Pack hunter

"Ack- why did it explode? Well that fine, the more expensive materials are added near the end, still have enough!"

Lynnx stared as the milk turned into cheese in real time while the gremlin ran around, quickly putting ingredients into different containers.

"Are you making a cake? I smell chocolate and… banana bread?"

"It's called SCIENCE!"

Jackie took out her stick and poured all the cylinders at the same time the second the timer appeared.

{Greater basic health potion created x5 | 8hp/s}

"Greater? I'm so fucking good at this game- what's that?"

Enviously watching Lynnx lick a caramel ice cream scoop, Jackie's dirty mind slowly shifted the target of envy.

"Oh, I got it from Mabel's syrup, they got great pancakes and desert."

"Mabel's… wait my token!"

"Finders keepers, loser weepers."

Dejected, the green haired girl collected her potions before sluggishly walking to the door. When she passed the blade dancer however, she clung to the grey hair girl before the icecream could retract and bit the bottom of the cone.

"Munch munch… fuck yes they put chocolate at the bottom, munch munch… have fun dealing with that hole!"

Quickly retreating, the alchemist got in line leaving the blade dancer to salvage the situation in the basement.

Lynnx silently examined her icecream, forced to drink the melting icecream from the bottom, she audibly cursed.

"Watch yourself Jakson Everglenn, you've forgotten that I reward kindness with twice as much given and hostility tenfold!"

…

"Ms. Clerk, here are the potions ready to be sold! Five basic and four greater potions!"

"Alright, that will be forty each for the basic and sixty five for greater."

Earning 460 copper coins by spending only 50 would put any beginner in a happy mood.

Jackie walked to the lab and peeked into the basement finding it empty.

"Strange, I didn't see her leaving… ACK!"

"Heeeeey, remember me Jak-son?"

Hearing such a beautiful voice oozing malice and dread. Jackie could feel the warm breath tickling his ear from the person giving the chokehold, and was reminded of rule three, you're a slave to this girl… in game.

"Heeeey, my best friend forever, the most beautiful girl in the entire world, love of my life, literally my only friend in real life… we can talk this out… right?"

Pressing two mounds into his back, Lynnx leaned over and seductively whispered a deal he couldn't possibly refuse.

"Of course we can! I'm adding a 60:40 split rule to your potions~ of course the 60 is mine~ no objections… right?"

"N-no ma'am."

Shakily sending a trade request, Jackie gave the grey haired girl 276 copper coins before being released from her loving embrace.

"Thank you~ as long as you satisfy me, negotiations might be on the table… just kidding, it's only down hill from here~"

"Y-yeah, so- um… where is Anna and Rae Rae?"

The poor alchemist looked around for something that could save him.

"Funny you asked! Anna had to log off as she had work and Rae Rae is with Clerk Sasha. So it's you and me right now~"

"Uh… so… what do you have in mind?"

Seeing that Jackie was on the verge of logging out, Lynnx decided to go easy on him with one last punishment.

"We're going hunting! But you have to fight three wolf packs on your own before I forgive you."

"Yaaaaay…"

…

"Fuck I'm tired… my stamina says full but I don't think I can go on…"

"You got this Jackie! One more wolf pack! Thank me for letting you rest between fights!"

"Thank you for these breaks my lovely companion… can you extend it beyond my skill cooldown?"

"Nope!"

Lynnx had been counting fifty seconds after each of the potion heals thrown. Thankfully she forgot about the new achievement so Jackie technically got an extra five second rest.

Due to the difficulty, she put some stat points into strength to kill the wolves easier. But a timely level up gave both strength and vitality a point so she could continue to stockpile points.

Speaking of points, in the skill tree, she chose basic stamina potion and now basic strength which each gave a free sample potion with the recipes.

It seems while the alchemist was picking a new recipe, Lynnx brought over several wolves, each shanked in the ass to pull aggro out of their usual range and get assisted exp.

"Ugh, here we go again."

The only reason Lynnx wasn't mauled to death yet was because poisoning the wolves before pouring the antidote on yourself was a higher aggro priority. Unfortunately the resentment carries over.

"DIE!"

Jackie intercepted the wolves after Lynnx ran past and tossed a wolf at another bringing both to half health. She got in the thick of things before splashing poison over everything.

The antidote was already applied and ate the poison on her skin while the wolves were whipped in a frenzy and violently attacked her.

Though drowning in fatigue, Jackie pushed onwards and caught a wolf, forcing its mouth closed before kicking her heel into another wolf's eye.

She chokehold the dog before snapping its neck with a jerk. Twirling around, she shoved the corpse at the half blinded wolf and flipped another attacking her over the shoulder.

While distracted, a wolf bit her side tearing a chuck of flesh. Even though her dress was unbreakable, that didn't protect her, instead instantly replacing the missing fabric with a fresh one.

She had to kill that one quickly because her skin contained the antidote so the wolf would regain its strength. Or she could use the actual poison to refresh it but that was 28 copper coins worth of poison.

Jackie growled like a baby kitten before biting the wolf back, taking a bit of hp away. The wolf glared at her before savoring the taste of flesh.

A vein appeared on her forehead as the wolf gloated at her. In retaliation, she pulled out a chunk of wolf meat from her inventory and ate it.

It was dead awful raw but she pretended to enjoy it before swallowing and sticking out her tongue.

{Mild poison consumed | Poison cleansed}

That angered the wolf to the point it let out a howl. Followed by a distant, but distinct howl in response.

{Wolf Lieutenant has answered the call | In 20 seconds it will arrive}

Jackie paled, she had only killed one with four more below half, there were three more wolves including the one that howled which were relatively full.

She thought about asking Lynnx for help but she would probably renew the punishment entirely. Slapping her face, her gaze became sharp.

"Like the great man himself said, 'if I'm gonna die, let it be thigh.' Which means… ITS NOT HAPPENING!"

Jackie sprinted at the healthy wolves, forgoing her tempo and trying to disable the wolves before the Lieutenant appears.

There, the one that had bit her was flanked by two wolves. The trio attacked and synchronized their movements leaving no openings to dodge.

{Epiphany}

Jackie kicked the middle dog between the leg regardless of its gender, and cancelled its attack. She ducked under the flying wolf, grabbed its tail and threw it at the rest whilst disabling the one that dodged with the same kick.

Killing the first wolf and leaving the others to die from the poison, Jackie walked a bit away before splashing herself with the basic health and stamina potion clone. The greater health potion had a longer duration, thus she didn't use it.

"Lynnx come over! I triggered an event!"

Skipping over, she looked curiously at the pile of wolves.

"You didn't kill them all? You know-"

"An exp gift for you, they can't move. Anyway! One of the wolves summoned a Wolf Lieutenant in about 3… 2…"

"A wolf what now-"

A loud howl interrupted Lynnx whilst rallying all nearby wolves in the vicinity. A grand total of three packs since Jackie solo cleared the nearest three already. They were far away so it will take time to gang up on them, much to her relief.

But there was immediate danger. The Wolf Lieutenant rushed over and was level five compared to the level ones and twos of the regular wolves.

"I know you looooove a challenge Lynnx. Here, I offer you the real strength potion, have fun!"

Jackie quickly ran away. In the first place, her class has nothing to do with combat, the kills were from pure experience against dog like enemies.

"Right, I forgot, HEY MUTT OVER HERE!"

As the Wolf Lieutenant, standing at a meter and a half tall, turned to the voice, it smelt the blood of its fallen kin over their body. Angry, it snapped at whatever was thrown at it by instinct.

{Critical poison! | 1.5hp/s —> 3hp/s}

The Wolf Lieutenant now had a mouth full poisoned shards. Realizing the problem, Jackie threw the original antidote on the confused Lynnx in case she got bit and in turn, poisoned.

"JAKSON!"

Desperately dodging the berserk Wolf Lieutenant, Lynnx channeled all her fury toward the poor wolf. The moves were quite predictable as the grey haired girl danced around the Wolf Lieutenant.

Usually wolves were intelligent, especially an epic grade wolf. However, driven by the pain of poison spreading through the wounds in a bleeding mouth while feeling an intense tummy ache, you too would go crazy.

Whilst she was painting the wolf red, Jackie was now facing twenty one wolves who responded to the call.

"Fuck… I didn't get my break, oh well I reap what I sow."

She crushed an original antidote on herself as the previous one was running out before pulling out wolf meat and eating it to gain aggro.

{Mild poison consumed | Poison cleansed}

It wasn't enough though, as a few outliers were more focused on the bloody battle between the blade dancer and Lieutenant. A wolf thrown at their heads worked well enough.

As Jackie fought, mainly throwing wolves, she made sure to bunch them as much as she could before the cooldown was refreshed. Still, the pack was too large and required a cloned potion and the last poison to hit a majority.

The ones unaffected were killed first, leaving a bloody mess on the alchemist. Those were the ones who wouldn't be in frenzy looking for the antidote. After which, her health was dangerously low.

Using a wolf corpse as a shield, she popped the corkscrew off a basic potion and chugged it in one go. Who knew you were supposed to drink them? And it lasts twice as long and tastes like chocolate banana cheesecake!

She stuffed the empty flask into a wolf's mouth and pulled back. Tiny remnants of liquid healed the wolf but went unnoticed as it's insides were shredded by glass.

She fought despicably, not above ending future generations and using the dead as a meat shield. All the while the wolves turn sluggish from the poison.

"JAKSON YOU BASTARD!"

Though half of the wolves were still standing, the rest dead or succumbing to the poison, the alchemist turned around. Lynnx's health was literally one hp, bruised, battered, and straight up running from the Lieutenant.

Jackie preaimed the path and threw a basic stamina and greater basic health potion which quickly healed the blade dancer to full while missing the Lieutenant. It seems he wasn't poisoned anymore but Lynnx brought him below half which coincidentally was the trigger for berserk mode.

Now topped up on health, stamina, and pure resentment, Lynnx turned and slid under the now two meter tall wolf and cut off its future family. Jackie felt the breeze was uncomfortably cold today while rolling over a wolf.

The Lieutenant howled in pain and fury, bulking up another stage.

{Hidden evolution! | Field boss has evolved into Wolf Lieutenant Beserker!}

After snapping the neck of a wolf who bit her, Jackie saw the message and was worried about the blade dancer.

"Damn that fur has golden gloss on it, must've went to a barber or something."

The hidden evolution put the Lieutenant in a permanent state of rage while increasing its hide's durability where no level two or four for that matter could pierce. Once Lynnx found out, she just hacked away at its open wounds, those hadn't healed yet.

Jackie chugged her last health potion while enduring two wolves gnawing her continually healing legs. She shatter the flask on the head of one and used the broken edge to pierce the eye of the other.

Only the latter got injured and released its hold in pain. Jackie tiredlessly gouged the eyes of the remaining wolf. Ignoring its cries, she elbow dropped the wolf and snapped its spine in two.

The last wolf, half blind and bleeding, stared at the young girl as though she was a monster. Jackie swayed as she rose and made her way towards the frightened wolf. She had no energy left to slam the dog or ability to damage it with a weak punch.

But she had teeth, they weren't sharp but they were the only thing she could use to kill.

Slumping over the frozen wolf, she closed her mouth around its throat before violently twisting. Something she learned from crocodiles on the web.

With that, she fell on top of the dead wolf, marking the end of her battle.

"FUCK YOU JAKSON! DIE!"

Jackie turned her head and watched Lynnx cleave the Lieutenant's head off with two broken swords. The missing blade was stuck in one eye while the other replaced the Lieutenant's manhood.

"Love you too…"

{Combat ended | distributing exp}

Jackie saw her exp bar climb to 837 and could see on the party interface that Lynnx got to level four from high two with about a third of the bar filled.

{Pack hunter | Title gained | Slay a pack of 20+ wolves solo | +4 intimidation to all aggressive dog types}

{One man army | Achievement unlocked | Kill 20+ enemies within two levels solo and win the fight | +10% aoe damage when outnumbered}

{Zombie worker | Title gained | You put 110% of your effort in everything you do, even using stamina drinks you workaholic! | -50% stamina consumption rate | +50% mental fortitude | -20% stamina drink effectiveness | +10 charm when dealing with the undead}