With a mighty howl, darkness shrouded the room before being pierced by the moonlight. What stood before them was not one wolf or two, but a full pack of five. Roy’s mind blanked as he saw the mighty beast multiply into five clones.

Hearing Alfonse take a step back, Roy turned to see his friend’s face pale as a sheet. The others were not doing much better.

Understanding the severity of the situation, Roy’s face relaxed and he spoke with a calm and collected voice, “Focus. Come together, let’s take a defensive formation.”

Fred nodded at Roy’s words before slowly inching backward. However, the five wolves did not let him do as he pleased. The beasts spread in all directions, forcing Fred, Jack, and Robb to stand their ground. Robb dashed toward the rightmost one and slashed at it with his sword.

“Huh?”

Robb’s sword slashed through the giant white wolf as it was made of mist. And indeed it was, as the beast’s silhouette completely dissolved in the air.

Seeing this strange occurrence, Roy felt his heart turn into a rock and drop in his stomach. Without even thinking, he shouted, “Fred! Alfonse!”

Far at the left, hidden amongst the shadows was a wolf that was not part of the five. A ball of white light and coursing blue lightning formed within its giant mouth. With a thunderous howl, the beast launched its spell toward Roy and Alfonse at the back.

Seeing the ball of lightning that the beast was conjuring, Roy activated a spell of his own. He started channeling his mana to create a fireball, but just as he was about to launch it, Fred dashed between him and the beast.

Golden seeped out of Alfonse’s hands and enhanced the barrier that Fred was forming. The wolf’s spell clashed with the white wall for a second before it turned the barrier into dust. Fred gritted his teeth as lightning struck his shield before he was sent flying with an explosion of moonlight and blue lightning.

Roy looked with worry as Fred tumbled several meters to his right. However, there was no time to check up on him. The beast then pounced forward, intending to finish off the young man it had injured.

“Nope, not letting you do that!”

Robb dashed with Ghost Step and slashed through the beast’s right side. He left a horizontal trail of blood as the beast tumbled to the side. Jack immediately followed after Robb’s attack, only to stop mid-dash. The beast abruptly stood up and clawed upwards right in front of Jack’s face.

The young man grinned as he saw the opportunity for a counterattack before thrusting his sword at the beast’s open chest. Robb followed up on his combo with a strike to the wolf’s injured side, shoving his sword even further into its flesh.

As the two continuously pressured and injured the beast, Roy’s mind flashed with a thought. He then looked at Alfonse and said, “Use that spell on me. Use it on fireball.”

Alfonse’s eyes opened wide at Roy’s plan before he wildly smiled, “You got that.”

Roy conjured up a fireball before channeling as much mana into it as he possibly could. By the time he squeezed his last drop, his spell was the size of half his body.

“Holy Blessing.”

Golden light seeped out of Alfonse’s hand and merged with Roy’s fireball. The flames raged and grew, as they morphed from a deep orange color to a golden and white one. It was as if Roy was holding a miniature sun atop his hand.

“Get the fuck out of there!”

Roy screamed as he launched his most powerful spell at the injured gigantic white wolf. Neither Robb nor Jack had to turn back to understand what was happening. They immediately scattered in both directions, leaving the beast in front of them confused and dazed.

That confusion was only ephemeral as it saw the giant golden fireball hurling in its direction. In a desperate attempt, it gathered a white aura and lightning energy to counter this attack, but it was too late. Before it could muster up a counterattack, Roy’s spell reached and exploded into a pillar of golden and white flames.

The raging fire reached the glass dome that covered the rooftop, before slowly calming down. Half of the room was practically set ablaze, and even standing so far away, Roy could feel the heat almost burning his skin.

To say that he was tired would be a gross understatement. His legs were shaking, his breath was shallow, and his eyes threatened to close at any moment.

“Congratulations on achieving first clear of the Normal difficulty of the Wolf’s Den small-scale dungeon. You can receive your rewards from the treasure chest, and exit through the portal.”

Seeing those words appear in front of him, Roy smiled. We did it. As all the exhaustion and fatigue washed over his body, Roy fell to the ground, and darkness embraced him.

After an unknown time had passed, Roy could hear voices from beyond the darkness. As those voices became clearer, he suddenly remembered what was happening and jolted awake.

“Congratulation, you have unlocked an achievement.”

There were the first words that welcomed him. After a few seconds, the words in front of him disappeared leaving place to a full screen.

Roy shook his head and did not dally on the feelings of accomplishment. He looked around only to find that the flames had completely died down, leaving only a trail of ash at the place in which they once burned.

“Oh, you woke up?”

Roy looked to his right to find Robb and his friends walking toward him. They all looked jovial and carefree, even Fred who was injured before had no trace of pain or hurt.

“How long was I out?”

Robb looked up in thought before responding, “Like forty-five minutes or so?”

“Yeah, something like that,” Alfone affirmed.

“You okay, you feeling alright?” Fred tapped Roy’s shoulder and looked at him with concern.

Roy concentrated on his body to check on his physical situation, “Yeah, I’m all good. I just don’t have much mana and that’s it.”

“Great, that shit you did was cool as hell,” Jack grinned. “Even the dungeon is thinking so.”

Roy furrowed his eyebrows in confusion at Jack’s remark, “The hell is that supposed to mean?”

“Go check by yourself,” Jack gestured at the treasure chest in the middle of the room while still grinning. The rest of the guys were either chuckling or smiling in silence.

Confused by their behavior, Roy shook his head before walking toward the golden chest. When he opened it, he found two things: A wooden staff, and a vial with a blue liquid inside of it.

Roy’s eyes were stuck on the staff. It had an elegant design with a white spherical gem decorating its top; the wood looked ancient and sturdy, much like the expensive oak that the lords usually favored.

Roy took out the staff from the chest to find out more about it.

“So, what do you think of it?” Jack looked at Roy with a proud smile.

Roy could not think of any words to say. His eyes just kept darting between his friends and the staff in his hands with an open mouth. “Can I-can I really take this?”

“Stop with the humble shit,” Fred clicked his tongue, “You’re either gonna take it or I’m gonna smack you to midnight.”

Roy was still shocked by how lucky of a reward he got. In the end, he could only take a deep breath and say, “Thank you.”

“That’s not the only thing in the box,” Robb gestured with his head toward the chest. “That one might be even better.”

Roy raised an eyebrow before looking back at the treasure box. He took out the vial of weird blue liquid.

Roy’s eyes opened wide in shock at the description of the vial. This is insane!

“You’re not gonna make a scene about not taking it, are you?” Jack laughed.

“No, I will be taking this one,” Roy shook his head. “With this, we can definitely win against the red bear.”