CHAPTER 58: WISE!

The wolf was instantly killed—having time only to release a howl of pain before dying. Its head had already been dissected from its body.

Its eyes were filled with unwillingness to die, but there was nothing it could do. It could only watch until things blackened out.

It had sacrificed its life for the success of its plan... unknowingly.

All the Mutant Gray Wolves that were watching were overwhelmed with fear when they saw how Leon was able to insta-kill that beast. They started doubting whether they should attack Leon or not, because with the power Leon had just showcased, they were sure some of them would end up dead—if not dead, then seriously injured.

Growl!!!

A commanding growl came from behind, bringing all the pack members to their senses.

It ordered them to focus and do their job.

Upon hearing the growl of their alpha from behind, they immediately steeled their hearts to attack Leon.

They all jumped at him, wanting to pounce on him before tearing him to pieces all at the same time.

But when they landed on the ground—there was no Leon.

Before they could register what was happening...

Heads started falling—often accompanied by a howl of pain.

From one head to two heads, then three heads... before they knew it, Leon had already killed 35 Mutant Gray Wolves, and their population had decreased drastically.

The alpha, who had been at the rear this whole time, immediately noticed the drastic reduction in the number of Mutant Wolves.

It knew it had to call off this fight before things went completely out of its control.

The alpha who had been at the rear this whole time immediately noticed the drastic reduction in the number of Mutant Wolves.

It knew it had to call off this fight before things went beyond his control.

"Awoo!"

Seeing that this fight was not worth it, it immediately called them to order, ordering them to retreat in the ’Wolf language’ of howling.

Hearing the howl, all the mutant wolves retreated.

What was even more confusing was that they scattered in different directions—some going north, some south, west, and east—each man to his own choice.

"Fuck!" Leon clenched his fist. There was no way he was gonna let his EXP escape. He finished the closest wolf quickly. But before he could register the sudden events, a familiar annoying prompt appeared.

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[Host has accumulated enough EXP]

[Leveled up!]

Host’s Current Level: LVL 7

Five Stats Points have been added to each of the Host’s Stats!

┗━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━┛

The familiar feeling of being refreshed washed down his body, but this time, instead of being excited, he was angry and irritated so badly that if he could, he would crush that crystal for disrupting his thoughts and sending the notification at such bad timing.

"Fuck you, System! Don’t you know now’s not the right time!!! I will fuckin’ check this later!"

Leon swiped away the panel angrily and tried to keep his emotions in check while trying to think properly—all at the same time.

’Annoying and senseless System!!!’

He immediately focused on his situation as it needed immediate thought.

Thinking about the wolves,

’If they ran in different directions to confuse me, then they would change directions after some time and meet up in a secret hideout or cave or something like that.’

’That was unexpected... as expected from highly intelligent animals that have lived in this dungeon for many years. Most of them are familiar with the terrain, and I’m at a disadvantage at that point.’

’But did they really think I’m foolish enough to chase a random beta wolf? Or did they think I’ll just go around killing wolves for EXP? To ascend from this dungeon, even the smallest-level beast needs to be cleared, because without that, the ascending portal won’t appear!’

’Whatever! There’s nothing to think about here. I’ll just try my luck on their Alpha. I hope things are the way I see them, because if not, then I’m in deep trouble. They have all the advantages right now!’

Leon sprinted in the direction of the alpha at the full limit of his Light Steps skill.

It didn’t take long for him to see the silhouette of the Alpha Wolf.

But suddenly, it looked back, its eyes locking straight onto Leon’s.

Leon could feel a malicious intent from those eyes as he watched the Alpha Wolf sprint, its tongue flapping like a flag and dripping saliva as it ran without stopping.

Leon, at this point, started to doubt his judgment.

The wolf clearly wasn’t surprised to see him—it was as if it had expected this a long time ago.

’Is there anything I’m missing?’ Still thinking about this, Leon didn’t dare to stop. He continued to chase the wolf.

All thanks to Light Steps, he was able to keep up with the wolf’s speed and was now catching up.

But he knew he had to do something about this and end it all soon.

Because the Barrier and Light Steps were sucking his Mana reserve dry.

"Woof! Woof!"

The wolf suddenly barked at him, as if warning him that his efforts were being wasted.

Ding!

┏━━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━━┓

MISSION OF WISE BRAIN

Discover the Alpha’s plan before

you get caught up in it!

Punishment: Level reduction,

1% reduction in Stats in order to

get out. Also, Mana Jet / Mana

Flight Skills will be lost.

Reward: Supreme Thief Skill,

20 Stats points to distribute,

1 pouch of Gold.

┗━━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━━┛

’As expected of the most generous system,’ Leon thought sarcastically. ’And also the most dangerous system ever!’

Though he was joking around, he was really taking this matter seriously.

He did not want—or plan—to lose Mana Jet anytime soon. Neither did he want to get—

The skill was of great help to him, and the burst and force of that skill had helped him defeat a dungeon boss raven that had the strength of an LVL 9 beast.

A beast three levels stronger than he was at that time.

If not for that skill—and his quick thinking and quick action—he would have died.

He needed that skill, and he knew it. That’s why he had to take this Mission seriously.

And also, the idea of getting another Supreme Thief Skill excited him.

He knew how awesome Light Step was—it’s a non-combat skill and also a combat skill. Two in one!

The same goes for Mana Jet, and he was proud of creating such an awesome skill.

The added boost to agility made his attack faster and swifter, increasing his attack power and giving him the element of surprise over his targets.

That’s why he was able to cause a massacre that immediately caused the mutant brown wolf pack to retreat.

Because he knew, without Light Steps, he would have a hard time dealing with and hunting down these mutant wolves.

He immediately started thinking about their plan seriously.

’How did they plan to trap me? Did they want to trap me in an ice cave? But there’s no way they would lead me to an ice cave—not with their high intelligence. And there’s no way I would carelessly chase them into any cave if that’s what they’re leading me to.’

’And that method would require something to lure me in, but the only thing that can lure me in is their Alpha... ugh! This makes no sense.’

’If it’s a cave—I need to kill all beasts in this dungeon to ascend—so if they lure me with anything and I don’t go follow the lure, then their plan has failed... no, it’s not a cave!!’

*’If it’s not a cave, then what is it!?... ugh! Such a pain in the ss.’

This was the first time Leon had come across a situation that was so confusing and hard to think of a solution.

From his thoughts, Leon was sure that the Alpha wolf was not leading him to a cave, because the intelligent wolves were not stupid enough to think that he was dumb enough to follow the lure to a cave, knowing that it was clearly a trap.

Like. Isn’t it too obvious? An intelligent Mutant wolf like the one he was currently chasing—one that was running for its life—would never enter a cave where it would be placed in a dead end and killed quickly.

Unless that cave was different... like if the cave had an opening on the other side.

Suddenly, his eyes widened in realization. ’What if the other wolves are already there and would lock the cave up with a big boulder, leaving me trapped inside?’

He shook his head vigorously, quickly dismissing that thought. As much as he wanted that to be their plan, he was quite sure that wasn’t it.

’It would have been good if that was it... because even if I end up getting trapped, I can still dig myself out, or punch my way out.’

With his current strength, such a thing was possible. But it would take hours... and he would end up wasting his precious time.