My instincts were shot—all I saw were shadows moving about the grove at the dead of night. Nolan pulled out a firearm from his inventory, something similar to a short barrel Winchester Model 1887.

I had a gun phase a few years ago thanks to Captain Reg.

It was a shotgun with a polished walnut stock and intricate designs of intertwining vines. Her name was Scarlet, according to the carving on it, and she was a beaut. The double barrel of the gun was made from iron, dark and smooth, refined and well-kept by her owner.

He loaded up Scarlet with 20-gauge shot shells that had sigils engraved on them. Once he locked in, the tats to his right arm began to glow a deep, phantom violet.

He locked in, and so should I. I took my 20 free points and assigned 10 to Endurance, 5 to fortitude, and 5 to agility.

“You might want to stand close,” he said, aiming his gun forward. “Dire Wolves are fast on their feet.”

‘Dire wolves?’

I gulped.

Instantly, I scurried up his pants and found a prime spot on his shoulder.

“Good idea. That way, you can scorch them if they get close.”

Yeah, sure! Let’s go with that!

Honestly, I was just trying to save my scales, the thought of being gobbled up by a demonic extinct dog numbing me to the core. But I was all for helping Nolan take them out.

I dug my short claws into his leather vest–I had a feeling that I was going to be in for one hell of a ride. When I heard the growling, my scales bristled. The growl was deep, a gravelly rumble that echoed through the looming forest. Nolan tightened his grip on Scarlet as the shadows twisted, elongated, and then shifted into lumbering forms.

There were three of them as they slowly boxed us in, creeping in from different corners!

[Dire Wolf, Level: 5]

[Dire Wolf, Level: 10]

[Dire Wolf, Level: 7]

Was the level ten the alpha? Surely, this was a pack edging toward us!

Their red glowing eyes pierced through the darkness, tearing away any sense of security I had. A sharp shooting mercenary against two great beasts I could believe, but three and all of a sudden, I was extremely skeptical.

They were no longer discernible as shadows but massive beasts in black thick fur, adding even more mass to their intimidating size. The damned wolves paced the borders of our visibility, and then all together, they stopped moving, as if to provoke us.

“How far can that flame burp of yours reach?” Nolan whispered over his shoulder, becoming extremely still.

‘Not too far. It’s only at level one.’

“That’s risky.” He sucked air through his teeth. “A beast that big that close is downright suicidal.”

‘I can give you two feet,’ I said confidently. ‘But, let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.’

Suddenly, Nolan spun on his heel, ready to fire Scarlet. The instant he moved, the one to the right of the pack lunged!

The level five beast became a blur of fur and fangs, an incarnation of pure predatory instinct. He sent ripples through the air with that movement, pouncing against the ground to get from point A to point B in an alarming flash. A loud report echoed through the grove as one of the sigil-laden shells exploded in the air. From my vantage point on Nolan’s shoulder, I saw the shot land, but not as intended. A few metal pellets merely sliced the cheek of the beast, Nolan side-stepping away to dodge the approaching wolf’s fury. He pointed his gun out, making sure his back wasn’t exposed to the other two wolves who began to pace themselves around us again.

This wasn’t good. If he couldn’t land his shots on the weaker one of the bunch, what chances did we have with the other two?!

Little did I know, I was about to swallow my words when Mr. Level Five glided across the terrain from all of that pent up momentum from charging at us earlier, only to begin wobbling from his hind legs.

Was that a paralysis or a poison shotshell?

When he finally fell down, seemingly dozing out, my eyes grew. Heck, it could even be a sleeper shot, effective to the touch. Nolan made sure he covered his options.

The other wolves didn’t like that Nolan was crafty. As soon as Mr. Level Five dropped, they retaliated.

The simultaneous attack was swift. The two remaining wolves darted toward us, their formation splitting our defenses. One to the left and the other to the right. But Nolan appeared to be unfazed; his gaze was sharp, and his fingers were steady. He spun the barrel of his shotgun, and with a quick flick of his wrist, shot the level seven dire wolf point blank in his head.

The cascade of red that followed was cinematic. Exaggeration was my first thought until I realized that shot literally blew the tainted dog’s head clean off its shoulders, and to parts beyond. That’s right, his entire head was now red paint splatter across the grove. The distance and magic power merited the damage, but unfortunately, Nolan wouldn’t get a chance to reward the ferocious alpha with the same treatment. The beast was too close at this point and too fast for him to maneuver an attack, leaving him with only one option. Just before the monster could snatch us, Nolan slid under him, right between his four legs.

With quick thinking, I told myself to try out my [Cyclone Shield]. We were gliding right underneath the beast, so this was the perfect opportunity. I focused my core to tap into my mana, but nothing happened. Confused, I tried it again, thinking that it worked the same way as channeling my flame breath.

Disappointed, I opted for my fire again, but unfortunately, this dire wolf was not like the others. Because as soon as I triggered my flames, it vanished into a smoky black haze.

So that was a thing.

Nolan didn’t have a chance to get off his back before it reappeared again. I was still scrambling my brain from the disappearing act, and then I was caught off guard when the beast’s noggin was mere inches away from us!

Being underneath it at the wrong end sent one hell of a chill through me. I might have been out of luck, but I still had options, trying my heat breath again. This time, I was successful, sorta. Instead of breathing fire, I let out a misty ice wind from my tiny mouth just as the big brute tried to sink his teeth into us.

The ice was a little too close for comfort for Nolan. As for me, I had some type of resistance to my breath weapons, which made sense, seeing as I slung them around effortlessly.

The Kill for Hire drew an X over his face with his arms until the monster flailed back, trying to avoid the icicles that were now forming in front of his wide open jaws. The ice winds had created a defensive wall, the beast flinching from the freezing blast.

Nolan seized the opportunity and sprung up, rolling out from beneath the wolf. He shot another shell, but this time his tats weren’t glowing.

The monster’s head exploded into pieces, and we were finally in the clear.

It seemed that my breath weapons were the only offensive moves that didn’t require exhausting my mana, and were also easier to execute, seeing as I had trouble unleashing my [Cyclone Shield].

Innate Skill Discovered:

[Ice Breath, Level 1]

Another discovered skill, oh joy!

You’ve leveled up:

Level 6

Hmm, I didn’t level up as much as I thought I would. Was it because killing the last beast was a group effort?

-Free Points Accumulated: 5-

“You never fail to surprise me, lizard baby,” he said proudly, turning around to look down at me with a smirk.

I wagged my tail as I stood there on the ground with a beaming smile, feeling awfully proud of myself as well.

We both did pretty good, given our circumstances. Nolan was pretty damn impressive himself. Magic imbued shotshells channeling mana through awesome looking tribal tattoos—I was slowly getting more and more fascinated with the scruffy vagabond.

Nolan moved over to the alpha, knelt by him and [Inspect], then triggered a second command to [Loot].

“One key practice to this world is making it a habit of looting the dead,” he said. “Especially corpses that are classified as monsters by the dungeon core. They carry valuable loot, and generally decompose or disperse after a few minutes to a few days.” As he said that, he snagged a dire wolf pelt. “Whatever you take from it carries its standard durability.”

‘What about meat?’ I asked as my stomach began to grumble silently. ‘That dire wolf should be able to yield more than 4 dozen pounds of meat.’

“The quality of monster meat is usually bad. Toxic even. If you eat it, you’re asking for an early grave. Everything else from them is usually worthwhile.”

‘Bummer.’

He also looted a few silver coins, something called a magic tonic, and another thing called a Stage 1 Evolution fragment:

-Magic Tonic: Recovers 100 MP-

-Stage 1 Evolution fragment: evolution stone (fills 1/3)-

After that, he moved onto the other wolf’s ugh… remains. It was here, there, and just about everywhere. But in the center of the mess was an option to [Loot].

“Egh, this one doesn’t really have anything but a few silver coins. You can have these,” Nolan said, offering me 50 silver coins. “You can take this evo stone, too. You’re going to need it.”

I took his offerings with an obvious excitement on my face. Storing my first few items to my inventory felt super rewarding, especially since I had a hand in getting them. Along with that, I updated my stats, applying my 5 free points from leveling up to my charisma:

Codex

So only two more of these and I can evolve….

Damn, I felt like a bona fide Pokémon.