Training the Pride (1)

I had the wolves lead me to their nest, I dragged the Grey Wolf leader's corpse with me and yet, none of the wolves made any remark about it. I didn't know whether it was because they were beasts or that they were just that cold. Following the wolves, we arrived at an area with many big trees with holes at its base.

The wolf at front howled and wolves came out of the holes, the wolves that came out were either old, young, or pregnant, able-bodied wolves were few, I assumed they were left for guarding the pack. The wolves that came out from the holes were wary of me.

I walked past the wolves group that attacked me with the beautiful fox following beside me, I threw the corpse of the Grey Wolf leader before them, the corpse was missing its head. The wolves backed away in fear when they saw the corpse. I looked at the wolves before me and said with no emotion.

"Submit or die like your leader." (MC)

They looked at their former leader and after a short pause, they started to howl.

"You strong, we follow you!"

"New Alpha!"

They acknowledged me as their new leader like the others, the moment they did, a notification rang in my head.

"[Dominate] skill's effect activated! You have dominated this pack with a display of power and fear. You have become the new leader of this pack, the Alpha male! Increasing the pack members loyalty and their potential by ten points!"

I felt something leaking out of my body and entered the wolves bodies when I appraised the wolves again, I found their max level rose by ten levels. While there were still fear in their eyes, I could see newfound respect and awe for me in them.

With this, I could confirm that max level represents an individual's potential, I guessed the higher it was the higher their chance to evolve. Knowing my cheat could reinforce the subordinates under me put me in a superb mood, ten levels plus to max level meant more power for my subordinates and the stronger they were the better. I took the former Alpha's dwelling, it was a big hole under the biggest tree around, I was curious how did the tree doesn't fall despite the hole under it.

The tree was at least fifteen meters tall with a thick smooth trunk about five meters in diameter, the tree was dark brown color and all the branches and leaves were located on the top of the tree, forming an umbrella shape.

Steel Trunk Tree

Barkless trees that belong to the big tree category in both sizes of the tree itself and its trunk, the biggest of its kind ever recorded was thirty meters tall. The tree's roots are strong and abundant to support the tree humongous size. Logs procure from this tree is dense and tough, the logs are also heavy enough that it won't float on water. Perfect for making armor and weapon.

I put my hand on the tree and grabbed hard and yet, I barely left a mark on the tree. The feel of the tree was strange, it felt soft like foam and yet there was a strong rebounding force in it. I went inside the hole and it was bigger than I expected.

It was about four meters in diameter and two meters high, I let out a small wisp of fire and discovered that the hole's wall was covered by strains of roots, even the roof and floor also covered by it. There were claw marks all over the roots, which I deduced left when they dig this hole. These dense roots were the reason the trees still standing despite the huge holes under them, I put away my baggage in the hole and came out.

There were thirty-seven wolves in total, twenty-three were fighters, the rest were five cubs, four pregnant females, two elderly and three injured. I took the first ten wolves hunting, the other thirteen fighter wolves were left guarding the nest. I used the stick on the wolves when I dominated them to become my pack, now, I'm gonna gave them candy.

We searched around and found a pack of cow-like monsters drinking and eating water grass on a small river, not far from the nest. I appraised one of them, they were called Steel Back Bulls, they were monsters with shapes like a pure white cow, two big horns and black metal covering their back and spine. According to the appraisal, they were not that strong and tastes delicious.

They were twenty of them, give or take, they were crowding closely together. But fortunately, there were some straying from the herd. I ordered the ten wolves to split into two teams and attacked two bulls closest to us, I wanted to see how they hunt. With a roar, the wolves went after the bulls. The bulls were alerted and quickly crossed the river to escape, the wolves surrounded the separated bulls.

Despite the wolves surrounding them, the bulls didn't stop and attempt to charge through. The wolves stopped the bulls by attacking its legs, I could tell it was not the first time the wolves hunted the bulls from the way they hunt. The wolves attacked the bull's legs first to stop them from escaping then slowly chipped away the bulls HP and stamina by attacking ferociously.

The wolves attacked in turns, the bulls were covered in wounds, the wolves didn't let up their attacks. When the bulls showed sign of fatigue, the wolves dealt the finishing blow, a bite to the neck. One wolf clung onto the bull's neck and didn't let go, the other wolves latched onto the bull's body, biting and scratching, weighing down on the bull. Preventing it from struggling.

The bulls then fell, exhausted and bled to death. The wolves howled to the sky. I, who was watching from the sideline, was a bit surprised. I thought the wolves would fight more barbarically but instead, they were a lot more efficient. But, it was not enough, against normal monster it would be fine but if they fought a smarter monster, like goblins, it wouldn't be enough.

But no matter, I could train them and grow strong with them. Although I had grown to rank 2, I'm still but an amateur in fighting and killing, I only had an imaginative mind and dozens of reference from movies and literature. I needed to train diligently and grew strong.

I, beautiful fox, and the wolves returned to the nest. I took apart the bulls and give the wolves a little taste of BBQ although it was just grilled meat with no seasonings. I made a simple BBQ stand from ruby, it was a peculiar sight, seeing a BBQ stand slowly extended and formed out of my hands.

The wolves hesitated at first, but they quickly fell in love with the new taste. It actually tasted pretty good, despite the lack of seasoning, the meat was juicy and there was a faintly sweet taste to it, not to mention, it had no bad smell at all. It was evening when we finished devouring the two bulls. I set up a simple shift to rotate the guarding wolves and retired to my new home, the hole under the biggest tree, with the beautiful fox. There were so many things to be done from now on, I would be very busy.

For the record, the previous leader wolf's corpse was burned and it's ash buried.

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The next morning, I took the previous ten wolves with me and went around our den, I wanted to check the place and familiarize myself with it. The beautiful fox stayed back to guard the den. The den was situated on the border between the inner and outer circle at the south of the forest.

There were a lake and river near the den, so there was no problem with drinking water. Fruit trees grew abundant around the den and there was a flower bed on the side of the lake and some beehives clinging on the trees near the lake. As expected of a fantasy world, the beehives were humongous, it was taller than me. The wolves told me that while there were no other monster dens near us but many monsters, alone or in packs, came near the den every day to feed, more specifically to the lake.

I also heard that some of the monsters came to the den, while most only came because of curiosity and left after seeing the den or being discovered by the guarding wolves, some attacked and tried to take over the den.

Even humans came here occasionally, whether it was to hunt monsters or to collect the bounty of the forest, their presence greatly unsettled the wolves. There was a time where the humans killed their brethren and took away their cubs and pregnant females. The wolves were oozing with blood lust and hatred when they talked about humans.

Listening to their story, it looked like I need to urgently create a guard corps or some defensive measure to protect the den from monsters and humans alike. When I asked them how the packs could survive until today, they said that they moved from one place to another from time to time. I also noticed something from their story.

"Don't you guys hate me for killing your leader?" (MC)

I noticed that they cared a lot for their kin and yet, why did they react so coldly when I killed their previous leader? Were they acting? Nah, they weren't that clever.

"Other alpha bad, he hoards meat. You share meat, you good alpha."

So said the wolves. Seemed like they called their leader alpha, as in alpha male. Now I knew why the wolves reaction was cold, the previous wolf alpha was a greedy and selfish one, so they hated him. But, to thought that I was good just because I share meat with them. Weren't they kinda naive? But it was good, at least they were easier to interact with than humans.

We continue on our walk, there was nothing worth nothing about other than where monster packs used to gather and the beehives. I'll try dominating the bees later when I have the time, a steady supply of honey was really attractive. For now, I went searching for prey to brought back to the den, the wolves were excited when they heard it.

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Meanwhile, back in the den...

Beautiful fox yawned while sunbathing on top of a rock, some bloodied clothes, armor parts, weapons, and other accessories piled up beside her. Not far from her was a scene of carnage, three human corpses were being devoured by the wolves. To know what happened here, we need to go back to thirty minutes ago.

After saying goodbye to her beloved ruby beast, the beautiful fox found a nice and comfy stone before sunbathing on top of it. Before she would never do this since the warmth of the sun here was a bit too hot for her, who was used to the biting cold air of the north. If it was warm water, she liked it as it eased her muscle and body but she didn't like direct sunlight. But after receiving power from her beloved, sunlight never bothered her again, she didn't even feel discomfort from the flame of her beloved anymore.

No wolves bothered her or tried to get close to her, while she was a beautiful and attractive female for the wolves, they knew she was the new Alpha's mate. Trying to get close to her meant challenging the Alpha for her and no wolves wanted or dared to do so.

Only the young wolves went near her because of curiosity, the young wolves reminded the beautiful fox of her younger brothers and sisters, she made a ball made of ice and tossed it. The young wolves chased after it and started playing with the ball, the beautiful fox smiled looking at the scene, her two tails swayed gently.

She watched the wolves cubs played, unaware of the danger approaching. Not far from the den to the south, a few figures were walking slowly across the sea of trees.

"Hey, how much longer are we gonna walk? I'm tired already." (???)

Whined a girl in blue magician robe, in her hand was a long wooden staff. Beads of sweat flowed down her cheeks. A big guy in leather armor behind her was silent as he maintained awareness of his surrounding, ready to drew the big sword on his back and raised the shield clinging on his left forearm.

"It's close already, so can you stop whining?" (???)

The foremost front guy, wearing a cloak over his tunic, two daggers hanging on his waist and a set of bow and quiver on his back, replied curtly. He was annoyed by the constant whining of the girl. The mage girl didn't like his tone and was about to say something but was stopped by the guy in front of her.

His armor was better than the rest of the party with steel plated breastplate and steel gloves, a longsword hanged by his waist. His face was handsome with brown hair.

"May, Zeke already said it's close already, so no more whining, alright?" (???)

"....hmph, alright. If you say so, Jack." (May)

The mage girl, May, clearly unsatisfied but she no longer whined after that. Her face blushed a little when she looked at Jack. He turned to the huge guy behind May.

"Hugh, is there anymore goblin?" (Jack)

"At the moment, no." (Hugh)

Jack nodded and fell silent as he thought about the series of goblin attacks they encountered since they entered the forest. Although there were always many goblins in the forest, the number of attacks they had today was unusual. It was too many and somehow the goblins were stronger than usual too.

"Zeke, did you think that the goblin attacks today was weird?" (Jack)

"Yeah, definitely. There were too many of them and they were stronger too. We should tell the guild master later, there might be something to it." (Zeke)

"Yeah, by the way, is the info you got true? Is there really a pack of grey wolves here?" (Jack)

"I'm sure! I saw some of them went and to here myself, trust me." (Zeke)

With Zeke's insurance, Jack nodded. The sole reason they came here was to hunt grey wolves. The wolves' pelt was rather popular as winter clothes as they were thick and warm. The wolves were pretty easy to hunt and their pelts sold pretty well, his party needed money to grow, so a chance to make easy money like this was really appreciated.

They were an E rank party, the lowest rank party, if they succeed this and earn a decent amount of money, they could advance the rank faster. After walking a bit more, Zeke slowed down and hide behind a tree, the whole party followed.

"It should be here. Be silent and still, they have sharp sense." (Zeke)

The others nodded and peeked over the tree, they were about fifteen meters away from the den and they got a good view of the den and wolves. The party grew excited, in their eyes, the wolves were a bunch of walking bags of money.

Zeke observed and count the wolves when he was sure that the wolves that could threaten them were few, he drew his bow and arrow out. He looked at the others and nodded at them, the others silently drew their weapons. Their plan was simple, quickly killed a couple or more, grabbed the corpse then May would cast magic to stall the wolves while they ran.

If they have a magic pouch which can store many things, they might kill more but they didn't have one. So, they would need to carry what they hunted. That was why their plan was simple. While there were not many wolves now, what if most of the wolves were just hunting and came back?

The wolves were not that strong but if they would be screwed if they were outnumbered. This was a race against time. Zeke pulled his arrow and took aim on a wolf not far from them, his target was its head.

The arrow was let loose, unfortunately, it didn't hit what he intended to hit. The arrow pierced the wolf's shoulder and a loud yelp came out from the wolf. The yelp echoed and alerted the whole den, the beautiful fox ran toward the yelp the moment she heard it. The fighter wolves followed behind her.

Zeke and the party were flustered but not panic. With their cover blown, they came out from hiding except for May, who was getting ready to cast a spell at a moment notice. Zeke let loose another arrow, intending to finish off the crying wolf.

When the arrow was about to hit the wolf, a whip of ice slapped the arrow accurately in the nick of time. The beautiful fox arrived and stared coldly at the humans before her, the other wolves behind her growled threateningly at the party.

The beautiful fox appearance was shocking the party, as they never encountered or heard such monster residing in this forest. While the ten plus wolves behind the beautiful fox were worrying, they could still deal with them, albeit dangerous. But the idea of fighting a group of wolves with an unknown monster like the beautiful fox made them uneasy.

Jack decided it was better to retreat momentarily, he gave May a signal. May quickly chanted and threw a fireball at the beautiful fox, Jack and the other backed off quickly and turned to run.

Two whips made of ice which was connected to the beautiful fox's tail swayed and from one of its tips, a sharp piece of ice shoot out. The ice easily pierced the fireball to nothing and hit the tree beside May, compared to her beloved' fireball, May's fireball was like a water balloon.

The act of destroying the fireball was nothing for the beautiful fox, but for the party, it was something horrifying. On firepower alone, May's fireball was the strongest attack in the party and it was easily destroyed by the fox. Fear engulfed the party, such a monster was not something their party could mess with.

Jack and the other was frozen still, their hands trembling and cold sweat wet their backs. The beautiful fox didn't attack them, she told the other wolves to take the wounded wolf away and waited for her beloved to come back.

The party thought of running while the scary white fox was distracted, but the scene of the ice piercing the fireball and hit the tree replayed on their minds. Even if they ran, they couldn't outrun the ice shot. Despair crept to their heart and slowly gripped them, Jack thought continuously on how to escape but nothing came to mind. He then gripped his sword and took a stance.

"May, we will hold them back. You go back and tell the guild about this." (Jack)

The others snapped back when they heard Jack, Zeke and Hugh looked at the determined Jack and then each other. They nodded, Hugh raised his shield and hide his body behind the shield, his sword ready to slashed out. Zeke abandoned his bow and gripped his daggers in each arm.

May wanted to say something but she knew there was no other option, they couldn't hope to beat the beautiful fox. Tears pooled on her eyes as she gazed at the three men.

"I'll definitely come back avenge you guys." (May)

She shot a glare full of hate toward the beautiful fox before running, the wolves were about to run after her but was stopped by a beautiful fox. A lone human running away was not a problem and her beloved' didn't seem like a female human, as she remembered his expression back in the goblin cave.

So the beautiful fox thought to let the female human go than let her beloved sad when he saw her corpse. When the men saw the wolves didn't chase after May, they were relieved and smiled. They would die here but they knew that the white fox would be hunted down by other adventures when they heard about her. That made them felt a little better.

With a roar, they charged at the beautiful fox. They attacked from three different angles to flanked the white fox. The beautiful fox attacked and hold Zeke and Hugh, who attacked from her sides, with her tails. Jack, who came from the front, hastened his pace and brought down his sword.

"Iron Slash!" (Jack)

BAKIIN!

The sound of steel shattering and flesh punctured, blood and brain matters scattered. Jack's body fell to the ground, his head missing and his sword broke. The beautiful fox shot out ice from her mouth that broke his sword and head in one hit.

"Shield Bash!" (Hugh)

"Double Strike!" (Zeke)

They struck at the same time, despair and rage fueled their attacks. The beautiful fox jumped backward and counter-attacked with a tail slash to the head, two more bodies hit the ground with mangled head.

The beautiful fox scoffed at the weak humans and tried to take off their clothes without tearing them apart. Her beloved was wearing some human clothes, while she didn't like it if her beloved wanted it, she would give it to him. After taking their clothes with some tearing here and there, the beautiful fox told the wolves to take back the body and shared it with the others. The wolves cheered and dragged the body away, the beautiful fox dragged the clothes and went back to sunbathing.