Into the tunnel

The abomination, about the size of a football with a dozen small tentacles popping out of it, didn't even have the chance to do anything before Wa'rak dashed forward and sank his terrifyingly sharp jaws into its squishy flesh.

I guess stage two is about to start.

Stage two, a plan created by Aldred, consisted of letting the abominations get right to the entrance of The Dome, then-

"Advance!"

With a war cry from the ginormous gray wolf, all the moon beasts which were guarding the tunnel, charged towards the dark hollow.

With an all-out offensive, the moon beasts hoped to push the abominations all the way back to the forest. Once they reached the forest, the beasts hoped to be able to create a semi-circle formation and defend the tunnel entrance rather than be stuck inside of The Dome.

Wolves, boars, stags, monkeys, even the smaller moon beasts and advanced to the tunnel. Anything and everything that could slay an abomination would be used in the upcoming battle. There were no wounded as of yet, as any beast who had fallen was presumably dead in the depths of the tunnel.

That doesn't mean there won't be any now.

Almost instantly the next abomination latched its tentacles onto the boar at the front of the pack. The boar then smashed itself into the side of the cave wall. The strength at which it hit the wall absolutely crushed the small crescent moon abomination, but only created a few small chips on the boars mud armour.

If all the fights were one on one, the moons beasts could easily win.

Sadly, they were not.

To make up for a single dead abomination, even more would take its place.

Four fleshy footballs shoot out their tentacles, three wrapping around and tying up the boars exposed legs while the fourth aims for its head.

The boar tried to fight back, but being immobilised meant that it was open to the fourth abominations attack. It latched onto the boars head and drove its tentacles straight through the boars eyeballs.

The first beast of the final line had fallen.

That death was a sort of jump-start for the other beasts who were pushing the ghastly blobs back. Enraged, the beasts fought tooth, nail and any other limb they had for any piece of the tunnel they could reclaim.

It was heartbreaking.

This whole mess could have been prevented if Failure had just let the beasts pressure the abominations before they got in this far, now they were dying for nothing.

Whatever Failure was planning, even if it was for the greater good of the moon beasts, Kai didn't like it.

It felt wasteful. It was exactly like the wars back on Earth. The higher ups would willingly sacrifice their men as long as they can relax in the backlines.

But even if Failure was like that, Aldred was not.

Aldred was a symbol of strength and hope for the beasts. The ginormous gray wolf did not actively charge into the fray of the tunnel, but stayed slightly behind the pack.

Every few moments, a strange green light would eminate from the wolfs hide and the beasts in front of him would once again be filled with vigor and their wounds would heal.

So he was a healer all along...

Actually, it wasn't that surprising. Every time Kai went hunting with the full moon wolf, Aldred seemed to be incredibly strong, yet he lacked any sort of incredible ability.

The fact he was a full moon beast meant that he must have abnormal stats, but if that was all a full moon beast was?

Well, now Kai knew. But it didn't change the situation much.

The sheer amount of abominations attacking meant that sometimes the moon beasts at the very front would just be swallowed up by the horde, meaning Aldred wouldn't be able to heal them.

Every loss stung the old wolfs heart.

The viscious battle between the abominations and the beasts below the trees carried on for what felt like a lifetime, but with Aldred's healing, the beasts were slowly pushing back the abominations.

But with each meter gained back, blood painted its way.

The death toll was steadily rising, and Kai hated it. Eventually, the beasts would run out of front line forces, meaning it would be up to the defensive line.

Kai watched with Soul Sight, using the skill to watch the soul of one of the lower leveled beasts to guess how much of the tunnel they had reclaimed.

It was only a quarter.

Countless deaths and hours spent in the fight, they had only reclaimed a quater of the tunnel.

Even though the moon beasts were winning, the abominations had the advantage. The boars were more built for defense, so their attack was lacking. The wolves were more suited for wide open areas where they can make use of their speed. Even the monkeys weren't suited for the close quarters of the tunnel. Unable to set up any traps, all they could do was throw their premade sand bombs, some rocks and the odd strange looking explosive.

Kai knew he would have to face his fears sooner or later, that was the way of the world. But if there wasn't even going to be a later...

With no one from the outlier team around other than himself and Wa'rak, Kai had no other choice.

Kai was never the hero type. In fact, he would much rather be the one getting saved by a hero. Being a hero was scary, but if he was going to die within two weeks anyway...

He may as well go out with a bang.

"Warak, wanna -"

"Yes"

Instantly, the wolf sprung forward. Kai panicked slightly, but quickly followed close behind the pitch black beast, opening his status screen as he did.

Unassigned stat points spent

Mana: 10 -> 115

Putting all his unassigned stat points into Mana, this time actually being happy about dumping all the points into one stat, Kai did his best to keep up with Wa'rak as he activated his innate ability to fuse with Umbra

Only something was different.

Mana threshold reached

1150/1000 Mana needed

New perks for Wolf of ??? unlocked

Wolf of ??? mode activated

+50 Strength

+50 Dexterity

+50 Constitution

+30 Stamina

Skill-Wolf's senses: Gained

Skill-Indomitable: Gained

Warning: 5 minutes remaining before Mana depletion

Perfect

While transforming, his size stayed the same, yet his muscles seemed more densely packed-

Stronger

The much higher stats were a welcome bonus. The fact they had multiplied by so much only managed to help Kai feel even more proud about picking his current class.

While the Lycan and wolf continues to dash towards the tunnel, Kai opened his status to see the new skill he gained.

[Indomitable (rare)]

Raw power is the most important factor in winning. Doubles your Strength stat while halving your Dexterity. Cost 50 Mana a minute to uphold.

Ha! Wa'rak really was the best mentor.

With a loud roar, Kai activated Indomitable as he charged into the tunnel behind Wa'rak. He nearly stumbled at the quick lack of Dexterity, but quickly caught himself as it was still over five times the amount of Dexterity he had before the transformation.

The darkness enveloped them as they dashed closer and closer towards the conflict, the sounds of battle getting louder and louder.

In front of them, the sight of around a dozen moon beasts holding back a wave of abominations. Majority were blobs with tentacles, but there were a few which had actual shapes.

Like the humanoid figure at the very back of the pack.

Behind all the abominations was a figure, about ten feet tall, two gangly arms adorned with sharp claws. The ghastly figure had one single eye on its head, that eye decorated with a quarter moon.

Aldred easily demolished any abominations that managed to get past the dozen moon beasts of the front line, but he did nothing more than that.

Either Failure asked him to let the beasts get levels...

... Or to let them be sacrifices.

Bastard.

Wa'rak reached the back of the pack, jumping onto the back of a mud covered boar and using its back to launch himself over everything else. Diving straight into the horde, clawing through three of the abominations at once.

The reason that the moon beasts had been so slow at recovering the tunnel, Kai now knew.

There were no primary attackers in the pack. It consisted of three stags, four boars, two monkeys, a raven and a squirrel.

Also Aldred, but for whatever reason he only stuck to healing.

Even though the squirrel and raven seemed to be the weakest, they were the ones doing the most to the horde of abominations. The ravens cries would temporarily disorient the hideous creatures, while any acorns the squirrel threw exploded on impact. Even though the explosions were small, it all added up.

But what if you added two offensive options into the equation?

Summoning Life Eater, Kai watched the appalling weapon summon into his hand, bringing his total Strength up to 113.

Kai crouched down and sprung forward, launching over all the moon beasts without even having to land.

Landing right in the front of the pack, Kai couldn't even see Aldred's stunned reaction to what just happened.

Not that he wanted to anyway, he was much to invested on the sight before him.

Wa'rak was tearing through the abominations on the left of the cave, so Kai went right.

Brandishing the hideous weapon in his right hand and going with just his claws for his left, Kai charged straight into the horde.

Every time he's been in a situation like this previously, he was absolutely terrified. Nonchalance would always work, but it's effects would be limited due to his own fear.

But what if he wasn't scared?

He was either going to die now or in the future. Everyone dies eventually, be it old age or fighting the most ugly beings you have ever seen in a dimly lit tunnel while surrounded by murals depicting your current situation.

With the help of Nonchalance, every one of Kai's moves was cold and calculated. His slashes struck true, he shredded the foul beasts all around him.

But while his attacks were cold and calculated, they were equally as wild and destructive.

Even though he was doing fine for now, Kai had no skill, no finesse, no technique, only raw strength. Luckily, it was enough to demolish the weaker abominations and even some of the slightly stronger ones.

Progress was rapid, the tunnel was being reclaimed at a much quicker pace.

Still, an absolute novice was bound to mess up. More and more attacks landed on his much larger body, but with his much larger HP pool, Kai didn't care.

Seconds passed terrifyingly slow, but it felt like an eternity. Kai would cut through the crescent moon abominations tentacles with his claws and finish them with his blade. The blade was slowly absorbing the life of those it killed, but it was a miniscule amount.

The more defining feature, was the Mana circulation bonus. Even though Kai had no idea what those words truly meant, he could feel its effects faintly in his body. Just the basic effects meant it allowed Kai a few precious more seconds in this form.

Everything was in favour of the moon beasts.

Steadily accumulating XP and life essence for his blade was a satisfying thing, but what was much more satisfying was the rate at which Kai and Wa'rak exterminated the abominations.

Countless fell on their side while the moon beasts had no casualties all thanks to the two menaces who were leading the charge.

Five-eights, half, three-eights. The tunnel was being reclaimed, the final push was in effort.

His Mana was slowly burning, fueling his Strength which was absolutely monstrous at this point. More and more abominations fell at his attacks, only making Kai more and more aggressive.

Wa'rak was the same, his anger turning into wrath for all his fallen kin. Every slash hit the same target multiple times in the matter of seconds, obliterating the weaker abominations out of existence while still instantly killing the stronger ones with little to no effort.

There was no stopping the war machines. Wa'rak was always extremely strong, meanwhile in this form Kai had the bonus of around ten levels on his side. If you included Indomitable into that...

After what felt like an eternity of war, all that was left on the enemy side was the creepy looking abomination which towered over the Lycan duo.

Standing over a pile of corpses, both Wa'raks and Kai's fur was coated with abomination flesh and gore. Combined with the darkness of the tunnel, it created a truly horrifying sight.

The wendigo looking creature was not scared though, it only flexed its claws, ear-grating cracks emanating from the bony weapons.

With a two against one, the fight should have been in the favour of Wa'rak and Kai.

That was until the abomination disappeared.