Chapter 78 - The Wolves Den - V

「Passive skill ⟪Rose Blight⟫ has triggered, target's stats have been reduced.」

The large wolf that Snowbunny hit with a quick flurry of jabs suddenly started slowing down. Purple splotches started forming around the wound, which barely showed through its thick coat of fur. The next level seven wolf had just poked its head out from around the corner, and was now staring at the group.

"Both of you, go stall the second one for as long as possible, make sure that boss cant fit through the entrance. I'll take care of this one quickly and come help." Merlin yelled out as he charged at the wolf Snow was fighting.

Snowbunny threw a pinch of spice powder at the wolf's face as planned, before running past the wolf to the second one. Typhoeus had also begun running towards that wolf, and upon arriving first, delivered the first swing, which missed.

"I hate wolves!" His roar echoed within the cave, alongside the clanging sound of his scythe hitting the stone floor.

Merlin's shield collided with the first wolf, which currently seemed to be in excruciating pain. It was barking and growling the few times it wasn't sneezing or swinging its head around, doing anything it could possibly do to force the powder out.

"Yeah, I know the pain buddy." Merlin mocked as he slashed the wolf's neck with his gladius.

Wolves had an incredible sense of smell compared to humans. So what caused Merlin's eyes to water with a simple whiff would be torture for a wolf, especially when it was a pinch of powder directly in its face, rather than stored in a bag.

The wolf didn't react to the slash in time, and a significant gash had been cut into its neck. It attempted to dodge the next strike with all its might, but found that its legs had been tied with vines, forcing it in place as the blade pierced its neck once more, causing the already blood-soaked fur around its neck to start dripping with blood.

The wolf lashed out with a free hand, causing a large gash to form on Merlin's shield, but Merlin retaliated with one last stab to the wolf's heart. And upon the blade sinking into the wolf's flesh, it lost all strength in its body and dropped to the floor like a rag doll.

Turning his attention back to the second wolf, it seemed that Typhoeus and Snowbunny were handling it well. The wolf wasn't able to get through the gap, as Snowbunny was dodging its attacks and slicing at it to force it back, and whenever it tried to force its way out, Typhoeus would be there around the corner to scare it away with a large sweeping attack.

"Alright, first wolf is down, lets deal with the second one." Merlin yelled out while running towards the group. "Depending on the resistance, the poison should end on that one in about a minute or two, be careful it might suddenly speed back up."

Snowbunny heard him and performed the same tactic as before, throwing a pinch of the powder at the wolf's face, causing similar effects to occur. By this time, Merlin had caught up to the group, and was getting ready to join the fight.

"Ty, get the net ready. Snow, get ready to refresh your coating." Merlin ordered while sending his vines to wrap around the wolf's legs.

Typhoeus backed out of the fight and chanted to open his inventory, while Snowbunny rushed forth and pierced the wolf several times while it was unable to evade. Merlin's contribution was a deep slash across the wolf's face, causing it to lose its vision.

"The net is ready." Typhoeus yelled out, signalling to the other two that it was time to finish. Snowbunny rushed the wolf one last time, piercing its side with a flurry of attacks that ended with the wolf falling to the ground into a pool of its own blood.

Not giving the party any time to regain their positions, the final boss had made its move. The wolf they had just killed was thrown at Merlin, who barely dodged in time. The wolf's corpse hit the cave wall with so much force that it left a significant patch of blood splattered across it.

"Well, it looks like the wolf's enraged, hit him with the net." Merlin yelled out before he started running towards the wolf.

The boss wolf noticed Merlin and began the motions of a slash attack, but a poor quality net that looked to have been stolen from a goblin village flew at it, barely hooking around its claw and face. The net distracted it enough to cancel the attack, but it easily tore under the wolf's strength, not amounting for much as a net. It ended up just being uselessly wrapped around the wolf, similar to that of a plastic bag or fishing line caught around a turtle's neck. 

This wasn't bad, all Merlin really needed was for it to stay on long enough to do damage, any entanglement was just a bonus. He ran forward and touched part of the net while chanting a skill name.

「Skill ⟪Ignite⟫ Activated.」

A small spark appeared, followed by a roaring flame that quickly spread up the net. Merlin backed away as the net was completely engulfed in the flame, followed by the wolf's fur.

"And now we hit it until it dies." Merlin said as he sliced his hand on his sword once more, causing his blood to coat his blade. He didn't enjoy the uncomfortable feeling of sharp metal running along the exposed muscles, or the pain that followed, but he had been cut enough times that he could will himself past it. The worst part was the itchy sensation that followed as it healed, but it was such a powerful ability that he couldn't simply not abuse it.

The ability was most likely balanced with the intent that humans wouldn't intentionally cut themselves for a five percent stat reduction with a measly ten percent chance, which was also probably why the ability had a chance to trigger on the vines. But unfortunately for Gaia, Merlin was a lot stranger than expected, and had already experienced enough of the game to know that he had to be willing to do anything to win at times.

Snowbunny slapped the boss with the last pinch of spice powder, her face contorted into disappointment when she realised there wasn't anything left in the bag but a few leftovers she'd barely be able to use for food. Unfortunately, spices were expensive in general, but especially this early in the game. Even salt was more affordable, so a small bag like that probably cost her about as much as Merlin spent for the bag of blessed salt, probably more.

But she seemed to be getting her money's worth, as the boss seemed to be suffering in a similar way to the other two wolves. Now that the wolf was partially distracted by the multiple sources of pain, Merlin rushed in once more, slashing at its neck. Due to the wolf's fur still smouldering in places, he couldn't use his vines to entrap it yet, although he wasn't sure how effective they would be, seeing as the net was torn like paper.

The wolf barely dodged out of the way of Merlin's strike, but a scythe swing followed it, leaving a large gash in its right side, while Snowbunny punctured its burning flesh several times on the left.

「Passive skill ⟪Rose Blight⟫ has triggered, target's stats have been reduced.」

He wasn't sure which attack caused the notification, but he determined that it was Typhoeus' fault as the smouldering flesh on the wolf's right side had begun showing patches of purple.

"It's been poisoned, it should slow down now." Merlin yelled, while slashing the wolf once more. The attack connected, leaving a nasty gash on the wolf's snout.

The wolf, seemingly angered by this attack in particular, started bearing its fangs at Merlin moments before it slashed at him with so much speed that he could barely react in time. Merlin raised his shield, but he was still sent flying back into the cave wall behind him, and his shield had finally shattered into pieces, leaving him with nothing but splinters and shards of his former shield, a ringing in his ear, and a notification that made his blood boil.

「Your "Tutorial Shield" has been destroyed.」

Merlin waved the notification away as he stood back up, he stared at the wolf with an angered expression, and with his now shieldless left hand, he reached into his inventory and pulled out his goblin dagger.

"Merlin, are you okay?" His friends yelled out while still trying to deal with the wolf.

"It just changed phases, be careful." Merlin warned as he walked back to the fight. "It seems it'll perform a heavy slash at certain intervals, so back away from it when it starts glaring at you."

Merlin cracked his neck before breaking out into a sprint directly towards the wolf. The boss, which had just turned its attention to Snowbunny, suddenly snapped its attention back to Merlin and began growling with its teeth bared once more.