Anika immediately grabbed Lily and stood up, backing away from the mouth of the cave where the Packmother would appear and surveyed the surrounding terrain.

  “Philip, be prepared to hit her with Dirt Discs as soon as she emerges so that she attacks you first. Use your Gravity Well if she moves to attack me and Lily, then your Warp Earth if she tries again after Gravity Well. The book stated she has a haste ability like the regular wolves and she also has a howl that will slow us. Lily, keep the capy pack back until Philip engages, that way they don’t get picked off before she gets to him. They won’t do much damage, so have them circle the fight so if she moves to attack someone other than Philip, she goes for one of the capybaras instead of us. She can also use time manipulation to revert received wounds, so the fight will likely take a while.”

  Anika ran towards two large trees that would hide them from sight as the Packmother emerged, allowing Philip to gain the monster’s attention. The trees stood close enough that Anika and Lily could attack while partially obscured. She noticed Leka near another tree drinking a potion and fading into the background to watch while under the effects of the camouflage potion.

  “Once you have her attention, turn so that she can’t see the trees, that way it will be really obvious if she turns away from you to try to attack us when we attack from behind her!”

  “Right!” Philip positioned himself between the cave and the tree, brandishing his trident as Epona moved behind him.

  As Anika ducked behind the tree with Lily, the Packmother emerged. Putting Lily down, she drew an arrow from her quiver and waited to hear the crash of claws and teeth on Philip’s shield before she emerged to fight. She felt Lily trembling next to her leg, her companion clearly still scared from the previous encounter.

  *Don’t worry Lily, the Packmother won’t hurt us with Leka here. Use your aura! It should help you stay calm, just like it helps me!* Anika thought via their rarely utilized telepathic link to try to soothe the capybara’s fears.

  Lily didn’t respond, but she felt the Calming Presence activate at the same time she heard the Packmother attack Philip. She waited a few more seconds, knowing Philip would need time to get into position, and then peaked around the tree.

  The Packmother loomed above the small Degeta man at nearly six feet tall, and Anika had a moment of doubt on their ability to kill such an enormous beast. But she knew Leka would not have allowed them to come if they had no chance of taking it on. Like the Scurry Captain they had faced in the last dungeon, this wolf was only a mini boss. It posed a threat because of their level, but did not have any major damaging abilities other than large claws and a gaping maw of teeth. Anika had confidence in Philip’s ability to prevent himself from becoming the Packmother’s next snack.

  Epona had positioned herself on the opposite side of the wolf from where Anika and Lily hid behind the tree, but Anika could see her through the legs of the beast. She faced away from the wolf, using her powerful back hooves to kick repeatedly at the wolf’s side. Philip stabbed up with his trident, aiming for the beast’s neck when the wolf pulled back to prepare to swipe with clawed feet the size of a soccer ball.

  Anika drew her bow as a battering ram of a paw slammed down on Philip’s shield. He managed to hold steady, only shaking a little despite the massive force of the blow. Anika stepped out from behind the tree and carefully aimed her bow at the monster’s chest. She doubted she could miss with such a massive target, but the closer she got to the heart, the better.

  The wolf lunged toward Philip as she fired and Anika’s first arrow pierced the wolf near its hind quarters instead of the chest like she intended. The wolf made no movement indicating it noticed the comparatively small arrow now rooted in its flank. Inwardly, she berated herself for not considering the movement of the beast as it attacked Philip. She needed to adapt to the movement of the monsters and aim where the wolf would end up when the arrow arrived, not when she fired. She pulled another arrow from her quiver and watched the movement of the wolf as Philip engaged it with trident and shield.

  Lily entered the fray, telekinetically picking up a rock that looked slightly larger than a softball and mentally hurling it towards the head of the giant wolf. She tried to use it to bash the wolf’s head, but the creature barely seemed to notice. Either Lily couldn’t use enough force for the wolf to notice, or its thick skull would require a rock that exceeded Lily’s current magical capabilities.

  Anika drew her bow for another shot, having observed the wolf’s back and forth movements of attack and evasion of Philip’s onslaught. He finished casting dirt discs at it and followed up with a wide sweep at the creature’s legs with his trident. She breathed in sync with the movement of the wolf, timing it so she exhaled as the wolf lunged forward, and released the arrow in time with her breath. Unlike her first shot, she had correctly calculated her aim, and the arrow lodged in the creature’s chest, relatively close to where she had intended it to land.

  This time, the creature seemed to notice the arrow piercing its hide, or at least the simultaneous landing of Anika’s arrow and Epona’s hooves. The Packmother sat back on its haunches to let out a howl. Rather than a cry of shock or pain, however, the howl bore the slow debuff, applying its time manipulation magic to anyone in hearing range of the sound.

  Anika shook her head as an odd feeling came over her body. Her limbs felt like they moved through molasses, each movement she initiated lagging behind the instructions of her mind, like suddenly playing a game with high latency. The wolf seemed to move faster when compared to her sluggish body, but her mind still raced at high speed. She watched as Philip swung his trident through air thick as water against an enemy who now moved with the agility of Spiderman compared to their classic zombie shuffle.

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  She once again berated herself for making assumptions. When she read in the library book that the wolf would slow them, she only thought about movement speed. In games, slows often affected movement speed without impacting attack speed and she had assumed that, since the book didn’t explicitly list attack speed, the slow would only cause the movement speed decrease. Her experience playing games provided her a boost to strategizing and thinking on her feet, but it also left her with assumptions that now threatened their safety. She would have to find a better way to account for all the variables in the future.

  With this new information, Anika knew Philip could not effectively defend against the wolf while under the effects of the slow. She had to find a way to even the odds and counter the Packmother’s advantage until the effects of her Howl wore off. As she drew an arrow laboriously from her quiver, she tried to concoct a strategy. Could she distract the wolf long enough for the slowing effect to wear off?

  As she pulled back the bow-string, slowly, inch by agonizing inch, she saw Lily’s rock fly at the wolf’s neck and head, an ant trying to damage a giant. She thought about Lily’s inability to do damage to the wolf’s thick skull with her small stone, rendering her telekinetic powers useless at damage. Then she realized that Lily’s rock still moved at regular speed. The slow only impacted the physical abilities - not their magical abilities! Lily couldn’t do much damage… but the wolf had other targets, and Lily had spectacular aim after their arrow games.

  Inspired by their battles last week with the lidok’s, Anika cursed herself for not thinking of a more effective strategy to begin with. Of course Lily was useless against a giant. But even a giant had eyes.

  *Lily! Ditch the big rock. Use small stones, sand, or my arrows and aim for the eyes!”

  If the wolf couldn’t see Philip that could effectively counter the slow debuff, giving Philip more time to respond to flailing movements. She fired her arrow, knowing that she couldn’t aim effectively with the slow debuff, but hoping to add some form of distraction. She saw Philip cast his Dirt Discs once more, using the stolen moments to try to reposition his shield to protect his head from the wolf’s rapidly approaching jaws.

  Anika pushed herself through the slow to pull another arrow. Lily had dumped her rock unceremoniously on the Packmother’s head (to little effect) upon Anika’s directions. Anika could now see a small amount of pebbles and sand, making up significantly less weight than the previous rock, move rapidly towards the wolf’s head. As Anika laboriously continued her efforts to attack with her bow, Lily manipulated the first of the pile into the Packmother’s eyes.

  The wolf snarled and jerked its head, its massive jaws bouncing off Philip’s shield. Lily immediately started to move more sand and debris towards the beast, pushing it magically into its eyes. The wolf began to shake its head like a dog trying to eject water from its body, snarling at the invisible attacker around its head as Lily continued trying to ruin the wolf’s vision.

  Anika managed to fire another arrow, this one landing near its leg as it reared up in rage. Philip took the opportunity to thrust up with his spear towards the wolf's neck, the wolf’s thrashing movements hitting the trident more than the trident hit the wolf, resulting in a giant gouge in the unprotected flesh. As the wolf snapped at air, Epona kicked the wolf’s side.

  The beast whirled with rage, flailing with its claws towards Epona. The pegasus launched herself away from the wolf, her attacks using her back legs leaving her well positioned to run away. Due to the slow debuff, however, the claws still raked across Epona’s hindquarters, leaving behind ugly stripes of red as she escaped out of range.

  Philip tried to get the wolf’s attention again by shouting nonsense at it and striking again with his trident, but the wolf instead launched itself at one of the Capy pack. The behemoth wolf bit down on the transformed monster, a crack echoing as its maw clamped down before hurling it away with a mighty throw.

  Philip contacted the wolf’s side with his trident, leaving an angry red streak that caused the wolf to stagger. That got the beast’s attention and it turned back to Philip. The wolf lifted its head suddenly and a glow moved from the tip of its snout down its body. The wolf leaped, disappearing from sight for a moment before reappearing where Philiip had originally positioned it, the wounds in its side and neck having disappeared.

  Anika fired another arrow as the wolf snapped at Philip, catching his trident in its mouth and flinging it from his hands. Philip grabbed at his shield with both hands and the ground in front of him began to churn with his Distortion spell, causing the image of the wolf to warp and twist. The snarling wolf slashed at Philip with its hastened claw and succeeded in causing him to stumble back despite the spell’s effect on it, the visual impact of the Distortion causing Philip to misjudge the trajectory of the wolf’s attack.

  Anika knew she couldn’t just stand behind the tree and fire arrows that the wolf barely felt. Philip had more success with his trident, its sharp points able to open long wounds in the wolf. Epona had suffered her second wound of the day, and while she still moved fine, Anika could tell she was hesitant to attack with an injury that could slow her down and leave her more susceptible to future attacks. If Philip continued to have difficulty, however, Epona would want to save him.

  *Lily, can you get Philip’s trident back to him?*

  *No, it’s too big! I’m sorry Anika.*

  Anika groaned inwardly, knowing she would have to go out there and help. She imagined the giant claws coming her direction and slicing her to pieces as she vainly attempted to help. But she knew Leka would not let her die… though she doubted the trainer would save her from an ‘educational’ injury.

  *Just keep attacking the eyes. They clearly healed when she reverted the damage we had dealt so far. I’m going to go help*

  *No, you don’t have enough protection!*

  Anika looked around, her eyes landing on a hefty tree branch that had fallen from a nearby tree. It wouldn’t likely save her from a major attack, but it might be enough defense to dull the blow if the wolf turned on her. Besides, she didn’t have to get that close to throw Philip’s trident back to him, and Lily could disrupt the wolf’s eyesight again. And maybe she could increase the odds in other ways too.

  *I’ll be fine. But you can help by making sure it can’t see. Also, have the capy pack start running through and around its legs in circles. Maybe it will get distracted or trip on them and that will give us time. Philip can make it so they don’t get hurt by the Distortion*

  *I don’t like it! Please be careful, Anika!*