We were all watching a grizzly scene. All the squirrel and hare defenders were looking slightly sick.

It was the Demon Wolf. After having its eye taken out as well as having a huge hole burnt into its side, we were hoping it was taken out of the fight. But instead what happened left us in shock.

It had walked painfully over and gathered its pack. Then without any warning it had bitten into the throat of one of the injured. Blood dribbling over its muzzle it started to tear open the now dead wolf and feast on its meat.

Wolves are not a species known for cannibalism. When the Demon Wolf attacked one of its pack, the rest of the wolves scattered as far as they could. All the injured wolves seeing themselves in danger ran haphazardly back to the previous room with their heads down and tails between their legs.

As the wolf leader ate, the injuries it had started to twitch and squirm. New muscle could be seen to develop and the charred remains of the old flesh started to fall to the ground.

It didn’t seem just one wolf was enough because it went into the previous room and soon we could hear some yowls and yelps.

Looking through my dungeon eyes, another three wolves had been torn apart before it came back into the last room. The flesh on its side was an angry welted mess, the fur hadn’t regrown and neither had its eye. But with the blood of its own packing matting the front of its body and its one remaining eye shining red in the dimness of the dungeon… this truly was a Demon Wolf.

As we assessed our forces, we didn’t lose any squirrels in the rescue but most out of them had gotten injured. We were now down to just over 40 fighting squirrels while the hares were holding at 10. Levine and the fire squirrel were out but they had already done enough. Max’s arm was wrapped up but nothing could stop him from fighting.

The wolf pack now was only a dozen strong with their leader almost rabid. The problem was that we couldn’t stay locked up indefinitely. The squirrel and hares weren’t dungeon monsters. They all had souls or had been granted them, meaning they needed to have food and water.

Likewise, the Demon Wolf looked deranged now, and it wasn’t likely to stay still. Fuck you dude, I’ve had it with you fouling up my dungeon!

I had been blind! I was fighting alongside these squirrels and hares and didn’t see. They naturally weren’t as strong as the wolves in pure physicality but they made up for it in a different way. Squirrels are built to scamper up trees, their strength lay in their ability to go at the same speeds both across a horizontal surface, and up a vertical one. Hares boast an unparalleled maneuverability. Even with their evolution into humanoid bodies, they still exhibited the traits our species evolved from.

Which led to the first tactic that would have Levine rolling his eyes. I call it operation ‘Up Vine’. A wholely unoriginal and uncreative name. What remains is its effectiveness.

The operation was simply. Loop strong vines, throw them and try to catch them around the neck of a wolf. If caught, all the squirrels in that troop would grab hold of the other ends and jump off the other side of the wall dragging the caught wolf into the air with a noose around its neck. Brutal yet effective.

Alex approved although when he saw us do it on the first wolf he seemed disturbed and said, ‘Fuck you guys are lynching wolves? That’s so creepy…’

We managed to kill 3 wolves this way although it wasn’t perfectly smooth. One of the wolves, when it felt the loop across its neck went wild and charged away from the walls. The group weren’t fast enough and were shot right off the wall down to the wolves below. We lost a good team of squirrels. That didn’t stop us though, every wolf we killed this way was good for us.

And that was because the demon wolf was trying to bring down the gate. The walls were strong, made of heavy stone but the gates were made of wood and weren’t very thick. It was still beyond our abilities to make a sturdy wooden gate thus the gate after just a few hours of being battered by the wolf leader and a few of his pack was already showing signs of falling apart.

We weren’t letting them batter on the gate without any repercussion of course. One of the herb squirrels found some strange plant that let off a dust that was soul scratchingly itchy. They had found out the unfortunate way when one of their members had unwittingly touched it in their medical paste preparations.

So, yes, we threw itching powder onto those wolves. Call me petty, but it was glorious seeing them running around clawing at themselves. There was even one that must have breathed in the dust because it ran around in circles hacking as hard as it could before running full tilt into the wall knocking itself out.

Yes, I saw it clearly. If we played to our strengths, then victory is possible. That isn’t to say it is easy, the wolf pack had a dozen members left while our defending troop was exhausted. But it was definitely better than fighting directly right now.

*creak* *groan*

The gate door was on its last legs. I gathered the team meant to deliver our ‘gift’ for the wolves and got them into position. Then I gathered those not busy harassing the wolves from atop the wall to gather in the courtyard behind the gate as we prepared our defense.

The hares above had just released another round of caltrops to slow the wolves’ movements when with a bang, the gate fell inwards along with the body of the wolf that tackle it.

‘Ok steady, steady, wait for at least 4 wolves to start coming towards us…’

I gave the nervous group some instructions. The group that I was talking to weren’t fighters, they were in charge of one thing and one thing only. That was releasing a trap.

I don’t think ill thoughts of my dungeon master but looking at what he prepared really made me raise an eyebrow at him.

*cough* ‘It’s a perfectly good idea for a trap ok! And it’s not like they’re smart enough to know how to deal with it…’

Regardless of his mumblings, the trap was…

Well it was a boulder. On a very, very steep ramp. And it was a large boulder. The size was just enough to roll through the gateway, of course.

I rolled my eyes, ‘Ok guys, there’s enough wolves there, release the big rock.’

‘Oi, it’s a boulder ok? This is a boulder trap! Very famous where I’m from, any witting dungeon should have one.’

If dungeons could sweat, I would say Alex was nervously sweating while explaining this to me. Gosh Alex was right, Rox is rubbing off on me.

The boulder, once freed rumbled as it slowly start moving down the ramp. Then it picked up speed as it started to hurtle towards the unsuspecting wolves. The wolves in the gateway were in no way prepared for this. I almost felt sorry for them at this point. They did not have a calculating intellect thus they had had to suffer every single trap we had laid out for them. Obviously higher beings won’t fall for this, case in point the semi-intelligent demonic wolf leader that was giving us so much trouble.

There were about three wolves that had made it into the courtyard itself and those ones scattered to the sides where the defenders met them. The ones caught in the gateway were not as lucky. The sound of howls and breaking bones mixed together into a cacophony as the boulder crashed into them. The Demon Wolf was in the back looking on when they had opened the gate and even it yipped before it had to leap to the side.

For such a strange trap, it was devastatingly effective. 5 wolves that were caught inside the doorway were killed or injured to such an extent that recovery wouldn’t be possible for the rest of this fight. As for the wolves inside the courtyard, we had an unpleasant surprise waiting for them as well.

Teams of squirrels and hares gathered around and looped them completely with vines before nailing them to the ground, all while a few of them beat off the attacks using a stick. It seemed cruel somehow… but without being able to run around and without the support of their pack, they were completely defenseless.

When they were beaten a bit senseless then tied down to the floor momentarily, some of the herb squirrels ran out and continuously threw a powder at them. Apparently this was from a plant they called Nightmare Branch, that had the terrifying ability to cause whoever inhaled the shavings of the bark to fall asleep then be plagued by nightmares, hence the name. This was also found out in an unfortunate way by these herb squirrels. These wolves were definitely out of the fight.

This left the Demon Wolf and the 4 wolves left outside as the last of the wolf pack that we had to fight off.

We could play it two ways, defend and risk them running although with that crazed demon, that that it didn’t seem likely… or we could attack and finally end this.

I had a bit of an evil smile on, ‘You guys want to teach those wolves a lesson?’

It happened while I was watching Max lead the troop out to fight the last of the wolves. For the 4 normal wolves it was a massacre. With each one having to fight a couple dozen or so foes, there was no need to calculate what would happen. The defenders and quite a few of the non-fighters were there, fighting for their home and fighting filled with anger.

But I lost my attention to that. For a very simple, yet to me earth-shattering reason.

The healing of your body has reached 80%

The magic formation that allowed the use of the skill [Troll’s Blood] has been repaired

The skill [Troll’s Blood] has been unsealed

Troll’s Blood (Rank D, Passive Ability) Lv 9 Mastery 47.4%

An evolution from [Bad Blood], this skill employs the marvelous regeneration of Trolls and infuses it into blood.

If special requirements are met, this skill can evolve

Every time your heart beats, blood will recover 0.9% and injuries will recover 0.9%

This will only occur up to 20% of the body being injured, once injuries progress past 20% the effectiveness of this skill will halve.

I felt it. That familiar hot pulsing flow of blood that rushed into my arms and legs. It had been so long since I felt anything from my original body after becoming used to being a dungeon crystal. I looked at my body floating in the dungeon crystal’s space. My arm and leg had regrown, they were a slightly different colour than the rest of my body. It was paler, and had a slight tinge of blue to it which was very strange.

But the most important thing… I opened my eyes. Not the sight I used as a dungeon crystal, but my eyes, the eyes I was born with. I could see the blue glow that was the dungeon crystal space.

I felt like laughing, how long had it been? Months and months of waiting for this healing to finally reach this point. I tried out my new grown arm. It felt strange, like it wasn’t my own and it trembled a bit as I willed it to move. I guess I would have to get used to it again before I was able to run around perfectly.

‘Status’

Something I hadn’t looked at in quite a while.

Name: Alexander

Race

Human

Titles

Void Traveller (Rank ???, ???)

Class

Contract Summoner

Last Human Survivor (Rank???, ???)

Dungeon Master

Stats

Strength

13

Agility

15

Intelligence

28 (23+5)

Stamina

17

Magic power

20

Total Power/Potential

93/500

State

In recovery from a huge injury but mostly healed. The healing occurred in a high mana environment which helped to increase magic power.

Skills

Contract (Rank A, Active and Passive); Dungeon Master (Rank Unique, Active and Passive); Observe(Rank D, Active); Troll’s Blood (Rank D, Passive); Aura (Aura of Knowledge, Rank A, Passive)

Skills and Equipment

Crystal of Knowledge (Very Rare – Unique, Intelligence +5)

My intelligence and magic power had grown. Magic power was due to the mana I was constantly absorbing and using as a dungeon crystal which affected the dungeon space. My intelligence had grown due to [Aura of Knowledge] as well as the [Crystal of Knowledge].

I stretched my body… oh man that felt amazing!

Shit right wolves! I tried to figure out how to get out of the space, and just by thinking it, my body was suddenly outside in the crystal room. Wow that was a strange feeling. I could feel the dungeon, just like I could when I was just the dungeon crystal while at the same time I was seeing using my human eyes… fucking trippy this.

‘Alex! You’re you’re you’re,’ Rox was stuttering. Ha she’s adorable!

‘Yep, my body’s at 80% healing, and I can move around without affecting the healing. Anyway, let’s check up on Max!’ So saying I looked towards where Max was facing the Demon Wolf.

‘Fuck, I hate this fucking wolf more than I could ever hate before, I swear! And I’ve hated a lot of things let me tell you,’ Rox nodded agreeing with me, still a littled stunned to speak it seemed.

I grinned, this wolf was finally going down!