Chapter 12: Wild Wood Village Dungeon Floor 1 Pt 1
When I stepped through the portal I was in a jungle environment which was an incredible transformation from the small town surrounded by woods that I came from. In the top right corner of my vision a row of text appeared stating-
'You have entered Wild Wood Village Dungeon'
As I looked around to get an idea of my surroundings it was hard to not get overwhelmed by the drastic changes. The trees that seemed to reach tp the heavens and the vines that crossed through the canopy like spider webs or a mess of wires. The colors here even seemed deeper and more vibrant and the cacophony of sounds from the insects alone was incredible.
"Be careful guys, we have no idea where we are, what we're up against, and for the most part what we're doing either. Let's just move slow and get a feel for this, it's better to live to fight another day than die our first try in a dungeon." I reminded the group, but I was mostly looking at Mick since he was almost visibly shaking with excitement.
Everybody nodded and focused back from the amazement at suddenly being transported to an unknown and entirely different place.
Jenna spoke up deciding to take charge momentarily, "Let's try get a formation set up so that we can stand the best chance at fending off attacks and getting through the entire dungeon."
"Makes sense," I nodded, "what did you have in mind?"
"Leave it to someone who's ability is about tactics to take the fun out of the first dungeon run. It can't be that dangerous guys come on." Mick groaned reluctantly.
Jenna just rolled her eyes and ignored him "Ren is the biggest and he's the Guardian so he should probably go in front, it would be better if he had a shield or armor but we'll just have to be more cautious until then. I can follow him up with Isabell behind me, and as much as it will irritate him, Mick should bring up the rear, that wa-"
"WHAT! Why would I be the furthest from the fight!"
"If you would have let me finish I would have said that way you can protect us in case we get ambushed from the rear and you're also fast enough to get to the front in a timely manner also."
"And me?" I asked?
"You have a stealth ability and the most range out of all of us, you would probably serve us best scouting ahead of us for now, though don't go to far as we don't have a means to communicate over long distances yet."
I thought about it for a second before nodding "Any objections to the plan Jenna came up with?"
Mick grumbled a bit but in the end no one objected and so we got into the formation Jenna suggested and started walking down the almost completely overgrown path that was in front of us while I went a bit faster than the rest of the group to get ahead. After I got about 30 feet ahead of the rest of the group I slowed down to a normal pace scanning in front of me on the path, if it could even be called that anymore with the state it was in, and also scanning the undergrowth on either side of me. I couldn't see very far into the jungle off the pathway but I was watching for disturbances in the in the undergrowth that would indicate something coming our way and listening for any sounds that might indicate something was out there. I made sure to keep an arrow nocked on my bow at all times needing only to draw, aim, and fire in case of an ambush. The path twisted back and forth and after we had traveled about 100 feet I picked up my pace and extended my lead on the rest of the group to 50 feet to give me more time to scout out potential enemies I might come across, but not so far I wouldn't be able to survive an ambush until the group arrived. After traveling about another 100 feet I stopped and crouched down on the ground hoping that I wasn't noticed by what seemed to be two jaguars sprawled out next to each other on the pathway about 35 feet away.
'They look like normal jaguars, but it can't hurt to be a little extra cautious in this set of circumstances. A jaguar would be a tough fight but two will require us to have flawless teamwork to keep someone from getting seriously injured and ending our dungeon run early.'
I walked about 10 feet back to get out of the immediate line of sight of the jaguars and waited for the rest of the group to catch up. While I waited I set my backpack on the ground and thought about whether or not I should try fighting in my wolf form to try and get used to it since I had people there to watch my back while I shapeshifted into and out of my wolf form and I would have people there to help cover my blind spots during my awkward getting used to it phase. Eventually I decided against it since we needed to get used to fighting as a team and everyone else needed to get used to fighting with their weapons, and fighting with their lives on the line in general, and I had more experience than any of them with my weapon. The last thing we needed was for me to throw away all of my experience while everyone else was trying to get on their feet. After a few minutes the rest of the group reached my location.
"What happened? Why did you stop?" Ren asked as the group gathered around me with questioning looks.
"40 feet down the path there are two creatures that appear to be jaguars laying in the middle of the path next to each other, doing the lazy cat thing. I can't tell what level they are and I can't guarantee they're completely normal jaguars either, but to go farther we're going to have to beat them. About ten feet down the path they come into view so I backed up to here to wait for you."
The questioning looks all changed to mixture of grim or firm resolve, even Mick's seemingly endless excitement for adventure and battle seemed to be tempered in the moment prior to the first real battle we would face as a team, though he still appeared happier than the rest of the group at our predicament.
"How are we supposed to take down two jaguars at the same time?" Questioned Isabell, "It's not going to be like hunting at all and none of us have experience hunting or fighting things that fight back, except for maybe Connor and you can't really count the disaster with the elk that Ren and I had."
"Well the way I see it we have three options, we can walk up into their line of sight of sight and draw them in to us, we can try and sneak up on them to take them by surprise which is probably our worst choice, or we can go around the bend and I can shoot one to try and kill it or at least wound it to disable it as much as I can before their attention gets drawn to us," I said.
"As the person in the front I like the last one the best," Ren said with a smile.
Jenna agreed with Ren saying, "I think the last one is the best one as well, especially since it's probably the closest to how we will be fighting as a group in the future."
"I don't really care which way we fight them as long as I get to be a part of the fight too." Mick chimed in, visibly getting happier that we were about to fight something.
"How are you a battle junkie before your first battle?" Isabell asked rolling her eyes. "If you get yourself hurt throwing yourself into harms way for no reason don't come crying to me."
"Lucky for you Mick we should change the formation for the battle. Ren you stay in front and Mick you stand right behind him on his left side. I'll stand right behind Ren on his right side with Connor by me. Isabell you stand on the left of Mick but a little further behind him instead of right next to him."
Everyone started moving into position as Jenna issued out placement instructions. It was rough and the machine was definitely not well oiled, but in the end everyone ended up where they were supposed to. After everyone was in position we moved around the corner cautiously doing our best to make sure the jaguars didn't notice us to early. As soon as they came into view I drew back the arrow on my bow and took aim at the Jaguar on the right side of the path.
"Everyone ready?" I whispered.
Everyone nodded except for Mick who said a clearly audible "Hell ya!"
The jaguars immediately leapt to their feet and growled at us, muscles tensing as they prepared to pounce.
"Fuck" I said and quickly let the arrow fly and it struck the jaguar deep in the right side of the front of its body where its leg met its chest. It fell short of a killing blow but it would definitely slow it down.
"Mick you're a dumb ass!" Ren yelled.
"Oops, sorry guys.." Mick apologized sheepishly.
At that moment the jaguar on the left roared and started sprinting at us just as I was getting another arrow nocked onto my bow.
"Never mind that now, here they come!" Jenna shouted making sure everyone was paying attention.
Ren raised his sledgehammer and widened his stance and Mick tightened his grip on his machetes. I drew back my bow and aimed at the sprinting jaguar but it was to fast and the distance was to short so I was unable to get an accurate shot on the creature. When the creature was five feet away it leaped in the air at Ren trying to lock its razor sharp teeth into his throat and sink its dagger like claws into his flesh so it could tear him apart. Ren swung his sledgehammer like a baseball bat catching the jaguar in the ribs while it was in the air resulting in an audible cracking sound and knocking it sideways and down onto the ground. The jaguar rolled across the ground in front of Mick who jumped forward and slashed at the jaguar while it was on the ground only for the jaguar to leap back off the ground to dodge Mick's strike. Mick rushed after the jaguar again slashing sideway at the creature only for it to leap out of range again. Just as Mick went to follow the jaguar again a metal ball whizzed past him striking the jaguar I had previously shot with an arrow in the leg, forcing it to abandon its ambush.
"Mick get back with the group! They're more intelligent than a typical animal, they're trying to draw you out from the group to make you vulnerable!" I yelled.
Mick looked around realizing how close the other jaguar had gotten and how far he had gotten from the group and quickly fell back to his previous position, meanwhile I let an arrow fly at the one that had tried to pounce on Ren and managed to hit it in its back left leg. The jaguars were noticeably slower than before and were more defensive instead of offensive compared to just a minute ago when the fight started.
"I think its time to take the fight to them" I told everyone.
"Finally!" Mick yelled with a grin.
We moved forward quickly towards the two jaguars. The first jaguar I shot tried to come around the right side of the formation and was just out of reach of Ren's hammer and he wouldn't be able to get there in time. I prepared myself to jump out of the way and quickly tried to trade my bow for my hunting knife when suddenly Jenna reached out and slammed her staff on the head of the jaguar knocking it to the ground giving Ren enough time to get to the jaguar and bring his sledgehammer down on the chest of the jaguar in an overhead strike caving in the chest of the creature. While this was happening the other jaguar was attacking Mick and Isabell. The jaguar swiped it claws at Mick's stomach trying to disembowel him which Mick managed to barely dodge. Immediately after the jaguars strike missed it was struck in the jaw by a metal ball from Isabell's sling shot staggering it and giving Mick enough time to bring his machetes down on the jaguars neck cutting clear through to the spine killing the jaguar almost instantly.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
OneWolfe
OneWolfe As a thank you and a celebration for getting the novel added to over 50 collections I'm going to release two chapters instead of just one today. I will also start looking to see if my schedule can accomadate a more frequent posting schedule due to the support the book has been receiving. Thank you everyone for your support, I really appreciate it!
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