Fenrir

The sernine stretches its legs out for a few seconds before its tail suddenly begins to vibrate and it slowly starts to float into the air. After that, it’s slitted eyes focus on a goblin that I have walk through the portal into the void near it.

I watch alongside Dawn as the strange creature stares at the goblin for several seconds before suddenly bursting forward with the pounce speed of a snake at it and spitting out some sort of net of void energy at it. The net entraps the goblin entirely while at the same time slowly dissolving the creature until it’s small enough to be pulled into the sernine’s mouth and then down into its stomach.

All of this happens in just a few seconds, startling both me and Dawn at its suddenness and ferocity.

That was… a bit more like a snake than a wolf, I guess.

That thought dies away though after I see the sernine landing on the ground and lowering its head to sniff around for what I’m assuming is more goblins. It then follows its nose through the portal and then into my dungeon.

Interesting. Good sense of smell?

I decide to let it do what it wants and even open up paths for it until it runs into the next closest goblin, which it eats just as quickly as the first.

This pattern repeats itself for a few times before the sernine’s pitch black eyes suddenly release a few flares of black sparks and it starts heading back towards the portal again. It then enters it and passes through the void until it reaches a spot close to where it was spawned and lies down to take a nap.

Huh.

I stop it from taking a nap by spawning in another monster – a direwolf this time – and ordering it to battle the thing. This makes the sernine jump back to its feet with a hissing growl before beginning to circle around the direwolf, which does the exact same thing to it.

Okay, so there are still some wolf-like instincts in it as well.

The creature suddenly sprints forwards, startling the direwolf as it raises one of its paws and the razor sharp claws on it before bringing them down at an incredibly fast speed towards the direwolf’s right side. And while the direwolf does try to dodge it, it doesn’t have much success thanks to the sernine’s incredible speed.

“The attack it was doing before now is a little bit finicky,” I begin explaining to Dawn what I know about the practicality of the sernine’s powers as she watches it jump in and out, clawing out several pieces of flesh from the direwolf in the process and pissing it off all the while, “it is incredibly powerful, but it's only useful on monsters that are a certain size. Otherwise, the little ‘net’ won’t cover the entire creature, and it might be able to get away before getting dissolved. They may also be able to break out by using enough of a different element to pierce through the net itself.”

I continue to watch the fight as the direwolf struggles to get any hits in. But even when it does get a hit or two in despite the sernine’s speed and its ability to blend in with the void around it, they only seem to scratch its scales without hurting it beyond knocking it away.

“The claws though are what should cause the most issue with the intruders,” I add while looking at the faint black energy coating all of the wounds on the direwolf, “they’re laced with a type of void energy that blocks healing completely for about an hour. Which could cause a lot of problems for a group of intruders.”

Dawn hums, impressed with the monster so far as we continue to watch it bully the direwolf for several more minutes until the poor monster eventually dies.

“Aside from those two powers, it also has two others,” I add while the sernine begins to slowly devour the direwolf’s body, only for it to vanish in the middle of doing so, causing noticeable irritation to the creature before it returns to its napping location. “Although one of them isn’t for combat. It allows the creature to sense and locate void energy and the void itself.”

Like with how it found the void again after wandering through my dungeon hunting goblins.

“The other one is a suicide option that it should only use after any other sernines with it are already dead or dying,” I add before turning my attention away from the new addition to the dungeon to look at the intruders at the entrance. “It basically explodes their body using the void element, sending an explosive force of black flames everywhere with the creature’s scales as extra attacks that fly outwards in the explosion.”

It’s the only monster I’ve ever made that has a suicidal attack, but it’s certainly a powerful one. And I designed these creatures as pack creatures just like wolves. What with how they jump in and out with small slashing wounds against stronger monsters like that direwolf.

Or, I guess I should say larger monsters. Seeing as this one sernine literally tore apart that direwolf without any help.

Anyways, I’ll be using these creatures on the fifteenth floor. After the dungeon shifts to the void entirely.

Although the mana pulse and mana cost are a little counterintuitive towards the fact that they’re pack hunters. So that might become a problem once I actually begin using them. But for now, it’s fine, since I have extra time to spawn in a lot of them before even getting to my fifteenth floor.

Also…

“Do you sense that?” I ask Dawn while focusing on the entrance to my dungeon.

Dawn glances away from Fang before focusing her attention on him again as she says, “Yeah. I’ve felt it for a while now.”

So it wasn’t just me after.

It feels like there’s some sort of suppressive aura outside of the dungeon. Probably from a being much stronger than we are.

But considering how we already have Tier 7 bodyguards, does that mean it’s from something at Tier 8 or even 9? Or is one of the bodyguards finally flaring out their aura and announcing their presence?

I stare at the entrance as if it will give me my answers before eventually turning back to the new monster.

No use guessing. Especially when I can ask about the aura later from the City Lord.

Now I should make a home for this guy to stay in.