The Fanged Whitemane Wolf was slowly walking back and forth, observing its prey from a distance. Its white mane would bristle up from time to time, as if the monster sensed a possible threat or became overly excited to finally have fresh meat enter its domain.
The five Fanged Wolf dead bodies, that were yet to dissipate into the thin air, didn’t bother the huge wolf in the least. For what it was worth, the prey it was observing was worth more than a small snack. Maybe, just maybe, the Fanged Whitemane Wolf was looking at the five students as playthings, before it was to indulge itself in their delicious meat.
“Strong… and fast,” Growly commented.
The chubby bear boy had witnessed the monster’s speed when it leaped at his teammate, and almost managed to get a jump on her. If not for Narias, Flavia might’ve been hurt pretty badly. The energetic bunny girl wasn’t so jumpy anymore. The big teeth that flashed in front of her just before the huge fire burst under her feet had stuck in her eyes for good.
“Get ready. It’s coming,” Narias warned his teammates when the big wolf lowered its head, getting ready to charge at one of them.
- ‘Grrraaarr!’- and then it dashed forward.
“It’s coming right at us!” Flavia didn’t know whether to jump at or away from the monster.
“Huff!” Growly jumped forward without hesitation.
“Wind Blade,” at the same time, Narias cast his spell to assist him.
But the boss monster was fast on its feet. It quickly changed direction and jumped to the side to avoid both attacks.
“No, you won’t. Icicle Shot,” Emilia was about to intercept it. “Huh? What?”
But it didn’t work again. The big wolf leaped to the side even faster, pushed itself with its strong paws and sprinted directly at the wall. Right at the last second, when Emilia’s spell was about to hit it, the boss monster jumped on the wall and kept running. It ran on the wall just as easy as anyone else would run on the ground.
“No way! It can do that too!” Flavia exclaimed in surprise. “Aargh… stop right there!”
The energetic bunny girl snapped out of her hesitation and tried to catch up with the big bad wolf. However, it didn’t look like the wolf was interested in her. Before the other students could react, the four legged monster was already right behind the group.
“What?!” Lilna exclaimed in fear, realizing the big wolf was coming after her. “W… Water…”
She panicked and couldn’t cast any spells. The Fanged Whitemane Wolf’s fangs grew in size in front of her eyes.
“Aaaah!” she let out a fearful scream, covering her face with both hands.
“Fire Wall!” Narias had to use his Fire Wall spell again to stop the huge wolf from getting close to his teammate.
It worked. The big monster was spooked and jumped back to the wall again, but it didn’t stop running. It kept circling around the students, trying not give away who it will target next.
So fast. Narias didn’t expect for the monster to be so quick on its feet.
“Oh, come on! Stop running!” Flavia was getting annoyed.
“Careful. It will target you,” Growly came closer to warn her.
“Huh? Me?” that was enough for the bunny girl to become tense.
Right with those words, the huge wolf rammed its feet at the rocky ground, pushed itself forward and sprinted directly at Flavia with incredible speed. She quickly took a stance to meet the ferocious monster head on.
- ‘Graaah!’ –
But to her biggest surprise, the Fanged Whitemane Wolf bit an empty air before reaching its supposedly intended target, and instantly changed its direction. The dirt and small rocks crumbled under its feet.
“Wind Bullet!” Narias cast his spell right at the time when the boss monster leped to the side.
- ‘Grrr…’ – his spell landed a hit on the massive wolf this time.
The big boss monster jumped away to avoid being reached by any other attacks. It stopped at the other end of the cave, then gave its leg a few licks with its tongue at the spot where Narias’s spell hit it.
“Nice, you landed a hit on it, partner,” Flavia cheered.
“Thanks, but… I don’t think it did that much damage,” Narias was expecting his spell would really hurt the monster.
“Are you ok, Lilna?” in the meantime, Emilia was checking if her teammate was doing ok.
“Y… yes. I think so. I’m sorry, I…” the girl said so, but it didn’t look like she got it together just yet.
There was little time for talks, however. After a few more brief moments, the Fanged Whitemane Wolf was on the move again.
“Careful! It’s coming again! Wind Blade!” Narias tried to slow the big wolf down.
The monster leaped on the walls again, jumping up and down while circling around the students again.
“Icicle Shot,” Emilia joined in with her spells.
Unfortunately, the massive wolf was too fast to be hit. Narias’s Wind Blade and Emilia’s Icicle Shot were strong enough spells to take a level two Fanged Wolf down in one hit. However, the spells weren’t fast enough to land a hit on the boss monster.
“Right, it’s up to us, Growly!” suddenly, Flavia sprinted towards the wall.
“On it,” Growly followed her lead.
Growly and Flavia ran to block the Fanged Whitemane Wolf’s path by running towards one of the walls. The boss monster has probably noticed the two students running, but it didn’t slow down its pace. The massive wolf leaped up on the wall, pushed itself down to jump on the ground then dashed forward, towards both of the students.
Narias and Emilia cast one spell each to try and slow the monster down. It evaded their spells just like before, but that was enough to give Growly an opportunity to attack. The chubby bear beast-boy curled into a ball to gain more speed, then leaped out of it right after the big wolf jumped down from the wall.
“Humph!” Growly swung with his paw from above.
- ‘Paw!’ – the Fanged Whitemane Wolf wasn’t able to avoid his punch.
As strong as Growly’s swing was, it didn’t look like it hurt the boss monster too much. But it was still enough to shake the monster up, and stop it in its tracks, even if for a second.
“That’s good enough! Haaah!” that’s when Flavia followed up with her own kick.
- ‘Bam!’ – she kicked the massive wolf on the side, close to its front leg joint.
- ‘Grrrah!’ – the monster felt the pain this time.
It jumped back, to avoid being hit by Growly again. The massive wolf made enough distance between itself and the chubby bear boy, so it wouldn’t be reached, but stumbled on its feet due to the injury from Flavia’s kick.
“Emilia! Lilna! Now! Wind Blade! Wind Blade!” Narias cast two Wind Blade Spells in succession.
“Ice Shards. Icicle Shot.” Emilia cast two of her spells as well.
“Oh, I… Water… Water Splash,” Lilna on the other hand, had trouble to focus.
Narias and Emilia’s spells managed to hit the Fanged Whitemane Wolf and further injure the monster. Unfortunately, the best Lilna’s spell could do was to make the big wolf wet.
Huh? Something’s wrong with Lilna. Only then Narias has noticed that his girl classmate wasn’t giving her all.
It wasn’t that Lilna wasn’t able to fight. Up to this point, she was doing pretty well, supporting the group with her Water Magic. Lilna had successfully dispatched more than a few Dungeon Crawlers, and even helped with defeating a handful of Fanged Wolves. But she would always do that from a distance. She got really spooked when the boss monster tried to get a jump on her. The girl was visibly shaking from the shock and wasn’t able to concentrate.
Oh no. If she stays like that… Narias realized he can’t have Lilna fight like that. She’ll endanger herself, as well as the whole team.
- ‘Boom!’ – a loud crash echoed, bringing Narias’s focus back on the fight.
Growly has managed to land another hit on the Fanged Whitemane Wolf at the last second. The chubby bear boy rammed his body, shoulder forward, at the huge monster with his full strength. The massive wolf was blown away and smashed into the wall nearby, raising a cloud of dust and dirt at the same time.
“Alright! That’s how you do it!” Flavia cheered excitedly.
“Watch out! Get away from there!” Narias warned his teammates.
- ‘Swoosh!’ – a tail swipe followed.
“Woah!” thanks to Narias’s warning, Flavia was able to avoid getting hit.
“Humph,” Growly had no trouble escaping the monster’s tail sweep as well.
Before the dust could settle, the Fanged Whitemane Wolf leaped out and away from the group of students, making enough distance between itself and them. It definitely looked injured, but it stood strong on its powerful legs. The boss monster rammed its feet at the ground, taking a stance and lowering its head close to the ground.
- ‘HOOOWL!’ – it howled so loud the cave’s walls shook.
“Aaah! My ears,” Flavia grabbed onto her ears, feeling pain. She succumbed on the ground, trying to endure the deafening howling sound.
Aaargh. My ears hurt. Narias, as well as everyone else, had to try and endure the pain in their ears.
“Aaaah!” a girl’s scream was heard not far from him.
“Huh? Lilna?” he turned to see if she was ok. “Wha…”
His girl classmate, who was some distance away from the whole group, was shaking in fear. The same Fanged Wolves the students have defeated at the beginning of the encounter were back on their feet and two of them were already close enough to reach Lilna with one jump.
That’s right. The second phase of the encounter has started. The boss monster raises the pack to fight again. And not only that. The Fanged Wolves become stronger too. That was a crucial information to remember before the second phase happened.
“Everyone! We need to save Lilna!” Narias shouted as loud as he could.
“Ice Ring,” but Emilia was ahead of everyone else.
The Ice Princess cast her Ice Ring spell to make it difficult for the wolf pack to get close to Lilna. One of the Fanged Wolves still tried to jump, but slipped and fell sideways, sliding a few feet on the slippery ice.
“Icicle Shot,” Emilia didn’t wait for the said monster to get back on its feet. The same Fanged Wolf was hit by her spell and was frozen solid.
“Wind Blade,” Narias quickly followed up with his own spell, smashing the frozen monster into pieces.
Seeing how one of their kin was defeated in such a cruel manner, the rest of the Fanged Wolves jumped away and ran to join up with their pack’s leader, the Fanged Whitemane Wolf.
“Are you ok, Lilna?” Narias rushed to check on his teammate.
“They are not coming,” Emilia was right next to him, informing that it was still safe for a moment or two.
“We’re here as well, partner,” Flavia and Growly joined them too. “Dang, I totally forgot about the second phase. But the way you dealt with one of the Fanged Wolves, that was totally… huh?”
Flavia was about to unleash an avalanche of exciting compliments, but then noticed Lilna trembling in fear.
Not good. We can’t fight like that, but the second phase of the encounter has already started. Narias was trying to assess the situation.
“I’m sorry… I’m so sorry…” Lilna was apologizing.
“It’s ok, Lilna. We’re here with you,” Emilia was trying to comfort her.
“We need to take Lilna to the safe location,” there was no time for Narias to be undecided.
It will lower our team’s numbers, but we cannot backdown from the fight now. We’re already halfway through. However, my teammate’s safety comes first. Narias knew he won’t take any chances fighting the boss monster with Lilna being like that.
“What? You want to leave the cave?” Flavia exclaimed.
Everyone knew that if they were to leave the boss monster’s lair, they won’t be followed by the boss monster itself. The downside was, the entrance will be closed by a magic barrier and they won’t be able to enter until the encounter resets. The time they would need to wait will depend on how badly the boss monster was injured during the fight. The bigger the wounds it had, the longer they would have to wait.
“No. If we do that, all our efforts will be wasted. We need to defeat the Fanged Whitemane Wolf now. But Lilna can’t fight the way she is right now. We’ll have Miss Salroze protect her.” Narias explained his intentions.
“Oh, right. Let’s do that,” Flavia instantly agreed.
“Miss Salroze! We need your help!” Narias shouted to attract the athletic female teacher’s attention.
“I’m already here,” it took only two seconds, and a spark of purple lightning, for Belinda to appear next to the students. “Giving up now?”
She wasn’t trying to denounce the student efforts by any means with her question.
“Can you take care of Lilna, Miss Salroze?” Narias asked instead of answering her question.
“Huh? I see…” he didn’t need to explain for Miss Salroze to understand what Narias intended to do. “Lilna, come with me. Hmm… do your best.”
The violet-haired teacher stopped just briefly to add an encouragement to the four students who weren’t yet ready to give up.
“Right, let’s do this,” Flavia made a step forward, then slammed her fists at each other, feeling pumped.
“Beat the big monster,” Growly grinned, showing off his white, sharp teeth.
“I’m ready,” Emilia focused her magical energy, making the air around her catch a frosty chill.
“Lilna is safe now. Let’s go all out,” Narias felt an unexplainable surge of boiling excitement building up in his body.
━━━━━━━━━
Thank you for reading. Leave a comment and favorite the chapter if you enjoyed it.
Read 10+ extra chapters on my Patreon – Extra Chapters on Patreon
━━━━━━━━━
Extra thanks to nonomo4 and Lynderyn for their support and help.
The Fanged Whitemane Wolf was slowly walking back and forth, observing its prey from a distance. Its white mane would bristle up from time to time, as if the monster sensed a possible threat or became overly excited to finally have fresh meat enter its domain.
The five Fanged Wolf dead bodies, that were yet to dissipate into the thin air, didn’t bother the huge wolf in the least. For what it was worth, the prey it was observing was worth more than a small snack. Maybe, just maybe, the Fanged Whitemane Wolf was looking at the five students as playthings, before it was to indulge itself in their delicious meat.
“Strong… and fast,” Growly commented.
The chubby bear boy had witnessed the monster’s speed when it leaped at his teammate, and almost managed to get a jump on her. If not for Narias, Flavia might’ve been hurt pretty badly. The energetic bunny girl wasn’t so jumpy anymore. The big teeth that flashed in front of her just before the huge fire burst under her feet had stuck in her eyes for good.
“Get ready. It’s coming,” Narias warned his teammates when the big wolf lowered its head, getting ready to charge at one of them.
- ‘Grrraaarr!’- and then it dashed forward.
“It’s coming right at us!” Flavia didn’t know whether to jump at or away from the monster.
“Huff!” Growly jumped forward without hesitation.
“Wind Blade,” at the same time, Narias cast his spell to assist him.
But the boss monster was fast on its feet. It quickly changed direction and jumped to the side to avoid both attacks.
“No, you won’t. Icicle Shot,” Emilia was about to intercept it. “Huh? What?”
But it didn’t work again. The big wolf leaped to the side even faster, pushed itself with its strong paws and sprinted directly at the wall. Right at the last second, when Emilia’s spell was about to hit it, the boss monster jumped on the wall and kept running. It ran on the wall just as easy as anyone else would run on the ground.
“No way! It can do that too!” Flavia exclaimed in surprise. “Aargh… stop right there!”
The energetic bunny girl snapped out of her hesitation and tried to catch up with the big bad wolf. However, it didn’t look like the wolf was interested in her. Before the other students could react, the four legged monster was already right behind the group.
“What?!” Lilna exclaimed in fear, realizing the big wolf was coming after her. “W… Water…”
She panicked and couldn’t cast any spells. The Fanged Whitemane Wolf’s fangs grew in size in front of her eyes.
“Aaaah!” she let out a fearful scream, covering her face with both hands.
“Fire Wall!” Narias had to use his Fire Wall spell again to stop the huge wolf from getting close to his teammate.
It worked. The big monster was spooked and jumped back to the wall again, but it didn’t stop running. It kept circling around the students, trying not give away who it will target next.
So fast. Narias didn’t expect for the monster to be so quick on its feet.
“Oh, come on! Stop running!” Flavia was getting annoyed.
“Careful. It will target you,” Growly came closer to warn her.
“Huh? Me?” that was enough for the bunny girl to become tense.
Right with those words, the huge wolf rammed its feet at the rocky ground, pushed itself forward and sprinted directly at Flavia with incredible speed. She quickly took a stance to meet the ferocious monster head on.
- ‘Graaah!’ –
But to her biggest surprise, the Fanged Whitemane Wolf bit an empty air before reaching its supposedly intended target, and instantly changed its direction. The dirt and small rocks crumbled under its feet.
“Wind Bullet!” Narias cast his spell right at the time when the boss monster leped to the side.
- ‘Grrr…’ – his spell landed a hit on the massive wolf this time.
The big boss monster jumped away to avoid being reached by any other attacks. It stopped at the other end of the cave, then gave its leg a few licks with its tongue at the spot where Narias’s spell hit it.
“Nice, you landed a hit on it, partner,” Flavia cheered.
“Thanks, but… I don’t think it did that much damage,” Narias was expecting his spell would really hurt the monster.
“Are you ok, Lilna?” in the meantime, Emilia was checking if her teammate was doing ok.
“Y… yes. I think so. I’m sorry, I…” the girl said so, but it didn’t look like she got it together just yet.
There was little time for talks, however. After a few more brief moments, the Fanged Whitemane Wolf was on the move again.
“Careful! It’s coming again! Wind Blade!” Narias tried to slow the big wolf down.
The monster leaped on the walls again, jumping up and down while circling around the students again.
“Icicle Shot,” Emilia joined in with her spells.
Unfortunately, the massive wolf was too fast to be hit. Narias’s Wind Blade and Emilia’s Icicle Shot were strong enough spells to take a level two Fanged Wolf down in one hit. However, the spells weren’t fast enough to land a hit on the boss monster.
“Right, it’s up to us, Growly!” suddenly, Flavia sprinted towards the wall.
“On it,” Growly followed her lead.
Growly and Flavia ran to block the Fanged Whitemane Wolf’s path by running towards one of the walls. The boss monster has probably noticed the two students running, but it didn’t slow down its pace. The massive wolf leaped up on the wall, pushed itself down to jump on the ground then dashed forward, towards both of the students.
Narias and Emilia cast one spell each to try and slow the monster down. It evaded their spells just like before, but that was enough to give Growly an opportunity to attack. The chubby bear beast-boy curled into a ball to gain more speed, then leaped out of it right after the big wolf jumped down from the wall.
“Humph!” Growly swung with his paw from above.
- ‘Paw!’ – the Fanged Whitemane Wolf wasn’t able to avoid his punch.
As strong as Growly’s swing was, it didn’t look like it hurt the boss monster too much. But it was still enough to shake the monster up, and stop it in its tracks, even if for a second.
“That’s good enough! Haaah!” that’s when Flavia followed up with her own kick.
- ‘Bam!’ – she kicked the massive wolf on the side, close to its front leg joint.
- ‘Grrrah!’ – the monster felt the pain this time.
It jumped back, to avoid being hit by Growly again. The massive wolf made enough distance between itself and the chubby bear boy, so it wouldn’t be reached, but stumbled on its feet due to the injury from Flavia’s kick.
“Emilia! Lilna! Now! Wind Blade! Wind Blade!” Narias cast two Wind Blade Spells in succession.
“Ice Shards. Icicle Shot.” Emilia cast two of her spells as well.
“Oh, I… Water… Water Splash,” Lilna on the other hand, had trouble to focus.
Narias and Emilia’s spells managed to hit the Fanged Whitemane Wolf and further injure the monster. Unfortunately, the best Lilna’s spell could do was to make the big wolf wet.
Huh? Something’s wrong with Lilna. Only then Narias has noticed that his girl classmate wasn’t giving her all.
It wasn’t that Lilna wasn’t able to fight. Up to this point, she was doing pretty well, supporting the group with her Water Magic. Lilna had successfully dispatched more than a few Dungeon Crawlers, and even helped with defeating a handful of Fanged Wolves. But she would always do that from a distance. She got really spooked when the boss monster tried to get a jump on her. The girl was visibly shaking from the shock and wasn’t able to concentrate.
Oh no. If she stays like that… Narias realized he can’t have Lilna fight like that. She’ll endanger herself, as well as the whole team.
- ‘Boom!’ – a loud crash echoed, bringing Narias’s focus back on the fight.
Growly has managed to land another hit on the Fanged Whitemane Wolf at the last second. The chubby bear boy rammed his body, shoulder forward, at the huge monster with his full strength. The massive wolf was blown away and smashed into the wall nearby, raising a cloud of dust and dirt at the same time.
“Alright! That’s how you do it!” Flavia cheered excitedly.
“Watch out! Get away from there!” Narias warned his teammates.
- ‘Swoosh!’ – a tail swipe followed.
“Woah!” thanks to Narias’s warning, Flavia was able to avoid getting hit.
“Humph,” Growly had no trouble escaping the monster’s tail sweep as well.
Before the dust could settle, the Fanged Whitemane Wolf leaped out and away from the group of students, making enough distance between itself and them. It definitely looked injured, but it stood strong on its powerful legs. The boss monster rammed its feet at the ground, taking a stance and lowering its head close to the ground.
- ‘HOOOWL!’ – it howled so loud the cave’s walls shook.
“Aaah! My ears,” Flavia grabbed onto her ears, feeling pain. She succumbed on the ground, trying to endure the deafening howling sound.
Aaargh. My ears hurt. Narias, as well as everyone else, had to try and endure the pain in their ears.
“Aaaah!” a girl’s scream was heard not far from him.
“Huh? Lilna?” he turned to see if she was ok. “Wha…”
His girl classmate, who was some distance away from the whole group, was shaking in fear. The same Fanged Wolves the students have defeated at the beginning of the encounter were back on their feet and two of them were already close enough to reach Lilna with one jump.
That’s right. The second phase of the encounter has started. The boss monster raises the pack to fight again. And not only that. The Fanged Wolves become stronger too. That was a crucial information to remember before the second phase happened.
“Everyone! We need to save Lilna!” Narias shouted as loud as he could.
“Ice Ring,” but Emilia was ahead of everyone else.
The Ice Princess cast her Ice Ring spell to make it difficult for the wolf pack to get close to Lilna. One of the Fanged Wolves still tried to jump, but slipped and fell sideways, sliding a few feet on the slippery ice.
“Icicle Shot,” Emilia didn’t wait for the said monster to get back on its feet. The same Fanged Wolf was hit by her spell and was frozen solid.
“Wind Blade,” Narias quickly followed up with his own spell, smashing the frozen monster into pieces.
Seeing how one of their kin was defeated in such a cruel manner, the rest of the Fanged Wolves jumped away and ran to join up with their pack’s leader, the Fanged Whitemane Wolf.
“Are you ok, Lilna?” Narias rushed to check on his teammate.
“They are not coming,” Emilia was right next to him, informing that it was still safe for a moment or two.
“We’re here as well, partner,” Flavia and Growly joined them too. “Dang, I totally forgot about the second phase. But the way you dealt with one of the Fanged Wolves, that was totally… huh?”
Flavia was about to unleash an avalanche of exciting compliments, but then noticed Lilna trembling in fear.
Not good. We can’t fight like that, but the second phase of the encounter has already started. Narias was trying to assess the situation.
“I’m sorry… I’m so sorry…” Lilna was apologizing.
“It’s ok, Lilna. We’re here with you,” Emilia was trying to comfort her.
“We need to take Lilna to the safe location,” there was no time for Narias to be undecided.
It will lower our team’s numbers, but we cannot backdown from the fight now. We’re already halfway through. However, my teammate’s safety comes first. Narias knew he won’t take any chances fighting the boss monster with Lilna being like that.
“What? You want to leave the cave?” Flavia exclaimed.
Everyone knew that if they were to leave the boss monster’s lair, they won’t be followed by the boss monster itself. The downside was, the entrance will be closed by a magic barrier and they won’t be able to enter until the encounter resets. The time they would need to wait will depend on how badly the boss monster was injured during the fight. The bigger the wounds it had, the longer they would have to wait.
“No. If we do that, all our efforts will be wasted. We need to defeat the Fanged Whitemane Wolf now. But Lilna can’t fight the way she is right now. We’ll have Miss Salroze protect her.” Narias explained his intentions.
“Oh, right. Let’s do that,” Flavia instantly agreed.
“Miss Salroze! We need your help!” Narias shouted to attract the athletic female teacher’s attention.
“I’m already here,” it took only two seconds, and a spark of purple lightning, for Belinda to appear next to the students. “Giving up now?”
She wasn’t trying to denounce the student efforts by any means with her question.
“Can you take care of Lilna, Miss Salroze?” Narias asked instead of answering her question.
“Huh? I see…” he didn’t need to explain for Miss Salroze to understand what Narias intended to do. “Lilna, come with me. Hmm… do your best.”
The violet-haired teacher stopped just briefly to add an encouragement to the four students who weren’t yet ready to give up.
“Right, let’s do this,” Flavia made a step forward, then slammed her fists at each other, feeling pumped.
“Beat the big monster,” Growly grinned, showing off his white, sharp teeth.
“I’m ready,” Emilia focused her magical energy, making the air around her catch a frosty chill.
“Lilna is safe now. Let’s go all out,” Narias felt an unexplainable surge of boiling excitement building up in his body.
━━━━━━━━━
Thank you for reading. Leave a comment and favorite the chapter if you enjoyed it.
Read 10+ extra chapters on my Patreon – Extra Chapters on Patreon
━━━━━━━━━
Extra thanks to nonomo4 and Lynderyn for their support and help.
