The fireball flew straight at them, but all of them reacted at the same time. Luna and Ramey attempted to chant; however, they weren’t preparing spells to counter the fireball. They both instantly knew that even their fastest chants couldn’t be prepared in time for the fireball, so Luna sought to attack the large wolf which had created the fireball while Ramey prepared a healing spell targeting the entire group. Weld on the other hand, used the skill [Projectile Tracking], and his body moved into the path of the fireball. From there, he activated [Fortify]. Using [Shimmer Step], Ali darted off to the back nearby Luna and Ramey, while Allen also backed away from Weld.

In a split second, the fireball erupted against Weld’s shield, knocking it out of his hands and throwing him backwards from the impact of the blast. He rolled a couple times and groaned in pain, his armor singed and a bruise forming on his shield arm. Ramey’s mass healing spell struck all of them, filling them with comfortable feelings and causing Weld’s forming bruise to calm down. She prepared another chant while Allen ran ahead, followed by a powerful spray of water from Luna which struck the large wolf, knocking it back as it stumbled and turned away from the spray in confusion.

Preparing another spell, Luna heard a chittering sound behind her, and she looked back startled to see one of the giant centipedes covered in heavy armor crawling up from behind. Ali leapt in front of her and looked pointedly at the centipede and back at her.

“Let me handle things at the back. Just focus on that wolf.” He told her, and she nodded her response, turning back and concentrating. After firing another spray at the large wolf, Ali tapped her shoulder. “Apparently these Dungeon bugs only want those wolves. They aren’t coming for us.”

He was right, even Ramey and Weld were curiously watching the tirade of small insect-like monsters which were clamoring around, forming a stream which seemed to avoid them. Making eye contact with each other, the group came together and made a consensus before coming to an agreement with each other. Preparing for another round of attacks, Weld rushed from their position in the underbrush to join Allen at the front lines.

“Allen!” Weld called as he leapt from a rock, slamming his dented shield into a black wolf, causing it to whimper and back away. “The dungeon monsters aren’t attacking us. The rest of the group wants to fight out with the support of the monsters, then we can take the proof and leave.”

“Good, if you guys hadn’t come to that conclusion, then I would’ve made y’all follow that plan anyway!” Chuckled Allen as his sword flashed, leaving a long cut along a dire wolf’s face. “Show the Dungeon that you don’t mean it harm, and the Dungeon won’t go out of its way just to kill you. That’s what the oldie at the Guild ingrained into me!” With that, Allen’s sword flashed again, stabbing into the dire wolf’s eye as he dodged its attack at the same time.

Weld considered what Allen had said as he slammed another black wolf to the ground with his shield. The guides on Dungeons back at the Guild warned never to approach the core unless a breach or corruption was imminent, as the monsters may all become berserk and seek to kill said adventurers. This was all due to the teachings of that crazy old man, yet it made sense as Dungeon monsters acted aggressively the closer someone got to the core. Overall, provoking the Dungeon while they were in this situation did not make any sense anyways, so Weld snapped himself out of his thoughts and honed into his attacks. It was an interesting experience, fighting monsters alongside other monsters.

Charlatan’s hand clenched against the hard handle of his spear in frustration. He felt like he was failing his lord. With the appearance of the humans, it seems as if the momentum of his fake assault had stopped. His only orders from then on had been to engage the humans and monsters which approached. Apparently, the losses on both sides did not matter. Charlatan didn’t mind crushing the weak insects which populated his lord’s dungeon, yet every time a wolf died, his heart ached. The fireball wolf which had been summoned to support him was slowly being pushed back due to the irritating blasts from the water shooting human, and Charlatan’s frustration was nearing its peak.

Seeing the humans at the front cutting down another wolf, Charlatan made up his mind. Slamming the butt of his spear down, he issued a chittering howl which carried over the battlefield. Immediately, the insect monsters which had been distracting the wolves to help the humans backed away warily, and the wolves aggressively pushed forward. The fireball wolf by his side charged into the fray aggressively, and Charlatan himself followed as well. Off by the entrance, several more black and dire wolves appeared from magic circles which had appeared in the ground to reinforce Charlatan, unknown by the humans who were occupied by the other hounds. Those wolves circled around the sides in an attempt to flank the humans.

“Damnit!” Ali shouted from his position on a tree branch. “They got more wolves! We’ve gotta get out of here! Join Allen and Weld, I’ll hold them off!”

He had caught sight of the wolves which had looped around the main group, and warned Luna and Ramey to move, as joining the rest of the group would better ensure their chances of survival. As Ramey and Luna ran down the ledge to join Weld and Allen, Ali sighed and prepared himself. As the wolves passed by under the tree, Ali leapt from the branches onto the back of a Dire Wolf, digging his dagger into its eye, and the wolf collapsed with a yelp, throwing him off of its back. Getting to his feet, he found himself surrounded by the group of wolves, who leapt towards him aggressively. Activating [Shimmer Step] again, his body blurred before rushing out of the entrapment. Recovering, Ali whipped throwing knives from hidden pockets in his clothes, and threw them with amazing speed and accuracy into the faces of the wolves. He then sprinted to join the rest of his group, who had formed up together already.

Charlatan and the Fireball wolf nudged the rest of their own allied wolves to the side as they pushed through. They both had the same thoughts to kill, though for different reasons. Charlatan desperately wanted to kill the humans due to the irritation he felt. He felt like a disgrace to his Lord for being unable to kill the humans with the forces given to him, even if the insect monsters were acting against them too. The fireball wolf, on the other hand, was driven mad with rage and pain due to the amount of mana in its body not being enough to constitute it. Unknown to everyone but Dylan and itself, its body was slowly falling apart and weakening. Even all of Dylan’s maximum capacity of mana being used to summon it could barely sustain it for more than a few hours, and with all of the fighting and damage it had taken, that time had shortened considerably.

As they spotted the humans amongst the tirade of wolves, their eyes glinted with hate. The fireball wolf leaped into the sky, flying a short distance before crashing onto the shield bearer of the group. Charlatan sunk low and aggressively crawled forward, wriggling under the bellies of wolves and hanging low to the ground. Reaching the humans, Charlatan stabbed his spear upwards towards the spear wielder, who was holding his shield over his head while the aggressive fireball wolf clawed at it, fire falling out of its mouth like drool as its claws raked down the shield. His spear, aimed perfectly, stabbed right into a gap in the man’s plate armor, causing him to shout in pain.

The human carrying the sword slashed a long mark along the side of the fireball wolf, causing its attention to turn towards him as it jumped off of the shield bearer. Charlatan’s lower jaw split apart as he howled in bloodlust. His arms worked along the spear, digging it deeper into the shield bearers’ body before it suddenly felt like he rammed into a wall. Looking up, Charlatan saw the large man’s arm pulling out the spear even as his own arms struggled to push the spear in. He instinctively dropped the spear and tumbled backwards, and a dagger stabbed into the space where his head had just been.

Looking up, Charlatan saw a skinny man wielding a dagger, and the large man glaring at him. The human with the sword was battling the fireball wolf off to the side with two female humans supporting him. Charlatan’s four eyes gleamed with hatred, and he opened his mouth. Fire began to race up his body and cover himself, and Charlatan’s long tongue began to emerge from his mouth. The humans’ faces blanched in shock and surprise as Charlatan’s tongue, which looked exactly like a red centipede with four glowing eyes stretched nearly three feet from his mouth to stare at them.

In the next moment, however, their eyes became steely, and the large shield bearer charged towards Charlatan, while the skinny brown-haired man slipped off to the side. Charlatan charged as well, his flaming claws slamming into the horribly bashed shield which the man had with him. Charlatan’s tongue wriggled about before lashing out behind him, stretching out another foot to deflect the dagger blow of the skinny human.

The two humans wore surprised expressions on their faces at the strange capabilities which Charlatan possessed. With a grin, Charlatan’s right arm twitched, and the dirt beneath their feet swirled, forming a vice-like grip which trapped both humans into the earth for a short moment. Both Charlatan’s and his tongue centipede’s eyes seemed to glint with hate as fire erupted from Charlatan’s four eyes and his tongue centipede’s mouth, scorching the two humans who were trapped.

Charlatan hysterically laughed in his strange, chittering way, even as his lord’s main army of goblins; an army he needed to fall to, rushed from the underbrush and attacked the wolves.