The Wolves Ch. 039

Drawing my arm back, I trust my sword through her back before ripping it free. She fell and I used Blink to appear next to Mason, who was surrounded by goblins, his Mana Shield keeping him safe. A mace-wielding hob caught my eye, and it seems like I caught his eye as well. He ran towards me, lifting his mace overhead as he got close, intending to bring it down on me. I easily deflected it to the side with one of my swords and thrust forward with the other, catching him in the gut.

It wasn't an immediate killing blow, so I pulled it out and thrust forward again, this time aiming for somewhere more vital. He had managed to balance himself just in time for my sword to pierce through his chest, likely severing his heart. He dropped his mace and immediately fell to his knees, before falling backward, pulling himself off my sword. Looking around the room, I saw another target.

I used Blink once more, this time appearing behind the axe-wielding hob who had commanded his brethren to attack us. I had already dropped the sword in my left hand, it deactivating automatically while dangling from my wrist. Reaching up, I grabbed hold of the haft of his axe, preventing him from bringing it down on Ben. Thrusting forward, I was surprised when my sword struck nothing but air, and my hand was no longer gripping the hobs' axe.

The hob had turned translucent, moving to the side before jumping up and bringing his axe down in an overhead chop. I managed to jump out of the way in time, punching with my left hand. The punch connected with his face as I both felt and heard the crunch as his nose broke. The punch staggered him, but he recovered quickly, spinning and bringing his axe from the side this time.

Seeing that there wasn't any flash of red, I let Mana Shield absorb the attack while activating the sword in my left hand again. I was about to strike when there was a flash of metal and the hobs' eyes grew wide. Reaching up to his neck, I saw a long thin line of red appear, before blood started dripping all along that line. He fell to his knees which allowed me to see that Anja was standing behind him, her nodachi in hand and a cheeky little grin on her face. She turned into smoke and disappeared, which drew my attention to the hobgoblin who was now missing a head.

Shaking my own head, I turned and looked for another target. An arrow impacted my Mana Shield, prompting me to look in the direction it had come from. Looking there, I actually saw three hobs; two males and a female. All had bows in hand and all of them were looking at me. Breathing in again, I fired another jet of flame, which closed the distance very quickly. They didn't manage to move out in time, their clothes and bows catching fire.

Knowing that they were out of the fight, I turned and surveyed the battlefield noting that everything was pretty much taken care of. There was an absolute pile of goblin corpses around Mason as he fought two hobgoblins at once, his halberd piercing one through the chest while he actually lifted the shaft of his halberd to parry an attack from the other. He raised a foot and stomped causing the ground within a few feet of him to start shaking and break apart, making the goblins to lose their balance. With the time he now had, he pulled his halberd free and began thrusting forward. Before his attack could connect, an arrow whizzed by and lodged itself in the hobgoblin's head, killing it. He switched targets and finished the injured one off, instead.

That was the last of the first group of goblins, the regular ones having been taken out early on, while the rest hobs shortly thereafter. After gathering any loot left behind, we began making our way further into the massive room. The room seemed like it was going to spiral downward, and it didn't take long before we came across the next large group of goblins.

The fight went much the same way the previous one did. The regular goblins were quite weak, so it was a simple matter for Mason to dispatch them using Whirling Leap. Besides a few Penetrating attacks and the Phase Shift ability that the hobgoblin used to get away from me, none of them had anything we had to worry about in terms of abilities.

There were probably another six groups of goblins to deal with after the first two, meaning that we killed somewhere between three hundred sixty and four hundred goblins before coming across a set of double doors. We also got quite lucky while killing everything, getting a pair of epic boots, another pair of uncommon pants, and then two Skill Gems, one Tier D, and the other Tier E.

With the fighting out of the way, I handed Sonja my phone and then took the first of two items out of Abi's dimensional storage using the Beacon. I took a second to look over the stats again, before handing them off to Mason to look at.

Steady Boots

Epic

+18 Strength, Agility or Intellect, whichever is highest.

+12 Constitution

+8 Endurance

Increases movement speed by 5%.

While the user channels mana into these boots they become harder to knock down.

Everyone got a look at the boots and then Sonja initiated the roll. I elected to pass on them, since I already had a pair of boots, and it would benefit the group more if we all had a piece of armor in a respective spot before rolling for another.

[We have a tie!] Sonja said when the results came in. [Ben, Anja, roll again, please.]

A chime let me know that there was a winner, and Sonja looked over to Ben. [Congrats, Ben!]

I congratulated him on the boots and then handed them to him where they promptly disappeared. Next up was the uncommon pants. I handed them to Mason, though he elected to pass on them.

Enchanted Scale Cuisses

Uncommon

+12 Strength, Agility or Intellect, whichever is highest.

+8 Constitution

+8 Endurance

[Congrats... me!] she said as she looked over the results.

After congratulating her, we swapped items, me passing the pants to her while she passed me back my phone. I checked to see the results of the roll, and saw that she had rolled an 84 with no one even coming close. With everything sorted, I walked up to the door and pushed it open.

It seemed like the boss for this floor was actually four hobgoblins. They looked over as the door opened, but did nothing but get to their feet and pick up their weapons. Each of them was equipped differently, the largest of them wielding a huge two-handed axe. The smallest of the four hobs was actually a female that carried two daggers while being garbed in a set of pitch black leather armor. The remaining two hobs were both males that fell somewhere in between the size of the axe-wielding hob and the dagger-wielding hob. One was an archer and the other a mage or shaman of some sort, though it was impossible to tell what the latter's specialty was without seeing him in action.

After sending some commands to my team, I ran in with Mason right on my heels. Anja actually stayed back to cover Ben and Sonja, as I had a feeling that the female hob would have some sort of stealth capability. That proved to be correct when she disappeared into a cloud of smoke. I didn't worry about it, knowing that Anja would be able to handle it, instead focusing on my target; the axe-wielding hobgoblin.

I opted to go weaponless for this fight, testing out my new gloves. I didn't bother using Blink to close the distance, instead charging at the hob as he was charging at me. As we got closer, he brought his axe back, getting ready to strike. When he swung his axe forward, I stepped to the side while throwing an uppercut that connected with its chin. The impact of my fist knocked him clean off his feet, while I also felt something break.

He landed with a groan while his axe fell from his gripped and clattered to the floor. Picking it up, I raised it over my head, intending to finish him off. As I started swinging it, however, my arms stopped moving. Looking up, I saw that some sort of vines had wrapped around my wrists and were holding them in place. I tried pulling, but they didn't budge so much as an inch. I also tried using Blink, but found that the vines prohibited me from doing so.

I scanned the room, finding the hobgoblin caster and saw that he was looking at me, his staff raised in one hand while the other was closed into a fist. Mason had been the one targeting him, though I noticed that there was a vine-like cage around him. He was attempting to cut away at the vines, but they grew back quickly.

Movement out of the corner of my eye drew me back to the hobgoblin warrior. He was back on his feet and he was grinning as he looked up at me. He barked something to the caster and the vines immediately tightened, causing me to open my hands and drop the axe. He caught it in mid air, and then brought it back, intending to strike at me again. I raised my Mana Shield just before it hit and then called out to my friends.

[Umm, a little help here.]

[Busy!] the twins replied at the same time.

I couldn't look behind me to see how they were doing, but I knew they were both fighting their hobgoblin counterparts.

[Ben?]

[Working on it!] he said.

The warrior had continued beating on my Mana Shield to try to take it down, though he didn't seem to have any attacks that could pierce through shields. What he did have was something that allowed him to attack very quickly, but even his sped up attacks couldn't overcome my mana regeneration.

A red glow lit up the room, causing me to look for the source. Before I could find it, a meteor landed beside me. Looking up I saw a lot more on their way, and I hoped Mana Shield would be able to protect me from them. The warrior had used a skill to move away as soon as the first one fell, avoiding all of the meteors. Since he couldn't attack me, I saw him use the same movement skill to get close to Ben.

It only took a few meteors falling before one struck the vines, severing and then burning them. As soon as they were severed, the parts wrapped around my wrists came loose, allowing me to get back into the fight. Ben was much more capable than he had been, and between his high mana pool and his decent mana regen, I knew he would be able to keep the warrior busy.

I turned to help Mason, Blinking over while activating my swords so I could help him with the vines.

[It's no use!] he said when he saw me. [Get rid of the druid or whatever that bastard is!]

Nodding, I blinked once again, appearing behind the druid, if that's actually what he was. Just as I was about to thrust my cutlass through his back, another vine shot out of the ground and stopped my thrust in its tracks, a mere inch away from my target. I tried slashing with my other arm, but a quick gesture from one of his hands prevented that too.

He turned back to me, a confident smile on his face.

I hadn't wanted to try it before, as I didn't know how well my armor would hold up to it. This time, however, I had no such issue. Taking a deep breath, I released it, firing off a jet of flame that hit him point blank. I saw his face change into one of horror, though he wasn't quick enough to move out of the way in time.

He started screaming as his flesh started to burn, but it seemed to do the trick. The vines loosened almost immediately, freeing my arms again. I was about to finish off the druid to ease his suffering, though Mason appeared nearby, his halberd already in motion. The axe-like blade of his halberd easily separated the druids head from his body, sending the former rolling across the floor while the other dropped like a sack of potatoes.

[Next time you deal with the druid and I'll deal with the warrior!] he sent before turning and using Whirling Leap to close the distance.

I used Blink to follow him, and we both ran towards where Ben was fighting off the warrior. The warrior was battering his shield like he had mine, though nothing got through. Inside his Mana Shield, Ben was calmly casting Fireball after Fireball, and they seemed to be doing the trick. The smell of burnt hair was present as we got close, and I saw half of the hobgoblin's head was now bald.

Reaching up with one hand, I yanked the axe out of the hobgoblin's grip while punching forward with the other. The warrior collapsed to the ground and Mason was there a moment, later, his halberd being thrust through the hobgoblin's back. Pulling it free, he stabbed forward once more, for good measure.

The axe in my hand began disintegrating, which confirmed that the hobgoblin was dead. Looking around the room I saw that the archer had been dealt with, and Sonja was standing there while she watched her sister. Anja had seemingly decided to go with her stilettos for the fight, the two dual-wielding assassins locked in a fierce battle.

Walking over, the three of us joined Sonja as we watched the two duel.

[How long has this been going on?] I asked, excluding Anja from the conversation, not wanting to distract her.

She looked over briefly before responding. [Since the fight began, I think. I've only been watching for a minute or so, and she forbade me from interfering. They seem evenly matched, neither has been able to land a hit while I've been watching.]

[That's probably Precognition at work. She knows what the hobgoblin is going to do before she does it, so she's able to counter her attacks. It should have allowed her to deal with the assassin in seconds, but I'm betting that Anja is toying with her.]

[Hmm. Maybe,] she replied.

We watched the two dance for a few more minutes, the assassin's daggers and Anja's stilettos connecting at least once a second, sometimes sending sparks flying. Neither had been able to land a hit, and it didn't look like the fight was going to end anytime soon. My stomach had also rumbled a few times now, so it was time to get some dinner.

[Alright, Anja, playtime is over,] I sent, re-adding her to the conversation.

[Spoilsport!] she sent, before going into action.

She parried the next few attacks, waiting for an opening. When she seemed to find it, she disappeared into a cloud of smoke. The hobgoblin spun looking for her, but Anja actually appeared right where she had been standing previously. This time, the stilettos were gone, and her new nodachi was in hand. With a quick two-handed slash, she actually cut clean through the hobgoblin's body at waist-level.

The hobgoblin fell to her knees before falling forward, her body falling into two nearly equal-sized pieces. Before the body could disintegrate, she bent down and wiped the blood of her nodachi and then stored it.

[That was fun!] Anja said with a big smile.

[Well, now that you're done playing with your food, how about we go get some actual food?]

She nodded, raising her hand with her phone appearing in it a second later. After activating the screen, she scowled and looked at her sister. [Damn it!]

Sonja laughed and then pulled her own phone out. She glanced at it and then looked back to her sister. [Hah! I win!]

I looked over Sonja's shoulder to look at her phone, not seeing what they were apparently looking at.

[What am I missing?] I asked.

Sonja turned towards me. [Anja and I decided to make a bet earlier, wondering when either you or Mason would bring up food. I said it would be before 19:30, though Anja thought it would be after. It's 19:24, so I win!]

I laughed, and gently pushed her shoulder, sending her walking backwards to regain her balance before beginning to shift back into my human form.

[So what does the winner of the bet get?]

[Oh, we're going shopping a few days before we leave to drop the dragons off, and if I see something and want it, Anja has to buy it for me.]

[You mean buy it for both of you,] Mason chuckled. [The two of you trade clothes so often that she'll practically be buying it for herself as well. Sounds like a win-win bet to me.]

[True,] Sonja nodded.

As soon as I was done shifting, we picked up all of the Mana Gems left behind and then walked down the passageway that had opened up at the back of the room. After activating the waygate, we all stepped on it and were taken to the surface. I quickly made my way outside before turning back to my friends.

"So, am I driving or are we teleporting? I was thinking that we can try out that pizza place we saw in North Bay."

"Teleporting, definitely." Mason said. "The drive there and back would take up an hour if not longer."

"Alright, you guys remember where it is?"

Everyone said they did, but I had them wait until I could let Abi know where we were going. It only took her a few minutes to get there, and she let us know when she was in position. We teleported to the sidewalk in front of the dungeon, scaring some people who had been walking nearby. After apologizing, we walked towards the front door only to have a short older woman run outside and block us.

"You're not coming into my establishment like that!" she said with a stern look on her face while she gestured at our armor. "Head around back, and hose yourselves off."

We apologized and walked around the building, finding the hose with an adjustable pressure attachment on the end. Taking turns, we spun in place while the blood and dirt was washed away, and then waited for a few minutes to let the sun dry us as much as possible. When we were done, we walked back to the front of the building where the owner was still standing. She looked over each of us before allowing us entry, and then directed us over to a table.

"What can I get for you guys, then?" she asked, a notepad in hand.

I gave her our orders and then she turned and pointed to a corner of the room. "You can get your drinks from there, the pizzas will be ready in fifteen to twenty minutes."

After thanking the woman, we all got up and made our way over to the cooler to grab our drinks. The girls set theirs down and then made their way to the bathroom, and Mason, Ben and I took turns as well.

I had gone before Mason did, and raised my eyebrow as he saw next to me. Noticing my look, he sighed.

"Yes, I washed my hands. With soap! Wanna smell them?" he asked, shoving them in my face.

I recoiled back, chuckling and then we made idle conversation until our pizzas were ready. They arrived at the same time, Ben and the twins splitting one pizza, while Mason and I split the other. The pizza was quite good, though not as good as our usual pizza place back in Ottawa. We quickly demolished the two large pizzas and after paying, and giving Abi a few minutes of notice, we teleported back to the dungeon. After taking the waygate down to the seventeenth floor, we opened the doors revealing what was in store for us.

From behind me, Ben only said one word.

"Fuck."