Chapter 36 - Wolf Pack

Yarrow looked to the wolves with a scowl, "Those are far more formidable enemies than I would prefer to choose for your first fight in a party," he directed the statement towards Ash, "We will keep the door's barrier at our backs."

The barrier would keep the wolves from circling them, though it wouldn't allow for easy escape. In order to keep monsters in the dungeon effectively, it wouldn't let adventurer's through if they were in combat. Once they stepped out, their only real option was to defeat the wolves else Yarrow would die defending them.

Just as Ash was beginning to rethink attacking them at all, Luna's hand moved to rest calmly on her arm, "Keep in mind, Yarrow's among the strongest in Redwood Stars and I've been here a while, even if not as much as I'd have liked to, so I'm no pushover either. I've fought these types of monsters before, though not in such a large pack. We have this under control and, since we're still here in the safe zone, we also have some time to make sure we're prepared properly. Start by thinking through your spell skill and seeing if there's anything that will help us."

Ash nodded slightly and glanced at her mana, finding it fully refilled during the walk to the dungeon. She scowled slightly, trying to puzzle over all of the building blocks of magic she had to see if there was anything that could help in the upcoming battle.

She summoned Starstone and Starshield, taking part of each to see if she could form a new spell. Starshield was made up of more than just the words for star and shield, also containing a word that roughly meant hold as one would a shield. That part of the spell was what caused the feeling to jar through her mana at blows. She took that part of the spell and combined it with Starstone's after removing strike. She was less confident the spell would function nearly as well if it was both an attack spell and, if it functioned as she hoped, a snare.

She nodded slightly and moved on, taking earth once more from an instance of Starstone and combining it with hold and shield from Starshield before adding absorption from Mana Absorption. The spell seemed to take a moment longer to form and was draining a fair bit of mana in the process, something that made sense considering the spell contained the largest number of building blocks thus far. It also was forming a fourth spell from three as Mana Manipulation, despite being a skill, took up a slot in the Spell Storage when she was using it for Spellweaving. Whether or not it worked, she'd have to rest and regain her mana before they went into combat.

She was just beginning to grow dizzy enough that she was contemplating dismissing the skill and all of the spells she had been weaving with when several notifications appeared.

Ash sat heavily and waited for her mana to restore fully before standing. For now, at least, she was done Spellweaving. Luna and Yarrow had finished all of their preparations as well and were waiting for her. She checked her combat pouch, making sure it had the few mana potions she'd been given at the temple as well as anything else she'd need in the fight. Completely ready, they stepped forward to face the pack.

The wolves lunged forward as soon as Yarrow stepped from the barrier, the entire pack moving to fan out as one and all of them preparing attack spells. Ash cast Stone Wall to one side of their party as she exited as well, watching as magic formed an earthen wall that would temporarily keep the wolves at bay from that direction. Once instance of that spell was all she'd cast considering it took a fair bit of mana but it was enough to give them two directions the wolves couldn't approach from.

Yarrow prepared his blade and his shield and Luna dove into combat immediately, casting Starsoak several times as the wolves grew close enough that dodging would mean slamming into each other. One went down, the formation spreading some with the loss and causing her next casting to be dodged.

Ash took the time to cast Snare Vine to their unprotected right flank, relieved when she found she was able to cast it either as an immediate effect or a trap. She then turned her own attention to attacking, two instances of Starsoak launched to take down a wolf that had just landed after dodging a spell from Luna.

Yarrow caught the first wolf to lunge on his shield even as he slammed a heavy blow into the second with his sword, magic radiating off of him that gained the attention of the five remaining wolves. Ash cast Starcloak on him, putting another in one of the four slots she had for Spellstorage so she was ready when it went out.

She filled the other three slots with Starsoak as the wolf that had been approaching her changed trajectory to head towards Yarrow. Its paw grazed the snare spell and it was immediately wrapped in thick vines that were already beginning to smoulder from the heat its fire magic radiated.

She knew two spells would be plenty enough to take it down but wasn't certain the vines would hold long enough. Without much thought, she threw all three at once at the wolf, completely decimating it. A small sound caught her attention, a notification that was deemed less important than the combat.

Ash once more filled two of her slots with Starsoak but didn't fill the last. Her mana was restoring at a decent speed but not enough to keep up with such rapid-fire use.

She wasn't alone, though, and Luna was also on the offensive while Yarrow speedily kept his shield between himself and the wolves. His blade snapped out several times to deliver strong blows that dazed the wolves and made them perfect targets. Between the two of them, they'd downed a wolf each while Ash had been focusing on the bound one.

With only two wolves remaining, one of them seemed to come to its senses against Yarrow's aggro skill. It jumped back, leaving the last one alone to get smashed in the face by Yarrow's shield and dispatched by another heavy swing of his blade.

The remaining wolf stared at them for a moment before tipping its head back and howling, the sound chilling.