Chapter 33: Chapter 33: Harem..grr
As soon as Lucy reached Night, she picked him and ran.
Night caught in a daze, didn’t say a single word. His [Beast Instincts] were going absolutely haywire. The alarm in his head was so intense he could practically feel the cold scythe of death hovering just inches above his neck.
He quickly forced himself out of his stupor. He remembered all too clearly how Death had almost died earlier simply because he failed to keep his cool in the heat of battle.
Rapidly regulating his breath and heartbeat he whispered, "My [Beast Instincts] skill is telling me our chances of survival right now are close to zero."
Lucy also felt the exact same oppressive dread replied mentally, Agreed. But we must try our absolute best to survive.
Just then Night felt a ping from Eve and Lilith through their bond. They sent him a very simple yet highly logical, robotic calculation for their survival.
.
.
.
Kill!!!
....
Seated securely on Lucy’s massive back they abruptly changed direction. The sprawling cavern was far larger than they had originally assumed. They ducked into a different narrower tunnel nearby.
Navigating tight tunnels was incredibly dangerous because it made ambushing larger packs difficult, but since the suffocating aura of death was coming from their previous path they had no other choice.
They had come to a grim conclusion: the only way to secure their survival was to level up by killing as many monsters as physically possible, as quickly as possible.
Soon they spotted a patrol of four wolves. This time they completely changed up their tactical formation.
Eve stepped out of a dark swirling portal and immediately released a blinding electric burst toward the beasts stunning them in their tracks.
Then Lucy and Night charged straight in, while Lilith and Death materialized right beside the paralyzed wolves.
Lucy’s shadows violently bound the stunned beasts, setting them up perfectly. The team executed one wolf each in flawless synchronization.
Night beheaded his target with a clean slash. Lucy used her sharp paws coated in black fog. Lilith and Death did exactly the same; having practiced on the run, they had managed to mimic the same technique, coating their metallic and skeletal fingers in the destructive black fog to effortlessly pierce the wolves’ thick skulls.
[You have slain Lvl. 4 Mountain Wolf (x4) | +20 EXP]
Level: 6 (EXP: 385/700)
Night paused staring at the screen in dismay.
Only twenty EXP for one kills? The diminishing returns for hunting lower-level monsters are getting brutal.
Moving deeper they reached a fork with two diverging tunnels. Both paths radiated a deeply dangerous aura, but it was still remarkably mild compared to the suffocating pressure actively chasing them from behind.
Feeling thoroughly creeped out, Night quickly chose the left tunnel which gave the least danger and Lucy dashed ahead.
As Lucy sprinted down the path, it opened up into a smaller enclosed cave. Inside they found exactly ten wolves sitting and resting peacefully.
At the center of the pack sat a wolf that looked significantly smaller than the rest of the massive beasts.
The moment Lucy and Night entered, the small wolf opened its golden eyes, looked directly in their direction and let out a low, rumbling growl; a clear warning to any intruder daring to step into its territory.
The other ten wolves immediately woke up looking at their small leader in sheer puzzlement.
Seeing this Night was genuinely terrified. Even though the small wolf only appeared to be a Level 5 on the surface, his [Beast Instincts] were going completely off the rockers. The alarm in his head was screaming that he was absolutely no match for this opponent.
Then the small leader stood up and did something that spooked Night and Lucy so badly they almost turned and ran on the spot.
"I can smellgrr... the scent of yougrr. Come face megrrr... intrudergrr."
Hearing an actual language Lucy stepped fully out of the shadows. The small wolf looked at Lucy, then up at Night sitting comfortably on her back. It tilted its head in puzzlement before a look of sudden realization dawned on its furry face.
But unlike what Night expected, the small wolf didn’t jump at them to attack. Its pack however, bared their fangs and prepared to lunge. The leader simply let out a single, sharp growl, instantly quieting the massive beasts and forcing them to sit back down.
The small wolf spoke again, its voice echoing strangely. "I am Rangogrrr. You must have steppedgrr... into the portal thinkingrrr it was a dungeongrr."
Lucy seeing that the wolf wasn’t the blindly aggressive kind, cautiously replied, "Yes. This is Night, and I am Lucy. We entered the portal fully thinking it was a normal Level 5 System dungeon."
Hearing this, the small wolf absolutely lost its shit. It started laughing hysterically.
"Ghraa! Ghraa! Ghraa! Level 5?! Ghraa! Rani, do you hear that?! Level 5, she says!" The wolf even used its front paws to comically cover its mouth as it completely failed to control its belly laughter.
Seeing their leader acting like a lunatic, the ten massive packmates looked slightly ashamed of him being so carefree. But secretly, they all started to quietly "ghraa-ghraa" and laugh as well.
Seeing the entire cave openly mocking them, Lucy fumed. "What is so funny about that?!"
After finally getting its shit together from thirty seconds of solid belly laughter, the leader wiped a literal tear from the corner of its yellow eye.
"I knew the other leadersgrr... of the massive tribes were planninggrr... to invade a higher world for opportunitiesghrr. But I didn’t think those cowards would disguise itgrr... as a pathetic Level 5 dungeongrr."
It scoffed, puffing out its chest. "I, for one, do not approve of thatgrr. If you want something, you take it with your own strengthgrr! What is the point of sneaking in like ratsgrrr?"
Rango then looked closely at Lucy. "I see thatgrr... even though you smell wildly differentgrr... you evolved from a wolf as wellgrr."
Though it seemed highly curious about her unique origin, it didn’t try to probe for any more information. Instead it gestured proudly to the ten massive wolves sitting behind it. "This is my familygrr. They are the only people I care forgrr. Some humans might call itgrr... what was the word again?"
A soft surprisingly feminine voice sounded from a beautiful white-furred wolf sitting right beside him. She said meekly, "Harem."
Rango’s eyes lit up. "Yes, yes! Harem...grrr! Haremgrr. This is my Haremgrr!"
As it declared this, the small wolf proudly stood up on its two hind legs patting its chest with its front paws, which somehow moved with the eerie dexterity of human hands.
Hearing this ridiculous declaration, Lucy blushed beneath her dark scales and kept completely quiet. Night, however was finally calm, even though his instincts were still screaming to run due to their sheer proximity to this beast.
He carefully asked, "So, Rango... are you not actually Level 5 as you look?"
Rango looked at the boy like he had just asked the dumbest question in the universe. "Of course notgrr! In our world Lunargrr... Wolves only gain the ability to talk when they reach Level 60grr."
Hearing this, Night almost tripped right off Lucy’s back, while the giant Fenrir stiffened completely in sheer terror. A boss higher than level 50 was casually sitting in a so-called Level 5 dungeon!
Seeing them practically paralyzed with fear, Rango dismissively waved his front paws. "Relax. While you have technically intruded on my territorygrr... you are not at faultgrr... seeing that the crazy, bloodthirsty mutt is currently chasing yougrr."
He scoffed proudly. "Besides, what level could I possibly gain from killing tiny Level 6 pupsgrrr... like you?"
Lucy couldn’t help but ask, "But... you feel exactly like a Level 5 to my senses."
Rango smirked. "Hehgrrr. We have our true levels suppressedgrr... in this specific region. But I can easily bypass the restriction if neededgrr. Their puny, cowardly tricks won’t work on megrr."
Rango pointed toward a dark tunnel leading out of the cave. "You should leave. The portalgrr... will open up for you in some timegrr... right after they sacrifice the poor fool they set up as the fake ’boss’grr," he said with heavy disdain. "It should open in about six hoursgrr."
Before Night could even utter a single word of gratitude, Lucy bolted. She sprinted down the escape tunnel at absolute top speed, throwing a hasty "Thank you!" back at the terrifying wolf.
After they had safely disappeared into the dark, the white-furred wolf known as Rani gently nudged Rango. "Why let them gogrr?"
Rango sat back down, returning to all fours. "They are clearly from the higher worldgrr. It is always good to make some early connections. Besidesgrr... I have not grown so incredibly senile as to slaughter innocent cubsgrr... when they are clearly just caught up in our cowardly tribes’ schemesgrr."
He looked up at the beautiful white wolf with a highly knowing, cheeky smile. "Besides babygrr, I sensed that all of you didn’t really want to kill them either."
Hearing that, Rani lowered her head and gave him a very cute, shy smile.
