Wolf's Den [1]

[Sebastian's Pov]

*Bam! Ting! Sching!*

My frustrations never faded no matter how hard I hit the dummy in front of me, my muscles clenching as if to reflect my inner agitation.

'That moronic clown! How can he not understand that I'm trying to help him?!'

*BAM!*

The dummy crumbled, unable to withstand the ferocity of my attacks.

"Huff...huff..."

From day one, that idiot has been in my way, constantly indirectly lowering my worth. Undermining the status of Ainu by acting like a fool, going on some sort of trip in the middle of the semester, and now, not even having the decency to participate in our strategy meeting to the end.

The fact that he had been the last one standing in the survival event didn't bother me, it was the opposite. It made me happy to see the competence of a fellow classmate. And it was the same in the duel event.

Although it was frustrating to lose against Sophie in the finals, her immense prowess only increased my own worth. If I could compete with such a monster, how could I not be strong?

However, if the person who managed to outwit and trump me in the survival event acted like a fool? That made me an even bigger fool.

Wiping my sweat with the white towel I had brought into my training room, I just couldn't understand that man. There was no way he was just a useless weakling, yet he still carried himself like one. He didn't appear to be an idiot, yet he made the decisions an idiot would make.

There was one thing I was sure of though. He was hiding something that he didn't want anyone to know.

****

[James's Pov]

Time was just flying by at the speed of light at the academy, as yet another week had passed by. It had been quite a productive week, having even managed to start using weapon imbuement to a very, very minor degree.

Also, I had begun to study another animal. As it turns out, even though wolves were awesome, they weren't exactly the most optimal animal for me to transform into. Mostly because I didn't have the strength to use it. So I had been thinking about all the different possibilities.

First had been to transform into a dragon, but, unfortunately, there was nowhere enough information about the mythical creatures for me to understand them. The second had been to transform into something really small, like a worm or a fly, but that would put me at risk of getting squashed too easily.

So my line of thinking had been this; What kind of animal could fill a need that the raven and the wolf can't? The raven was perfect for gathering information and the wolf was perfect for... looking cool and running around.

So what I wanted was to be able to transform into something that could fulfill the purpose of augmenting my offensive power, an animal that could fully use its agility to inflict damage. Still, there was a lot of reading left until I would be able to use [Materialize] to change myself into it.

"Listen up! From this point onwards, you are on your own! If you do get into trouble, make sure to press the button that we have attached to your belts so we can save you. Party one and party two will start."

The two big portals in front of your eyes were both copies of the artificial dungeon Wolf's Den. Located in what could only be called a huge, modern warehouse, this was the place where the class of 1-A and 1-B would do our first academy-led dungeon dives.

Although I didn't understand the specifics of it, the principal was somehow able to create dungeons by using some sort of mana machine. Even going as far as to be able to make two identical dungeons. It was the biggest reason why Ainu was regarded as the best academy on Tella.

As he did during the ranking event, Mr. Brown was the one who took command in guiding us, while Ms. Turner was standing on his side, looking as gorgeous as ever. However, this time they weren't dressed in their usual clothes, instead they were wearing the official uniform of Ainu.

Standing in our designated groups, my own party had mixed expressions on them. Or at least that's what I wanted to imagine...

All of us were expressionless, as Sarah joined the duo of Sebastian and Trisha by activating her royal princess mode. However, to me, it was clear that she was nervous. This would be her first dungeon dive ever, not having had the chance because of how much she had been involved in the politics before she arrived at Ainu.

"Now! Please Party one, follow me! Party two will go with Jessica!"

And like that, we entered the dungeons, with Sophie going with Mr. Brown, and me going with Ms. Turner.

==========

"Are you sure that you will be alright on your own? I can't heal you if you're not around, after all..."

In the huge forest, Sarah was looking at me worriedly, thinking I might be overconfident in my decision to go alone.

What she didn't know was that the main reason for me to go solo was split between two reasons. For one, my efficiency would go way up if I could use [Dome of Mist] freely. The second reason was that I wanted to see how Sebastian would react when something went against his plans.

Right now, he was still holding his neutral face, but his fists were tightly clenched. Would I finally get to see him talk or act like a normal person, letting out his frustrations? Somehow, he appeared to be able to hold it in, for now.

Waving my hand as I walked away from the group of three, taking another route in the forest which would also lead to the boss, I just gave her a couple of comforting words, "I'll be fine. After all, we can always alert Ms. Turner if needed." Speaking of, as soon as we had recuperated from the small wave of dizziness that hit us after going through the portal, she stayed behind at the entrance while we walked further in.

There were no more words said between us, Sarah accepting that, no matter what, I would be going on my own. It didn't take long before I had walked far enough in the lush forest, the path obstructed by bushes and sticks, to get out of sight from them.

"Come out, my minions!"

Completely unnecessary, I called out loud as I summoned both sub-me and Matt, as I would need both of them for my plan to work. "Guh!" A huge part of my mana disappeared in an instant, and although my Mana Capacity had grown, it still felt like shit to lose more than 1/3 of it within a second.

"We know what to do, right?"

Not giving myself an answer, I let Matt, who I had summoned in the raven form, fly towards where I had left my party. He was going to be responsible for making sure I didn't accidentally meet up with them later on.

A great thing that I found out about Matt was that I could semi-automate his movement. I could give him... myself... Anyway, I could make Matt act according to some simple orders which would minimize the amount of brain capacity that was needed to control him.

Like right now, where I automated the clone to scout Sarah, Sebastian, and Trisha without getting seen, letting me have a mobile camera showing me their location.

Now, all that was left was to mass murder some wolfs, no matter how cool they were.

****

[Sophie's Pov]

"What do you mean we should let Sophie take the lead?! She is a commoner, Adam!"

It didn't even take ten minutes for discord to form in my group, Bella the Bitch not accepting that both my role in a party and my achievement in the duel tournament made me the most suited to lead us.

John didn't seem to be happy about it either, but just like the invisible human he was, he was barely noticeable when Mike wasn't around.

Looking at the pair of siblings arguing, or rather Bellatrix shouting at her sibling, I felt my back feel sore all of a sudden. "Stop this, Bella. It doesn't matter if she is a commoner or not, she is by far the strongest of us and the only one suited to be our frontline. Of course, she should be the one to lead the group."

The objectively beautiful girl just wouldn't hear it, making her dirty-blonde hair fly through the air and her impressive curves bounce a bit, as she turned her head with a pout, "Tsk! No way! You should be the one to take the lead, brother! After all, you have already cleared an [F]-rank dungeon before you even came to the academy!"

*Growl!*

Before Adam could even sigh in response to her silly act, we had gotten company. Looking around us, there were a lot of glowing eyes surrounding us. The noise the brat had made had attracted the native wolves, who weren't all too keen on us hanging around their home.

Seeing them, I instantly transformed my body and dashed forward, not wanting my prey to escape my hands. "Sophie?! What are you doing?!"

"You can keep talking to your sister! I'll handle them!"

'1,2,3,4,5... That should be enough for me to let out some frustration...'

And then the slaughter began.