The monsters hid on the edge of the forest, waiting for Kaiden and co to erge from the trees. After doing so, the pack sneaked behind them, blocking their path leading back to the forest.
None of them understood the reason behind the monsters' strategy of not ambushing them in the forest, but neither did they have ti to theorize.
*Awoooooooo!* the largest dire wolf who was level 6 howled. The rest of the pack imdiately rushed at them, obeying the order of their leader.
"[Fiery Burst]!" Kaiden quickly put Luna down, grabbed his axe from his back, and used his free hand to burn a few wolves who were in the range of his spell. He received no kill notification—it was too weak to one-shot the monsters, but it did have a strong effect on them. The ones who were caught on fire started rolling on the ground to extinguish the flas, becoming non-threats for a bit.
Aria and Nyx also imdiately started slinging their projectiles at the many beasts.
Nyx's dagger was swimming in monster blood as she went from wolf to wolf, ambushing them with her dagger, which she smartly positioned above their heads so their eyes couldn't keep track of it. Her heavy investnt in Magic was imdiately paying dividends. The blade was zooming through the air with a much greater speed than before—which ant its impact was fiercer than before her level-up. A single well-aid strike from her was enough to incapacitate a target and even if they weren't one-shot, she effectively crippled their fighting capability.
anwhile, Aria was showing a great understanding of her spell's capabilities even though she barely had a chance to use it. She aid it at just the right angle so that the crescent-shaped projectile slashed multiple wolves at once.
"[Stormblade]!"
*zzzt-CRACK!*
Luna intoned her spell, and it erged with the sa ominous force as it had before. A few dire wolves jumped back in fright from the sheer pressure her weapon emitted.
As to how the Storm Valkyrie could make use of her mana despite Theodore's temporary mana-sealing syringe being injected into her system not long ago? Luna drank the poison-curing potion and thus expelled the effect of the serum.
She swung the blade at the brave monster who ignored the instincts screaming at it to avoid the nacing sword made of storm energies and was imdiately torn apart.
"Oh, baby. I love this class of mine!" Luna whistled, finally able to use her [Stormblade].
Kaiden imdiately understood her weapon was a lot mightier than his common-tier War Axe. It might even be straight-up rare-rarity, skipping over the uncommon category, which was between common and rare.
That being said, it made sense in his head. All his Valkyries should be equal in might according to the association's artifact, but that didn't an their firepower should also be equal. Nyx had incredible utility with [Telekinesis], which would only blossom further as she gained more mastery over the spell.
Aria could sling her low-cooldown, long-range mage spell at enemies from a safe distance, giving her the benefit of range and safety.
All Luna had was a lee-ranged ability, so it had to make up for its lost utility with pure power.
*Awooooooooooo!!!!!!* Another mighty howl sounded from the alpha of the pack. As a result of its command, the previously frightened wolves imdiately threw themselves into the fray while the pack leader was rely watching from behind.
"[Doom Strike]!" Kaiden brought his axe down on the beast closest to him and imdiately felt the difference, thanks to his level-up. His Agility and Strength were boosted by more than 20%, which provided an easily noticeable difference.
[You've slain Dire Wolf (Level 4). You've gained 300 XP.]
The XP gain perfectly depicted how strong the silverback mauler was and how weak the rats were since they only gave 100 XP. These wolves were pack animals, while the mauler hunted alone. That being said, the size of the pack made them a much bigger threat than the single Silverback.
"Keep backing up! Maintain formation. Luna, only attack those that jump at you! Nyx, Aria, keep suppressing them with a constant spell barrage!" Kaiden shouted.
Despite this being the first ti they ever fought together, their teamwork could already be considered to be pretty good. Partly because they understood each other's personalities and because none of them were selfish. Many awakened teams fell apart because so mbers selfishly chased kills to gain more XP, ruining their team's formation.
Kaiden and his girls didn't do as such—they would much rather not get a shred of an experience point than have their cherished allies sustain an injury due to their bottomless greed.
*Awoooooooooooooooo!!!* A third howl marked the mont when the leader realized its pack was losing, forcing it to enter the fight.
Or that was what should've happened. In the leader's head, the pack served the alpha. As such, they should've injured its enemies. All four of them were without injuries, thus, his pack had failed its leader. The level 6 dire wolf wanted to tear the humans apart once they got weakened from the pack, but that didn't happen, so it elected to search for weaker prey.
Monsters could also level up, so so of the more cunning ones selected their fights after ticulous deliberation instead of charging blindly at every single enemy they saw.
"Don't let them juicy XP packs run!" Luna shouted while throwing her sword at the retreating form of the wolves. Her sword dematerialized as soon as it was a few feet from her. "Fuck!"
Aria and Nyx had more success, and Kaiden also chased after the surviving monsters with his charge ability, which netted him two more kills.
*Clap! Clap! Clap!*
Loud clapping welcod Kaiden when he returned to the girls. "Bravo."
A man congratulated them with a big, toothy grin. He was flanked by a team of five, each having such shiny and mighty fantasy gear they clearly didn't belong in this beginner dungeon.
"Are you the reinforcents?" Kaiden asked.
"Yeppers."
"Levi the Whirlwind!" Nyx squealed excitedly as she imdiately recognized the person standing in front of them.
Kaiden didn't like his girl's tone. "Hey, you're allowed to fawn over Scarlet but not other n."
"Hehe! Sorry!" Nyx laughed and stopped before her possessive lover got the wrong ssage. She would be lying if she said she didn't find this aspect of him endearing. In fact... The Space Valkyrie couldn't help but squeal inwardly, 'He's so adorable!'
"Why didn't you help us?" Aria inquired with squinted, suspicious eyes.
"And steal the XP of such promising youngsters? I wouldn't dare. You were on top of the situation, so we elected to observe and only act if required."
"What about Theodore, the kidnapper?" Luna asked.
"Another task force is on his tail. Our job is to escort you people to safety. Good job, kids. It's over, you're safe," Levi decreed in a reassuring tone.
Their first dungeon dive day had a lot more excitent than planned, but it had finally co to a close. Now it was ti to see the capture of Theodore, after which they planned to at long last celebrate the many good things that happened to them in the past few days.
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