Nathaniel entered a stare down with the wolves, they were not budging but he was intent on leaving, however would he leave unscathed?
He slowly placed the hilt short sword in his mouth, he kept eye contact but relaxed his aggressive demeanor. He held down the instinct in him that told him to run. The wolves relaxed at his actions but they had no intention of letting him go.
He reached in the back pockets of the pants he was wearing, taking advantage, he threw a potion hastily at the head of the adult wolf that reacted to his surprise attack. " Grrrr! Roaar!" Its reaction unfortunately was slow. The potion shattered upon impact decomposing the head of the wolf. The smoke surrounded the trio. The left eye of the wolf bloated as red pus overflowed out of it. The right side was a mix of the socket without an eye on the skeleton and bits of attached flesh. The flesh was charred and squirming , the decomposition slowly spread to the rest of the body like ants, the fur withered as bits of flesh were falling to ground visible to the naked eye.
The smell almost made Nathaniel hurl his guts out. It was horrendous, it was like rotten meat contained within rotting eggs.
The wolf's remaining eye continuously lost focus as it tried to roar in pain however the tongue and voice chords were long gone, it lay there shaking non stop, excrement and pus painting the patch of grass on the hill.
Madness and fear took over the juvenile wolf as it ran out of the mist down the hill. Its marred flesh twitched as it ran, it limped back shrieking in pain to the pride.
Nathaniel emerged from the mist running, afterwards gasping for breath, he ran towards the corridor and when he reached it , he cast the illumination spell his eyes searched for the bag. He could not help but regret as the money he paid for the poison and its antidote. Wraith potion, the least dangerous of Vince's 8 abominations.
Voices tunneled the corridor as he went towards the exit of the dungeon. " I told you guys, being an adventurer is the best way to being rich."
" Yeah, Leon is right. I mean we got a stack of herbs before we did anything." A boy wearing a grey linen pants and shirt said the looked with reverence towards Leon. Leon had a round shield with steel edges, the center made of rose wood.
Third one had an illumination spell cast over their staff as she stood in the center holding the bag of herbs. They all looked to be in their teens.
" That does not belong to you." A voice interrupted their clamoring. " Who said that?!" Leon shouted tying to act brave, his shaking hands said otherwise. They turned small approaching small source of light as they readied their weapons.
" I said that does not belong to you. Return it to me " Nathaniel's face became visible as he drew closer to the them. They stepped back a bit but stopped when they saw his missing arm.
" Well we found it, if you want it why don't you take it from us." Leon said as he stepped forward. Nathaniel cast him glace and said nothing. " But it doesn't belong to us. Why don't we give it back. " The girl in the group said as she pulled down her hood. She was clutching onto her staff tightly and her eyes were sincere.
"Don't you know Elena, what goes on in a dungeon stays in the dungeon. Unless he could defeat us then we keep it." Leon said as he raised the shield placing the sword on top pointing at Nathaniel. The other said nothing as he also pointed his spear at Nathaniel.
" Alright, you can keep it." Nathaniel's face showed his blatant frustration. He stared at them in the menacing darkness and stepped forward. " Move." He said as the passed the group, they let down their guard as they saw him disappearing in the darkness of the corridor.
Elena's illumination spell was brighter than his and would alert them of his presence should he try to sneak attack them.
" What did I say and now we are going to be rich." Leon said as he marched forward. " Don't worry about that guy Elena, he won't do anything to us." Leon was obviously infatuated with the girl. She was not strikingly beautiful however her innocent brown eyes and bewildered expression gave her a cute face. Charles the spearman of the group grit his teeth as he saw Leon's tactic. He clenched his fist as insecurities built up.
" Charles, why don't you carry the bag while I lead in front and you protect Elena." Leon proposed.
"Hey, do you guys hear that, there is something heading towards us." Charles spoke dilating his pupils. " What?" Leon asked, Elena levitated the ball of light forward.
Snouts huffed air, as the scent of the prey lingered. The wolf pack was rushing down the corridor like a man possessed. Their eyes gleamed as they caught scent of new prey.
" Grey wolves, Run!" Leon shouted as he ran ahead by passing the two frozen in shock. They also turned tail and ran. The corridor stretched only 133 meters, the wolves rushed with more vigor at the prey before them. The paws dug faster, harder into the black sand in the corridor." That bastard!, the wolves are after him." Leon connected the dots.
"Leon I think we should throw away the bag, its slowing me down." Elena was starting to fall behind the duo as she held the bag. " No! Throw it here. I will take it." Charles offered while panting . This was his chance to impress Elena, he looked at Leon as he smirked.
Elena did as told and threw the bag at him. " Elena, what are you doing?! Cast some ice or something!" Leon grew frustrated at not only the bastard earlier but Charles as well.
" Absolute zero." "Zero friction." Elena chanted as she ran. 20-34 meters of ice appeared behind her. Freezing the ground. Leon raised his shield to guard against the acid spits from the rock slimes.
The leading wolves disregarded the ice however their legs soon found themselves grasping for straws, they slid on the ice crashing into one another. Their nails dug deep into the biting cold of the ice. They howled, gnashing their teeth repeatedly as the gave chase.
"I see the exit!" Leon shouted as he exclaimed with renewed vigor. However his hope was misplaced. They soon arrived at a wall of fire blocking the exit. " Hey, what's this? Help!" Leon shouted hysterically. " The bag does not belong to you. Give it back." A raspy voice replied to his cry of help from the other side of the wall of flames.
" You bastard let us through!" Leon said as drew his sword tying to force fully bypass the flames. " Leon! Stop. That fire is dangerous, its a rank 1 spell, crimson flare." Elena said as she gasped for breath leaning against the wall. " Charles give him the bag, now!" Elena said trembling the snarling sound of the wolves drew closer. The spell if done correctly was too powerful for any of them to break.
Each step, a beat. One step, two beats. More heartbeats per step as they turned to the wall. " Let us through! Please!" They begged tears threatening to come. "Throw the bag through the flames." Charles quickly threw the bag over the flames. " Now let us through!" Leon said as looked back and forth every second.
"No, sleep in the bed you made." The voice slowly said each syllable. It lacked emotion however had conviction. Nathaniel said as he reached for the bag that had no visible damage whatsoever. The sun was setting, he began his hike back to the village.
" You bastard! " Leon hacked away franticly at the flames to no avail.
The trio turned at the last step of the wolves, they were here, standing behind them.