The Devouring Dragon

Raya POV

He's… he's…

Raya instinctually took a step back, her body shaking slightly as she stared at the sight in front of her. 

Raya would never let anyone call her a coward - as far as female dire wolves went, she was one of the feistier ones. She had never backed down from anything - never submitted to anyone.

That was part of the reason she was even able to be here, leading the monst- Valon, leading Valon around. Despite her father's seniority - despite his insistence on her being a good woman and doing as he ordered, she had never listened.

When he had tried to send her as an 'offering' to the Blue One to get on their good side, she had fought tooth and nail to defy him. 

Then, after his takeover, he had tried to offer her as a mate to one of his generals, Raeren. It had ended with Raeren on his knees as she beat the living shit out of him.

Raya was no coward. She was not weak. She was not submissive. She was not what you'd expect the typical female dire wolf to look like.

She was strong. She was prideful. It had taken everything she had to force herself to bow as she begged Valon for his help, but she had thrown it aside for the betterment of her people.

But, at this very moment, her knees felt weak. A trail of sweat dripped down her neck. Her eyes were wide, her body shaking. 

He's…

Every cell in her body was demanding that she move. That she do something.

This wasn't unusual. When her father had tried to give her to Raeren, her entire body had rejected it. Her body had demanded that she fight him. And, she did.

But, right now, her body was not demanding that she fight. No, if anything, it was the opposite. It was demanding that she do anything but fight. Begging that she do anything but fight.

He's…

Her foot took a step back, part of her body begging her to run. To get as far away from him as possible. To value her life above all else.

Her knees shook.

He's…

The other part of her body demanded something different. As Valon mercilessly killed her kind - demolishing a general far stronger than her in mere minutes - it demanded that she obey her instincts.

It demanded that she fall to her knees - that she submit. Her knees shook, and she could barely stand straight.

And, for the first time in her life, Raya didn't disagree. The idea of submitting to anyone had always been abhorrent - had always gone against her very nature.

He's…

But, as she stared at the powerful man in front of her, she couldn't bring herself to disobey her body. 

"You… did it," She muttered, staring in awe at Valon.

"You doubted me?" Valon joked back, but she couldn't bring herself to reply. Instead, her knees gave away. 

Any pride she had was thrown away as she kneeled in the dim cave, her eyes filled with awe.

Luckily, her pride didn't have to take a blow. By the time Valon had finished devouring her kind, she had managed to push herself back onto her feet.

Despite that, as she led him out of the cave, only one thought flowed through her head.

He's a true monster.

It was rather ironic coming from a dire wolf.

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"Are you sure you don't need to rest first?" Raya asked, glancing over her shoulder at me as she led me through the large forest.

"Nah, I'd rather get this over as fast as possible," I hummed in response. Despite just taking down a general and two commanders, I wasn't all that tired. 

They hadn't injured me, and I hadn't expended enough energy to make my body feel tired. If anything, I felt better than before.

This had been a good warmup.

"Tell me about the other generals," I said as I followed Raya, the two of us trudging through the thick forest in a seemingly random direction.

I knew it wasn't actually random, as I had one of the few people who knew the most about this section of the forest guiding me.

"They're brothers," Raya started to explain, "Torn and Gorn."

Another two weird names. Why couldn't dire wolves just be named Fido or Sparky or somethin'?

"They're polar opposites. Torn is rather similar to how Jaxor was - in the sense that he's not the smartest wolf in the woods."

Dire wolves even have little sayings like that?

"But he's very devoted to his training. He won't be an easy fight," Raya continued, "Gorn is the exact opposite. He's not very strong physically, and isn't much of a fighter, but he's very… smart."

Raya gritted out that last word, her nose wrinkling as she forced it out.

"You don't like him, I take it?" I asked, and she nodded.

"He's a schemer. He's very secretive and seems to always have something up his sleeve. He's the one who goaded my father into asking the Blue One for help, and he's the one encouraging him to keep pushing deeper into the forest," Raya explained, a bit of anger seeping into her words, "Honestly, I think he knows that what my father is doing is stupid, but he doesn't care. He wants my father to fail so he can eventually take over."

I didn't say anything, too busy thinking about what she had said.

It sounds like Gorn will be the most problematic one. 

In a straight-up fight, I would never lose. Certainly not to a dire wolf general, at least. But, people like Gorn, who move in secrecy and create schemes, will never fight directly.

I'll have to take precautions with him. He'll probably have a trap laid - or, he might do something unexpected. I should assume the worst with someone like him - assume he has a trap laid, assume he knows magic, assume he's secretly powerful - you get the idea.

"We'll reach Torn soon. He lives just up ahead," Raya spoke, bringing my attention back to the forest ahead of us. It started to darken again, the branches and brush above us thickening.

Eventually, the darkening became a near-pitch black night. The sun barely stretched through the layers of branches ahead, and the bushes all around became thicker and thicker. 

The grass at our feet shifted into mud, and a straight laid-out path with no trees blocking the way formed.

Overall, the area around us now looked like a rainforest-esque jungle forest.

And, unlike Jaxor, it seemed like Torn was expecting me.

As we continued down the path, eyes started to glow from the dark bush around us. If I hadn't had this gamer system, it would've been terrifying. But, since I did, I could see who those eyes belonged to.

[Dire Wolf] - Level 4

[Dire Wolf] - Level 3

[Dire Wolf] - Level 1

[Dire Wolf] - Level 2

[Dire Wolf] - Level 3

[Dire Wolf] - Level 4

[Dire Wolf] - Level 2

They belonged to dire wolves - but, not just any dire wolves. Weak dire wolves.

And so, the horror-like atmosphere didn't phase me. But, I couldn't say the same for Raya.

In front of me, I saw a bead of sweat drip down her neck. It rolled down, falling down her back as it stiffened. She cleared her throat, her steps becoming less certain as we ventured into the abyss-like darkness.

Slowly, the eyes around us multiplied. Changing from a couple pairs here and there to hundreds constantly. 

And, the wolves those eyes belonged to became more concerning with each step.

[Dire Wolf] - Level 7

[Dire Wolf] - Level 8

[Dire Wolf] - Level 5

[Dire Wolf] - Level 6

[Dire Wolf] - Level 7

[Dire Wolf] - Level 7

[Dire Wolf] - Level 8

Hopefully, this was where the increase in wolf strength ended - a couple of hundred sub-level 10 wolves weren't the end of the world, but if there were a lot of Pack Leaders or Commanders on top of that, then I might've been in a bit of trouble.

Unfortunately for me, as we continued walking, my fears became a reality. 

The eyes around us, belonging to wolves creeping behind the bushes as they watched us venture deeper into their den, continued to grow more fierce.

[Tara] [Dire Wolf Pack Leader] - Level 12

[Pon] [Dire Wolf Pack Leader] - Level 15

[Koury] [Dire Wolf Pack Leader] - Level 18

[Rogu] [Dire Wolf Pack Leader] - Level 13

[Barre] [Dire Wolf Pack Leader] - Level 19

[Oore] [Dire Wolf Pack Leader] - Level 11

[Hurn] [Dire Wolf Pack Leader] - Level 18

"Stay near me," I said simply, and Raya nodded in response. 

Honestly, I was sure I could handle the growing number of enemies, but I wasn't sure if I could do so while protecting her.

For the first time in a long time - maybe since the beginning of my life in this world, when I was attacked by the sole dire wolf - I actually felt a bit nervous. It felt as if we were walking into the jaws of a monster.

Finally, after multiple minutes of walking with eyes watching our every movement, the path opened up. In front of us was a large, open, mud-filled field.

In the middle, on a makeshift wooden throne, sat a dire wolf.

[Torn] [Dire Wolf General] - Level 45

He looked the most human out of every dire wolf so far. He had large, bulging muscles, that were covered in a thick layer of blue fur. His arms and legs looked human-like, with claws sticking out of his humanoid hands. 

His head was square, looking like a mixture between a wolf's and a human's, as it was covered in fur and jutting out unnaturally.

Overall, he was an ugly motherfucker.

"You're finally here," Torn spoke, staring me down.

"I am," I responded simply.

Around us, in the jungle-like trees, vines, and bushes that surrounded the small field, more eyes appeared.

[Tarun] [Dire Wolf Commander] - Level 29

[Jorun] [Dire Wolf Commander] - Level 32

[Polli] [Dire Wolf Commander] - Level 22

[Gar] [Dire Wolf Commander] - Level 29

[Yomu] [Dire Wolf Commander] - Level 35

[Scar] [Dire Wolf Commander] - Level 39

[LongFur] [Dire Wolf Commander] - Level 32

So, not just a couple of hundred dire wolves behind us, but also a couple dozen commanders lying in wait? 

I tensed my body, a blade forming where my right hand was as I readied myself for the fight of my life.

"To so carelessly wander in my den… you must desire to die," Torn growled out, the huge wolf-man standing up from his throne.

"Not particularly," I answered evenly, shifting my feet as I stared him down.

The situation didn't look great, as we might as well have wandered into a trap. The general was in front of me, but he had hundreds of wolves to throw at me.

So, there was only one path in my mind to get out of here.

"I'll kill them all," I muttered, a small grin forming on my face. I wasn't opposed to being fed XP in the form of hundreds of dire wolves. 

Though, it would tire me out a bit. I'll have to rest before going for Gorn.

But, right now, I had more pressing matters to think about. 

"Raya, be ready," I hummed, tensing my legs.

"Ready?" She asked behind me.

"Yup. Once I kill him, we'll have a lot of small fry to deal with," I said, simply grinning as I shot forward.

There was no reason to let Torn's backup come to his aid - I'll take him down in one shot, and then deal with the XP farm surrounding us.

However, as I shot forward, I suddenly had a bad feeling shoot through me. My eye glanced up, and I stopped in my tracks, lashing my arm around out. 

My knife hand chopped through an object that had been hurtling at me from above - a wooden spear. And, as I noticed dozens of other objects raining down alongside it, I pressed my feet into the floor and scurried backward.

Noticeably, the spears weren't all aimed at me - no, the majority were aimed behind me.

It was a good trap - with the mud slowing down my movements, I barely managed to slam my body into Raya in time to push her out of the way of the raining spears.

"Hah. If only it were that easy," A new voice rang out, and my body stiffened. I spun around, holding my arm out to shield Raya as a long, human-like, wolf came hurtling down from the tree line around us. His feet slammed into the mud, shooting it out in every direction as it dented under his weight.

[Gorn] [Dire Wolf General] - Level 57

Despite being the 'smart' brother, Gorn looked nearly identical to Torn, with bulging muscles and a furry human body.

"Be careful, Torn. It seems he can change his body parts at will," Gorn hummed, staring strangely at me.

"H-He's here too?" Raya muttered behind me, her eyes wide. 

Alright, so she hadn't been meaning to lead me into a trap. Unfortunately…

"I was a bit careless," I grunted, tensing my body. 

We had been heading towards Torn - the stupid one between the brothers - so I had been overly confident. I didn't think he'd have a trap set - I thought I'd only have to be cautious when going for Gorn.

I had willingly gone into an obviously laid trap - the dark area diminishing my vision, the hundreds of wolves we had passed, and the mud to slow down my movements.

I hadn't been concerned about the obvious trap, because I was confident I could take down Torn and the army surrounding us all the same.

Honestly, careless might not have been the right word. I would say I was more overconfident than careless.

After taking down not only hundreds of wolves in the forest, but also easily beating two general's asses, my arrogance was at an all-time high.

I'll have to curb this bad habit of mine.

"Hah, carelessness, or stupidity? Is there truly a difference?" Gorn mocked, striding forward towards me. All around us, the commanders that had been watching silently in the brush started to creep out, all walking towards me and Raya.

"I'd say so," I answered, staring down the man-wolf, "But, not much of one. If you're careless, you're probably also stupid."

 "Hah! I've never thought it like that," Gorn chuckled, holding up his fist as his claws pointed toward me, "That was interesting, so I'll make your death quick."

"Before we fight, I have a question," I said, causing him to look at me questioningly, "Which one do you think you are? Careless, or stupid?"

"Me?" Gorn growled, his eyes flashing in anger, "You're surrounded by an army of a thousand, and staring down two generals, and you dare to ask me that? I thought you were interesting, but you're just a fool!"

"I'd say you're neither. Rather than careless or stupid, you're… conceited," I nodded, stepping forward toward Gorn, "You think you're smarter than you are. This is a nice little trap you placed for me, but…"

I grinned.

"All you did was save me some time. How nice of the final two generals to group up for me!"

Trap? No, this was just a XP farm.

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AN: Thank you for reading! I plan to post the next chapter next Wednesday (5 days from now) or you can read it right now at Patreon.com/Koyon !