Werewolves

A miserable victory.

Ivan lay unconscious, his face covered in dark purple veins from magical corrosion. Even his breathing was faint as a thread.

Nova sat on the ground, his twig-like arms bracing against the floor as he coughed from time to time.

Meanwhile, Garr—the one responsible for taking hits—was full of life.

But with him as their only remaining fighter, he did not dare linger.

After forcing potions down his two teammates' throats and hurriedly gathering the spoils, he tucked one teammate under each arm and ran off to meet up with Night Owl.

Only after he left did Linden emerge from hiding. From beneath a fragment of Rock Armor, he dug out a fist-sized shard of Lava Heart.

It was probably a tenth the size of the complete piece. The Half-Dragon had taken the rest of the fragments.

Strictly speaking, this thing was the Flame Demon's actual body—and the only valuable part of it.

That ten-meter-tall figure had merely been a combat form sustained by its ability.

Standing before the scattered Rock Armor fragments, Linden felt rather emotional.

The final BOSS he had imagined for himself had died so suddenly before he ever got the chance to challenge it.

Its opponents had only been three Adventurers weaker than it.

Yet because of one tiny opening, it had been instantly killed in return.

Linden, who had watched the battle unfold, had not missed a single detail.

The Rift in the Flame Demon's chest armor had most likely been caused while it was outside.

No matter what, he had gained another level of understanding regarding how dangerous this world was.

Level did not represent everything. The safest course was to never expose one's true body.

Even so, in order to relocate, he had no choice but to expose his true body to danger.

The passage connecting to the Tenth Floor was quite interesting.

Its lower half was no different from the other passages in the Deep Zone, but crude stairs appeared in the upper half.

Who knew who had built this Dungeon?

Linden had learned quite a bit about Dungeons from Inanna.

Though this young lady had never personally entered one before, she had heard plenty of rumors.

Naturally, none of them included the origin of Dungeons.

However, she did know something about the Tenth Floor.

The Tenth Floor of the Amethyst Dungeon was also known as the Thousand Stone Forest.

Countless natural Stone Pillars divided the entire floor into upper and lower regions that were difficult to travel between.

Winged Wind Serpents called Haka lived atop the Stone Pillars, while the ground below was the hunting ground of Werewolves.

Werewolves were not actually Monsters, but members of the Demon Race. At one point, they had even been one of the strongest races among the Demon Race.

However, ever since the Demon King had been cut down by the Hero three hundred years ago, the Demon Race had descended into infighting over who would take the lead.

Humanity had only managed to unite with the other races and barely develop during that period. Otherwise, even without the Demon King, the Demon Race would still have crushed every surrounding race.

In the end, the Vampires won and established the Hermit Empire. The members of the Demon Race who refused to submit to the Vampires moved to the barren far west, and they had no dealings with the Hermit Empire.

The Vampires only carried out brutal purges against their ancestral enemies, the Werewolves. Some Werewolf Tribes fled into Dungeons across the world and became part of them.

According to Inanna, aside from Dungeons, Werewolves could only be found in the Western Isles.

But being on the verge of extinction did not mean they were weak. On the contrary, the fact that the Vampires hated them so fiercely naturally meant they possessed corresponding strength.

Without any training at all, they could reach at least Level 30 upon adulthood. Their racial level cap was as high as the Vampires', reaching Level 90. They were undeniably an apex race.

Linden had once asked Inanna, "Aren't humans and Vampires afraid that these Werewolves will recuperate and grow strong in the Dungeon, then emerge to slaughter again?"

Inanna had said that Dungeons had "rules." Even on the Tenth Floor, the Werewolves could only grow to LV50 at most.

As for crossing floors and coming upward, that had never happened. Forget Werewolves escaping from the Dungeon—even the neighboring Ninth Floor had never shown any sign of Werewolves.

As for why, Inanna did not know. She only said that "rules" were common knowledge in Dungeons, whether it was the Amethyst Dungeon or any other Dungeon.

After reaching the Tenth Floor, the Silver Thorn Squad did not stop to rest.

Although two members were injured, they headed straight for the entrance to the Ninth Floor.

Werewolves sometimes hunted in packs. Even at full strength, the squad would have had trouble if they ran into one, much less now.

They planned to head directly for the safe room on the Ninth Floor.

Linden followed the route the Adventurers had taken, and sure enough, he encountered no danger along the way.

However, he did witness something interesting.

While passing through a section of tunnel hidden within the rock wall, Linden watched through tiny holes in the passage as a Level 40 Wind Serpent hunted a rabbit Monster.

It was called a rabbit Monster, but its Panel identified it as a Ripper Beast—a creature no smaller than a brown bear, with razor-sharp fangs and the ability to leap ten meters into the air.

It showed no fear in the face of the Wind Serpent's attacks. Instead, it kept jumping up to bite the Wind Serpent.

But the Wind Serpent was agile. Not only did it evade every attack, it also took the opportunity to unleash electric shocks that blasted patches of the rabbit's body black.

By the time the rabbit tried to flee, its injuries were too severe for it to run quickly.

Interestingly, despite having no claws, the Wind Serpent ultimately used a skill called airflow manipulation to drag away the rabbit's enormous body.

At first, Linden had thought it would eat on the spot.

Linden rather wanted both the Wind Serpent and the Ripper Beast.

They both had such great skills!

Unfortunately, now was not the time.

And so ended his hiking-like experience.

Awoooo—

A wolf howl came from ahead. There was no need to think about it—the Adventurers had run into the Werewolves.

After emerging from the narrow path within the rock wall, Linden saw the Half-Dragon and Elf being besieged. But the battle was already nearing its end.

It was not that either side was about to lose. Though the two Adventurers looked battered, they were still steadily forcing the attacking Werewolves back.

Linden even saw Inanna participating in the fight.

Limited by her field of vision, she could not clearly see the enemies' positions. She could only keep casting Water Snake Art and rely on the Elemental Spirit's automatic targeting to attack them.

As the only ranged attacker at the moment, she was actually proving somewhat useful.

The reason he said the battle was nearing its end, despite the group looking capable of holding out for quite a while, was that they had already successfully retreated all the way to the staircase leading to the Ninth Floor.

Sure enough, during the final stretch, the Half-Dragon suddenly used a skill to knock back the surrounding Werewolves, then quickly retreated into the passage.

The Werewolves surrounded the entrance and howled, but not one stepped into the passage.

Good. That meant he would not have to face the moral dilemma of whether to expose himself to save his former employees.

Next, he only had to wait for the Werewolves to give up and leave before heading over himself.

Linden had now seen what "rules" meant.

Still, he was curious. What would happen if he caught a Werewolf and forcibly took it to the Ninth Floor?

It would probably die on the spot. Otherwise, someone would have discovered such an obvious loophole long ago.

While Linden's thoughts wandered, the Werewolves suddenly fell silent.

Their noses twitched as they turned one after another toward Linden's hiding place.

Ah...

They really did have dog noses...