After minutes of grueling effort, I managed to push the beast off me. "God, you stink!" I muttered, heaving for breath as I looked up at the cave roof.

  The bastard must have weighed more than a fridge. I wiped a trail of sweat from my brow. Maybe I needed to invest a bit more into strength. Being nimble and having control over my body was nice and all, but at a certain point, I would need the strength to back it up.

  As of now, I was beginning to understand the stats a bit more. Strength was just a way to quantify the power in your muscles. Agility was more of a control thing, but it also enhanced my reaction speed and senses. For now, I had seen the improvement in hearing, smell, and touch, but hopefully, it would improve my vision in the future as well. Seeing in the dark would be super handy.

  I couldn't really tell which of the two stats improved my speed most, but I could feel it grow whenever I leveled either of them up.

  "Help me up, would you?" I moaned, reaching my hand up.

  Iron gripped my finger with his talons and flapped, not really helping, but I respected the effort and pretended like he was a great help.

  Bracing my hands against my back and stretching, I looked over the changes in my stats. I was nearing level five in Sword Mastery, which was cool. That's the level I got Enhanced Throw from Spear Mastery, which finally leveled up. It certainly felt like the level made a difference now, but I wouldn't know without some further testing.

  Not even bothering to try and reach the spear embedded into the roof, I summoned a new one and delved deeper with steps as light as feathers.

  After a few minutes, the cave walls widened and the roof got taller. Another few minutes later, I caught a glimpse of my would-be test subject.

  [Direwolf Alpha LV29]

  I had to stop myself from gaping. The cave opened up into a large chamber supported by eight massive, engraved pillars. The wolf lazing around in the middle of it all was probably twice the size of the other wolves—who were already larger than normal—and that wasn't even the most chilling part about it. The level was. I felt my skin prick at the sight.

  Almost twenty levels...

  At least this time I could tell how much stronger than me it was. I glanced back and thought about retreating, but I'd been walking and fighting for hours. Just giving up would have been such a waste. Besides, I was pretty confident I could take it. With its size, it just happened to make a perfect target for my improved throwing skill. The only problem was that it had a lot of room to dodge...

  In the far reaches of the chamber, another opening led back into the cave system, meaning this probably wasn't the boss the objective mentioned. I didn't really think that made any sense; an alpha was the leader of their pack. What other type of wolf would be better suited to be the boss of a Direwolf dungeon?

  Turning and motioning for Iron to wait in the cave, I snuck into the chamber, hurrying to the closest pillar. Once there, I pressed my body against it before peeking at the wolf. Its fur was a solid black, and it had a cross-shaped scar on its front left shoulder. Each of its tiny movements looked as if filled with dormant power. I swallowed. This was a true monster. I was lucky the drake dealt with the one in the clearing for me.

  After ensuring my shield was securely tightened to my arm, I adjusted my grip on the spear into a reversed one, took a breath, and steeled myself for the fight.

  Let's go.

  Bursting out from behind cover, I whipped my shoulder forward and sent the spear hurtling through the air. If it wasn't noticeable before, it definitely was now. The spear left my hand with a solid thwoom.

  Whipping its head at the sound, the alpha barely had time to register the spear before it bit into its scarred shoulder. The impact rocked its entire body back as if a wave crashed into it. It whimpered and glared at me, hungry for retribution.

  Already moving toward the next pillar, I summoned a spear and threw myself behind cover. Thundering footsteps shook dust loose from the chamber roof, sending it scattering down to the floor like hail. My heart caught in my throat as I waited, clutching the spear nervously. A moment later, the wolf dashed around the right side of the pillar, taking large chunks out of it with a slash of its claws.

  Narrowly dodging, I darted to the opposite side to create some distance and threw my second spear. It boomed through the distance like a bullet, burrowing itself deep into the chest of the wolf. It yelped and sagged a little as blood began to pour out of the second wound. A good hit.

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  Once again, I was already dashing to the next pillar as I unsheathed my sword. The hit-and-run tactic of throwing spears was working, but I didn't have unlimited stamina to summon spears, and I didn't really want to find out what happened if I used it all up—not mid-fight, at least.

  Despite being wounded, the monster kept charging at me. Its paws fell heavily on the stone floor, echoing like sledgehammers between the walls. I could practically feel its hot breath on my neck, even as I pushed myself to my limits.

  Throwing myself behind the pillar, I turned and raised my shield just in time to feel the power behind its claws. One second I stood on solid ground, the next I hurtled through the air. My back slammed into the chamber wall, and I coughed as my lungs deflated.

  "Fuck," I moaned and crawled away.

  Getting hit was never fun, and even though I tried to avoid it, it started to feel like it was becoming a habit. Looking on the bright side, though, I gained some distance to catch my breath. I got back to my feet and spat a glob of blood onto the floor. The alpha stalked toward me with its shoulders low to the ground, growing slower by the second as the effects of the blood loss started to show. Victory was within grasp, as long as I didn't take any more hits. It was just too risky, even with the shield.

  I curled up behind the shield and spun the sword in my hand. Come on, you furry bastard...

  As if on command, it pounced forward, reaching its open jaws toward my face. I ducked to the right as they snapped shut with a loud clack, spraying me with stinky saliva.

  Brushing against its fur, I dodged, delivering a quick stab into its ribs before bouncing away. It whimpered and recoiled from my blade, its paw slashing into thin air.

  "You're gonna have to do better than that," I snickered.

  It growled in response as blood poured out of the wounds and splashed onto the floor. How much blood does one wolf even have?!

  I quickly shook away the thought. With a magical system in the mix, old knowledge didn't count for much.

  Keeping its distance, the wolf circled me, stepping back into the middle of the chamber.

  I followed, shield raised and sword angled low. My legs burned, and my chest tightened with each breath. I forced it steady, slow, and deliberate. If there was one thing that would get me killed, it was panic. I couldn't afford to lose focus—not now.

  The wolf's ears flicked back and forth, tracking every sound even as its eyelids grew heavy and drooped down its eyes. It stared with ice-blue eyes, intelligent and dangerous. Baring its teeth, it tried to get me to back off, making me realize something. This wolf wasn't just some mindless beast. It was intelligent, and it was planning. It knew just as well as I did that the hemorrhage would be its death unless something changed.

  Once I stepped into the circle of pillars, it lunged, making me raise my shield over my eyes by instinct. Shit!

  I lowered the shield hurriedly, but the wolf was gone from my field of view. I could still hear it—the heavy footfalls of its paws, the ragged breathing. My heart caught in my throat, and I swung my shield arm to the side. Wood crunched against bone as it crashed into the side of the wolf's head. The muzzle blurred past my face and snapped shut, barely diverted by the shield slam.

  I reared back and stabbed. My sword dug into its neck, and something snapped, making the wolf's knees buckle. It fell to the ground, struggling and breathing frantically with eyes wide as saucers.

  Letting go of the sword, I quickly circled the monster. After confirming that it wouldn't be putting up any more resistance, I bent down by its shoulder and patted it with my free hand.

  "Sorry," I whispered. "You were strong. In another life, you'd have beaten me... Just not this life."

  I stood back up, grabbed the sword, and twisted.

  You have defeated [Direwolf Alpha LV29]

  Ironwrought Summoner reaches LV11

  Ironwrought Summoner reaches LV12

  Free stat points +8

  Skill up!

  Weapon Mastery: Shield +2

  Weapon Mastery: Shortsword +1

  Sub skill gained!

  Flow State LV0

  I raised an eyebrow and muttered, "Flow state? That doesn't sound very sword-mastery centered... What does it even do?"

  I opened my status fully and tried to see if there was a tooltip of any kind. Of course, there wasn't. Once more, I was left to ponder on my own. In any case, it didn't sound like a bad skill to have. Even if it just helped sharpen my focus—you could never really have too much of that, in my opinion.

  My blade slid out of the wolf's body with ease. Wiping it against the wolf's fur, I left large red stains and lamented that I couldn't use the body for anything. It had been a worthy foe and a damn good fighter. It seemed a waste to leave its body inside a dungeon, but seeing how big it was, I didn't really see any other alternative.

  With a sigh, I turned my mind to more important matters, like my new stat points. If I'd realized something in this last fight, it was that reactions and agility only got you so far. I would need raw strength and speed too.

  After placing four of the points into Strength, I pivoted and dumped the rest into Endurance. I wouldn't be investing enough for any other stat to catch up to Agility. I still very much liked the idea of being somewhat focused on one particular stat rather than many, but fully dumping everything into a singular stat felt stupid. I needed a solid foundation if I wanted to survive, and leaving stats in the single digits didn't feel like a solid foundation to me.

  I whistled for Iron to come out of hiding. He flew through the chamber and landed on my shoulder, silently looking at the fallen alpha wolf—perhaps a silent recognition of its power. I nodded to myself and scratched him on his beak. He really was a smart bird.

  However, no matter how strong the alpha had been, it had not been the boss of the dungeon, and therefore we would have to press on. Or so I thought, when a yawn unconsciously escaped me.

  Maybe a little sleep is in order first.

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