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The moment we entered, and as everyone was dazzled by the beauty of the ruin's interior, a loud and angry roar echoed at the distance. We quickly lurked around, finding a big, two meter tall silver-furred wolf with crystals growing on its back attacking a group of small horned moles.
We hid our presences using the [Stealth] and [Presence Concealment] Spells, and we looked from the distance at what was happening.
"That's a Tier 2 Crystal Wolf. I remember eating its meat when I came with papa here… They're tasty." I said while holding back my drool. "And those tiny guys are Tier 1 Horned Moles, they're weak tiny creatures that eat the crystals and are inoffensive, and easy to hunt due to their slight blindness. Their meat's soft too."
"Should we hunt them down?" Wondered Aquarina.
"Easy catch!" Zack recklessly ran forward.
"W-Wait! The Crystal Wolves usually have big packs with them!" I tried to stop Zack but he ran forward faster than my words could reach him.
He gathered lightning and wind into his hands and then unleashed a zapping attack against the Crystal Wolf.
"[Lightning Strike]!"
CLAAASH!
The lightning that came from one of his fingers hit the Crystal Wolf, and a few other Horned Moles, while the other moles quickly ran away into their small holes they dig into the ruins floor.
"AWOOOOO!"
The Crystal Wolf gave a loud cry before falling dead.
"Girls! I got them! Mist this wolf's crystals are for you!"
Zack was trying to impress us, especially Mist, as usual. Before, he often wanted to impress me now, but he slowly shifted his attention to Mist.
"Wooow! Really? You're so strong!"
Mist ran towards Zack to see her gift.
"Heheh, you like it?"
"I can make a pelt with it, I've been learning crafting."
Mist smiled sweetly, although Zack liked to pretend he didn't liked her, he blushed a bit.
"I-I am sure it will look good on you!"
"Really?"
As the cute pair was talking leisurely, we sensed the presence of more creatures approaching.
We ran towards them and I hurriedly stored the carcasses inside the dimensional bag.
"Hey! Don't take it away so quickly!" Zack complained.
"Been years already and you're still a dummy, aren't you? I told you the Wolves come with a pack! If one was going off, the others will come too!" I said angrily.
"EH?! Ah…" Zack was a bit taken aback. "…But still! If they're as weak we won't have much problems exterminating those either."
I facepalmed again.
"Zack this is a pup!" I sighed.
"HUH?!"
"Crystal Wolves are around four meters tall and have enormous crystal armors growing over their bodies, this one barely had them developed, it was obviously still a young pup." I sighed.
"WOOOF!"
"AWOOOOOO!"
"GROOOARRR!"
The roar of dozens of giants Crystal Wolves echoed at the distance, they were hurriedly rushing towards our direction from their hideout inside the vast caves, following the source of the cry. Wolves are usually vengeful and intelligent creatures; we'll have to slay them all or we'll simply get chased down by them for eternity until they avenge the pup.
Well, he still did it to impress Mist. I guess that's a cute thing. And I cannot really reprimand him much either, it is a tradition of his whole tribe to hunt prey to impress the person they like or to bring gifts to friends. But still, he should be more careful and listen to what I say!
"Alright, everyone, get ready to fight again!" I sighed, unsheathing my sword as the group of wolves finally reached us!
"They're big…" Zack said in surprise.
Each Crystal Wolf was four meters tall, their bodies were completely covered on colorful crystal shells as well, and they had sharp jaws that can even crush through the crystals they eat alongside the Horned Moles, their usual prey.
"They're… Tier 3? …Well, that's not TOO hard to handle but- Ah, there's a pack leader." I sighed.
"Pack leader?" Asked Aquarina.
"The one leading them! It has big crystal horns growing all over its body." I told Aquarina. "And it is Tier 4."
"It's might not be easy if we hold on, so let's go all out from the beginning then, no holding back." Celeste smiled. "After all, that food you made really filled me with new energy."
Celeste quickly pointed her Cursed Black Spear at the Wolves, overcharging it with Mana and then unleashing a powerful beam of darkness!
"[Darkness Beam]!"
"Wait, that's not going to work! Stop!"
"Eh?!"
FLAAASH!
As Celeste unleashed a beam of darkness. The Pack Leader wolves rushed forward and boldly tanked the hit with his own body! His armor of crystals began to glow brightly, as if it were a mirror, reflecting the beam back at us into tiny black beams!
"Uwaaaah!" Mist cried, suddenly conjuring a barrier of light. "[L-Light Barrier]!"
FLAAASH!
I combined my Mana with her, enchanting her barrier as well as the barrier became ticker.
BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOOM!
The tiny darkness beams impacted the barrier. Despite being smaller and apparently reduced in size and power, they packed a punch, easily letting the barrier gain a lot of cracks.
"Celeste why do you have to have such strong dark magic?!" Aquarina complained.
"W-Well, shouldn't you be reprimanding me for having jumped the shark instead of being strong?!" Celeste cried.
"Anyways! Now listen to me before you do anything rashly, geez!" I reprimanded my party. "Zack, you were too bold and didn't wait for me to tell you what this wolf was, and then Celeste attacked without waiting for me to tell everyone that these wolves crystal armors can reflect magic below Tier 4!" I sighed.
"EH? A-Any magic?!" Asked Celeste, feeling dead inside.
"Not any, but the most basic elements." I sighed. "Any magic that is a flashy projectile everyone can see… However, there's another magic that CAN affect them." I smiled. "Curse Magic!"
I quickly summoned Curse and Beelzebub at my side, as the two unleashed their dark auras. I combined their power together with my magic, as I unleashed an invisible curse through my eyes.
"Tier 3 Curse Magic: [Muscle Paralysis]!"
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