I sneezed as a gust of wind tickled my nose. My eyes were fixated on the cave entrance, awaiting my pack's return. Swaths of snow drifted into the cave as the blizzard outside raged on, making the hunt harder than it needed to be. But surely, this as well, was a test from the lord. Ever since the fifth layer, the environment had become a lot harder to deal with. While powerful, my body didn’t really support swimming and diving, which had made the fifth floor a nightmare.

My entire pack had been stuck on the small island we arrived on, unable to get to another island due to the massive monsters lurking in the blue. The island had been hunted clean after a scant few hours, after which there was nothing to do but to wait for more low-leveled monsters to spawn, or attempt to bait some of the aquatic monsters onto the shore. What made matters worse, was that the entire pack needed to hit the level cap and evolve. The amount of time they’d spent on that tiny island was mind-boggling.

Of course, I recognized this for what it was. A test by the mighty Lord Trahnesh, aimed to test my patience. I did the best I could, but having grown so accustomed to the constant slaughter, the long breaks in between kills on that island took their toll eventually. I had managed to recruit two more wolves on the fourth layer, but after my episode, we were back to a pack of six. The two new packmates hadn’t made it, but that was okay. They didn’t fit into the pack like the other five did.

They had followed me since the second layer and we’d been through many battles. We were sworn brothers. We were family. Eventually, we managed to slaughter enough to get everyone to the next tier, even if it took seemingly forever. It was a pity that I had to give up on the bonus objectives of this layer, but I was just glad to leave that accursed island.

So happy to finally have passed this test, that I forgot that it would most likely get worse on the next floor. To remind me, the elevator we used descended into a snowy, mountainous area. We’d learn quickly that blizzards came through here every day. The terrain was treacherous and slippery. Hidden crevices threatened to swallow unsuspecting wanderers, never to return them to the surface. Specialized monsters were hiding in the snow, ambush hunters waiting at every corner.

It was designed to be as hostile as possible. BUT! I rejoiced in the challenge and praised the Lord for sending us willing sacrifices as we tore through everything that dared approach. My elemental resistances, which were partially shared with my pack, protected us from all but the harshest environments. We painted the white mountains red wherever we went, searching for the targets of my bonus objectives. I refused to give up on them again, and they were our main focus.

My ears perked up when I heard a faint howl in the distance. Red was returning.

It didn’t take too much longer until a wolf slinked into the cave, shaking off the snow that was caked on its fur. The wolf whose fur had taken on a red coloration, which had earned it its name, approached and prostrated itself before me, paying the appropriate respect to the alpha. It didn’t take long until more howls could be heard and the cave started filling up with the rest of my pack. Blue, Green, Red, Yellow, and Pink, all named after their respective fur colors, were prostrating themselves before me.

I tower above them, easily five times their size, my black fur blending my form into the darkness of the cave. I regarded the wolves before me, watching as their respect for me almost bordered on piety, which was, of course, blasphemy. My eye twitched as I suppressed the knee-jerk reaction to kill. Sure, they mistook me for some deity, disrespecting the one true lord in the process, but they were mere animals. Their base instincts could not comprehend the greatness of Lord Trahnesh and thus latched onto the next best thing.

Me.

I had become a powerful force, for sure, but I was nowhere near strong enough to call myself a god. No, my unwavering devotion belonged only to the Lord, and I would quintuple my praying in order to make up for the wrongdoings of my makeshift family. With any hope they’d obtain higher intelligence upon evolving, after which I would be able to enlighten them and guide them on the true path of slaughter.

For now, I let out a soft bark to let them know that they may relax. One by one they came up to me and shared with me their findings through our telepathic link. They could only communicate through rough flashes of emotions, red and green even managing to convey a picture every now and again, but it would suffice. I’d grown better at interpreting the way they “talked”. They had scouted the area around this cave, finding and killing some monsters, relayed to me where the dangerous crevices were located, and reported on powerful monsters they’d seen, too strong for them to defeat alone.

For now, it seemed like the area around here wasn’t too dangerous, so I sent them back out in order to hunt. The five of them were lagging behind, struggling to keep up with my level. This was, in part, my own fault. The ability that connected us funneled some of the experience they earned by killing back into me. This was a great boon for me, but it caused them to level slower, causing us to spend more time than necessary on each layer to get everybody nice and evolved.

On the other hand, there were benefits to this as well. A system notification popped up, letting me know that I’d once again killed a hundred monsters. Of course, I hadn’t really killed them, but due to the link I had with my pack, their kills counted towards the goal anyway. It made getting the bonus again and again an easy feat, and I took full advantage before descending a layer. As always, the system played the little animation that reminded me of a one-armed bandit from Earth, making a show out of randomizing the reward I’d be getting.

Congratulations on killing 100 monsters!

Reward tier: C!

- 10 Attribute points.

- 2 Mutation points

I scoffed at the C-tier rewards. C-tier was pretty middle of the road, so they usually weren’t that great. Still having some more attribute and mutation points was better than some of the other crap I’d gotten. I once received a C-tier passive skill that enhanced the damage I did with clubs. Utterly useless, since even if I had such a weapon, using it would be less effective than simply attacking with my claws, teeth, or any of my skills.

Not hesitating for a second, I put the ten attribute points I’d gotten into faith. I’d graciously received the sixth attribute when I evolved to the fifth tier and had been putting all of my points into it ever since. It was only appropriate for me to do so, in order to prove that my faith in the Lord was unwavering.

I slowly got up from my relaxed position, stretching my limbs to get the blood flowing. The blizzard was starting to let up and I was growing bored just sitting around and letting my pack do all the work. It had been a few hours since my last kill, and I felt a mighty need to show my dedication to the Lord. I stepped out of the cave and howled into the sky, letting my pack know that the hunt was on, and informing any closeby monsters that they were about to be gloriously sacrificed.

My pack joined me in howling, the majestic sound echoing off the nearby mountains, announcing the start of yet another slaughter.