"Go!" Mul shouted, shoving Jul out of the way.

"But Tuk's not here yet!" the quam cried.

"I can hold them!" Mul shouted back. "And the shitbrain's coming soon enough!"

"I'll wait…"

"Jul," he said, turning his flaming helmet to her. "Trust me. Go get that thing, alright? It's something only you can do."

"I… Alright!" Jul said, wincing as Mul dodged under a frost mace, and then moved back from a shield slam. "Be careful, okay? Please?"

"I'll be fine! Now go!"

Jul leaped down the uneven climb to join Gad, and the brawler focused back on his own fight. Thankfully, there wasn't enough space for both goblins and the warg to attack Mul, and they had to take turns. Plus, there was no way for any of them to give chase to the quam.

Now, how the fuck do I get rid of these shits? he thought, considering the goblins and the snarling warg blocking his way up to the caster and the healer.

His whole path was barred from him, kept beyond his reach by the red circlet held fast around his neck. It was infuriating, even if he only felt that anger during combat, when the suppressor eased just enough to allow him to feel rageful enough to fight, but more than that, he had no access to his all-important fire skills, active or passive, which also made Kur's skill enhancing buff useless to him. He was instead forced to rely on just using his flame aura wreathed fists and knuckle dusters to get the job done. And yes, while he did get the job done, now, he needed to get it done a whole lot faster.

That illatrian was seriously bad news, and those pets of his were nothing to scoff at. Even with Rel's insane curses, the most she had managed to achieve was even the playing field a little in their favor, and that glaive was definitely not the only thing in that monster's arsenal, and he had no doubt that they were about to see the rest of it soon enough.

A suddenly louder bang made both him and his enemies look up.

Now what in the Pile is that? He wondered, his irritation growing as he laid eyes upon a shimmering, golden dome that had appeared at the top of the rise.

One of Cen's [Aura Projectiles] impacted against it, spreading sizzling aura across its breadth, but otherwise, the dome remained where it stood, appearing unharmed.

"You've gotta be kidding me!" he muttered. "The fucking healer can do that too?"

Below, he heard Cen's and Kur's panicked conversation, but they were cut short by two ice projectiles erupting from the golden dome, and an arrow soon followed them.

And they can shoot from the inside? Mul gaped. How is that fucking fair?

"I'm here!" Tuk suddenly shouted, his rings zipping past him to harass the two shield goblins.

"Can you get these shits out of my face?" Mul shouted back at him. "I need to get up there!"

"What? Why… Oh. What is that?"

"It's a fucking barrier, what does it look like?" Mul threw back at him. "The caster and that archer are attacking from inside it! I need to get up there!"

"Oh, shit! Uhm… Okay! Hold on, wait for my signal!" Tuk shouted.

Mul bared his teeth under the helmet, cycling his aura angrier, and hotter. He clenched and unclenched his fists, and lowered his center of gravity, ready to leap past the goblins.

"Actually, just-just get down now!" Tuk shouted from below him.

Mul had the wisdom not to ask why, and even though the enemy was once again moving towards him, he dropped to the floor, and covered his head. Above him, he heard a sudden series of angry whistles and metallic pings and for a moment, it felt as though the goblins were going to hold, safe behind their shields.

Come on, I know you can do this! Mul thought, not even bothering to look up.

And indeed, soon, the tune changed. From metal against metal, Mul heard a series of strangled cries and yelps, and within moments, those too, were silenced.

"Done!" Tuk shouted. "Go! Go!"

Mul flared his eyes open and leaped forward.

Everyone always thinks I'm the scary one, he thought, glancing at the nearly shredded piles of blue flesh and white fur. But if someone actually ever pisses off this guy… How do you even protect yourself against those rings?

He shook the thought away and focused on the barrier coming up ahead. He pulled back his fist, then slammed it against the dome, ripples of force spreading from the point of impact, but otherwise, the barrier remained very much intact.

It's got to have a limit, Mul thought. I just need to reach it!

More ice projectiles shot towards the battle below, and he was sure he heard Viy crying out in surprised pain.

Fuck! He thought.

He pummeled the barrier ceaselessly, barely even distracting himself with breathing.

Tuk's rings never showed up in his peripheral vision, meaning that he had to be busy dealing with something else. And for a moment, no more [Aura Projectiles] impacted against the dome either, and his fear for his sister fueled his fiery anger, but soon enough, more aura began pelting the dome once more, in panicked and hurried bursts.

Ah… Thank the Crystal, Mul thought. And knowing that his sister was at least alive, and able to continue focusing on that barrier, filled him with relief, but unfortunately, he didn't notice the blue dagger aimed right at his chest from the other side of the golden dome…

Mul went flying and crashed against the wall, then he tumbled down the climb it had taken him so long to surpass, coming to a rolling stop at the base of that rocky incline.

Was that… It was, wasn't it? He thought, his sight turning red at the edges.

With a snarl, he punched the floor, cracking it with a fiery explosion.

"Ice?" he shouted, getting to his feet. "You used ice against me? I'll fucking show you!"

With a roar, he leaped back up the rocky formation, and lending his anger and momentum to his raging, flaming fist, he punched forward with everything he could get out of his 53 points of [Strength].

Pain laced his side as he pulled something, but the punch was delivered, and after a split moment of resistance, the dome cracked, splitting apart as angry flames spiderwebbed across its surface, and his fiery fist went through… And straight into the chest of that last ice caster that had annoyed them so much.

The goblin didn't even manage to look surprised before Mul turned its chest into a blast of burned, blue splatter.

"Ugh!" the brawler groaned against the debilitating pain that gripped his side, all the way up his right shoulder and down his back. Either he had taken more damage than he had thought in that ice blast and fall, or his body wasn't ready to handle the upper limits of his [Strength] yet, which he had managed to reach out for out of pure anger.

Either way, he didn't care. The archer was still right there, aiming down at someone, perhaps even Cen, at that exact moment.

With a shout, Mul pounced on it, taking it by surprise, and hammered until things went dark blue.

Panting, he looked up in search of the healer, the last goblin standing. The goblin had least had the decency to know it was screwed, and to show it on his face. The healer raised his hands, almost as if in supplication, but Mul didn't even hesitate, and his fist went in one side, and out the other, and the goblin slumped over his arm.

The creature struggled feebly against him, his HP high enough to apparently keep it alive with a flaming fist through its stomach and spine, and with a groan of disgust, Mul pushed more aura into his arm, igniting the creature on fire.

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He flicked it off of him, dropping heavily to his knees, and the goblin squealed as the flames devoured whatever HP it had left, unable to move or do anything to put them out but to scream until death claimed it.

Mul deactivated his helmet, and steam hissed out of the insides of his armor, his skin an angry dark gray.

"It's… Done!" he shouted, as the healer at last stopped moving, the flames still angrily consuming its blue corpse. "The caster and archer… Healer… All dead!"

"Well done!" Kur shouted from below. "Everyone! Let's get those wargs down next!"

Mul closed his eyes, and nursed his aching side.

Let me just… Catch my breath, he thought, his sight darkening in tune with his speed up heartbeat, and then, something barked at him.

"What the fuck?" Mul shouted, startled.

And looking to his side, he frowned. "Well… Hello there."

The beast was majestic, wearing a pile of soft looking, lustrous, shimmering white fur that shamed whatever ugly coating those wargs wore. Mul had seen pictures of it before, in Slaying, and knew exactly what it was that he was staring… It was almost a sin to have confused the wargs for it.

The wolf opened its two left eyes to stare at him, and Mul could've sworn he had never seen anything as blue and deep as those eyes.

"Why are you… In a cage?" Mul muttered, looking up at the contraption that he was only now noticing.

The wolf barked at him once more, and stood up on shaky legs, revealing a deep blue stain across its fur.

"Oh, you're hurt?" Mul asked, crawling closer to the cage. "What in the Pile is going on here?"

Before his brain had time to catch up with what his body was doing, Mul had already deactivated his armor and reached in to pet the beast. Give it up to the battle haze, but thankfully, the wolf leaned into his touch, and a silly smile spread across Mul's lips.

"Wow… You're so soft!" Mul said.

A little whimper made him glance down, and he found that there was another wolf, smaller, a cub really, inside the cage.

"Oh… Oh! The-there's a little guy too!"

The wolf cub sniffed at the blue blood dripping down the adult wolf's leg, and whimpered again, its fluffy white tail tucked firmly between its legs.

"Crystal… What in the Pile happened here?" Mul asked. "Where do you even come from?"

The wolf pulled its head back and suddenly snarled, pointing its muzzle at the rusty bolt that kept it trapped within that the cage.

"You… You want me to open the cage?"

The beast snarled again, and Mul paused to consider the white creature. He had just deactivated his armor, in the middle of combat, and gotten his hand within reach of a dangerous, and strong looking beast, hurt or not. And to release it on top of it all… That didn't seem very smart, now did it?

The wolf sensed Mul's hesitation, and with a whimper, it gestured somewhere else with its head.

"What?" Mul asked.

The wolf whimpered and gestured again, and the brawler got up, and circled around the cage.

"Oh…"

Mul clenched his jaw.

"These were your family, uh?" he whispered.

The wolf snarled and gestured again, this time towards the sounds of the fight still raging below, out of sight.

"You want revenge?"

The wolf growled.

Mul licked his lips, then sighed. "Alright… Alright. I can respect that, I guess" he said, reaching for the lock. "But you better not make me regret this…"

With a thought, he reactivated his armor, just in case, then, he released the bolt and pulled the cage door open. The wolf raised its head and let out a piercing howl that deafened all noise within the cave. Then, it dashed forward, leaping down towards the battle.

"Okay… Right, uh, you stay here, okay?" Mul said, to the little cub, who now looked up at him with its big, deep blue eyes. "Ugh, don't look at me like that! It's dangerous down there! Just wait here! I promise I'll come back for you!"

And with that, Mul jumped after the wolf, before any misunderstandings could occur.

*********

Nar growled in pain and frustration, and the warg he faced seemed to grin at him, its muzzle reddened with Nar's blood.

What in the Pile is happening? Nar thought, breathing hard, and glancing at his quickly diminishing HP, barely 100 points left in that red bar.

The warg leaped for him, and again he moved out of the way, warned by his [Instinct].

"Gah!"

The wargs' claws grazed across his back, and Nar stumbled away from the beast.

Why? Why is it not working?

He saw the attack coming. He sensed it with his [Instinct] and he had moved perfectly out of the way! The warg was fast and agile, but not beyond Nar, not even with that blasted [Gaze of the Frozen Abyss] slowing him down and countering his [NPC]... So why was he still getting hit?

The warg leaped for him again, [Instinct] warning him once more, and Nar slashed diagonally, aiming to score a hit against the still unharmed beast. However, the warg dodged easily out of the way, mostly for the fact that it had already cleared past where Nar had aimed his cut at.

Is it… Delayed? Nar thought in confusion. Is that what's happening?

The warg pounced on him again, and again Nar failed to hit it. The beast managed to scrape his claws against his armor, but luckily, without enough [Strength] to cut through this time.

I am delayed! Nar realized. But how?

Never before had his [Instinct] let him down as it was doing now. No matter what he faced, he always knew what was coming, even if he couldn't dodge it, and he could dodge this beast… So what in the Pile was going on? However, before either he or the warg could move again, a loud, blood curdling howl echoed throughout the cave.

What now? Nar thought, but soon he had his answer.

A massive, shimmering white beast leapt at the warg he had been fighting, and the two of them went tussling and snarling across the floor.

What the…

"Don't hurt the wolf!" Mul shouted, running down towards them. "It's on our side!"

"Where did you find a wolf?" Tuk shouted.

"And how is it on our side?" Kur added.

"I don't know how, and I don't know why, but I found it in a cage up there!" the brawler explained. "Its whole family was killed, and it wanted revenge."

"And you… Just opened the cage?" Kur asked, stunned.

"I mean… I felt like I could trust it," Mul said, shrugging hopelessly.

Nar blinked and stared at the great white wolf. Even splattering blue blood everywhere it went from its wounded flank, it was easily overpowering the smaller warg, displaying its clear might.

"Fucking Crystal!" Kur sighed, passing hand over his face. "Whatever, you keep an eye on that thing then! Nar, go help Gad and Jul!"

"On it!"

He glanced across from the central fight, and glimpsed Tuk and Viy coordinating to fight the other warg. Given how much light blue blood was coating its fur, the two of them seemed to be having a much greater success than he had, which only contributed to his increasing confusion at his failings.

"Watch out!" Jul shouted as he approached. "There's something wrong with my [Instinct]!"

"You too?" Nar asked, lunging for the monster, aiming to catch him by surprise.

Instead, the illatrian flowed with grace, speed, and decisiveness, stepping back and twirling his glaive to parry him with ease. Then, all in one smooth move, he punched forward with the butt of his weapon against the tank's shield, pushing Gad back.

"What do you mean?" Gad grunted, as ice and aura warred for dominion of her shield.

"That warg… I couldn't dodge it! My [Instinct] was all messed up," Nar said. "I think it's delayed somehow."

"I think so too!" Jul shouted, holding onto her side with one hand. "And I haven't even hit him once! I-I think he has [Instinct] too! And it's stronger than mine!"

Well, shit… Nar thought.

The illatrian blurred, and Nar just about managed to step back and avoid getting his head looped off his neck.

"Damn!" he breathed, his eyes widening.

Even with Rel's curses, the affliction tightened around his neck and the transgression that now marked his chest as well with a brand of some kind that he vaguely remembered belonged to one of the gods, and with also Kur's debuff applied to him, the damn monster was still managing to move faster than his [Sight] could fully follow.

And it's still at over 19,000 HP? What in the Pile?

"Just try to hold him down for now!" Kur shouted. "Let's get those wargs killed first, then we can all pile onto the boss. Come on people, we can do this!"

The illatrian alternated in between fighting all three of them, though thankfully it reserved its heavier attacks for Gad.

"Is it still taunted?" Nar shouted, after just barely avoiding death for the tenth time. At some point, he was going to screw it up.

"I think so!" Gad shouted.

"What do you mean?"

"It's my affinity! I know it's doing something, I'm just not sure what," Gad said. "Just do your best!"

What in the Pile do you think I'm doing? He thought.

Between his faltering [Instinct] and the monster's speed and fighting prowess, not to mention its damned [Instinct], Nar felt as though he was fighting his own master. All of his attacks got thwarted, all of the illatrian's attacks nearly reached him, and that was with the monster not bothering to make full use of his weapon's range to keep them at bay. No! They were all piled on top of him, negating the advantage of reach from the glaive, and they were still getting nowhere!

A burst of orange light pulled his eyes to the right.

Mul, aided by the wolf, had pushed the warg against the cave wall, and now proceeded to pummel the beast into oblivion. The wolf, for his contribution, closed its jaws around the warg's neck.

The beast trashed weakly against the two of them, but there was nothing it could do, and apparently, not even almost 5000 HP was enough to save anyone from having their throat chewed off and their neck snapped as they got pummeled by fire in such a quick succession that the whole cave lit up orange.

With a loud, sick, crunch, the wolf finally managed to pierce through the protective HP and closed his fangs around the warg's neck, rendering the beast to dead weight. And Mul's fist was still heading for its intended target, but as the warg dropped, he punched the wall instead, and shards of dark purple went flying.

The illatrian screamed, and a vortex of ice and darkness pushed against them.

"Back!" Kur shouted. "That's shredding your HP! Get back!"

The party fled back to the cave entrance, reforming their original formation, and gazed upon their enemy as vortexes of dark purple formed around the illatrian, the crystal on the wall glowing brightly. And before their stunned eyes, ice goblins and wargs materialized out of the thin air, their forms glowing smoky dark purple as they formed.

"No way," Rel whispered.

"How?" Tuk shouted. "How?"

"I-I don't know!" Kur stammered. "I thought only the dungeon guardian could make creatures!"

"Are you saying that's the dungeon guardian?" Nar asked, his teeth clattering as the temperature plummeted. On top of [Gaze of the Frozen Abyss] he also now had [Freezing] as well, and his legs trembled beneath him, and his sword arm felt heavier by the second.

"What do we do?" Cen whispered, her teeth also clattering with abandon behind her helmet.

Before them, the illatrian had basically reformed the array of goblins they had so painstakingly killed. There was even a healer, who proceeded to dispel Rel's [Affliction of Guilt] from the boss!

"No…" Rel whispered. "How?"

"Purification," Kur muttered, stunned. "My Crystal…"

"What do we do now?" Mul asked, and the wolf at his side was seemingly also lost as to what to do, looking between the enemy, and its savior.

"Our basic formation," Kur said. "Cen, Nar, you hang back. I think we can't afford to have you two hold back anymore, even if this damned cave comes crashing down on us…"

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