I woke up where I went to sleep, snuggled up against the warm fur of the slain Alpha wolf. I felt a little guilty at using it for something like warmth, but at least this way its death served more of a purpose than just allowing me to grow stronger. Or so I told myself.

  "Nngh," I moaned and stretched, petting Iron as my hand brushed against his feathers. "Did you sleep well?"

  Chirp

  "Good, good..." I muttered and climbed to my feet.

  I hadn't brought a lot of food, just a few pieces of dried meat, but that was enough for breakfast. If worst came to worst I could just eat wolf—uncooked, sinewy wolf. I shuddered at the thought.

  Chewing on a piece of meat I chose not to waste any time lingering. I grabbed my shield, fastened my sword to my hip and began the walk through the tunnels once more.

  After leaving the chamber and diving back into uncharted territory I was faced with yet another message.

  [Direwolf Lair floor 2]

  Nice. Progress.

  The tunnels after the chamber were broader and had a higher ceiling. Iron rejoiced and flapped up close to the ceiling. I could just about reach him if I used a spear. A weight eased off my shoulders. He should be safe from the wolves now.

  Ornate symbols and carvings littered the walls now. They looked similar to the ones on the pillars in the chamber. Some sort of ancient scripture, I bet. Obviously the wolves hadn't carved them, but they looked like nothing I'd ever seen before. They had soft edges and flowed into each other like something written in cursive.

  "Beautiful," I mouthed and ran my hand against the grooves.

  The one who carved them must have had a lot to say, because the text stretched as far as the tunnels did, seemingly endlessly. As I walked and chewed I absentmindedly kept looking at them, trying to understand the twists and turns of the foreign language.

  Chirp!

  I looked up at Iron, eyes wide and pressing a finger to my lips. "Ssh! You damn chicken! Don't you know dogs have great hearing?" I hissed.

  A second later a drumbeat of paws against stone approached. I glared at Iron. "See! Look at what you did."

  Up ahead, the tunnels bent slightly to the right. Shadows appeared like wraiths dancing along the walls. There were more than one. I pulled a spear from thin air, holding it with the tip pointing downward into the ground as I readied myself to throw.

  They turned the corner.

  [Direwolf LV23]

  [Direwolf LV21]

  [Direwolf LV21]

  There were three of them running shoulder to shoulder. One of them led the charge ever so slightly, snarling and yelping as it galloped forward. Assuming that was the highest level of the three, I took aim. They had no room to dodge. I threw my spear. It howled through the tunnel and punched into the leader with a splash of blood. It yelped and its legs buckled, making it tumble.

  The others stepped over the first wolf and charged. I summoned another spear and threw it in the same motion. With the distance between us shortening, the second spear found its mark.

  Desperately trying to dodge, the wolf bent down low just before it got impaled. My spear ripped into its back with a nauseating tearing sound. It howled in pain but kept charging, albeit slower than before. Slow enough that it fell behind the third and last wolf as it closed in on me.

  I raised my shield up to my chin and summoned a last spear. My stamina reserves were close to dry, but not quite. Resting the spear against the side of my shield I planted my feet securely on the ground, bolstering myself for impact.

  With a growl, the leading wolf pounced at me, mouth wide open and spraying hot saliva into my face. I pushed back with my shield arm and slid a few paces over the floor as it bit into my shield.

  The additional four points in strength helped, but I was still far from strong enough to tussle with the beast. It flailed its head around with my shield in its jaws, trying to tear it loose from my grip.

  "Let go!" I groaned and stabbed with my spear.

  With a whimper, the wolf let go and bounced back. Blood dripped onto the floor from its stomach. The second was approaching. This was the time to push my advantage before they got the chance to work together.

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  Gritting my teeth, I darted forward and hurled the spear at the leading wolf. Its eyes shot open as it dodged to the side, earning itself a grazing wound on one of its front legs.

  I pulled my blade, keeping a close eye on the approaching reinforcements. The first wolf still hadn't gotten back up and I doubted that it would. I blocked a claw swipe with the shield and swiftly riposted with a lunge. This time I hit the wolf's eye. The wolf reared back and tried to turn when the second rammed into it from behind.

  See, that's the problem with wolves in a cave. Can't use pack tactics very well.

  Darting forward, I quickly dispatched the two wolves before they could get back up. Blood dripped from my sword as I approached the lying figure of the last. The system chimed.

  You have defeated [Direwolf LV23]

  You have defeated [Direwolf LV21]

  You have defeated [Direwolf LV21]

  "That wasn't so bad..." I muttered and stopped running.

  As it turned out I had killed the leader with that first spear throw. Enhanced throw was definitely showing some results now. The fact that it still hadn't leveled up again, despite me using it in practically every fight I got in, made it seem to me like it was very powerful and took time to level—despite the humble name. The same probably went for Flow state. Only that was harder to activate.

  I creased my brow in thought as I dragged the wolves to the sides of the tunnel. With this width I could probably just run around them if I needed to escape, but old habits die hard. Or something like that.

  I rested until my stamina recovered. It seemed like eating and having a drink of my rapidly depleting canteen boosted the rate at my stamina came back. Maybe it was just my mind playing tricks on me, but it seemed somewhat reasonable.

  When it was filled back up fifteen minutes or so later I headed deeper. Not long after, I ran into another pair of wolves and came to a conclusion: they didn't just stand guard as sentries anymore, they were actively moving around in patrols—and always in groups.

  After dealing with the two and resting up, I headed deeper until I reached a fork in the tunnel. Choosing where to go wasn't hard. "Right is always right," or so a childhood friend of mine used to say.

  I nodded to myself and walked inside. Stone and pebbles crunched underfoot as I made mental notes of my path. The cave tunnels on the second floor of the dungeon were much more complicated than on the first. They snaked through the mountain with devious twists and turns—perfect for ambushes. Whenever I came upon such a place, I sent Iron ahead to scout. Sometimes there was nothing waiting around the corner, other times he foiled an ambush that could have been disastrous and led the wolves to me.

  Abusing my throwing skill made the fights a breeze. It didn't matter if they had set up an ambush or they were just a stray patrol. Most of the time I managed to finish them off before they even had time to reach me. At first it had felt exhilarating to be able to deal with the tough bastards just like that, but after the fifth patrol I realized that it was actually really quite boring—albeit an effective way of leveling my skills.

  I killed a patrol, then rested until my stamina recovered, then I rinsed and repeated the process as I delved deeper. I kept going for a few hours during which my spear mastery increased and reached level seven, and my Enhanced Throwing increased to level two. At some point I fell into a state of meditative monotony. Normally doing such a thing would be dangerous, but I felt oddly at ease. In fact, I felt great. Neither sound nor smell escaped me, not even the slightest shadow playing on a distant wall.

  Ironwrought Summoner reaches LV13

  Free stat points +4

  Skill up!

  Flow State +1

  I stopped in my tracks after finishing the last wolf of another foiled ambush. "Well would you look at that..." I muttered and scratched my chin. A faint stubble had started to take hold and scratched against my nails like sandpaper.

  Using my previously adopted mindset, I allocated two more points into agility, with endurance and strength getting one each.

  The biggest haul, however had been the skill level up. With Flow State’s improvement I had increased a whopping four skill levels in a single day. And I was far from finished. I hadn't even found the boss yet. A wide grin spread on my face. Not willing to waste even a second in such a gold mine of experience, I hurried deeper inside to continue my killing spree. I reached Flow state again after a few more battles. It seemed impossible to just jump in and out of it on command, at least for now.

  Not having any more food left me with no other choice than to head back, starve, or eat wolf when I got hungry. Obviously I decided to go hungry until I absolutely needed to eat wolf. Turning back would be too much of a waste.

  Hours passed, and soon I reached another large chamber. This one looked similar to the first. A circle of pillars stretched from the flat floor to the somewhat taller roof. Etchings in the same mysterious language as the cave walls covered them in their entirety.

  The chamber was occupied by an Alpha and two high leveled Direwolves. During my dungeon dive I hadn't seen a single normal Direwolf that had reached level 25 or above. That seemed to be the cut-off where they evolved into the terrifying warbeast that was an alpha.

  Behind the three monsters, a tall gate of stone loomed over the chamber like an oppressive giant.

  That has to be where the boss is hiding.

  I snuck a glance at the alpha.

  [Direwolf Alpha LV???]

  [Direwolf LV24]

  [Direwolf LV24]

  Well. That's not ideal.

  Still, I needed to go through them to reach the boss. Turning back wasn't an option when I'd put so much effort into this whole thing. I might have had a habit of downplaying my situation a bit, but in reality I was still locked in a fight against time. The Blood moon was coming and I needed to be prepared. This dungeon was a great way to achieve just that: preparation. It promised me reward and I got levels. Not to mention it helped me stay out of the Redeemers' way as they went looking for the sentry brothers Colt and Holt.

  There was no doubt in my mind that someone had seen them leave with me, even if Colt hadn't had the foresight to give the others a heads up.

  I would probably need to move camps when I exited, even though I had planned on staying by the small lake for at least a couple days. What a shame to leave such a beautiful place.

  I sighed and shook my head as I summoned a spear and strode into the chamber. The Alpha cocked its head in my direction as the sound of my footsteps bounced against the pillars and walls.

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