I was glad that Sheepy was not being lazy and actually led me over without taking breaks. I'd probably go insane if I had to continue travelling on my bust wheel.

I took a look at the map and found that we were pretty far away from any towns. There were a lot more trees in the surroundings too, which made trying to go through a bit more of a hassle. Not quite enough that I'd consider it a forest though, fortunately. I don't think I could drive through that.

"I think we're pretty close. They live in a cave somewhere nearby."

Wait... they were in a cave? Why did everything have to be in areas I had issues reaching? First the crystals, and now wolves? Urgh... now that we came this far, there should at least be a few wolves out, right?

But part of me was sort of hoping they'd be hiding. In the end, the only reason I was able to take out those ants because of them being material for an upgrade. What if the wolves were too strong for my crashes to hurt them and I couldn't bite through their hide? That'd be terrible!

Still, I decided that it would probably be manageable if they were weaker than the ants. At least I hoped.

It was a very short drive to the caves. They were bored into a hill covered in grass, which was quite an odd sight in a mostly flat area.

And as I dreaded, the wolves weren't out.

So what are we going to do now? It's not like I can go into those caves.

"Can tell. Anyway, I've got an idea. Give me a moment."

Sheepy strode lazily to the caves. It then proceeded to shout something down. It was not a very sheep-like sound, more like sounds from some other animal. It didn't sound very wolf-like though, so I wasn't sure what it was trying to do. Mimicking the sound of prey? Wait, in that case, wouldn't the sound of sheep just do fine?

Hmm, come to think of it, Sheepy should really be more scared when around the homes of wolves that killed its friends, right? Did my presence really give it that much confidence? What a weird sheep...

There was silence for a while. I heard some angry-sounding noises from inside the cave that sounded like the not very sheep-like nor wolf-like sounds.

Hey, what are you doing making those weird noises?

"Those weird noises are Rolgh! Have some respect!"

What the heck is a Rolgh?

The ground became to rumble slightly. I got slightly worried. Was there going to be an earthquake?

"It's the language most animals speak! Except humans for some reason, I don't know why most of them don't know it."

That sounded like some sort of weird reindeer name.

As the ground continued to shake, dirt formed into wolf shaped shapes. They made soundless hounds and trained their blank eyes at me and Sheepy.

"That cowardly wolf! He's summoning those dumb puppets to fight for him!" Sheepy bleat in anger.

What? Does that mean I wasn't going to get EXP? I quickly slammed into one of the half-formed ones. It exploded into a cloud of dirt.

[+51 EXP]

I was very relieved. So these things actually gave experience! I suddenly had a brilliant idea. What if I hung around and just farmed them as they spawned? That'd be like a personal grinding spot where I could level up safely!

Gleefully, I knocked down several in quick succession. Some of them tried to scratch me, but they only hurt my paint job, which I was glad didn't count as damage. Sheepy partook as well, but with much less enthusiasm.

[Sheepy has levelled up!]

[STR 5 -> 6]

Huh. About time I guess.

Just as I was about to show it Tablet so that it could see for itself, it paused.

"Weird... I feel like power is rushing through me all of a sudden!"

Yeah, you levelled up and got stronger.

"The hell is a level up?"

How was I going to explain that? Urgh, what a pain...

You'll find out later.

"Hey! Are you implying something? Tell me right now!"

It just means you got stronger from killing stuff, okay? Apparently it works with these dirt wolves too.

"You should have said that from the start!"

Immediately, Sheepy went on a rampage, knocking down all the wolves in sight. That ungrateful sheep! If it kills all of them, how was I going to level up?

Just as I was about to tell it to let me take some of the kills, one of the dirt wolves managed to slash Sheepy with its claws now that it was less careful, dyeing the wool around the wound red.

[-3 HP]

Sheepy immediately belted out a whole string of cussing. I took the chance to run over the last of them. Unfortunately, there didn't seem to be more spawning. I got anxious. Was more not going to spawn?

More angry sounds came from the cave. Sheepy replied with more angry sounds, probably something about not summoning more dirt wolves.

And to my delight, the ground began rumbling again! This time, however, the wolves were made of countless little rocks.

"Oh. Those are nasty." Sheepy remarked. It retreated back to my cargo.

Well... metal was stronger than stone right? I hoped. Somehow the dirt ones still could scratch my paint despite what they were made of. I decided to scan them.

[Stone Wolf]

[HP: 50/50]

[Stats: ??]

The same deal as with Sheepy at first... I guess Scan wasn't really that helpful.

I took to chance to run over one of the half-formed ones yet again. It lost most of its shape but it didn't die immediately.

[HP: 35/50]

I drove back and forth a few times. The wolf finally crumbled into a pile of rocks. Meanwhile, another one slashed me, leaving a nasty groove.

[-1 HP]

[+121 EXP]

[Level up! +1 Stat Point. HP refilled.]

Tablet, 1 point to HP- I mean STR

[STR 2 -> 3]

[HP 20 -> 30]

Welp, guess I better book it. I didn't feel like taking my chances with the stone ones, especially since they could actually hurt me.