Vengeance, thy name is Howl!

  The [Juvenile Dungeon Hound] stood stoically on top of a particularly large rock overlooking the outskirts of the webbed fortress. The largest and most powerful spiders, the only creatures in the cavern that could have brought instant death to Howl, had left.

  And now?

  The hound jumped down from his perch and charged into the spider’s home. He passed by the outer alarm and felt several threads touch him and a few even snapping against his weight as he dashed past.

  To the monster who had only just been born, the only things he knew were of himself and the rest of the world. Of him, he understood his will, his body, and his stats. His will drove his body, and stats existed to enhance it. When it came to the outside world, all Howl knew was what he saw. Beyond that, he also knew that his body existed within the world, and that it could physically affect it.

  So it wasn’t much of a leap for him to believe his will could touch the world as well. His will, driven by emotion, cried out for vengeance. And like his body answered the call by moving both claw and fang to draw enemy blood, could the world not too respond to his will by granting him an opportunity?

  Howl believed it could, and that it just did. He ran at a full sprint into the spiders’ fortress.

  A few of the smaller arachnids began to jump around at the intrusion. This was the first time they’d faced an attack without their leader to guide them, after all. Howl himself could guess at their lack of experience from all of the hesitation. After all, the [Juvenile Dungeon Hound] was driven by instinct and personal decisions, and a lack of immediate reaction meant a lack of either of those.

  This is easy. How lucky I am to fulfill my purpose in such little time! At least it felt like it was too little time to the hound. Maybe it’s just supposed to be this fast?

  Snap

  And then, as the whipcord of web flew right onto Howl’s back, the [Juvenile Dungeon Hound] realized that fulfilling one’s life purpose actually wasn’t that easy.

  [Damage taken! HP: 58/65]

  The monster let out a howl as he lost sense of the world for a brief second, but quickly steadied himself and continued.

  Pain flared through his back as a notification briefly flashed across his vision, but he ignored it and powered on. A single injury wasn’t about to keep him from his life’s purpose.

  The very next step Howl took was met with a counterattack this time. Half a dozen spiders, relatively smaller ones with bared and venom-dripping fangs, directly ran at the hound. They’d come directly from the fortress in the center, Howl noticed. They weren’t part of the previously laid out defenses and were acting on their own.

  How did he know that? Because they were easy. Despite the stinging pain in his back, Howl deftly lifted his paw and stepped on the first four spiders. The last two he scooped into his mouth along with the corpses of the others.

  [Dungeon experience bonus obtained!]

  [Level up!]

  The wound on Howl’s back began to hurt less, but it still felt raw. A warm liquid welled forth from it, and as the miniscule trickle dripped down the hound’s fur onto his leg, Howl couldn’t help but feel a brief flash of rage the same shade as the crimson liquid.

  He didn’t let the emotion fully blind him, however, and continued forward. Howl knew exactly what he was doing. Anger did not touch him once during his entire life, he thought to himself, as he made it several more feet before meeting the next bit of resistance.

  Thwip thwip thwip

  A barrage of webbing flew at Howl’s feet with almost perfect accuracy, gumming up his fur and sticking to his paw pads, slowing the [Juvenile Dungeon Hound] tremendously where every step he took was a battle in and of itself.

  Time. To Howl, that was all the damage of this particular attack was costing him. Were the best of their defenses already expended? All these spiders could do was delay the inevitable, their doom was still approaching!

  The hound opened his mouth to bare a sharp row of teeth at his prey, and let out a little chuff in mockery, but that chuff quickly turned to a choke.

  Thwip

  A wad of something that wasn’t webbing flew right into Howl’s mouth and he began to hack on the bitter taste.

  [Damage taken! HP: 60/68]

  One point. Howl still didn’t really understand numbers, but he instinctively knew that the damage he had taken was of the lowest echelon of harm. He could take many more and survive easily, he was-

  Thwip thwip thwip

  Three more splatters of venom struck Howl, and he cried out in pain as two of them hit his left eye and another the open wound from the whipcord trap.

  [Damage taken! HP: 52/68].

  [Damage taken! HP: 46/68].

  [Damage taken! HP: 38/68].

  Howl stumbled, but quickly caught himself before the next trap was sprung.

  No, not the next trap. Another group of spiders from the central fortress.

  The next five scuttled angrily at the [Juvenile Dungeon Hound], ready to avenge their brethren.

  At least, that was what Howl thought to themselves. The fools, I’m the avenger! The deaths of those six were entirely righteous, and theirs will be too! Haha!

  SNAP

  [Damage taken! HP: 30/65].

  Howl fell to the ground as the next whipcord trap slammed right onto the previous injury. Pain screamed through his entire system, turning every muscle off for a brief instant. Long enough that the other spiders could jump in and each take a bite.

  [Damage taken! HP: 29/68].

  [Damage taken! HP: 28/65].

  [Damage taken! HP: 35/62].

  Huh?! Why is my maximum health going down too? And why… do I feel… tired?

  The venom from the previous attack was beginning to flow through Howl’s body and dampen all of his stats. While the lowered Intellect attribute would have convinced any other monster that continuing the charge would have seen them victory, it did something else to the [Juvenile Dungeon Hound].

  I… I can’t do it. I can’t avenge them, my parents. Howl let a single tear fall from their eye. I’m an idiot, stupid to think that I could do it. I guess I have no choice but to fall here and meet the same fate as them.

  It only took the pain of the next bite to snap Howl out of his fugue.

  Wait, if I’m an idiot, then everything else I said in that sentence has got to be wrong! I do have a choice, I can avenge them!

  The [Juvenile Dungeon Hound] forced themselves to their feet through the force of sheer will alone, and using their will, the one thing they had full control over, began to move their legs back, away from the biting spiders.

  The world doesn’t work this way, my will doesn’t simply make a mark on the world. The world isn’t my body.

  One step, two, then he turned around. Facing the exit, Howl ran, or at least the closest thing to it he could manage, and made his way out of the fortress.

  But my body is part of this world. I can still use my will to shape the world through that. But the world can shape both my body and my will. Maybe the world is the true foe here?

  Even in his weakened state, he made sure to follow the same path he took, the same straight line, and avoided any brand new traps. He could recognize them now, the white web pillars tightly woven to the tips of stalactites. The small squadrons of spitting spiders hanging on from roofbound web platforms.

  The spiders certainly know how to deal with the world.

  His next raid would be more successful.

  I’ll just have to learn as well.

  But first, he needed to rest, needed to recover. Poison continued to flow through his system, and while Howl would live, he would not be able to fight. At least not for a while-

  Ow! Howl thought as they let out a short yip.

  The five spiders from earlier had followed him out and snuck up on him during his monologue!

  In a fit of frustration, the [Juvenile Dungeon Hound] squished them with a lumbering paw.

  There, now to get some rest-

  [Level up!]

  [Level requirement achieved for evolution]

  [Dungeon evolution booster obtained!]

  [Beginning Evolution…]

  Howl felt… different. He was bigger now, just like his parents, but something was different. He was too big. And completely healthy.

  What happened to me? Why are all of my wounds and the poison gone?! I need to find out everything that’s going on.

  [System query received, producing result…]

  [Listing result (1/1): Advanced Class Attributes]

Alpha Dungeon Hound (Level 1)	Name: Howl
Soul Link: Rockfort Hamlet Dungeon Core Ṁ̶̡̄̒͜o̷͚͍̊͒̃̓̿ǰ̵̧̢̭̫̪a̷͇̋̿̿̽͘ ̵̨̛̥͎͉́̋̈͘D̵̝̭͇̓̎̅ȋ̷̯͔̤̑͋̑t̴̛͉͈̟̽̑͑h̸̪̲̩̗̀̉̃͝͠ä̵͕̼̠́̊̓̕b̴̗͕̏͊̂̓̚ä̷̡̰̱͕̒̌̋	Classes: N/A

Type	Prerequisite
Species	Juvenile Dungeon Hound
Body	> 50

Statistic	Amount
Health Points	204
Body	127
Intellect	112
Soul	83

Skill Name	Level	Description
Iron Fangs	1	Teeth are reinforced to be harder and sharper. Bites do not heal as easily.
Pack Tactics	1	Instinctively understand the desires of the rest of the pack and share complex information with them. See through the eyes of pack members.
Prey Detection	2	Instinctually sense the location of prey, and its movements. Understand what the target prey is feeling.
Observation	1	Obtain System information about a target.

Bonus	Value
Once in a Generation (Intellect)	+50
Once in a Generation (Body)	+50
Once in a Generation (Soul)	+50

  I… I think I understand all of this. Howl thought to himself. He didn’t get much time to admire all of the information that he was now able to better understand after the evolution, as another notification quickly popped up in his vision.

  [Dungeon Skill Obtained: Command Subordinates]

  The [Alpha Dungeon Hound] instinctively activated it, and a [Juvenile Dungeon Hound] sitting behind a rock got up and ran over to him, wagging its tail.

  Uh… roll that pebble over to me? It was the most useless task Howl could think of, that any of his brethren had no reason to ever bother with, even if asked nicely.

  The smaller monster complied and dropped the stone in front of his leader.

  Howl’s lips parted as he realized what had happened.

  He let out a massive howl that filled the entire cavern and got the attention of every single hound. And then, the ones closest to him began to shuffle their way over.

  Everyone! Now, we avenge our parents! Attack the spiders!

  And the next battle of the fortress began.