"You coward! I told you these guys killed my family or something! Why did you run if you're strong enough to fight them?" Sheepy shouted at me.

It was dangerous! I didn't want to risk dying!

"Hmph."

But even as I tried to defend myself, I felt kind of guilty. Were the wolves really that dangerous? In the end, they only did 1 damage to me in a single attack, didn't they?

Wait, no! That's like 30 hits to take me down assuming they don't hit any harder! And considering how they don't go down in a single hit and their numbers, I could pretty much die in under a minute.

If I died, then there was no chance of me taking revenge anyway, right? And it's not like I had any obligation to help Sheepy, did I?

After considering things a bit, I felt a lot better.

[Making excuses, I see.]

No-

Wait, don't fall for it! Tablet was just trying to piss me off as usual.

"Well... to be fair... I do think you could have tested the waters a bit more." Radio said weakly. "You could get a bit more experience and Sheepy must feel kind of betrayed if he- Ah! I'm not saying being cautious is bad but- uh... nevermind, just ignore me."

Not Radio too...

"I'm fine with you prioritising safety! Don't worry about it!"

I felt like sighing. I could tell Radio actually felt the same way as them and just wanted to be polite.

"No no! I don't think you are a coward!"

Not that! I meant the not running away so quickly thing!

"Oh..."

Urgh.

Alright, fine. I'll go try again, okay?

Sheepy's eyes lit up.

"You changed your mind so quickly? And I was just about to say the wolves have mana crystals too!"

WHAT?!

Really? You're not giving me bullshit?

"Yes, really! You saw how the wolves use magic and stuff, right? Why would I lie to you?"

Sheepy tried to put on its best cutesy eyes look. I didn't appreciate it.

Anyway, I think we might need a plan of some sort. I'm not rushing in without prep.

"What? No, you should go and fight them like a ma- brave monster!"

Rude.

I thought for a bit. I couldn't get in the den, but surely the wolves had to come out from time to time to hunt, didn't they? It's not like they can freeze meat with a frid- wait, could they?

Hey sheep, do the wolves freeze their food with ice magic or something?

"What? How would I know?"

I decided to take that as a no. Not reliable at all but I guess it's still my best bet. I guess I could be a bit noisy with the engine and stuff, but what if I got Sheepy to keep an eye out? I think wolves had a great sense of smell, but if Sheepy was perched on a tree like earlier, I don't think the smelly sheep smell could reach them. Not to mention how much further it could see on a tree.

Then when they're out in the open, I can attack them!

I decided to tell Sheepy about my plan.

"Hmm, I prefer the manly style, but this could work!" Sheepy nodded with approval.

Seeing Sheepy trying to sleep on the tree again from a distance, I shouted at it.

WAKE UP!

It grumbled.

"What? Can't I just rest for a while? I don't think they'll come out in a while anyway, right?"

I even gave you the fat grass to snack on while you keep an eye out!

"I'm kind of full right now... ate too much."

Was it dumb? Why would it go on a full stomach in such a dangerous situation?

[Because you gave it food.]

That was just supposed to be a light snack! Very well. I didn't want to, but I decided to use my trump card.

If you don't keep watch properly, I will eat all your fat grass.

Sheepy gave me a look of horror. It looked like it was about to belt out a string of curses and protests, but it changed its mind.

"I hate you."

It grudgingly went back to keeping watch.

...

It felt like forever, but I finally heard what I wanted to hear.

I see them, they're coming out! Go beat the crap out of them!

For once, Sheepy decided not to talk as it communicated with me telepathically, probably to be quiet. Why does it do that anyway?

Tell me when they're further away. If I just charge up now, they'll spot me and probably go back in hiding.

Fine.

Sheepy lowered itself further into the leaves to make it harder to spot now that the wolves were out. Soon, it gave me the green light.

Instantly, I went into full drive and charged over!

The wolves barked in anger as I drove over. They looked like they wanted to run back to the den, but I was faster. Without hesitation, I took out a boulder I found on the way from my inventory and blocked the cave entrance. Now there was no escape for them!

The three wolves growled at me aggressively. I was surprised by how normal they looked. With one exception. One of them was noticeably bigger and had tons of glowing strange runes and tribal-looking marks all over its body. They were carved all the way past the fur and into the flesh but seemed to be strangely neat. How did wolves manage to do that?

Seeing that things went smoothly, Sheepy hopped off the tree and ran up next to me.

"Hah! You fools fell for our tricks!"

The wolves angrily replied in that weird Rough, Rolge or something language?

What did they say?

Doesn't matter!

Come to think of it, Sheepy was really acting strangely towards those that supposedly killed its family, wasn't it? Shouldn't it be full of anger and hate instead of bravado?

I started to find it a bit fishy. Could the dumb sheep have lied to me? I decided to keep my hunches to myself. Maybe it was just a sheep's thinking style? Radio laughed nervously for some reason.

The big tribal wolf started to glow more intensely and focused. The big boulder I put down started to turn into a wolf shape much to my dismay. Guess I didn't think that through.

[You were so proud when you thought of that earlier.]

I decided to charge towards the big wolf before it could continue. In panic, it started running and lost focus. The other two wolves dodged out of the way. Sheepy began to chase and fight them.

After a few seconds, the big wolf seemed to have realised I was faster, so it decided to swerve toward the side.

[Engine Burst innitiated]

[+50% STR & SPD]

[-1 HP / 3s]

I quickly sped forward, swinging out my front door to smack it before it could get too far to the side. The wolf yelped in pain and tumbled over from the impact.

[Burst deactivated]

I was pleasantly surprised. I was kidding when I talked about slamming my door into an aggressive monster, but it actually worked pretty well with the STR I had. Admittedly, it sort of hurt on my end but that was beside the point.

The wolf hurriedly got up and scampered towards a nearby tree. Of course. Everything was climbing trees, even the dumb sheep. I decided to take the risk of ramming the tree. I should be fine with the extra DEF, right?

"Bang!"

[-2 HP]

The tree shook from the impact and the wolf fell. Then it got up in less than a second and started to climb the tree again. Gahhh! Why was it so quick at recovering?

I considered ramming the tree again but I didn't want to hurt my face. Finally on top, the wolf barked at me from atop the tree.

Urgh.

I decided to look over the check the situation with Sheepy.

One of the wolves was lying on the ground, bleeding and bruised while the other was trying to run away. Those horns really were no joke!

As the other one ran, Sheepy charged over and chomped viciously on its tail, making blood leak out. It cried out in pain.

I felt really bad all of a sudden. In the end, we were really just hurting some innocent wolves, weren't we? And Sheepy was probably just lying about them!

I started to consider telling Sheepy to stop.

S-

[Idiot! Look at the big wolf!]

What?

I looked up. The wolf's eyes were filled with both rage and sorrow as its runes glowed violently. It was definitely about to summon some wolves to attack Sheepy!

Oh, I should stop it! Thanks for the reminder.

[No! The wolf is getting upset over its friends getting hurt! That means you can threaten the wolf with them to force it to become your pet!]

What?!

[Think of having it as a pet! You can even make it summon stone wolves that don't resist for free EXP!]

...

How immoral. As expected of Tablet.

Sheep, stop! Don't kill them!

"What, why?"

We can't have hostages if they die.