The screaming had stopped.
The ravine was silent, save for the wet tearing sounds of the wolves feasting on what remained of Vargas, Rat, and Jace.
The air was thick with the copper scent of blood.
The Alpha Wolf, a massive beast the size of a warhorse with fur like steel wire, was busy tearing into Vargas's chest plate. It was distracted. Arrogant.
Elian stepped out of the shadows. He didn't run. He flowed.
[Stealth Check: Passed]
The first Dire Wolf was isolated near the ravine wall, gnawing on a severed arm. Elian approached from behind, the heavy black-iron sword held in a reverse grip.
He didn't swing it. He placed the tip at the base of the wolf's skull and shoved.
Crunch.
The wolf went rigid and collapsed. Elian lowered it gently to the mud. No sound.
One.
He moved to the next. Another Dire Wolf was dragging Jace's staff away. Elian closed the distance in a blur, the Ring of Swiftness leaving a faint trail of light. He grabbed the wolf's muzzle with his left hand to stifle a whimper and drove the heavy cross-guard of his sword into its windpipe.
Snap.
Two.
Elian turned to the third. He was a ghost in the graveyard he had created.
But the Alpha was a Level 8 Field Boss. It didn't survive this long by being deaf.
Just as Elian raised his blade for the third kill, the Alpha stopped chewing. Its ears twitched. It realized the chorus of crunching bones had gotten too quiet.
The Alpha whipped its head around. It saw the dead pack members. It saw Elian standing five feet away from the third wolf.
ROAAAAR!
The sound was a physical shockwave. It slammed into Elian, rattling his teeth.
[Status Effect: Fear resisted by Player Willpower.]
The three remaining Dire Wolves (including the one Elian was about to kill) instantly abandoned their meals. They didn't attack blindly. They scrambled back to their Alpha.
In seconds, the Alpha and its three subordinates formed a tight triangle, facing outward. A 360-degree defensive wall of fangs and muscle.
Elian stood alone in the center of the ravine, the element of surprise turned to ash.
"Smart dog," Elian muttered, tightening his grip on the black sword. His palms were sweating.
He checked his HP: 110/110.
He checked his Potions: 10 Vials.
"Come on," Elian whispered.
The Alpha barked a command. The third one that was elian's target charge him at front but Elian just weave to the side to avoid the wolf and with the momentum of his twist he slashes the wolf's head.
The two Dire Wolves broke formation and lunged—one left, one right. A pincer attack.
Elian's brain processed the vectors instantly.
Wolf A (Left): Aiming for the thigh.
Wolf B (Right): Aiming for the sword arm.
He stepped into the attack of Wolf A. He slammed his shoulder into its nose, stunning it for a micro-second, then swung the heavy black sword in a wide, brutal arc to his right.
CLANG.
The blade connected with Wolf B's skull. The heavy iron didn't cut; it smashed. The wolf was sent flying into the rock wall, its head caved in.
[Enemy Defeated.]
But the stunning blow on Wolf A hadn't finished it. It recovered instantly and clamped its jaws onto Elian's left forearm.
"Argh!"
Elian gritted his teeth as fangs sank into flesh. The pain was blindingly real.
[-25 HP!]
[Status: Bleeding (Minor)]
Elian didn't try to pull away—that would rip the muscle. Instead, he dropped his sword, grabbed the wolf's upper and lower jaw with his bare hands, and pulled.
With a sickening crack, he dislocated the beast's jaw. The wolf released him, yelping. Elian snatched his falling sword out of the air and decapitated it before it hit the ground.
[Enemy Defeated.]
He was panting now. Blood dripped from his left arm.
Only the Alpha remained.
The beast stared at him with glowing red eyes. It didn't look angry. It looked amused.
It charged.
It was fast. Too fast.
Elian raised the black sword to block.
BOOM.
The impact was like being hit by a truck. Elian slid backward ten feet, his boots carving deep furrows in the mud. His arms went numb.
[-15 HP (Block Damage)]
The Alpha didn't let up. It clawed, bit, and slammed its body against him. Elian was forced into a desperate dance. Dodge. Parry. Deflect.
Slash. The Alpha's claws raked across his chest.
[-40 HP!]
"Damn it!" Elian stumbled back, his vision swimming. HP: 30/110.
He reached for his belt. Potion.
He uncorked it with his teeth and downed it in one gulp.
[HP Restored: +35]
[Cooldown: 45 seconds...]
"Luna's brew," Elian gasped, feeling the warmth spread through his chest. "Don't fail me."
The Alpha lunged again. Elian rolled under the bite, slashing upward. The black iron scored a shallow cut on the beast's belly.
The beast enraged. It howled, glowing with a red aura. [Berserk Mode].
Its speed doubled.
Elian was overwhelmed. A claw struck his shoulder. Another struck his thigh. He was being whittled down.
HP: 15/110.
He drank another potion. HP: 50/110.
Seconds later, he was hit again. HP: 12/110.
He drank a third. A fourth.
The ravine became a blur of fur and blood. Elian was losing. His Level 2 body couldn't keep up with the Berserk Alpha. His stamina was bottoming out. The heavy sword felt like it weighed a ton.
He was down to his last potion.
HP: 8/110.
The Alpha loomed over him, drool dripping onto Elian's battered armor. It raised a massive paw to crush him.
Elian looked at the paw.
Trajectory confirmed.
He didn't dodge. He fell backward on purpose.
As the paw smashed into the mud where he had just been standing, Elian jammed the pommel of his sword into the mud to brace it, pointing the blade upward at a 45-degree angle.
The Alpha, committed to the crush, brought its chest down—right onto the tip of the Black-Iron Sword.
SHIIIINK.
The beast's own weight drove the blade deep into its heart.
The Alpha froze. Its red eyes widened. It tried to roar, but only blood bubbled out.
Elian lay in the mud beneath the dying monster, his hands shaking as he held the hilt. He twisted the blade.
[Critical Hit!]
[You have slain the Alpha Wolf (Level 8)!]
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
The massive weight of the wolf went limp, collapsing on top of him.
Elian lay there for a long time, trapped under the warm, heavy fur of the boss. He was covered in his own blood and the wolf's gore. His HP was flashing red at 4/110.
He shoved the carcass off him with a groan and sat up.
He looked at his inventory.
Potions: 0/10.
He looked at his sword. It was coated in filth, but not a single chip was on the blade.
He looked at the mangled bodies of Vargas and his party in the corner.
Elian started to chuckle.
It started low, a rasping sound in his dry throat. Then it grew.
"Ha... haha..."
He threw his head back.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
The laughter erupted from him, loud and unhinged. It wasn't the laugh of a hero. It was the laugh of a man who had walked through hell, died, came back, and killed the devil with a piece of scrap metal.
"I'm alive!" he roared at the dark sky. "I'M ALIVE!"
His laughter echoed out of the ravine, carrying through the silent Whispering Forest.
In the distance, other players froze.
"Did you hear that?" a warrior whispered to his party a mile away.
"Yeah," a mage replied, shivering. "That didn't sound like a monster. That sounded like... something worse."
Elian sat in the mud, laughing until tears streamed down his face, washing away the blood.
He had won.