It was a full scale retreat back to Greywall, the fortification defense we built during the rat horde invasion was going to see another hostile force again. We had thickened the walls and made them higher in the meantime. Who knew they would be so important?

The wolves were dogging the steps of the group rushing back. The squirrel group weren’t able to move fast enough carrying all the injured while the wolves were a lot more wary when they first started attacking. Levine had scared them. Thinking about Levine made me frown, well if crystals could frown.

With the mana I got from the wolves killed by the hares in the first room, I summoned another two slimes.

I sighed, those slimes would barely slow the Demon Wolf down if it decided to fight them. I sent them to the corridor leading to the last wall.

‘Max, I’m sending another two slimes to help you defend the corridor to the last room while we get everyone inside the walls. Just hold for a bit, then get back in the walls yourself.’

‘Yes sir, I’m almost there… um… how is Levine?’

‘Levine’s alive… Rox said he did something called Mana Burning and honestly I don’t think he’s coming out this as he was before.’

I could see Max give a troubled face as he finally reached the rendezvous point with the slimes. It was a pretty pathetic defense. It couldn’t be helped, we had get all the injured into Greywall and organize a defense there.

Damn, we weren’t doing well. Of the 40 wolves, 8 had fallen. Of the 32 left, there were 3 blind and 11 of them were injured… that still left 18 uninjured wolves.

On our side, of the 100 squirrels, we had lost 7 in our die-hard ambush. In the rout to retreat back to the last rooms, we didn’t lose any but 33 of them had gotten injured. 15 of them were out of the fight…

So we were down to 60 fighting squirrels

The hares weren’t doing much better. The 15 that ambushed the wolves outside were killing off the injured wolves as they headed back towards us, of the 25 left inside, 5 had been killed while 10 had been wounded. So only had 10 hares with fighting strength.

And apart from the two new slimes I had summoned, all the goblins and slimes were done.

The hares from outside had finally finished off the wounded wolves in the first room and were headed towards the defence party but they probably weren’t going to be able to break past the wolf pack…

The wolf pack was stronger, I completely underestimated them. I didn’t think they were canny enough to not bring in their entire pack in the first attack!

If I planned better, may be Levine wouldn’t have had to use that strange ability. I still don’t know what it was but it looked serious.

Then the wolves approached Max and the slimes. Damn, the injured needed a few more minutes to get into the walls.

‘Rox, can you get a team of uninjured to go and help Max? He won’t last a minute where he is.’

‘I can only get squirrels right now, I’ll send a team of 30 to Max.’

As she went about pulling fighters off the defence to go support Max. I looked around thinking… thinking… but there were no more wild ideas that I had. We knew ambushes were our best bet and the success of the ones we had pulled off so far was a testament to that. But now? We were fighting a war of attrition.

This Demon Wolf leading the pack wasn’t acting like an animal, running away to lick its wounds after being wounded. It had developed cunning and a vague strategic intellect. Was I going to be outsmarted by a fucking wolf?

So angry…

I went about preparing just one more present to these bastards.

Pulling people off defence to send to reinforce Max was tricky. I selected 30 or so fast squirrels and got them dashing. Everyone else I got into position to prepare for a big clash. Alex had one more trap that he wanted to make so I had to get some to help with that as well.

Levine was breathing but he still wasn’t doing well. The mana in the air around him was acting wild and every so often there were sparks in the air… I had some of the non-fighters keep watch over him.

Fuck… I am going to need such a long vacation after all this crap. Seriously…

Yep, I’m going to get Max to go get me a huge mountain of berries then I’m going to relax for a month…

And that fucking Demon Wolf is going to turn into a nice wolf fur rug from which I will derive no small amount of pleasure every time I stomp on it.

Everyone had a few seconds to breath in defence and we finally got everyone behind the fortifications.

I looked around for that fire squirrel but…

Oh shit, where is she?

Oh no oh nooo, I had a bad feeling…

Where is she???

I was holding but barely. The slimes that were stopping the wolves from getting past me to Greywall were getting battered. I guessed maybe half a minute more before I couldn’t hold anymore. Even I, with my higher stats in stamina was being outdone by these stupid wolves. There were just too many of them.

I just had to wait until they could shut the wooden gates and then we would be able to be safe behind the thick fortified walls protecting the crystal room.

I’m not sure when we started calling it Greywall. Alex said it reminded him of a story he had once read.

‘Max, 30 squirrels are headed your way to help you retreat. Everyone’s made it back. We’ve left some vines on the western wall for all of you to be pulled up.’

Alex’s voice was like a soothing rain atop a forest fire. Even if we were trapped behind those walls, at least we’ll get to rest just for a bit.

My arms were shaking as I weaved my sword fending off the wolves. They were deliberately tiring me out, the wolf hunting tactics coming through.

It was perhaps my exhaustion or maybe it was simply inevitable but one of the slimes went down in the jaws of a wolf. That was when the tiredness that I had been fighting for last few minutes was truly made to show. When I turned and moved, whipping my sword around to cover that area the slime was at, one of the wolves hammered me in the side with its whole body.

Not good!

I staggered, my sword arm going out wide. I knew this was a mistake, and sure enough the slight distance that opened up between me and the last slime, was fatal for the slime. It was surrounded and torn to pieces, the monster core cracking as the powerful teeth of the Demon Wolf bit into it.

The Demon Wolf stared at me. I wasn’t in a good position. There were two wolves flanking me, blocking my retreat to safety as well as keeping the other squirrels away from me…

Shit!

The squirrel reinforcements were had just arrived but they had to contend with the two wolves, blocking their way.

Was this it? Was I now to face the wolf pack leader separated from my friends and allies, with Levine barely breathing… why did it turn out like this?

My sword felt increasingly heavy. I swung it around to fend off them off… but I knew I couldn’t keep this up. That Demon Wolf was looking at me in triumph.

Levine’s attack that hit its eye giving me no small amount of satisfaction.

I think my small smirk at its injury angered it because it came charging at me. I know it was petty but if I’m going down I’m definitely not going down without giving any insults to this fucker.

As it drew near, I whipped my sword at its nose, trying to get a lucky hit… but my stamina was almost gone now. The sword moved so slowly.

Then I felt pain, awful searing pain. The Demon Wolf had bitten into my arm! My hand gripping my sword felt weak, I grabbed the sword with my left arm… the bastard wasn’t letting go, and the other wolves seeing my weakness were getting ready to lunge at me as well.

Then I heard a piercing cry, ‘GET AWAY FROM HIM!’

I couldn’t find that fire squirrel. In my heart I knew what this meant as I flew as fast as I could to the top of Greywall’s battlements. All of us heard that cry, so full of anger.

She had run after the squirrel troop that were supposed to help out Max. I saw that they had arrived but weren’t able to break through.

I gasped, I held my breath when I saw Max’s arm bitten by the Demon Wolf. His sword started to slide out of his arm so he grabbed it with his left. He didn’t look like he had the power to strike his hated enemy, even though it was right there, latched to his arm, trying its best to bring him down.

That was when all of us heard that cry. That’s also when we saw something absolutely terrifying.

That fire squirrel had come up to the wolves keeping the others from Max.

She held the fire orb above her head and wisps of flame were flying out.

Then, she started gathering the wisps into a ball. I had taught her that, how to make a fireball and then throw it. With her current mana she could maybe throw out three at the most… but she didn’t stop at with the fireball, she gathered and gathered.

The amount of fire rushing out of the orb…

And the mana in the very air seemed to form a vortex as it hurtled towards her.

All this took barely a few seconds.

Then, she was holding a ball of fire that was twice as big as she was, the other squirrels had taken a dozen steps back to get away from the heat. The floor was starting to glow red… the squirrel, her hands were blistering and the fur on her arms was melting.

What are you doing girl? Fuck that's got to hurt!

She flung that huge fireball at the Demon Wolf.

BOOOM!

There was a powerful explosion and a long shriek of pain could be heard from the Demon Wolf as the fireball crashed into its side and sent it flying across the room. The fireball shot away from the Demon Wolf and fell upon the wolf pack. Howls of misery were heard as 3 of the wolves ignited and clawed at themselves to try and get rid of the flames. To no avail.

That fire squirrel looked powerless as she started falling to the ground.

‘Alex, this girl gets a name. And I want to choose her name. She's getting a fucking awesome name, I don't care how much mana it costs.’

‘... Alright,' I could hear a note of wonder in Alex's voice.

Max caught the fire squirrel in his blood covered arm as he stumbled back in retreat. He looked like he was going to collapse.

The other squirrels quickly caught him and brought him back along with the fire squirrel right up to the walls as they were chased by the wolves.

They were tied to the vines then lifted to safety.

The siege has begun.

I gazed at that young squirrel, lying on a bed of moss. First it was Levine and now her.

‘Why…? Why for me… please not for me…’

I whispered but she couldn’t hear me. I saw the extent of her injuries and they were like icicles jabbing into my heart. Her hands were burnt and all the fur on her arms had been burnt of melted off leaving an angry redness. Her tail, the bushy tail of a squirrel folk, half of it had burnt as well. It would take a long time to recover from all those injuries.

Why for me?

Levine was lying not too far away. Even now I could see, wisps of light trailed across his body and when they did his body would jerk and his face would grimace as if in pain.

‘Max, you cannot blame yourself for what has happened.’

Alex’s voice came to my ear.

‘Alex, sir. These two, they are… strong.’

‘In some ways Max, they are stronger than even you.’

I was silent. I think I couldn’t understand a bit of what he meant, but I couldn’t be sure.

‘Max, you are the strongest of all the fighters here in this dungeon. You can fight with that demonic monstrosity out there. So you must be wondering, why do I say these two are stronger yes?'

I nodded.

‘Levine’s brilliance isn’t in his skill with daggers. It is his ability to think, his cunning and… his loyalty and bravery. He saw that if he didn’t turn back, both he and you would have fallen. There is no defense without you as the vanguard. This young fire squirrel she is stronger because of her resolution, her determination. Can you imagine holding onto something that is burning you? They are stronger than you Max. They managed to break through the confines of the system. They did something that wasn't determined by their stats or their skills. They showed that they were more, that they were greater. This is something you have not done yet. It is something special, and requires an unprecedented amount of willpower.’

I could feel some tears coming to my eyes. It was because of me? Was I not strong enough?

‘Do you know why they did all of this?’

I wiped the tears from my eyes as I shook my head.

‘Because they know that everyone needs you. And because they need you.’

I was on my knees on the floor. I don’t know when I had fallen down. I felt weak.

‘What you need to see, is that it is not just you against the world from now on. I will do my best to treat these two. But when they awake, they will not just be your friends, they will be your comrades. It is a precious thing to fight beside someone who is willing to fight to the death alongside you. It is an even more precious thing when they would willingly give their lives to save yours. That my young squirrel is honour. That is duty. So fight. Fight hard and long. Be worthy of your comrades, because they are definitely worthy of you.’

I grit my teeth. That’s right. They sacrificed for me and I had never truly fought alongside them. I didn’t understand what it meant to trust my back to them… I was foolish, trying to fight just by myself. Not retreating when I should have, fighting longer than I should have. For honour? Duty? Rubbish, Alex had told me that was just foolish.

My arm throbbed. The healing herbs couldn’t take away the sting of the bite I had gotten. It was deep, and it will affect my fighting until it healed. But I was not going to turn away from the fight. And this time I knew that I had all the squirrels and hares of the dungeon beside me.

So come Demon wolf. I want you to taste the pain you have given my friends and my comrades. If I cannot hit you with my sword, I’ll punch you with my fists. If I can’t punch you with my fist, I’ll kick you with my feet. I’ll bite you. I’ll tear every single part of your body to pieces with everything I have.

The siege may have just begun, but for you this siege is the end.