Dragon of the Midwest

The atmosphere thickened with tension as the party stared at the massive wolf before them.

Its growl was deep and reverberating and the creature's predatory gaze locked onto Frank, completely prepared to claim its easy meal.

"Get ready!" Elara called out, shifting into a fighting stance and tightening her grip on her daggers. "We'll take this one down, Frank, so you just get some rest."

Without hesitation, she dashed forward, for the first time activating her innate ability, "Feline's Agility".

Immediately, she became a blur, dodging the wolf's strikes with cat-like reflexes and striking its body with precision.

[Feline's Agility: Increases reflexes and agility, allowing for swift dodging of attacks and increased precision for critical strikes. Critical rate increases per AGI level.]

Frank was stunned. It looked like he wasn't the only one who hadn't been fighting at full strength during training. But the beast wasn't done yet.

Elara continued to engage head-on, and Max followed suit, his muscles rippling as he activated "Unyielding Charge". He launched himself at the wolf like a human battering ram, charging headfirst with a bright glow surrounding his body.

[Unyielding Charge: User can enhance their attack power and move through enemies as if they were nothing, knocking them aside with immense force. Damage scales with STR.]

The wolf staggered from the impact, allowing Leo, who activated his skill "Shadow Step" to leap in.

[Shadow Step: User can move swiftly and silently, evading enemies and landing sneak attacks. Damage is increased against unsuspecting targets.]

"Keep up the assault!" Leo shouted as he sprang toward the wolf's back, landing a stab that not only connected but sent shockwaves through the beast's entire body.

Despite all the damage, the wolf was still standing. Heavily injured, but very much alive and dangerous.

Frank felt his heart race. His HP finally ticked upward as his regeneration kicked in—

[HP: 7/70]

His body was still scarred and weak. He needed more time to heal, not wanting to repeat his near-death experience against the spiders.

The wolf howled and charged the group. Despite their combined efforts, fatigue began to show on their faces. Elara managed to dodge the beast's snapping jaw, but the look in her eyes was clear, she was getting tired.

"Leo! Watch out!" Max called, barely blocking a strike aimed at his friend. Leo fell back quickly, bracing himself against the wall and breathing heavily.

"Stay focused!" Elara shouted, but Frank could see that they were exhausted. The only thing keeping them going was the fact that the beast looked just as bad as they did.

The wolf lunged for Max, who clasped his hands together and swung downward, landing a devastating hit on the wolf's head and finally putting it down.

"See," panted Max as he sat on the ground. "No sweat."

The party's bodies shone with light as the system restored their HP and stamina.

'Looks like that was enough to level them up,' Frank noted, happy that things had turned out alright.

"Seems like you guys really didn't need my help with this one," Frank remarked, relieved.

"Is this a bad time to say we told you so?" Elara clapped back, wearing a cocky grin.

"Yeah, and the mall is right around the corner. Should be smooth sailing from here," Leo added, pointing in its direction.

"LEO!" Frank chastised. Did Leo not realize he was traveling with a man who had a whopping ZERO luck? Oh, wait, he didn't. Either way, Frank continued to scold him, "You can't say things like that out loud!"

"I'm sure it's fi—" Leo was about to respond before he heard low growls around them. Multiple low growls.

From the nearby shadows, seven more evolved wolves emerged, surrounding the party. Most of them seemed just as strong as the one they had just killed, only they were unharmed.

Then the eighth wolf emerged, easily three times the size of the others.

The party was mortified. They knew this was beyond them. They had barely managed to defeat one of the wolves, and now there were eight AND a boss?

"Okay, who pissed off God?!" Max yelled, not expecting an answer.

'Yeah, hi, that was probably me,' Frank thought as the zero by his luck stat mocked him yet again.

"We don't have time to complain. Regroup and-" Elara didn't get time to finish before she narrowly dodged an incoming claw.

The wolves weren't waiting for them to regroup. One of their own was dead, and they didn't look like they were accepting apologies.

Elara, Max, and Leo were swarmed. They were barely able to dodge the relentless onslaught, let alone keep the wolves off their injured comrade. Frank could almost visualize HP bars above their heads depleting, but they managed to hold out for a time.

In the end, their determination didn't matter. The enemies were simply too many and too strong. The alpha evolved wolf hadn't even made its move yet.

They were at the end of their stamina and had no more aces up their sleeves.

Frank checked his HP, hoping to see something promising. Instead—

[HP: 22/70]

Not enough. He grimaced. Even with the effects of Oathkeeper and Horde Breaker, it just wasn't enough.

The wolves closed in, completely surrounding them until finally the alpha spoke:

"End them."

"No!" Frank's voice cracked with rage as he knew they wouldn't survive this attack.

"Get back!" Elara screamed, her voice cracking with desperation as Max became the wolves first target.

The chilling realization struck Frank: they were surrounded, and if he didn't act now, he would lose them.

[HP: 27/70]

In that moment, Frank felt a familiar burning rage within him.

This was unfair.

Sadistic.

Cruel.

These were his mentors and friends, they had helped him more than they realized. Even if it cost him his life, he couldn't just watch any longer. Damning this world for its sadism, he let out a guttural scream.

The wolves leapt towards them, and for the first time since this catastrophe started, he snapped.

[Emergency skill generated!

Limit Breaker (SPEX): Increases damage to all enemies by 1000%, decreases damage taken from exterior sources by 50%. Rapidly drains the user's HP while active. The user's sanity will be overridden until all nearby hostile entities are dispatched. Can only be activated when the user's rage overrides their reason.]

"Get. Down." He commanded his teammates before his eyes went white. His skin glowed a deep red as the earth around him shook.

He kicked the ground, shooting him up into the air like a gunshot.

"THIS. ENDS. NOW!" Frank roared, the words erupting from him as flames ignited in his palms.

"FIREBALL! FIREBALL! FIREBALL!" he bellowed, unleashing his newfound power without hesitation. His hands were a blur, shooting down fireballs at a rate that would make most machine guns jealous.

[Critical hit!]

[Critical hit!]

[Critical hit!]

[Critical hit!]

[Critical hit!]

[Critical hit!]

Each cast caused a massive explosion to engulf the wolves, the alpha included. The blasts lit up the night, and the flames swallowed the attacking wolves, leaving nothing but massive, smoldering craters behind.

[Evolved Wolves Defeated x7: 1400 XP Gained

Level up!]

The only wolf remaining was the alpha, but it could barely stand. Its pride was broken, it had lost the very pack it swore to protect. Now, all it could do was await its death.

"You have fought well, and we were no match," the wolf managed between coughs filled with blood. "As you have bested the alpha, leadership of the pack now belongs to-"

The wolf didn't get the chance to finish speaking. Even though it was delivering great news, Frank couldn't hear it. The skill was clear: "The user's sanity will be overridden until all nearby hostile entities are dispatched," and this guy was still breathing.

Frank had already appeared next to it, his sledgehammer raised above his head.

"FIREBALL!" he yelled in a blind rage.

The head of his hammer burst into flames, propelling his strike forward like a rocket blasting off into orbit. When the strike landed, a pillar of flames shot into the sky like a beacon, as if to announce the alpha's defeat to the entire area.

[Evolved Alpha Wolf Defeated: 500 XP Gained]

As silence settled in, Frank slowly regained his sanity. The glow left his skin, and the light returned to his eyes.

[HP: 72/76]

Confused by his charred surroundings, he looked to his comrades. Their mouths were agape, seemingly still processing what had just happened.

Seeing as they were occupied, he checked his stats for answers.

[New title unlocked!

Leader of the Pack: Wolves and their kin will no longer be hostile towards you, instead heeding your call and obeying your commands.]

[Host: Frank Gunn

Title(s): Horde Breaker, Leader of the Pack

Level: 9

XP to Next Level: 1300/2000

HP: 72/76

Mana: 55/55

Strength (STR): 33+

Constitution (CON): 38+

Agility (AGI): 21+

Intelligence (INT): 13+

Charisma (CHA): 7+

Luck (LUC): 0

Stat Points Available: 16]

[Skills:

Oathkeeper (SPEX)

Limit Breaker (SPEX)

Sixth Sense (Innate)

Diligent Student (Innate)

Regeneration (Lvl 3)

Persisting Strength (Lvl 2)

Featherfoot (Lvl 1) → (Lvl 2): Additionally allows sharper movements at high speed.

Hand-to-Hand Combat (Lvl 2)

Makeshift Weapon Proficiency (Lvl 2) -> (Lvl 3): 20% -> 30%

Fireball (Lvl 1) → (Lvl 2): Increased scaling with INT.

Mana Efficiency (Lvl 1)]

After seeing his new skills, he looked around again before turning to his comrades and gesturing to the destruction with his thumb.

"Uh, guys, what exactly happened here?"