[Chapter 40. A What!?]

  Slowly, sound returned, first a faint humming, then the even fainter whistle of cold wind that seeped through cracks in the stone walls.

  His eyes opened, his vision swimming before gradually focusing on the dim cavern ceiling above.

  After a few blinks, he saw two healing drones hovering above him, their soft blue light casting gentle shadows on the carnage surrounding him. He could feel every bone beneath him; luckily, none of them were his own. Looking around as he got up, he saw that the two healing drones were the only active ones, their mechanical bodies the sole source of light in the blood-soaked chamber.

  With a wave of his hand, he dismissed them. They vanished in a cloud of blue sparks, leaving him in near darkness.

  "That was officially worse than the Broodmother," he murmured while getting off the ground, his voice hoarse and strained.

  Searanox examined his body, running his hands over limbs that had been mangled moments before. Everything had healed. Even his arm which had previously consisted almost entirely of bone was completely restored, without scars or signs of injury. The only evidence of his near-fatal wounds was the dried blood caking his clothes and skin.

  Afterward, he checked his gear. His dagger was gone, and so was his rifle. The rifle was easy to spot, lying half-buried under a pile of wolf carcasses, but the knife took a bit longer to locate. It was buried deep inside the skull of a wolf, its hilt barely visible beneath bone fragments and congealed blood.

  With everything back in place, he walked over to one of the ledges and pulled himself up, his muscles protesting despite the magical healing. Once he reached the highest one, he saw half a dozen openings that led deeper inside, their dark mouths promising further danger. He took a deep breath, the acrid smell of death filling his lungs, and summoned four recon drones.

  He watched them fly off into the tunnels ahead, their forms flickering as they entered stealth. With some time on his hands, he took out a bottle of sweet tea and took a big swig while checking his status.

  Searanox stood at the edge of the highest plateau, keeping an eye on each entrance, his rifle ready for anything that might come through. But nothing happened as expected. After all, he had been lying on the ground for hours and was still alive.

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  Not long after, he received a mental ping from one of his drones that had found the correct tunnel. He made his way down to the third-highest level and took the left tunnel entrance, summoning two assault drones, one offensive drone, and one defensive drone as he moved.

  He constantly checked corners, walls, and outcroppings as he advanced.

  "This shit will give me PTSD." he uttered his rifle swapped from left to right.

  After a fair amount of walking, he reached a point where the tunnel opened up. However, he decided to turn back and rest briefly a little further down the tunnel.

  He wasn't tired, but his TP pool wasn't full and who knew what might be waiting ahead. He began to eat while waiting for his TP to replenish. The constant breeze of cold air was worse down here.

  Almost half an hour later, he prepared himself.

  Leaving his bag behind, he summoned his drones once more. As he stepped into the cavern, he saw a high-ceilinged chamber it was nothing he hadn't seen before. The smell was rancid, but worse was the cold wind that howled past him as he entered. It was nearly freezing. This chamber was similar to the previous one, except it had only one additional level, high above where he couldn't clearly see.

  All drones moved inside and took their positions.

  Without announcing himself, he fired a salvo of overcharged shots into the chamber. Three of the dozen dire wolves fell instantly before the battle even began. He didn't hold back. Every shot was overcharged, draining his TP with each blast. After spending 60TP on overcharged shots in the last minute alone, only one enemy remained and it was clearly a greater dire wolf.

  That was, until it stood up.

  It was a massive specimen, standing taller than the greater dire wolf by no small margin. On its front shoulder was a deep, thick groove carved into its body a permanent scar. There was no way he could hold both of them back at once. The Alpha let out a howl even more deafening than that of the greater dire wolves.

  With concentrated focus fire, he killed the greater dire wolf before they reached his barrier. The Alpha, however, charged straight into the barrier. After just a few swipes, it shattered. That brief moment was enough. He charged both his magitech rifle and the offensive drone's weapon, releasing a simultaneous shot that tore deep into the Alpha's already scarred shoulder.

  It staggered.

  There wasn't much it could do after that. By the time it recovered, the barrier was already back up. Both assault drones continuously fired their crimson beams into it. In the end, the Alpha fell under the relentless onslaught. Searanox shook his head as he dismissed his drones and walked back toward his backpack.

  A cold wind drifted through the tunnels as he bent down to pick up his backpack. A thought struck him.

  A deep, vibrating howl echoed through the tunnel, carried by the chilling wind. The chamber entrance froze over as shards of ice and snow blasted down the tunnel. Slowly, he turned around, the strap of his backpack still in his hand.

  The chamber he had just left was now a frozen landscape.

  Everything was covered in ice and frost. At the center of it all stood a wolf even more massive than the Alpha. Its fur was pure white-silver with a faint blue sheen, its mane resembling flowing ice.