1.31 Death Comes in Every Shape and Size

[Lvl ??? Greater Direwolf Pack Leader]

Rocky and his party looked onwards as wolves of every shape and size flooded past the wooden palisades, and through the breach into the main courtyard of their camp.

The larger wolf, incredibly high level, had broken through their gate, staring at the group with terrifying, jarring yellow eyes. Now that he was closer, Rocky could truly appreciate just how right his initial feelings had been. ‘This might not even be a real fight for that one.’

Its fur was gray, sleek despite the wolf’s obviously wild nature. Intermittent white streaks in its otherwise homogeneous coat gave it an unnerving, angular quality. The tufts of fur came together in groups, resolving into spiky, soft ends.

Like its brethren, this wolf had long, curved fangs and claws that could probably rip Rocky to shreds. Terrifyingly sharp and weirdly shiny in the glistening midday sun.

Its growl sent a wave of wolves forward. The runts and weaklings were the first to obey, prowling around the group as they were slowly edged into a corner of their wooden encampment. From where Rocky was standing, not one of the wolves visible was below level ten.

“COME ON, YOU BASTARDS!” Harold banged his crystalline hammer against his shield, also crafted from the glowing green crystals they had left behind deep underground. The sound wasn’t there, not like it would’ve been if he had done it with regular metal. But the intention was clear, and the wolves began to close in.

They boasted the same fangs, claws, and grey coats streaked with white that Rocky observed on the largest specimen. ‘Though their size is incredibly different.’

One of the approaching wolves lunged forwards, perhaps out of eagerness, directly at one of Rocky’s golems. Its teeth connected, right where a human’s throat would be. The golem caught the wolf as it began to fall back to the ground, a conspicuous lack of damage on any part of its cold iron body.

With a squeeze, the golem snapped whatever bones the wolf had in its torso. And with a thud, the monster fell lifeless to the floor.

“Holy shit, that’s metal.” Harold had watched the exchange, as had the rest of the group, and Rocky now saw varied reactions on their faces. Harold was the easiest to read, a mixture of surprise, awe, and some terror etched into his face. At least, that’s what Rocky assumed as he observed as the man formed an ‘o’ with his mouth.

Amber looked a little scared at the show of force, but didn’t say anything. And Alina, well, Alina looked ecstatic. “HELL yeah! THERE’S my meal ticket!” She pumped a fist in the air as she did so.

The remaining wolves, lower levelled ones at least, began moving with more caution. One darted in to try and nick a golem in the leg. ‘Can they even hurt the golems?’ Rocky wondered as the offending canine was booted away by one of the golem’s stumpy legs.

Its claws raked across the golem’s leg before being knocked away. Upon closer examination, Rocky couldn’t even discern a mark, much less any actual damage. The [Lvl 9 Direwolf] fell to the ground, right next to the corpse of its dead ally.

The small wolves were truly cowed now, refusing to attack alone, even as the largest among them growled to charge.

Several made hesitant steps forward, but several mid-air catches by Rocky’s golems later, and even the bravest among them refused to inch forward at all. ‘That, or they’re already dead,’ Rocky thought as he eyed the several wolves, strewn about the ground before his golems.

The middling members of the pack were next, undaunted by their lesser counterpart’s failure. And only now, did Rocky truly appreciate the scope of the ‘tribulation’ that Alina had mentioned.

They came in their dozens, the rank and file at the back howled and clawed forward, easily filling all available space within their wooden fort. Their snarls conveyed clear intent, so obvious that Rocky didn’t need [Language Interpretation] to figure out what they wanted.

“Buy me some time, I need a moment.” For the first time, Rocky noticed how fatigued Amber was. Likely the result of nonstop spellcasting several minutes prior. Though, considering the lack of Kobolds anywhere in the encampment, she had been successful. ‘That, or the wolves ate them.’

The middling wolves were jostling with one another for position at the front of the line now, and a staggered half-ring formed around Rocky’s embattled party.

The largest of their number, a [Lvl 14 Direwolf] howled, and those close enough to Rocky’s golems leapt for their vital points. Or they would’ve, if his golems had any vital organs to protect in the first place. Rocky had checked before, and had come up with only more cold iron to show for it.

First among them was the level fourteen, howling bloody murder in Rocky’s [Language Interpretation].

‘That was a lot of buildup,’ Rocky mused, as the wolf was swatted out of the air by one of the golems, its legs bent in unnatural directions as its blood pooled just moments after impact with the ground. ‘For a very underwhelming fight.’

Its leaping allies met similar fates, as fangs, teeth, and claws met the unyielding surfaces of Rocky’s golems. The few who did manage to land blows found that their blows resulted in little more than scratches and the light chipping of a golem’s hide.

But they had left marks this time, and unperturbed even by the certain death they came one after another. “The System is stronger on higher levelled monsters, kill them first!” Alina shouted over the howls and carnage.

Rocky willed for his golems to do so, focusing their efforts though the nicks and chips in his golems were beginning to accumulate.

The cycle continued, punch and counterpunch, until a familiar shout broke the monotonous howling and thumping that characterized a battle between wolves and golems.

“[Fireball]!” The flame flew into a rank of wolves waiting for their chance at the golems, killing several instantly and singing the rest’s gray fur, until it was an unrecognizable black.

“[Fireball], [Fireball], [Fireball]!” Several more groups fell to the compressed balls of death, clumped together as they were, forcing the remaining direwolves to spread out.

Or at least, that’s what they were supposed to do. “That should force them to come at us piecemeal, and your golems can rip them apart.” Amber was at his side, panting. “Alina tells me there’s a time limit on this tribulation thing, so this should help keep them at bay for a bit longer.”

Rocky nodded, this had been one of their strategies, stretching out all of their area of attack resources to the absolute limit, to buy as much time as possible. Next would be his [Words of Power], to cow any lower level foes.

‘Though we never got to test how many times I can use it.” Rocky would’ve shrugged had he the shoulders to do so. ‘Guess we’ll figure it out here.’

The unending tide of fights and the need to build a base had limited their training, and- “SHIT!” That was Harold, holding his shield firmly in place against the onslaught.

‘Wait, onslaught?’ This wasn’t the plan. The fireballs had not forced the wolves to space themselves out. Rather, it seemed to have convinced them of the need to attack all at once. The tide of gray pelts surged forwards, trampling any weaker or unluckier than themselves to just get a chance at the foe.

“CAN YOU PUT A WALL?” Harold shouted of the carnage, noise which had grown exponentially louder since the fireballs had impacted.

Amber shouted back. “NO! I NEED TO RECOVER MANA, HOLD ON!” The woman herself had moved to the back of their group, to the very corner of the fort. She would need time, time Rocky would give her.

He focused on his next words. [Words of Power] would need to save them here. “BACK YOU DOGS.” Rocky’s discordant voice rang out, piercing even the unending sounds of death and anguish.

The onslaught paused for but a moment, as the wolves’ bodies tensed and froze. Some even tumbled to the ground, looking around, confused, before rushing towards the group once more.

“I SAID BACK!” Rocky once again imposed his will on the wolves. This time however, the pack’s rank and file were ready, and very few of the wolves even bothered to pause in their assault.

“BACK!” Rocky tried once more, [Words of Power] flaring as the rock desperately tried to stop the onrushing tide. Not even the weakest among the attackers flinched at his skill. If anything, the assault intensified as he made more and more efforts to drive them back.

“[Wall of Ember]” The barrier of flames rose up around the group. Those wolves unlucky enough to find themselves on the wrong side of said barrier, or worse, in the midst of crossing it, were either incinerated or met with the hammer blows of the group’s frontliners.

Rocky supposed this was as good a time to ‘take stock’, as Amber called it, of the situation. His greatest ‘and only’ offensive ability was ineffective. [Words of Power] had gotten less and less effective as he used it, even against the lowest levelled wolves among the attackers.

His golems were a forest of marks and scratches as well, no longer the pristine cold iron specimens they had once been. In contrast to the weakest runts of their pack, the wolves that had come at them in the second wave could inflict light damage on his summons.

Rocky’s human companions looked worse for wear as well. Harold had suffered an especially bad cut to the leg, though Amber had still breathed a sigh of relief when they found that it wasn’t poisoned.

“The wall is going to fall any moment now, and we’re gonna get swarmed,” Amber began. “We don’t have the firepower to blitz through this group, so our best bet is to hold out for the timer. Which… are we sure it exists?” She gave Alina a pointed look.

“Uh, yes, I think so.” The Sprite looked uncharacteristically nervous about this aspect of Town defense.

“You think so? We’re hedging our lives on your beliefs?”

“No! Yes- maybe! The power requirement to found a town is usually really high for beginners, so it’s usually large groups that found them.” She gestured at the fiery wall. “You know, groups with more than two or three AOE spells, and that can fight off a lot of enemies.”

Harold cut in. “So is that why there are so many of them? Because it’s meant to test a large group of people?”

The Sprite nodded. “So it’s very rare that the time limit is reached.” She flicked a hand towards Rocky’s golems, who were looking worse for wear by the minute. “Most people don’t have untiring automatons fighting for them at this level, so either they're over prepared and kill everything, or they all die.”

She took a deep breath. “The time limit is a happy middle ground, but it’s very rare. Hence why I’m not completely sure about how long it is, or if it’s definitely real. There, happy?”

“No! I’m not! In what universe would you- Fine, whatever.” Amber’s voice was getting fainter, and her skin looked far more pale than it had at the start of the day. ‘That’s definitely not a good sign, is it?’

Almost without recourse or warning, save for a slight dimming of the [Wall of Ember]’s flames, the barrier fell, any protection it afforded falling away as the wolves, massed on the other side, rose once more to charge.

The wait had calmed the large majority of their number, and when the time came to attack once more, they lunged forwards not in the unending tide as was the case before. Instead, they came in a much more manageable wave. Still deadly, but manageable by the standards of the physical combatants still remaining.

The wolves reformed following a particularly disastrous charge, in which several of their highest ranking packmates had been crushed to death under the heels of Rocky’s golems. Who, surprisingly, actually seemed to be learning how to fight, having taken to stomping any felled wolves to fine paste while fighting others with their hands.

‘They grow up so fast.’