6 The Gamble

The young man made his way through the debris filled corridor. With each step he found himself closer and closer to the staircase. His legs were still shaking but this time, he was smiling.

He carried the fully loaded energy rifle and kept it close to his chest, just in case. Fortunately the floors weren't made of wood so there wasn't any creaking, making it much easier to sneak around.

Before he realized it, he was standing at the top of the staircase, looking down at the pitch black darkness at the bottom.

'The parasite is gone… The shadow wolf probably killed it…' He thought to himself

He now felt slightly more nervous than before

'This is it…' He thought to himself

The grin on his face disappeared he took in a deep breath and calmly let it out. Once he did, determination could be seen on his eyes, as he took the first step down.

'This is practically a death wish, but… I don't plan on dying.'

The grin then returned as he tightened his grip and inclined down wards while slightly bending his legs. It was his running start position.

As the sweat on his forehead flowed down, he could hear his heart beating, faster and faster. The moment it landed. He burst forth.

The young man started to run down the stairs as fast as he could, making sure his leg wouldn't slip or skip any tiles so that he wouldn't fall. Causing large and heavy footsteps to resound throughout the room.

The debris, which had made it's way to the staircase was being kicked around and crunched with each step but that didn't stop him.

His heart was beating faster than ever, but he didn't stop. His legs were barely listening to his orders but he kept going.

He was a quarter to the Way down yet nothing had happened, confused he turned his head to the right to check it out, when suddenly.

He saw it, as clear as day. A wide open mouth with sharp fangs sticking out of it, aiming to shred him to pieces. The shadow wolf was right there, just a few feet away, heading right at him.

In that instant, he jumped.

*BOOM*

He landed with a front roll, before quickly turning over to the location where the shadow wolf had landed. It was gone.

He didn't waste any time, and pressed the button on the cube before throwing it up.

Shadow wolves had a great weakness, but without it, they were nearly impossible to kill. Especially in a dark area. And right now, the young man stood at the bottom of the staircase. Inside of their dark area.

He was vulnerable from every location, and couldn't see anything. If the cube wasn't a stun grenade, he was dead. If it was a stun grenade, then he'd have but a single moment, and if he missed. He'd be dead again.

It was a gamble, and what he was gambling was his life. He closed his eyes and covered his ears with his shoulders when suddenly-

*BOOM* *PEEEE*

The whole room. In that instant, he opened his eyes and while wincing, tightened his grip over the rifle's handle as he looked around.

He couldn't see it, it wasn't anywhere around the room. That was until-

Right then and there, was the wolf again, it had leapt out of and through the shadows in the wall behind him, heading right to him again. This time it was too fast and much closer, he wouldn't have been able to dodge.

His body reacted on instinct and he raised his left arm while moving the muzzle of the rifle on his right arm to point at it.

"AAAAARGH!!" He shouted out in pain.

It dug it's fangs and Jaw into his left shoulder. The pain was unimaginable.

He was all skin and bones, so normally it would have been enough to have made him faint and yet. He grasped it. He grasped that moment, and pulled the trigger.

*VOOOM!*

An energy beam, passed right through the wolves head as it flung the young man over to the nearby wall.

*THUD*

He slammed his back onto the wall, feeling something break or misplace from the impact, before looking over at what was ahead of him.

He needed to make sure, no matter what, if it was really dead. Even if his whole body was crying out in pain.

With widened eyes, he saw it. It's body laid there on the ground, with a whole on it's head and the wall behind it.

He hit it. He didn't miss.

Right as an excited smile was about to form on his face. He heard it.

*Grrrrr*

A growl, it was ever so quiet, but he could hear it clearly. There was another wolf, and this one was hidden right above him.

*Awooo*

The wolf let out a howl before lunging straight at his neck. With his back turned to and inches away from the wall, there was no surviving it. It was over-

*Clink*

Behind his back, with his recently mauled up arm, he held on to something. A cube. The young man clicked on it as he leapt forward.

*BOOM* *PEEEE*

A grin could be seen on his face when he moved he moved his right shoulder away from his right ear and right hand away from his left ear, as he rolled over and turned around. He couldn't fully cover his ears so, the ringing inside of them was incredibly disorientating, but that didn't stop him.

With the blind light illuminating the whole room, for just a moment, he could see it. The shadow wolf had it's head slammed into the floor. Wolves had much sharper senses than humans, so just like the one he had killed, the flash bang was probably enough to stun and disorientate it.

But he didn't want to wait to find out. He pulled the trigger shooting it right through it's ribs, before the light from the flash bang when out and it shot it again, inches away from that spot.

It dropped to the ground, struggling for a moment, before becoming completely motionless. As he saw this, the grin disappeared from the young man's face.

"Please… Be the last… one…" He uttered as he fell on his face

<Congratulations, you have leveled up>

<Adapting…>

Those were the last words he heard before everything went blank.

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