing the players could make out were their glowing blue eyes, which flickered every time one of them blinked. This standoff lasted for a while, until Brie noticed something amiss.
“Are there… less eyes than before?” She asked.
“One second…” Sal’ Karn closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them in shock. “There’s less of them now! I don’t know where they- CELINUS!!” Sal’ Karn whipped his arm towards Celinus and fired a bolt in her direction. For a moment all the players were stunned until they saw what the bolt had hit. The upper half of a shadow wolf’s body was emerging from a shadow behind Celinus, in a perfect position to bite her. After the bolt hit however, the wolf retreated back into the shadow and another pair of glowing eyes was added to the main pack.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
“Shadow jumping wolves… these are level 20 creatures right? How is that fair this early in the game!?” Magnus complained.
“Actually, I think that blue aura caused them to jump to level 25…” Sir Albert noted.
“Stop gawking and help me get some light in this place!” Celinus cast [Lustrous Orb], creating a bright area around them. This proved to be a mistake though, as it elongated the shadows around them and allowed more wolves to appear, leaping with claws outstretched.
One of the wolves bit down on Baldur’s arm, but he simply grunted and slammed his arm on the ground, stunning the wolf and dealing damage. “Come on you raggedy mutts! Show me what you’ve got!” Baldur yelled. Suddenly, all of the wolves attention was directed at him, each of them growling menacingly as they began attacking Baldur. His body began to glow red, and he began swinging his axe with much more force than before.
The wolves that were hit by his axe had their health reduced by at least a quarter, and were sent flying. “RAAAAAAGGHHH!!!” Baldur let out a battle cry and jumped forward to attack the wolves. Magnus continued to cast fireballs at any large group of wolves, though sometimes he would use a spell called [Flamethrower] which created a stream of flames from his staff. Although the flames would keep the wolves at bay and reduced the amount of shadows they could jump from, the payoff was that it drained his mana quickly so he couldn’t use it too often.
Brie elected to stay beside Celinus, and fought off any wolves that approached her. Celinus decided to dispel [Lustrous Orb] and concentrated on buffing the party’s defence, while also healing them when needed. At one point a wolf came in from Brie’s blind spot, so Celinus cast a spell to protect her. “[Shield of Light]!” A glowing shield made of bright light appeared behind Brie, and blocked the wolf’s attack.
Instead of thanking her, Brie frowned and said, “That was unnecessary.”
“Haha…” Celinus laughed weakly. “You sure aren’t friendly when your friends aren’t around...”
“Hmph.” Brie simply turned her head and continued to attack the wolves.
The situation continued like this for at least a minute, and the players were slowly whittling down the number of wolves. There were now 18 wolves left, and those wolves decided to change their tactics. They stopped walking slowly, and instead began dashing around the players in a circle, only to disappear and reappear leaping from a shadow. There were now wolves dashing through the player's formation, constantly scratching them as they ran by.
One of the wolves managed to bite Magnus’ robe, and began to drag him away from the others. “HEEEELLPP!!!!” He screamed as he was dragged off into the darkness.
“Oh jeez…” Celinus began rapidly chanting a spell. “Spirits of the void, heed my call and create a sphere that will reject all. [Repel Sphere]!”
A clear translucent barrier appeared around Magnus and pushed away all the wolves trying to attack him. The wolves tried to break the barrier with their fangs and claws, but were unsuccessful and got pushed away by an invisible force. Once the sphere appeared around him, Magnus finally calmed down a bit. “T-thanks for the save. That was really scary…”
“You’re not safe yet!” Sir Albert yelled. “I’m making my way towards you! [Valiant Charge]!!!” Sir Albert was covered with a bright aura and began making a headlong dash towards Magnus. The wolves attempted to scratch and bite Sir Albert, but he ignored them and continued his charge. Any wolves which were in his way were knocked aside, and any that latched onto him were quickly shaken off by his speed.
Soon enough, Sir Albert was able to reach Magnus, and just in time as well, as Celinus’ [Repel Sphere] finally wore out. Once the sphere disappeared the wolves began to run towards Magnus, but Sir Albert began shouting out insults. “Your blue eyes look stupid! You’re as threatening as a newborn puppy! Your fur isn’t as nice as Q’s!” Each successive insult caused more wolves to pay attention to Sir Albert, and the last one seemed to really anger them as they all charged at Sir Albert.
Once he was surrounded on all sides, he extended his sword as far away from his body as he could, and said, “[Whirlwind Slash]!” Sir Albert spun on the spot, his sword flashing and moving in a circle to cut all the wolves surrounding him. In addition to that, a strong gust of wind also accompanied the slash, knocking down the wolves which werent hit by his sword.
“Thanks for the assist.” Magnus nodded in thanks. “Now it’s time for my time to shine. Spirits of fire, heed my call! Gather in the skies, and become my enemy’s downfall! Burn brightly, and-”
“-Please make your chant faster.” Sir Albert interrupted, noticing that the wolves were starting to get up.
Magnus shot him a dirty look, but rushed through the rest of the chant and then finished with, “[Fire Storm]!” Giant globs of fire began falling from the sky, raining down on the wolves. This spell alone actually managed to kill 7 wolves before ending, and the remaining wolves became incredibly wary.
“Reckless as usual…” Sal’ Karn suddenly appeared beside the two and began firing bolts at the wolves to keep them at bay.
“One must never abandon a comrade in need!” Sir Albert looked quite accomplished, despite having his health taken down to one third from that reckless move.
Suddenly, a large axe flew forward and hit a wolf which was hiding in a nearby shadow. “Enemies are still around. Keep your wits about you!” Baldur ran forward and retrieved his axe, and went back to attacking the wolves.
With Magnus safe, the players returned to the fireplace to regroup. They resumed their initial formation, though they were a lot closer so none of them would be dragged off by a wolf. They went back to their usual pattern of slowly whittling down the wolves, when suddenly a bright flash appeared in the nearby woods. After the flash faded away, the wolves eyes stopped glowing blue, and went back to red. Additionally, their levels reverted to 20 and they couldn’t jump through the shadows anymore.
“What just happened?” Sal’ Karn seemed wary, but he was secretly rejoicing inside as he didn’t have to deal with the wolves jumping through shadows anymore.
“I think… Q must have done something.” Brie looked towards the forest. I hope she is alright…
“Let us take this opportunity to finish off these wolves before moving to help out Miss Q.” Sir Albert slashed at a wolf and began to combo it with his skills. The rest of the party members agreed, and they began finishing off the wolves...
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Alternate Chapter Title: Return of the Alpha: Wolfy’s Revenge Pt.3 - A Fated Reunion
Well... I don't have a lot to say about this chapter. I figure most of you will be asking "How the heck did Wolfy come back?" and that will be explained soon (like 2 more chapters later soon) so y'know... just be patient?
Anyway, I'd like to thank Moridain and Dromak for their reviews. And while I'm at it, I'd like to thank everyone who's following this fiction, rated this fiction, and those who also gave me a +1 Reputation (I have no idea how that works but thanks). I mean seriously, 500+ followers! I'm not sure how many ratings there were, but it's probably a lot! (Edit: I went back to the fiction page and somehow didn't notice the "Total Ratings" part. I feel stupid.) So basically what I'm trying to say is, thanks everyone.
Now with that sappy stuff out of the way, I'd like to share something with you all...
Spoiler :
http%3a%2f%2fi.imgur.com%2fjz1byq0.jpg [http://i.imgur.com/jz1byq0.jpg]
That's right! More Q Fanart! This one was sent in by Yuki Ookami, so give them a round of applause!
Fun-fact: The average person blinks 15-20 times per minute.