The Alpha howled. Signaling the rest of its pack for a seven-prong attack. They leaped and they ran. Baring their fangs at the lone man standing against them all. Yet a Force Beat smashed hard against one of them, flinging them in the air, opening a space wide enough for Zane to escape. Immediately he bolted. Passing through the opening, distancing himself from the wolves that were clashing with one another.

“Shit!” But a surprise waited for him. The Alpha had read his play as its jaw reached for Zane’s flesh. He couldn’t dodge as the momentum urged him forward like hands pushing from behind. Yet he kept his calm and thrust the taser at the big dog. The metal rods made contact. He stunned the Alpha on its furred hide as it yelped in pain and inches from flailing on the ground. But the canine stood its ground. Finding strength in its trembling legs. It jumped to the back, dodging a wild slash from Zane’s dagger. Its eyes glared at Zane and so did Zane.

This isn’t looking good, Zane thought. His trusty taser had done well in keeping him alive in this fantasy world, and yet in just the third trip, he had already met something that could endure the jolt of the taser. I should have expected this. For crying out loud, it’s freaking mini-boss, of course it will have a certain resistance to status effect or something. He tried comforting himself that his taser was still useful, but he knew all of that was useless not until he killed this Alpha.

“Watch out!” the babble of Isidora turned him to his back. Six hungry wolves close in for the attack. A Force Beat sent one of them kissing the ground as the five went for the assault. He dodged to the side and tasered the closest to him with a healthy dose of voltage. The wolf yelped and helplessly fell. He couldn’t give the decisive blow as jaws of fangs raced at him, lunging at every possible way, distancing him from their downed kin.

Gritting his teeth Zane made a reckless action, lunging at one of the wolves as his taser crackled with bluish electricity. He hit it right in the eye. But a jaw found its way to Zane’s forearm. He felt the pain coursing from his forearm as the blue-maned wolf dragged him to the ground. Zane fought against the pain as he stabbed his dagger right through the neck of the blue-maned wolf. Feeling the grip on his forearm loosening, he took his arm back and pulled out the dagger from a dead canine.

But before he could stand back up. Two wolves jumped on him. One gunning for his neck as his extended arm held it back from reaching him. Yet he felt pain over his leg as the wolf bit him and started dragging him across the ground.

Frowning, Zane mumbled. Three painful seconds went up and a strong force struck the wolf on top of him right in the gut. It yelped and flung away from Zane’s sight. The dagger in his hand found its mark, stabbing the blue-maned wolf that was dragging him by the leg. It went smoothly into its neck but as the wolf squirmed in pain, Zane lost his grip on his dagger.

A shadow loomed overhead and his perception blared in alert, tingling his senses. He rolled to the side and dodged the jaws of the Alpha. His feet scrambled as he found the ground under his soles. The moment he looked up, the Alpha was coming, pouncing at him with the size of a full-grown Siberian Tiger.

In that split second, he knew his life was in peril. His quick hand grabbed the Glock from his shoulder holster and the moment he did the Alpha slammed against him, bringing them both back to the ground. And yet, a loud bang came. Erupting through the forest like lightning striking from the firmament. The shocking noise quickly faded as it quickly came. The bloody battlefield turned silent as the surviving wolves stared at the sight of the unmoving body of their Alpha and Zane who was underneath.

“What happened?” Isidora asked. As she too was the same as the wolves, staring at the motionless Alpha and Zane. She was shocked to the core hearing such a loud noise as if it came from a high-tier fire spell.

Yet seconds passed, and there was movement. The Alpha’s fur hide started to move, and yet it fell to the side, revealing a masked man standing tall on his two feet. He let out a fearsome aura just from standing there and the wolves knew it. They sensed it through their instinct that this man had killed their leader. Barely growling, some who could still stand fled right away.

In the meantime, Zane picked up his dagger from the dead blue-maned wolf’s neck as he finished off those wolves that were still affected by the taser’s stun. In the end, he won. A rather bittersweet win due to his kill not from his own real strength.

He glanced at the notifications that kept spamming his vision. Reaping the reward of killing a mini-boss.

[You have leveled up to 8. Five stat points have been given.]

[You have leveled up to 9. Five stat points have been given.]

[You have leveled up to 10. Five stat points have been given.]

[You have leveled up to 11. Five stat points have been given.]

[Congratulation! You have unlocked a new slot for Multi-Class.]

[Mage-class leveled up to 6. Stat points distributed; +2 Arcane Power.]

[Mage-class leveled up to 7. Stat points distributed; +2 Arcane Power.]

[Mage-class leveled up to 8. Stat points distributed; +2 Arcane Power.]

[Mage-class leveled up to 9. Stat points distributed; +2 Arcane Power.]

[Mage-class leveled up to 10. Stat points distributed; +2 Arcane Power.]

He was surprised by the rows of good news as the experience from a mini-boss should never be underestimated. Yet one of them drew his interest the most. New slot for Multi-Class? Then does that mean…

He smiled ear to ear under the mask as he finally grasped the hidden mechanic of this Multi-Class trait of his.

The key to unlocking can either be the levels or the subjugation of a mini-boss, but my bet is at the simplest thing, the levels, Zane thought. I’m assuming that my next new slot will be at level twenty so let’s see how it goes later.

Looking down at the dead Alpha. The floating items above the carcass made him more intrigued by what he saw.

[Blue-Fang Scimitar (3-Star). A curved end blade tempered from steel and the fangs of Blue-maned Alpha Wolf. The quality of the material enhanced the finishing touches considerably, inheriting the wild nature of the Blue-maned Alpha Wolf. Attack: 26. Effect: 10% chance of inflicting critical strike. 15% enhancement of tactical-based commands. +1 Agility. +1 Strength. ]

[Essence of Blue-maned Alpha Wolf. Rare ingredient for alchemy. One of the key ingredients for an Orator-based skill enhancer. Direct ingestion may or may not give a status increase. Side effects may vary from one person to another.]

[Blue-maned Cloak. A furry hide fashioned into a cloak that is perfect for wintertime. There is a slight air of authority if someone wears it. Effect: 20% Cold Resistance. Leadership enhancement by 5%. +1 Agility.]

While the rest of the loot consisted of a bigger sapphire, a single light-blue pill, a single medium-sized red potion, and a medium-sized blue potion. From what he was seeing here, his Enhanced Drop Rate was really working its ass off for this reward.

Yet before he could stuff them all in his bed, the cry of a woman reached his ears. Isidora knelt beside Jaenis, shouting for her to get up. He couldn’t understand her words, but he could feel the emotion in her voice.

* * *

“Jaenis, we’re safe,” Isidora said. “By the grace of the angel, someone had saved us.” Her hands scrambled over Jaenis’s body until her eyes landed on her crimson bloody flank. They tied up her wound and yet the darkening color showed it wasn’t enough. She feared what might come and tears started to trail over her tanned cheeks. She lost too many things today and she didn’t want to lose her closest friend. Not after what she’d been through.

“I’ll get you back to town, Jaenis,” Isidora readied to carry Jaenis on her back. “I’ll swear in my life, I will save you,” her voice trembling, knowing the possibility was close to nil.

Yet her hands stopped. As a shadow of a figure loomed above her. Isidora looked up and saw the masked man looking down at her. She should be wary seeing a stranger with a mask in the middle of the wood, but after seeing what he had done, she clung on to her last hope. She pounced at Zane’s leg as she begged with teary reddish eyes. “Please save her, mister,” she pleaded. “Please save my friend.”

The masked man nodded and knelt beside Jaenis. Isidora gave way as she didn’t have the slightest suspicion over what the masked man would do to her friend. A sign of her naivety of a greenhorn. Nonetheless, she was lucky.

The masked man uncorked the medium red potion as he gently raised Jaenis’ head a bit. Letting the liquid flow in between Jaenis’ lips as he saw through his Hi-Analysis that it was working. Color started to return on Jaenis’ complexion but she was still knocked out cold.

Zane turned to Isidora and pulled out something from his bag. He typed in on the virtual keyboard as his smartphone spoke in Latin. “We need to get her help.”

Isidora was dumbfounded for a while. Glancing between the device on Zane’s hand to the static mask that covered her savior’s face. Then she snapped out of it, realizing the dire situation Jaenis was still in. With newfound conviction in her eyes, she shouted.

“I will not let my friend die!”