I snuffed out the flame leaving only crackling embers in its wake. Clicking on the flashlight and surveying the surroundings, I retrieved the first pistol and flicked off the safety. I knew all five firearms were fully-loaded, but unfortunately, I didn't have any extra clips to reload them with once they were out. Each bullet had to be used sparingly.

The dangerous presence was approaching at tremendous speed and would be arriving in less than a minute. I could feel its power, which far outweighed my own, but for some reason, I was confident that I could take it. Even Adam—a man who had forty points in Body—still took a considerable amount of damage from a shotgun blast.

Unexpectedly, when I reangled the flashlight, I caught a glimpse of the black dire wolf. Redirecting the light at it, I saw the omega dire wolf merely standing there observing me. I was a bit surprised, but I felt no dangerous intent, so I ignored it.

If I hadn't had moved the flashlight in just the right way, I wouldn't have even noticed that it was there.

Sighing with confusion, I moved the light back into the direction of the dangerous presence, and then I saw it. Upon the hill, the alpha dire wolf stood tall, giving me a menacing stare. Its body structure was muscular and powerful in comparison to the other ones I had fought before it. I was also considerably taller than the others as well.

[Species: Dire Wolf]

[Variant: Artic Alpha]

[Lv: 4]

[Body: 26]

[Mental: 6]

[Senses: 32]

[Magic: 0]

[Skills: Variant ability (Rallying Howl)]

It lifted its head back toward the moon, letting out a long deafening howl that could be heard for miles. Then lowering its head back down, it burst forth, sprinting at a speed comparable to a car going sixty. It snarled and bared its fangs as it got closer and closer.

I drew my gun up, waiting for it to get close enough for my shot to be accurate. Then once it passed that threshold, I quickly unloaded five shots straight at its head. Its running gradually slowed down until it came to a full stop, slumping over to the side dead.

[Quest (Kill the Alpha Dire Wolf) Successful] [Reward: 20 Coins]

"That can't be it, can it?"

With only five shots, the mighty beast had fallen to the ground dead, proving, once again, the superiority of firearms over all other means of combat. It was definitely anticlimactic; I was expecting something more from it.

Suddenly, I felt the dangerous sensation once again, but now there were many, and they were coming from three different directions. They didn't feel as strong, but the sheer quantity quickly added up to an even larger threat than the alpha dire wolf.

I curiously looked back to where I saw the black dire wolf, to see it had suddenly become bigger—even bigger and more powerful looking than the alpha.

[Species: Dire Wolf]

[Variant: Artic (Black) Alpha]

[Lv: 4]

[Body: 28]

[Mental: 7]

[Senses: 35]

[Magic: 0]

[Skills: Variant ability (Rallying Howl)]

"That sly bastard."

The black dire wolf turned away and walked out of sight, seemingly satisfied with the results of the battle and no longer interested.

From that point on, I had to keep in mind that even the beasts with little intelligence were still, very much, conniving creatures with thought processes capable of making self-serving judgments.

Stepping back, I waited for the incoming danger to manifest themselves before me. There were six presences dead ahead, and they were the closest; there were also five or so to my left a bit further, and then another eight a long ways away. What was interesting about the last eight was that they seemed considerably weaker than the other presence.

Six sets of glowing red eyes appeared before me, peeking at me from out of the densely packed shrubbery. I tried scanning it with System Appraisal, but that didn't work; they weren't catalogued in the system.

Stepping out from the cover of the bush revealed the beasts to be a pack of everyday wolves. Their eyes glowed a deep red from the inside as they looked up at me with ravenous unthinking expressions. It was as if they were being mind-controlled.

I unloaded three bullets in the first to lead the charge and emptied the rest of the clip in the ones behind following it. The six wolves fell to the ground dead as the red glow coming from behind their pupils faded back to darkness.

Throwing the emptied gun to the side, I prepared for the next wave of enemies. At this point, I was convinced that the alpha casted his Rallying Howl skill—or whatever the hell it was called—and that these were its effects.

The five wolves came rushing toward me from the atop a mound of rocks—a bad choice on their part. I quickly unloaded the gun on the beast, killing four and injuring the fifth. It limped forward, intent on killing me, even though it was shot repeatedly.

"What the fuck?!"

I dropped the second pistol to the side and pulled out the third, aiming it at the beast and pulling the trigger, shooting in the neck, causing a chunk of its flesh to blow off to the ground. Despite this, the thing kept pressing on, limping forward while leaking a trail of blood behind it.

It was a normal wolf, so it wasn't catalogued by the system, but it still somehow fell to the effects of the alpha dire wolf's skill—a scary thing that.

It limped up to me with its fangs bared jaw hung open limply, having had the muscle blown off. It was like I was looking at a zombified pooch, except it was only the effect of a howl.

It stepped up to me and bent over, attempting to bite my leg even though it couldn't close its mouth. It was too painful to watch, so I lifted the gun to its cranium and put it out of its misery.

I was becoming overwhelmed with pity for the creatures, and as I started feeling this way, the dangerous presences strengthened in the direct effect of my weakening demeanor. Survivor's Sense was directly informing me that my weakness was giving the enemy the advantage.

"Just don't think about it, Henry," I whispered to myself to trying to overcome guilt. "After all, they're just a few animals."

After a couple more minutes of waiting, I saw a set of red glowing eyes appear from within another bush. In a quick reaction, I shot off five bullets into the beast, nearly emptying the clip. The creature stepped forward out from behind the bush.

I was shocked to the core seeing a bloodied wolf pup waddle out of the bush and fall on its face dead. The red glowing light faded from its eyes as six more pups walked out along with one adult—presumably, the pack's caretaker.

The adult wolf stepped right on the head of the dead wolf pup's head like it didn't even realize it was there. This was more than enough proof for me that they were too far gone to try saving. I could tell just by the way they looked at me that the only thing they had on their minds was spilling my blood.

Throwing the flashlight aside, I fired off the last two bullets in the gun at the adult wolf and tossed it aside. In reaction, they all rushed toward me at full speed.

Pulling the last two pistols out, I focused my fire at the adult wolf till she fell to the ground dead. The six wolf pups ran up to me, snarling, growling, and mindlessly gnawing on my ankles to only moderate amounts of success.

I tried kicking them off me, but they were stuck to me like glue, and the longer I took, the more intense the sense of danger became until it got to the point where each one surpassed the alpha in danger scale.

I knew what I had to do, as much as I didn't want to do it. Raising the gun barrels to the sets of tiny glowing red eyes, I pulled the trigger.