My right arm was missing, I had bite marks everywhere, but at least there were less than ten wolves remaining.
My mana was at an all time low, but I still had a few charms to at least survive this shitshow.
The problem was the more or less hundred bodies in the floor and how all their blood was at the wolves disposal.
They could simply attack from a distance or wait for my body to bleed out. I couldn't even try an heal myself, the process would leave me like a dish served on a golden plate for those beasts.
"Fuck. Have all the monsters in the fucking floor focused here? Were the hell are the others? It's already been hours."
Laughter started to escape my mouth.
It was eerie, wrong and would have sent a shiver down the spine of everyone hearing me.
The situation was so absurd it bordered parody.
That's exactly how I felt my life had been. At least these last few months. The commoner adopted into richness only do be mistreated and killed by the hands of the first real beasts he encounters.
My laughter increased and I put my jian away. Instead I took out three mirrors. My last reserves in case of emergency, nothing else would work.
Each mirror was enchanted to be a mana battery. It was inefficient beyond belief, to charge one mirror I needed to push all my mana into it twice, and it still would only be able to substitute half of my overall mana for spells, but this was my last resort.
The wolves visibly flinched when the mirrors appeared, they still remembered how they came into play before, how they had killed their own kin because of those mirrors.
[Fire dart]
Tens of flaming hot darts were launched at the remaining wolves that easily avoided them in confusion.
[Ice shard]
Again, crystals of sharp ice messily floated around confusing the wolves that didn't realise what was happening.
The fierce opponent that had killed nearly their entire pack seemed to have lost his mind laughing like a maniac and using weak magic.
They started to get bolder and decided to approach me and taste my meat when it was still alive. That's when I was convinced, I won this.
The wolves were slowly approaching and avoiding my remaining spells with attention.
[Root spikes]
[Wind cutter]
[Stone bullets]
Again and again the wolves easily evaded everything, but those spells were never my killer move.
Each elemental spell was positioned with precision, their quantity, their element and their timing. It was all in the form of ritualistic magic.
Ritualistic magic that would normally boost your allies strength and vitality, if you didn't temper with it. And I did.
"Release the falsehood, embrace the wrongness, accept the unmaking. Dance for my ritual of [Unholy mass decay]!"
Instantly the spells I had planted shattered in notes of mana, two of my mirrors were broken on the spot, clearing any doubt I had that activating the ritual would have killed me if I wasn't at my full mana capacity.
Ritualistic magic couldn't simply fail, once it was activated it demanded payment, it usually was components and materials of various nature, but I had created a ritual that demanded only pure mana and I was gambling with my life on the line.
Every victim of the ritual required a set amount of mana, that why I didn't just do this from the start, I would have needed way more than 3 mana batteries.
Either way, as soon as the ritual activated, the wolves didn't even have time to realise what was happening, they simply melted on the spot and seeing the efficiency of my ritual made me laugh with sheer joy and excitement.
I slumped to the ground, bleeding and wounded I felt like a broken doll, but I knew it wasn't over. I could feel the alpha of the pack seething with rage. It was just a matter of time before he'd take action and I only had one mana battery left. Was it enough? I didn't know, but I'd sure enough find out soon.
I popped a nutrient pill to keep my body producing blood and not die from blood loss, and as if my actions were a divine calling, the alpha wolf showed up like royalty.
It was at least 15' tall, nothing compared to those little doggies I had slaughtered until now.
His mane was blood red with black patches around his neck and tail.
His fangs and claws as big as swords and his eyes reflected nothing but madness.
I knew in that moment that there was no way I'd survive this shit.
That was clearly the boss of the floor and unless divine intervention took place to save my ass, I was a goner.
I tried to stand up and raise my blood rusted jian, but even my self deluded body didn't really want to cooperate.
I laughed at myself. Such seemed to be the fate of the Last Error: dog food.
But divine intervention came, it was beautiful, heroic and smelled like summer wind after a torrential rain.
A smile bloomed on my face. My eyes curling in crescent moons that promised mischief and my remaining arm instinctively reached for him.
"Ahhh, you came."
He didn't say anything, just hugged me tight while I felt the familiar warmth enveloping me. I lost consciousness on the spot.
____________________
We had already checked almost every drop spawn.
Not a monster in sight, traps were bulldozed upon, but there still wasn't any sign of Crow.
I was getting angrier by the second. Even if he was separated from us, he should have moved, left traces somewhere, surely a mirror on the wall to check every spot from a distance.
Nothing, it almost was like he didn't even enter the same dungeon.
"I hope I'm wrong… but… we should try checking the den of wolves. It doesn't make sense that we didn't encounter anything, unless they are busy with…"
Yom didn't speak further, my mana was already at a breaking point. I could feel the electricity trying to escape my body and hit all these useless bastards and maybe maim Seraph.
But he was right, so we moved with renewed energy, the mapped labyrinth was an open playground for us and we reached our destination in mere minutes.
Minutes after hours of slaughter.
The first thing I saw were bodies of wolves, at least a hundred of them. All killed in different ways. Then I saw the alpha, a giant that any other day would have sent shivers down my spine, but when his figure reached my eyes, everything else stopped existing.
Wind and lightning carried me before I could will it and I stood in front of him.
An arm missing, blood running, basically naked. And when he saw me, a smile so radiant it could lighten the darkest days shone on his face, his beautiful green eyes curled in joy and his broken voice sang like opera.
"Ahhh, you came."
His remaining arm reached for me and I welcomed him. I hugged him like the most precious treasure I could even think of.
"Auriel."
But he didn't need my order, he was already healing him.
Selan was also kneeling beside me, trying to calm the mana around us to avoid repercussions on his body that was greedily absorbing mana at an outstanding pace.
"Confusion spells, elemental magic, those mirrors, he even used ritual magic and the blade. There are burned cards that emit faint traces of enchantments everywhere."
I nodded at her words, I already knew Crow was exceptional. Not only his talent with magic, but mana itself reacted differently to him and after all the work I'd seen him produce, I knew his mana capacity was absurd. Her words just confirmed my doubts about his limits.
"Auriel, Selan, I leave him with you. I have a score to settle with a big dog that doesn't know his place."
They nodded, clearly aware of my intentions.
"By the time I'm back, I want him in perfect conditions. But don't you dare touch him."
I was glaring at this point. My twin swords appeared without even me needing to call for them.
I barely acknowledged Eira covering his body with leaves before leaving to join Rovan and the others that were already fighting the beast.
It was time to teach that bastard a lesson.