Damon found the pack a short way down the tunnel, half-buried under loose stones where she must have dropped it in her retreat. He scooped it up and headed back.

The girl was still slumped, but some color had crept back into her face. He held the pack out to her.

"Thanks," she muttered, already digging through it. She pulled out a small blue vial and tossed it back in one swallow. The change was almost immediate; the tight set of her shoulders eased, and she exhaled slowly. "Gods, that’s better."

"You good now?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I’ll be fine." She looked up at him, that flicker of disbelief still in her eyes. "I’m Sera, by the way. Second-year."

"Damon."

"I know who you are." There was no bite in it, just a quiet statement, like she was confirming something for herself. "Everyone knows who you are. Or thought they did..."

Damon let that pass. "What happened? Why were you alone?"

Sera’s mouth twisted. "Solo Authorization, that’s what happened. I may not look like much, but I’m a fairly powerful mage. Too bad I’m useless once something gets in my face."

"So what now?" he asked. "What are you planning to do next?"

"What if I help you? With the alpha."

"How’d you know I’m after it?"

"I saw you go by earlier. You were heading north, toward the alpha’s chamber. Then you doubled back." She tilted her head, studying him. "Testing yourself on normal ones first?"

"Something like that."

A small, wry smile tugged at her mouth. "Then you’re smart enough to be considered a leader. Proud to be on your team."

[SUBORDINATE GAINED]

"Just like that...?"

"You saved me. It’s the least I can do."

Damon stared at the golden notification for a heartbeat, then dismissed it. He could unpack the implications later. Right now, he had an unexpected ally and an alpha to kill.

"Alright," he said. "What can you do?"

Sera straightened, some of her usual confidence returning as her mana settled. "I’m a [Storm Caller]. C-Rank. Lightning-based offensive caster. I specialize in single-target burst and area denial."

"Range?"

"Fifty meters, comfortably. Seventy-five if I push it." She lifted one shoulder. "But I need someone between me and whatever I’m hitting. You saw what happens when I get cornered."

Damon nodded. The shattered staff and her panicked retreat had already told him most of that story. "What happened to your weapon?"

Sera grimaced. "Staff cracked when I blocked the first wolf’s lunge. It’s reinforced, but not for brawling. I’ve got a backup focus in the pack, but it’s lower quality. Maybe seventy percent efficiency."

"Better than nothing. Use it."

She drew a slender rod from the pack, runes etched along its length, and tested its balance in her hand. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

"Seventy percent should still be enough to fry a dire wolf or two. The alpha, though..." She hesitated. "You’d have to keep its attention. If it gets to me, I’m dead in seconds."

"It won’t reach you." Damon turned back toward the tunnel. "Here’s the plan. The alpha’s chamber is a dead end with one main entrance. You set up at the entrance. I go in and keep it focused on me. If it tries to howl for reinforcements, you hit it with everything you’ve got. We can’t let it summon the pack."

"And if it manages to howl anyway?"

"Then we retreat. No heroics. I’ve already spent time in the infirmary twice this month."

Sera let out a thin, nervous laugh. "Twice? And you’re still coming back for more?"

"Third time’s the charm."

They moved through the tunnel in silence, Damon in front, Sera a few steps behind. The alpha’s musk thickened as they drew closer, a sour blend of old blood and animal sweat that seemed to cling to the back of the throat.

At the entrance, Damon lifted a hand. Sera halted behind him.

"Give me a second."

[SOVEREIGN’S LEADERSHIP]

[CHOOSE SKILL]

The screen hung in his vision, his pulse kicking up. This was the passive he hadn’t been able to test before. No subordinates meant nothing to borrow. But now—

[SERA VSS — SUBORDINATE]

[CLASS: STORM CALLED — C-RANK]

[AVAILABLE SKILLS:]

[LIGHTNING LANCE (ACTIVE) — C-RANK]: Fires a concentrated bolt of lightning. High single-target damage. Cost: 35 Mana.

[STATIC FIELD (ACTIVE) — C-RANK]: Creates a zone of charged air that slows and damages enemies within. Duration: 30 seconds. Cost: 50 Mana.

[STORM’S EYE (PASSIVE) — D-RANK]: Reduces mana cost of lightning-based skills by 10%.

Three options. He could only take one.

Lightning Lance was immediately appealing. A high-damage ranged attack filled a gap in his kit. But thirty-five mana was steep, and the alpha fight would be decided in close quarters.

Static Field offered control. If the alpha called its pack, a slowing zone at the entrance could buy Sera time to get away. Useful, but defensive, and Damon needed to end this quickly.

Storm’s Eye was a passive. Ten percent mana reduction. Nice for Sera. For him? With only Sovereign’s Strike at twenty mana, saving two mana wasn’t going to decide this battle.

Besides, it didn’t seem to count as a lightning-based spell anyway.

Lightning Lance was the obvious choice

[SKILL ACQUIRED: LIGHTNING LANCE — C-RANK]

[COST: 35 MANA]

[Effect: FIRES A CONCENTRATED BOLT OF LIGHTNING. DAMAGE SCALED WITH MAG.]

His status shifted at the edge of his vision.

"What’s taking so long?" Sera whispered.

"Just checking something." Damon dismissed the screen and glanced back at her. "New plan. I picked up a ranged option. When I go in, I’ll open with something it doesn’t expect, then close. You stay at the entrance and only cast if it tries to howl or if I start losing ground. Save your mana for the howl."

"You ’picked up’ a ranged option? What does that even—" She cut herself off, shaking her head. "You know what? I don’t care. You saved my life. I’ll follow your lead."

Damon stepped into the alpha’s chamber.

The dire wolf alpha hadn’t moved. It still lay in that pale shaft of light, its massive gray body rising and falling in slow, steady breaths. Up close, the scars along its muzzle were deeper than they’d appeared from a distance, old wounds, layered over one another.

This version of the beast had been fighting students for a long time.

"Surprised you survived this long to sustain that much damage."

Its eyes opened.

The alpha rose in one fluid motion. On all fours, its shoulders came up to Damon’s chest. Lips peeled back, revealing fangs as long as Damon’s forearm.

"Alright, big guy." Damon drew his sword. "Try going easy on me."

The alpha lunged.

It was faster than the scout by a terrifying margin. The distance vanished in a blur of gray fur and white teeth. Damon threw himself sideways, barely enough to slip past those closing jaws.

They snapped shut on empty air, inches from his throat.

He didn’t waste the dodge. His left hand came up, palm open, mana already roaring through his veins.

A bolt of blue-white lightning tore from his palm and slammed into the alpha’s flank. The stench of burnt fur and ozone hit a heartbeat later.

The alpha snarled, its legs buckling for an instant before it caught itself. A blackened scorch mark spread along its ribs where the lightning had struck.

Not enough. Not nearly enough.

It rounded on him, moving with impossible speed for something that size, and raked a clawed paw at his chest. Damon brought his sword up to meet it.

The impact rang through the steel like a bell and drove him back, boots carving grooves into the stone.

He swallowed most of the shock, but his arms still went numb to the elbows.

"You hit hard," he muttered.

The alpha lunged again. This time, Damon didn’t give ground. He dropped low and drove forward, sliding under the snapping jaws, and thrust his sword up toward the exposed throat.

Steel met hide and stopped. The blade barely punched through the outer layer of fur and muscle before the alpha twisted away, wrenching the weapon from his hands. It clanged across the floor, spinning out of reach.

"Persival!" Sera’s voice rang from the entrance.

"Stay back!"

The alpha had already turned. Those yellow eyes locked onto him with a focus that felt uncomfortably like recognition. It knew exactly where the danger lay.

It also knew he was unarmed.

Damon’s fingers closed on empty air. The sword was ten feet away. The alpha was five.

He didn’t go for the sword.

He surged forward instead, meeting the beast head-on, and slammed his palm into its chest.

Golden energy erupted at point-blank range. The alpha’s ribcage caved with a sickening crack.

The force of the blast hurled it across the chamber. It smashed into the far wall hard enough to shake loose stalactites from the ceiling.

Dust rolled through the room in thick waves. Damon stood in the middle of it, his right arm smoking, his palm an angry red.

"Still alive," he rasped. "I know you’re still alive."

A low growl rolled out of the dust.

The alpha emerged, limping. Its chest was a wreck of broken bone and scorched fur, but its eyes still burned with cold, calculating malice. Blood dripped from its jaws. Its breaths came rough and uneven.

Then it threw back its head and howled.

[LIGHTNING LANCE]

The alpha’s head snapped sideways before the sound could echo. Sera’s wand crackled with power at the entrance, her eyes flashing with reflected lightning.

"I’ve got it!"

Damon didn’t waste the opening.

The alpha shuddered, its howl cut off mid-cry as arcs of blue-white electricity crawled across its throat. Smoke curled from its fur. Its front legs gave out, and its chest hit the stone with a heavy thud.

Damon was already moving.

He scooped up his sword and closed the distance in three long strides. The alpha tried to rise, massive head swinging toward him, teeth bared for one last strike. A paw lashed out, claws raking for his midsection.

He vaulted over it, launching himself into the air. He twisted as he rose, coming down on the alpha’s back with his sword reversed in both hands, the blade already burning with golden light.

Steel punched through the spine with a sound like splitting rock. Light flared from the point of impact, racing along the alpha’s vertebrae in jagged lines.

The beast’s roar died in its throat. Its legs folded beneath it, and its body crashed to the floor.

Damon rode it down, wrenching the sword free as the alpha collapsed. He landed beside its head, chest heaving, blade raised for a finishing blow.

But he didn’t need it.

The alpha’s yellow eyes were already dimming, their cold intelligence draining away to blank, glassy stillness. Its chest hitched once before it stopped.

[DIRE WOLF ALPHA - D-RANK BOSS DEFEATED]

[EXPERIENCE GAINED: 350]

[ALPHA FANG +1]

[DIRE WOLF PELT +1]

[SOVEREIGN’S TRIBUTE: +40]

[TRIBUTE: 80]

[LEVEL UP]

[LEVEL: 2] → [LEVEL: 3]

[+1 ALL STATS]

[STAT POINTS AVAILABLE: 3]

Damon stood over the dissolving corpse, his grip still tight on the sword as the last of the golden light faded from the blade. The alpha’s body unraveled into motes of mana, larger and brighter than the scout’s, spiraling up toward the unseen ceiling before winking out.

"What the hell was that?" Sera’s voice drifted from the entrance, barely more than a breath. "How did you have the same skill as me!?"