Chapter 10: Slaying Wolves

Back in the dungeon sporting injuries to varying degrees, Therina and the two shroom gnomes defended from the back of the entry tunnel. There were enough traps between them and any wolves the pack shouldn't even be able to get them.

The dungeon noted they were strong, but not so much that they could ignore the plethora of traps waiting for them. The second miner was also caught up upon by the direwolf pack and quickly died, much like the first one. It was too slow and simply couldn't make it back to the dungeon in time.

The dungeon spread his mana tendril through Therina's body and inspected what was happening inside. Her energy was currently turbulent, a slow flow was leaving it near her shoulders, seemingly having trouble leaving faster due to the resilience of the improved mana network.

"How is your shoulder?" It asked the elf in her head.

"Very painful, but I can manage."

"Good, the wolves will be here any second, do your best."

Almost as if by prophesy, the wolves appeared the very next moment. They charged into the dungeon in files of two, several at the front dropping into pitfall traps while the rest simply jumped over them.

Therina held the iron sword in front of her preparing to meet them head on, although her quivering body revealed the fear she was feeling at the moment.

Five wolves were trapped in pitfall traps after being caught by surprise, seven more jumped over them and filled up the entrance passage. At this moment, all the spear traps were simultaneously triggered, turning the entry passage into a pin cushion of stone spears.

[

Direwolf <Lv. 5> killed!

+ 83 exp

Direwolf <Lv. 4> killed!

+ 61 exp

]

Two wolves instantly died and while the other five managed to protect their vital points by instinct, they were still gravely injured and would die of blood loss soon enough if left alone.

"The remaining wolves are nearly dead and can barely move, kill them all."

The dungeon instructed Therina as he used 110 mana to retract the stone spears of 22 spear traps.

The five near death wolves growled as the young elf woman raised her sword and walked toward them.

"What are you doing?"

"What. Killing. As you said."

"I mean, elves are supposed to be dextrous and graceful, aren't they? You are holding that sword like it was a log. Swords are meant to cut, slice, pierce. It's not a mace."

The elf was visibly embarrassed at these words and tried to hold the sword with more poise, but it was very clear that she was a newbie to swords. The dungeon felt there was some redeemability as at least she was trying now.

The wolves were on their last legs and refused to retreat, they struggle toward Therina with their fangs bareds. She quickly thrust the sword into the neck of one wolf which lunged forward and tried to bite her leg.

Blood spurted out of the wolf and over the elf as it whimpered and collapsed on the ground.

[

Direwolf <Lv. 5> slain by Elf!

+ 8 exp

]

The he-dungeon received its 10 percent cut from the experience due to a monster being killed in the dungeon, while Therina received the other 90 percent.

Feeling a little more confident, she cautiously stepped in toward the next wolf which couldn't move at all and thrust the sword through the side of its head. It was stopped by the skull though, and she had to attack again, this time through the throat.

[

Direwolf <Lv. 6> slain by Elf!

+ 10 exp

]

The final three direwolves weren't about to just accept their deaths, they growled and tried to fight back, one even biting Therina on the leg but wasn't able to pierce through the leather shin guard. She unhesitatingly killed them one after another.

[

Direwolf <Lv. 5> slain by Elf!

+ 8 exp

Direwolf <Lv. 4> slain by Elf!

+ 6 exp

Direwolf <Lv. 5> slain by Elf!

+ 8 exp

]

"Don't get comfortable yet, there are five more, uninjured too, trapped in the pitfall traps. I will open the pitfall traps, and you must stop them escaping while the shroom gnome kills them."

The shroom gnome which didn't have a crippled arm stood in front of one of the pitfall traps with a stone spear ready. A miner stood next to it along with Therina and another miner on the other side of the trap, all to prevent the direwolf from escaping.

The dungeon gave the Therina a countdown in her head and upon reaching 'zero', dropped the trapdoor lid open, revealing the trapped direwolf.

The wolf, upon seeing the exit open up immediately tried to jump out, but was met with a stone spear stabbing it in the shoulder. It growled aggressively and dropped back to the bottom of the trap before attempting to jump out again, this time away from the gnome with a spear.

Therina met the wolf with a swing of the sword, glancing across its face and cutting open its nose. The miner also stabbed at the direwolf, leaving a large cut across its waist.

The wolf knew that staying in the trap would be the death of it, so it didn't hesitate to keep trying to escape, eventually it had lost too much blood to continue on and collapse in the hole, its life rapidly draining.

The dungeon extended its mana tendrils into the direwolf, it no longer having the ability to offer up any resistance. It observed as the wolf finally died.

[

Direwolf <Lv. 6> slain by Shroom Gnome!

+ 10 exp

]

The energy in its mana network began draining just like other animals he had observed. What puzzled him though, was that it wasn't draining out of the network, not that he could observe at least. There was clearly a draining effect, yet no outlet. He searched and searched, but came up with no answers.

The final four wolves fell in similar ways, him netting another 38 exp and the shroom gnome increasing to <Lv. 2> and even nearly <Lv. 3> from the large amount of exp.

With the battle over, and several injuries, the plan to take back the village had been delayed.

He had Therina return to her room and strip her shirt so he could inspect her wound better, and what was happening with her mana network.

Once her shirt was off, he spared a few stares at her bare breasts, but soon focused in her bloody shoulder which had several puncture wounds from the direwolf's teeth.

"You will need to disinfect that shortly, do you have alcohol?"

"No wine."

"Not the kind of alcohol I meant, but I just hope soap and water will hopefully do enough. How does your shoulder feel?"

"Hurts, bone broken. Maybe."

"Do you understand your village will have to wait while you recover?"

"Unhappy. Yes."

The dungeon inspected inside the wound as he had her remove the dried blood with a clean cloth. The wound was clotting, but he was unsure how her mana network played a role in the recovery. Whether the leak in her mana network was her body's way of increasing her natural recovery speed, which it was struggling with due to it being reinforced by him, or whether the wound allowed her energy to uncontrollably flow out.

The dungeon had her lie down so he could spend time inspecting her. He extended his tendrils into her mana network and felt around near her shoulder where the leak was. He wanted to know what was happening after it leaked out, so he truly focused on the escaping mana and tried to allow his tendrils to follow it.

It took several attempts, but he manage to force the hole in her network open wider and have one of his mana tendrils push out from it.

Along with the hole widening, it meant the outflow of her energy was also faster.

Thankfully, it was nothing concerning like a true leak of energy, but the point where the injury was, allowing her energy to leave the network and infuse itself into her wounds. None of it was leaking from her body, except for maybe some trace elements, and appeared to be helping her wound heal faster.

"Therina, can you feel your energy in your mana network?"

"My. What."

"Your mana network, where you mana, lifeforce, and everything else flows, all based off a base energy."

"I don't know. Is what. No."

"Sigh, how does this feel?"

He artificially stirred up her energy and increased the outflow speed of it into her wound.

"Shoulder, stings. Is what."

"Not the pain in your shoulder, the flow of energy entering it."

"No. Can't feel."

"Sigh, we will have to work on that. It is helping, or maybe even the driving force, of your shoulder healing. Due to your strengthened network, it is having a hard time doing it by itself, so I am giving it a boost. If this happens in the future, it will be best if you can do it yourself. But you need to be able to feel it to even think of manipulating it."

"Understood."

The dungeon continued its work on her shoulder. It increased the speed even more, which caused the elf young woman to complain about feeling woozy and her mana draining, what was understandable.

At the same time though, he could see the wounds on her shoulder closing at a visible speed, but it would still take a while before they were 100 percent.

"Elf, your technique is horrible," He said to Therina, causing her the clench her fist in frustration. "But I look after my things, I will make you strong."

"I levelled up," She bit her teeth and said.

"Good, but that isn't what I meant. Don't get dependant on levels more than your skills and ability. I have a training method for your sword technique first. Also…"

"What… also."

"I told you to constantly keep Concealment active, why isn't it right now?"

Therina was dumbfounded at what he said and hastily activated her Concealment skill, causing her presence to dim and seemingly blend in with the stone bed.

She naturally couldn't escape the eye of the dungeon while he had his mana inside of her though, but he was fascinated how activating concealment caused her entire mana network to slow down slightly, even refracting itself to seem a little bit transparent.