Everyone laughed while Geth stored as much as he could. He motioned for the others to gather up as much of his wife's junk as they could.
"Prioritize the corpses, weapons, and Skill Cards. If you can fit the other things, please do so.
Once you're done, be quick about using your Points. We don't know if that creature will approach us up here."
Geth maxed two of his storage items and left the third half full. He hurriedly sat and leaned against a nearby wall, closing his eyes.
The awkward feeling still hadn't subsided. He took a deep breath and looked at the card that the Sub-Boss had left for him.
***
Direwolf Cub, Lvl 1
HP- 150
MP- 50
Strength- 15
Agility- 10
Defense- 50 +[25]
Wisdom- 15
Intelligence- 15
Skills:
-Pack Resistance (Passive)
When in the presence of four more Direwolves of the same pack, gain a bonus amount of Strength and Defense. Increase of 5 Attribute points per pack member in a 50-foot vicinity.
-Steel Body (Passive)
Increases the Direwolf's Defense by turning its fur into armor. Has four stages. Current stage, Defense +50% [25]
Due to the extra weight, Strength must remain at 20% or above base Defense to function.
Equipment:
None
***
He was speechless.
'Albus... what is this? Did it put itself here?'
'Hmm... I believe that's its child. How is it in a Taming Card... well, maybe the Sub-Boss forced a Slave Contract on it?
It could have been done last second to keep the creature below us from finding it. Whatever did all of this wasn't the Boss. Make sure to tread carefully when you proceed...'
Geth nodded. He didn't believe that this was the Boss' doing, either.
'All right. Thankfully, the system counted all of these as kills.'
Staying in his mental sphere helped alleviate some of the awkwardness he was feeling. The fog that surrounded him had now turned into a swamp that kept his senses from working at all.
He turned to his Skill and Talent list and began dumping Points.
*****
The wolf's Master looked over toward Geth. The feeling that he gave off was that of admiration.
His wolf sat beside him, also looking with respect toward the man sitting by the entrance. If it weren't for that man, he likely wouldn't have received the wolf's inheritance.
The Sub-Boss hadn't left its child with Geth on a whim. It had simply felt the pressure radiating from this man fill the room.
It was only natural that its child should be with someone who could protect it. It had passed on his inheritance to Filthy's Tame for the sole purpose of training its child in the future.
This was the price that he had to pay for the contract. He looked at his Master once again.
'Master, you should hurry too. There is no telling when that creature will appear.'
Filthy nodded. His Tame had shown him the images. The beast was frightening.
The wolf watched its Master pull up his character sheet from beside him. This was one of the best things that come from becoming this man's Tame.
Just when he was about to look at his own, he felt a sudden change in the room's atmosphere. The wolf's eyes swung to where the strong man was sitting.
A feeling of foreboding rose up in him. He wanted to flee.
'Master...'
'It will be okay. Whatever he's doing, I'm sure he has a plan.'
*****
Somewhere else in the Dungeon... far below where the party currently resided.
"It seems that they have finally taken oooouuuut the last of your subordinates. Hahahahoooo! Hooowwwww exciting!"
A large, muscular man sat beside a pure black Direwolf. The man had patches of gray fur growing from most of his skin, leaving only some of his face clear.
The Direwolf was around ten feet tall and carried an heir of royalty about it. This aura even permeated through the massive chains that were draining its life force.
The strange man sat at the wolf's head. The chains running throughout the underground Dungeon had all led to the object on which he sat.
Bloodline Aura poured up from the cylindrical object and entered through the man's pores. He breathed deeply as if the aura were some drug of which he couldn't get enough.
"Yooouuuu are stubborn, wolf. We have similar Bloodlines, just give me yooouuuurs and die already."
The shaggy man scratched at an area behind his ear and stared at the beast. The Direwolf King returned his stare defiantly.
"Ahh, noooooo matter. Your child is tagging aloooooong with one of these Humans, anyway. We'll see hooowwwww well you hold out when I'm killing him in front of yoouuuuu! Hahoowhahahoowwww!"
The man had spat the word Humans out like he was talking about mere insects. Some of the defiance dropped from the King's eyes when he heard this.
"I can't believe that yooouuur children all died to a bunch of Huuuuuumans. Disgracef-"
The man's body twitched. Something was wrong.
He looked toward the ceiling. He could vaguely sense the Humans creeping about two floors up... but there was something else.
"That's sooooo familiar..."
It went away as quickly as it had come. He waited but didn't feel anything else out of the ordinary.
The Direwolf King stared intently at the ceiling as well. Its instincts were screaming at it to get out of there.
"Anyway. As yoooouuu can see. If you give up, I'll just sap your life foooorce and leave. There's no need for your child to die."
'Doesn't mean that I won't kill it on my way out, anyway.'
"Hey! Are yooou fucking listening to me?!"
The Direwolf King seemed petrified. Even its life force was draining faster, albeit only marginally.
"Well, at least we're getting somewhere."
He closed his eyes to concentrate on absorbing the Bloodline Aura. Before he had the chance... he felt that strange power again.
"This aura..."
The peculiar sensation exploded, filling the Dungeon with a highly potent aura. The wolfman looked up in fear.
His instincts took over. Without a second thought, he fled to the exit in the back of the tunnel.
Even after leaving all of his equipment there, he never looked back.