Raid: The Blacksmith-Chapter 70: Wolf Spirit Amaruq: Part One

I stand facing a physical anomaly. A rip in the very fabric of space. A doorway to another world. A portal. A Dungeon Gate. In the current world we live in, this is an every day occurrence. A typical Tuesday if you will. Whatever. It’s normal is the point I’m trying to make. So it’s not the portal that has me paused right now, it’s the severity of it. Represented by the portal’s color.

"Purple." I observe.

A B-Rank Dungeon.

"B-Rank Dungeons... These things were akin to a default setting of sorts for the System when the Great Age of Warriors began. They’re like a neutral existence among the Dungeon Ranks. A bridge between the somewhat manageable, and the extremely dangerous."

The wind blows vigorously as I stand there at the Dungeon Site, a metre away from the portal, making sure to brace myself accordingly before heading on inside. The long stylish coat that garments my form waves strongly at the whims of the gushing air, along with my hair as well.

With a devilish grin and a semi-confident chuckle, I walk forward, anticipated to see what awaits me on the other side.

After passing through. I’m met with a dark night sky.

"This is a first." I walk forward as I look around, surveilling my surroundings. The ground is pure white snow, besides the dim blue moon’s illumination, and slightly dim stars in the sky, it’s the only other source of light. Ahead of me is a vast concentrated wilderness. The leaves of the uncountable plants and trees are masked in thin layers of snow, caused by the calm chilling wind that washes over the whole environment. Beyond the trees are a great set of mountain peaks. Using Soul-Piercing Eyes, I can roughly tell that the forest spans a little over three-million square kilometres. The air around takes on a color of pure azure caused by the combination of the white light of the snow and blue hue of the moon.

Having gotten enough sight seeing, I activate my Treasure Hunt Skill. The radius widens, covering great distances across the wilderness. Almost immediately, it picks up on a presence. Several presences actually. I can see them all clearly, what with Treasure Hunt giving me 360 degree vision. It’s...

"Wolves." I say with an unintended whisper, while surveilling them with careful caution. "Lot bigger than normal wolves though." About twice as big as the average normal wolf. Their fur is just as unique as well, a silky greyish-silver that blends well with the snow around. They haven’t noticed me yet. I’m a fair distance away so I haven’t much to worry about. I continue surveilling to get a head count. "Little over three hundred it seems." I finish.

They’re not doing anything in particular, just lounging and hovering around a small fraction of the wide spread forest. Some of them are even playing with each other. If, that is, you’re inclined to call spearing and gnawing at each other, playing. "As soon as I get within close enough proximity, the Quest will start, won’t it?" I ask rhetorically, my question directed toward no individual in particular, considering the fact that I’m the only one here. "Then... let’s get this show on the road." I declare and set off. Dashing about above in the trees, as I approach my would be foes. After having drawn close enough, I catapult myself upwards, and float through the air.

I then look down and notice some of the wolves noticing me notice them. Before I even land, the Immediate Quest begins.

[Report. Subject has encountered a Snow Dire Wolf Pack. Subject will now recieve an Immediate Quest...]

[Immediate Quest contents]

Immediate Quest: Subject must exterminate the Warden Snow Dire Wolf, all twelve Sentry Snow Dire Wolves and all three-hundred and twenty normal Snow Dire Wolves in the vicinity within the given time duration.

Duration: 5hours

Upon Success: Subject will live. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Upon Failure: Subject will die.

Rewards will be calculated after the Quest is completed based the Subject’s efficiency.

"Sentries and a Warden, huh?"

They’re easy to differentiate. The Sentries and Warden have a slightly taller and slimmer build than the normies. And the Warden himself has a mane, an incredibly thin yet very visible mane stretching from his neck to his chest, pure white in color.

My impact onto the snowed ground creates a crater, making way with the snow in about a ten metre radius. The wolves, some of them having jumped away in the nick of time before I even landed, enough to create safe distance, all start eyeing me. Observing me. They don’t look wary of me in the slightest. Perhaps they’re a little caught off guard by my appearing out of nowhere, but they show no signs of any expression that may suggest that they are cautious of me. Their claws look intensely sharp, much sharper than those of the Harpy Countess.

They then start to draw close, slowly approaching as if in an attempt to saviour their prey. Their sharp, pointy, shiny fangs fully sticking out of their slack mouths for all to see, while they growl at me with furious abandon as if looking at an old foe they’ve known for years.

Then, a little over a dozen attack in unison. Some dash at me from all sides, while the others jump straight at me to attack my upper body.

"Hmh." I scoff. "Spatial Guard." Then command. Activating one my newly attained, somewhat questionably overpowered Skills.

A half sphere-shaped semi-translucent barrier almost instantly appears, pixelating around me at a two metre radius. The Snow Dire Wolves crash into it immediately, so hard that you’d swear they didn’t even notice it was there. About eight of them get their heads smashed in and die on the spot as a result. The rest get heavily injured, almost struggling to even walk properly after the impact.

I deactivate the Spatial Guard Skill and begin scaling my enemies. "There really is a lot of you, but I’ve dealt with much bigger numbers." I affirm.

Each of these wolves seem to be considerably stronger than the Wild Goat Lord but that doesn’t break my resolve in the slightest. A certainty builds up in me that, as long as I play my cards right, I’ll be able to deal with them accordingly.

I activate my Brawler Skill and take a brief battle stance. Afterwards, almost in an instant, I dash towards my foes. They’re surrounding me all around so I don’t hurl myself to any of them specifically, just straight ahead, towards the first Snow Dire Wolf that catches my gaze.

I flip sideways, jumping up to land back down with a loud-

~Boom!~

The snow below explodes in response, and as it clears up, there I am. In a semi-kneeling position, my fist seemingly smashed to the now somewhat deformed ground, testified by a large crater that has appeared where there was once snow. Between my fist and the ground however, is a head, the head of a Snow Dire Wolf, its skull smashed in, my knuckles painted in its blood while its body twitches lightly beneath my mercy. The other wolves then, apparently, finally notice that I’m not to be trifled with.

I say that, because now they’ve started attacking in larger numbers, not all at once though, as they are seemingly smart enough to judge that that would probably be more disadvantageous to them more than me. They realize that they would only get in each other’s way if they took that approach. Instead, about fifty wolves are on the assault as we speak. They dash straight towards me from all sides. I evade them expertly, performing a multiple of acrobatic displays, like I’m playing dodgeball on godmode.

I kick.

I punch.

I parry them away at every turn.

Their bodies fly back and forth as we continue our dance. One wolf jumps straight at me to mull my face.

I dodge sideways, grabbing his tail as he’s about to fly passed me to pull it. I begin swinging the mutt around like a rag doll, using his body as a weapon against his own pack. I clash his head against those of his allies with each swing. Wails and whimpers traverse the surroundings, echoing through the trees with each impact.

I then raise him upwards and start swinging him in circles, as he spins around above me, resembling the blades of a helicopter. With a heave and a ho, I toss him with furious vigor. Straight at a fair number of his crew, the impact drawing out of them cries of pure agony as their ribs collide against each other and crack from the inside.

By now, I’ve killed about fifty of them.

"Not that I’m complaining, but I expected that I would’ve dealt with more of them than a measly five tens right about now. I’m able to kill thousands of lower Ranked monsters with a lot more relative ease than this. But I guess ’lower Ranked’ is the key term. These are B-Rank monsters, each much stronger than the Wild Goat Lord. And the Wild Goat Lord himself was a very annoying opponent. Still, I’m not threatened. I’ll be sure to deal with all of them in no time." I punctuate internally as I continue fighting.

Little do I know, this is only just the beginning. A storm is brewing. A snow storm more like it. One my ignorance, and somewhat arrogance, has failed in acknowledging. I haven’t realized it yet, but I’m being watched. Surveilled. Examined and just downright studied. I continue punching away, oblivious to the inevitable imminent danger that has set its sights on me.

*******

Through the eyes of her Warden, she watches. Eyeing the man who dared invade her sanctuary. A pain deeper than physical digs in to her core as she witnesses the sight of her own cherished subjects fall at the man’s merciless attacks. It just downright pisses her off. Using her power to link all the Mana in the entire area together, she supplies her subjects the necessary nourishment to allow them to keep fighting, but it’s almost all for not. Her subjects keep dieing off, one by one. The only difference being that they’re doing so relatively slower now. So, really, all it’s amounting to is prolonging the inevitable. She’s had enough. Though the three-hundred and thirty-three of them may be a very small fraction in the large number of total subordinates she has under her. They’re still important to her nonetheless. She uses her Mana link ability to telepathically warn all of her other subjects not to get close in the slightest to the man who invades their territory. She assures all the other Packs that she will deal with him herself. They listen, serve and obey with zero resistance. A testament to her position as the one and only ruler of this land. She truly is the Queen of all Snow Dire Wolves. She truly is... the Wolf Spirit Amaruq.