Free Web NovelChapter 26: A Mighty Wolf... Before Us
We were back at the room. The only warm place in this blizzard. Our attempt to stop the dungeon had failed spectacularly. I was seated on a chair, looking at a chess board set on the stool placed before me.
The room still held a scent that reminded me of luxury, but here it was just useless.
Both me and Quinette had held our silence.
She was seated just opposite me, polishing her blade with a piece of cloth.
Not paying attention to anything else.
In the silence, which seemed to stretch for hours, with the howling wind shaking the windows.
I was supposed to be thinking of a plan. But nothing I wanted to lay out seemed workable.
We don’t know the extent of this dungeon, or how we can defeat the boss.
I was just a rank. Quinette was S rank. Fighting an SSS rank is a basically impossible feat to win.
But now our priority was surviving.
Long enough till we had the strength to fight the dungeon boss.
We had to gather strength, grow stronger.
To do so.
I lifted a piece from the chess board — a pawn — feeling the smooth porcelain craft.
While my mind raced for ways to grow stronger.
My fastest way to get strong was breeding with a dragon. Now, with dragon potency awakened, if I had sex with a dragon, it could boost my strength noticeably. Evolving to the next stage of dragon potency, while fully adapting to magic, would evolve my magic construct against such power.
That’s just how it worked.
Though. How would I convey such information to Quinette? For one thing, she’s pissed with me. Doesn’t trust me. And would easily mistake me taking advantage of the situation to do lewd things with her.
I tossed the pawn onto the table. It bounced off.
I exhaled, leaned back into the chair, dragged my palms down my face.
For minutes I stared at the ceiling.
"You seemed pretty confident when you said you’d figure out a plan out there. Now you don’t."
Quinette stopped polishing her blade, sheathing it back. She crossed her legs, wrapping her arms around herself.
I didn’t reply. But I stopped behaving pathetic. I clapped my hands together, sitting up.
"You want to know my plan? Well, it’s simple. We are going to stay here as long as we can and build strength slowly till we can defeat the dungeon boss."
I said, annoyed about the whole situation.
"That is, if we even find where it is." I got up, paced around the room. "Cause we don’t know where it is."
Quinette sighed, shaking her head. Disappointed.
"If only you had allowed me to go after her."
"You’re right. I should have allowed you to walk into an obvious trap."
"..."
"How could you possibly understand my plan?" She rolled her eyes. "I was willing to risk my life, knowing whatever she planned. As long as she stabbed it, the spell would halt, giving us a little time to finish her off."
"Still, that was a huge risk. She had spatial magic. She could have just teleported." ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom
"And enough of this stupid argument."
I ordered, before she could say another word.
Silence returned to the room for some minutes.
"How do you expect us to gather strength? You can’t increase your mana capacity. You clearly know that." Quinette spoke.
In her terms she was right. Mana capacity was a strict ceiling, determined at birth. Dragons can’t increase their mana capacity.
But I can. Apart from the sexual act with a dragon to evolve, magical beasts emitted mana fragments when dead.
I was putting my bet on that.
I can grow my mana capacity by absorbing the fragments.
Reading about dungeons in the mansion library during those boredom days sure is paying off now.
"I can grow my mana." I said with certainty, straightening my spine. Quinette’s eyes were on me.
Disbelief crossed her face. Couldn’t blame her — I would be considered an anomaly. Something no one predicted.
"How... prove it to me."
"Well, we’ll have to go outside before I can show you."
She narrowed her eyes on me.
"How does it work?"
"Using my absorb ability, I can absorb anything magical — the fragments the beasts emit are said to contain active mana."
"So you believe absorbing it would add to your mana?"
"Yes. I’m certain."
"..."
"Alright, let’s test it out. Can’t keep sitting."
Without hesitation, Quinette got off her seat, turning to the door. "I want to see it myself..."
I didn’t want to step out, knowing the cold wind that would follow, though I really wanted to test my theory in something practical.
The hinges of the door creaked open. The wind let itself in, carrying snow to the doorfront.
Quinette stepped out, resting her arm on her blade at her hip. I followed from behind, burying my hands into my robe pockets.
My eyes scanned every inch of the landscape, looking for anything different. Since the dungeon had activated, the landscape was beginning to shift.
Bear claw marks were seen on some trees. Distant howls of wolves.
Activation of the dungeon had summoned all magical beasts within it.
As I checked further, it seemed like they had been here first — we were just the ones arriving.
Searching for a magical beast, my leg sank, dipping into a hole. I halted. Where my foot stood wasn’t a hole.
A huge paw print pressed into the snow.
It was so large my whole body could fit into it.
"Quinette."
I alerted her. She was moving in the opposite direction when I called her.
Tracing my gaze to my foot, she stepped closer, also landing on the paw print.
We exchanged a grim glance.
A magical beast wouldn’t be an easy thing, even for both of us.
"It’s huge." Quinette observed, studying it carefully.
I traced the paw print back — this was a trail, and the room was directly blocking its path. If the beast was passing by next time, it would probably crush the room easily. Our only sanctuary against this bone-freezing cold.
We have to be ready for anything that would come for us.
More importantly, we need to get the room out of its path as a precaution.
"Quinette, we need to—"
I pulled my foot out, just a step taken. A presence became more noticeable from behind.
Doom. Doom. Heavy footsteps echoed, shaking the earth.
The silhouette of a huge wolf loomed closer — ten times our size. It snorted, its breath misting into heavy clouds. Eyes burned crimson. The hair stood on its back in hard spikes. Two huge fangs made of pure ice peered from its mouth.
"Are we going to fight that thing?" Quinette reached for her blade, readying her fighting stance.
[Skun Ice Wolf (SS Rank)]
A screen displayed over its head.
I steeled my resolve. We couldn’t back down now. If we let it keep moving, we’d lose the room.
Mana surged around my fist. "We have to fight."
