The howl reverberated through the trees and echoed across the forest, calling to something greater than themselves as the larger of the wolven pack were silenced by giant hammer that was Kendra’s weapon. As the howl died and was replaced with silence, an unease fell over the group.

Myles turned to Ashra as her tension rose. “Do you know what that was?”

Ashra nodded, and her ears seemed to twitch with an excitement that Myles could almost taste. “They’ve called to the alphas. They must have a den close to here.”

No one shared her excitement.

“How strong are they.”

“As strong as I am if not stronger, but their strength isn’t in mobility. Rather, the wolven alphas rely on numbers and strength. There are never less than two alphas.”

If Ashra thought they were stronger than her, that posed a problem in Myles’s mind. The idea that Ashra was overpowered made sense. She wasn’t prepared and went into a trap. She was also built for quick strikes and quicker movements, not direct hits. These wolven alphas were not going to fall into that situation. They had to assume they knew what was coming.

“Fight or flee?” Myles quickly asked the group as Ashra’s ears began to twitch.

The group went silent for a moment, considering their options as the silence tried to deafen them.

“We have good ground,” Will began. “A bottle neck that can help us, but it could also trap us here. We’d be no better than dead if we can’t overpower them.”

“Agreed,” Tail said. “Sunset is not too far away either. If we can hold out until then, we can take them easily.”

“And if not?” Myles asked.

“I can still go for the eyes.”

Lyna was uncharacteristically quiet as they looked out from behind her helmet and over the empty forest. She barely broke her staring contest with the forest as she made way for Kendra’s return to the cave.

“I vote stay,” Lyna simply stated. “If we can’t stand up to a few alphas, what chance do we have against anything else let alone the Broken King?”

“A better one if we’re equipped better, but I vote we stay too,” Kendra added, but deferred to Myles. “What do you say?”

Myles looked to Ashra then back to the group. “This is a good position, and I’d rather not lose it. If worse comes to worse, I’d rather not have the open forest at my back. They’d outrun us before we reach the Plaza.”

When Will and Tail nodded, the decision was set.

Of course, Ashra had never considered leaving.

Opening his inventory, Myles began passing out equal shares of the purple flowers. “We’re staying then. Everyone keeps a few. If you’re scratched, don’t take chances.”

As Myles passed out the flowers, his ears picked up on what Ashra’s had. Something was out there, moving quickly through the foliage. Faintly, he heard twigs as they snapped, and then, their enemy announced their presence.

Two howls echoed through the grove where the cave rested, and Myles learned just what the alpha was.

—

Monster Lore Unlocked!

Wolven Alpha information obtained!

Wolven Alpha

Dungeon Creature - Beast: Canine

Rank C Threat Level

Best trait - Strength

Preferred Method of Attack - Slashing

Special Attack: Rend, Call the Pack, Rage

Breeding Groups: Canine

Special Ability: Elder Willowweed Poison, Elder Willowweed Poison immunity

Known Drops: Elite T1

Wolven alphas always travel in mated pairs, one male and one female. These monsters rule over a large area and challenge all other alpha pairs for control of regions. The amount of area an alpha pair controls dictates their influence among packs. When one alpha dies, the other enters a berserk state until it is killed.

Continue combat against Wolven Alphas to increase your knowledge.

—

Well, this would be fun.

“Slashing damage, poison, and rage,” Myles called out to the others as the monster’s approach became unmissable. “Try to take them out at the same time to avoid the rage.”

“Right,” Kendra said looking to Will, then wincing. “Myles?”

He nodded. “When your stacks get too high, fall back and let them fall off. You can’t win alone.”

She nodded and stepped up next to Lyna at the entrance. Ashra followed while the ranged fighters stayed a few feet back and waited. Only Tail had a weapon drawn, seeing as their weapon was the only one that would really make a difference. Myles fingered the hilt of his dagger all the same, but he knew it wouldn’t work out if he had to use it.

He did have another roll to play.

“I’m going to try something.”

Instead, he opened himself to the emotions of his team and pushed his awareness to the others, nudging their attention towards the origin of the sound he heard more clearly with Ashra’s help.

Kendra scratched her head and suddenly felt uneasy at the nudging.

Lyna felt curious and looked towards the patch of forest without a second thought.

Will looked at Myles with concern dripping across every fiber of his being.

Tail seemed confused and slightly disoriented but looked all the same.

Everyone had felt it.

“What was that?” Kendra asked Myles as the brush exploded to reveal the two hulking forms of muscle that were the wolven alphas bounding into the glade.

The question was shelved for later discussion as the beasts’ four legs gave way to two, and the hulking muscles that held them quivered with tension. The two were ripped like a quarry’s stone cutter. Their muscles weren’t lean like the monsterkin’s. They were bulky and looked like they belonged on warriors that were trying to specialize in the Body stat rather than a wolf. Their eyes were larger than they should have been on any canine and were narrowed to slits with their ears folded back and hackles raised. Anyone with any experience handling canines would have been able to tell how the alphas felt about the small group. Anyone that was new to the game couldn’t miss the was the animals were frothing at the mouth and bared their teeth towards the group.

Just another grand day in the grand dungeon.

A tension built in the air as the two stood at the other end of the grove, watching them, waiting for any sign of movement on their part. The insight on that surprised Myles. He’d never spent much time around animals as a rule. A bakery had to be clean, of course. Since he’d become comfortable as a [Monster Tamer], Myles was noticing some instincts he didn’t have before.

Those instincts coupled with his Keen Eyes gave his team a distinct advantage.

“They’re coming!”

He saw them move. Ashra’s eyes and his in sync, focusing on the target as their muscles tensed, as their feet moved just so, as knowledge and skill blended into a single unified force.

For just a moment, Myles felt everything around him as if he were part of a single mind.

For just a moment, that something was an advantage that prevented a total party wipe.

The wolven alphas moved faster than anyone could have guessed, but on instinct, a pair of swinging maces did what a shield would have failed to do. As a unit of one mind, Lyna and Kendra swung and slammed into the bulk of the creatures, one taking a shoulder, the other a chest. A sharp, wet crack echoed on collision and took the beasts by surprise as bulk and gravity contributed to their damage.

The creature rode the attack back, falling to the ground. The one on the left that took the hit to the shoulder attempted to roll while the other fell in a heap.

The two stared, dumbfounded at their own reaction time and looked to the source.

“That wasn’t me,” Kendra almost spat.

Lyna simply gave Myles a nod.

Ashra smiled.

“What the Mists was that?” Will demanded. “How did you do that? What did you do?”

“I’m not sure,” Myles admitted, breaking his attention on the monsters. “Later.”

“Now.”

Tail threw the dagger forward, splitting the air between the approaching [Distortion Mage] and their leader. A wet thunk of metal splitting a hunk of meat briefly sounded before the party regained their focus.

“Later then,” Will said, feeling nervous and uneasy as he returned to focus on the party at the choke point.

With that, the party exploded from the cave and rained down their attacks like a storm of cutting wind and battering hail, but whatever power their first attacks had were soon shaken off as the two began to struggle up. Broken bones moving beneath the flesh as a ribcage popped back into place and a limp arm twitched back to life.

“Regeneration!” Lyna yelled before she fell back, sheathing her mace for a pair of gleaming short swords. “Go for the head!”

—

Information Requested: Ability - Regeneration

Regeneration

Trait

Description: Allows a creature to regenerate or heal injuries at the expense of Soul Energy or Mana. Expense is determined by the nature and severity of the injury.

—

Myles was really starting to see what Monster Lore could do in the field. The Trait required power to run it seemed, so he considered the information carefully. Blades were clean, and he imagined clean wounds wouldn’t take as much to heal as say a broken bone. Unless they managed to cut something off, blades didn’t seem as effective. Almost on instinct, Myles yelled out. “Keep with the mace! Smash whatever you can!”

Lyna looked back and felt as if she wanted to argue, but she trusted Myles. He hadn’t steered them wrong yet. So, she switched back to her maces before rejoining the fight. As she did, Kendra slammed the flat head of the warhammer into the chest of the still grounded alpha with a crunch.

Its mate growled, slashing at her exposed back before Lyna could arrive. The claws cleaved her armor easily, leaving four wide but shallow scars across her back. With a pained cry, her ability triggered, and red light began to flow from her eyes as her Skill of Bloodlust began to stack. With each stack, her strength rose in turn. The injury forced another instance as it closed thanks to the none-too-gentle approach of their make-shift healer.

The [Berserker] whirled to her opponent only to see a dagger pierce an eye in a shower of black gore. The wolven alpha howled in pain long enough for a mace to smash into its arm and put it off balance as Ashra struck from the other, battering the creature as black blood dripped from an empty socket before switching to keep the other in check.

Kendra took the opportunity and brought the hammer down on a prone skull with another crack. Then for good measure, kicked the creature over and smashed kneecaps and whatever other tender parts she could land a weapon on.

She was ruthless, and Myles considered calling her off until his attention went towards the other fight.

“Kendra, move!”

Ashra and Myles called in tandem to their ally. In a burst of rage and strength, Ashra had lost the attention of the other alpha as the sickly acidic scent of alpha’s black blood called to its mate, and it responded in a frenzy of teeth and claws. It struck out wildly and completely ignored her punches as they landed, the kicks as they shattered bone and bruised muscle, and made a mad dash for Kendra’s position as she tried to raise the hammer again.

But Kendra wasn’t so easily scared off under the effects of Bloodlust.

Instead of running, the [Berserker] stood her ground and turned her attack to strike the approaching beast as a dagger flew through the air, adding more injury to her insult as a tendon was impaled and pulled back. As a testament to the beast’s toughness, the impaled strip of muscle didn’t rip or tear, but pulling a tendon from its intended place had a similar effect. The muscles spasmed, toppling the wolven alpha’s balance and sending it straight into an in-progress swing from Kendra’s hammerhead. There was another crunch as the beast fell back over itself and then began thrashing, snarling, and growling wildly as it tried to decide between defending its face and trying to right itself.

That wouldn’t do.

Lyna didn’t hesitate as a pair of maces came down and snapped its spine, putting a stop to its attempts with a long, pained whine and leaving it paralyzed for the moment.

The party took a moment to survey the battlefield. The first downed alpha was already starting to get back up but was recovering slower than it had. As insurance, Ashra’s knuckles glowed brightly and struck, rebreaking its kneecap and mending with a pair of force strikes.

Myles felt her satisfaction as he moved from the cave and approached the beasts. They were powerful foes, and he hoped they’d be powerful allies when they were tamed. He felt cold looking at their mangled bodies, mending broken bones as his allies shattered them again. They were enemies right now, monsters, but they could be so much more.

“Keep them there,” Myles said as he looked them over. “I’m going to try to tame one.”

They gave their ascent quickly. No one had ever seen Myles attempt to tame a creature before. With the exception of Ashra, no one really knew how it worked or what to expect, but he could feel their resolve.

He was safe to at least try, and in that knowledge, Myles extended his will towards them one at a time.

—

Essence Bond has been activated!

—

The first his Skill touched was the paralyzed wolven, the female of the pair he learned quickly. Even across the incomplete link he lost himself within, Myles could feel it was a her. He could feel the primal rage and fury, the desire to kill, the desire to eat them, the anger at them all.

—

Due to mental exhaustion and emotional distress of Wolven Alpha, Myles Chase gains the advantage.

Challenge in progress:

Myles Chase (Will 15+3) Versus Wolven Alpha (Will 10-3)

Myles Chase’s Will push is successful!

Soul Layer One - Surpassed

—

Myles ignored all of it and pushed past the emotions.

He understood the feelings to an extent. They had killed her kin, and she wanted revenge. She felt him as well and knew then that Myles was to be something more. She fought his Will with her own, but it wasn’t enough. He kept pushing. As he felt through the first part of the connection, Myles realized that there was always more to the emotions.

Under it the bravado, the anger, the rage, there was fear.

It wasn’t a refined emotion. It was an amorphous, all-encompassing, primal emotion. It was the wolven alpha at that moment.

She was afraid.

Here were the deepest emotions of the beast lain bare, and with his skill guiding him, Myles pushed, taking that fear and breaking it down.

The fear came from a place that was stronger than all the first layer emotions: a fear of loss, a fear of death, but strongest of all was the fear of what Myles represented, of what he offered — The fear of captivity.

—

Due to fear and determination, Wolven Alpha gains an advantage.

Due to determination, Myles Chase gains an advantage.

Challenge in progress:

Myles Chase (Influence 17+2) Versus Wolven Alpha (Influence 20+5)

Soul Layer Two - Resisted

Essence Bonding has failed.

Warning - Due to the failed Essence Bonding, Wolven Alpha cannot be bonded.

—

The fear echoed across Myles’s mind and broke the skill’s concentration, nearly landing him on his rear if Ashra hadn’t caught him. For a moment, Myles lost himself, growling a guttural noise before coming back to himself and shaking his head.

It felt like he’d been hit by a cart full of rocks, and each of those rocks had a bag of their own rocks. Rocky was the driver, of course. Needless to say, it wasn’t pleasant.

“Did it work?” Lyna asked as she looked at the fallen pair. “Cause if it’s our friend, I don’t want to kill it since it is getting back up and all.”

“Kill it!” Myles managed before his head rung again like a temple’s bell.

They didn’t need to be told twice.

With the exception of Lyna keeping the second one in check with her maces, the blows overcame the creature’s regeneration and ended it in a wisp of glowing fireflies.

Lyna wasn’t slacking either. She was doing her own part as she remembered Myles’s earlier warning about their rage. With the sickly crunch of the hammer, Lyna was making short work of the wolven’s bones and face. She rose her weapons and brought them down in quick succession one after the other as she spent careful attention to re-shattering bones and causing new injuries as its eyes began glowing red.

“No, you don’t,” Lyna said, smashing its face in again. It came back with a wet, sucking sound as it caved in teeth and jaw this time. “Myles, kill it?”

He nodded. If he couldn’t tame the first, subdued creature, what chance was there of taming an enraged one? “I don’t have the power to yet.”

She nodded and motioned for the others to join her.

The beast thrashed, but it was hard to fight back without any intact bones.

—

Wolven Pack Defeated.

Combat Analyzed - Bonus Awarded for LV 3: Forest Glade Clear

Treasure Distribution has been set to Need before Greed

Assigned Treasure:

Myles Chase

10 Silver coins 1 Antidote (Minor) 1 Mark of the Wolven 2 Building Vouchers (Comfort Supply)

Lyna Hugea

3 Gold coins 1 Antidote (Minor) 3 Building Vouchers (Comfort Supply)

Tail

6 Silver coins 2 Elder Willowweed Poison Vials

Kendra Kessa

2 Gold coins 2 Antidote

Will Rigs

20 Silver coin Wolven Alpha Paw

—

As the lasts wisps of magic dissipated, two more items fell to the ground, one from each corpse. Tail, being closest, picked them up while Kendra was busy trying to breath and chew flower fluff at the same time, Lyna was keeping watch, and Will was searching the rest of the glen. Myles was still being supported by Ashra, but having recovered some, Tail handed the two rings to him for identification.

—

Blessed Rings of the Wolven Alpha

Value: 20,000 (Pair)

Accessory - Ring (Rare - Paired Set)

Items of this set in use: 0/2

Description: A pair of rings made of polished moonsilver.

Detail: Wolven packs are known for their close-knit structures and communication. Lore tells of a time when they had a greater power to convert sapient creatures into beasts under the light of the full moons. This effect was said to be averted by wearing moonsliver. That was only a legend, but this time, legends are real.

Blessings of Dawn - Paired: A paired item’s effects only work when both items are in use. A paired item bounds to the user’s soul and cannot be sold once equipped.

Primary Effect of Paired Items: Massively increased resistance to transformation effects.

Secondary Effect of Paired Items: Ability to view the Interface of another wearing the paired ring.

—

His jaw nearly dropped as the surprise sobered his mind.

The rings were worth twenty thousand coins! On its own, that would have been a haul, but the other effects were ones he’d never seen before. He’d never heard of paired items before, but it made sense the more he thought about it. As they were blessed by Dawn of the Lifewell, they were probably meant as wedding rings or the like. He remembered his parents had exchanged necklaces of Willowgold though. Moonsilver was a new one to him. Still, even he’d heard the stories of werewolves and monsters that could change people, but they were rare in themselves and almost completely removed from the world.

But viewing someone’s interface? What in the Mists could that be useful for? Maybe if you couldn’t already view your own it let you? It’d be interesting for those that weren’t Runners, but Myles kept circling back to why it was here.

Then, his mind wandered to the advanced interface he’d locked of Ashra’s — did people have those too?

“Myles?”

His attention snapped back to reality as Tail spoke and Ashra shook him gently, making his headache all the worse.

“Ugh.”

“Good, you’re still with us,” Tail said simply. “I was worried I’d handed you cursed items.”

He shook his head. “The opposite actually. They’ve been blessed by Dawn of the Lifewell.”

Even without seeing their mouth, it wasn’t hard to see the shock on Tail’s wrapped face, let alone Will wizened mug.

“The Mists!?”

Myles nodded to Will. “They’re paired, soul bonding items. Both have to be worn to get the effects though, but, get this, they let you see the other’s Interface.”

They both stared at him. Even Ashra seemed surprised by the revelation. When Lyna and Kendra returned and had the loot explained to them, they all stared at the rings.

For a moment, there was silenced awe, but true to form, it only lasted that moment.

“Anyone planned to get married?” Lyna asked, then looked among the ground. “Will is great and all. I mean who doesn’t want someone that can bend reality to their well, but Myles is a young bachelor and has a lot to give a girl if what I saw in his bathroom is any indication.”

“So, I’ve heard,” Kendra snickered. “I hear it’s quite the event, Myles.”

Tail snorted in time with Will, and the tension of such a rare item was broken like early Frostfall ice.

No one could resist, and the grove was filled with the uncontrolled laughter of the five humanoids. Ashra still didn’t seem to get the joke and just looked among them. Rocky was as quiet as silence itself.

When all was said and done, the thing that most impressed Myles was how she got that out without so much as a snicker. Despite her helmet, he knew she had to have the stupidest grin on her face.

“Mists take you, Lyna.”

A moment later as the snickering grew quiet, Myles fell to the ground, clutching the sides of his head and screaming. The world around him became a blur of noise and colors and he began heaving. Someone touched him, shook him, set him a different way as he felt air rush back into his lungs, but nothing registered.

His mind felt like it had been thrown into a bonfire commanded by a pair of blacksmiths. Every throb, every growing moment was like someone with a heavy, white-hot hammer was bashing against the sides of his skull, testing the limits of what they could make with the metal before finally relenting, leaving a feeling of curiosity to linger in the utter pain of Myles’s existence.

—

Silpha, Dungeon of the Purifying Wake has altered her bond using her personal Influence.

Soul Bond - Emphatic Link has evolved into Soul Bond - Dungeon’s Thought Construct

Soul Bond complexity has been artificially increased from Simple to Of One Mind.

Stats cannot be boosted due to the method of skill evolution.

—

A new skill has been granted due to the alteration of a Soul Bond.

New Unique Skill Obtained!

Monster Tamer’s Avatar

—

With his friends at his side, Myles began to recover only for a new voice to take up residence within his already battered psyche.

“Tamer, we need to talk.”

Silpha, the Purifying Wake had awoken.