The battle plan was by no means haphazard, but neither was it reliable.

Enemies:

[Nascent Mutant: 12]

[Nascent Monster: 10]

[Nascent Wretch: 1]

[Emergent Aberrant: 1]

Vale listened to the whizz of Salome's quills reverberating through the cave as the sounds of fighting drew closer and closer to the first turn of the maze, where Awilix, he, and Two were waiting.

As for how they planned to win such an outnumbered battle…

It was all up to Salome, really.

It would be her job to slay the Emergent Aberrant, Wretch, and contain the Monsters so they didn't overwhelm Awilix.

Awilix's role was to use her agility and dexterity to play around with the Mutants and possibly some Monster class, distracting them for as long as she could while prioritizing taking no hits rather than dealing damage.

As for Two and Vale, their job was to maim and handicap as many as they could with either a whip slash or a bow shot. Namely, they were to aim for the joints. If they saw potential for a kill, they'd take it, but they'd be conservative in their approaches. They had to keep a few alive after all.

Vale was on a protruding ledge on the left, while Two was on the right with her bow drawn and the bone dagger at her feet.

Awilix, Two, and Vale were all playing a supporting role to Salome. The entire hope was that they'd hold out long enough for her to win her fight, then clean up the foes they'd weakened.

Vale spoke to himself as the fierce clash on the other side of the wall drew closer and closer.

"Here they come…"

'I wonder what they are like…'

The first trace of Salome to make itself known was the tip of her wing. Vale, when he spotted the black protrusion, stared at it as it shot back out of his sight in a blurring flash. Then, Salome's full body rocketed backward into his frame of vision, shooting toward the wall of the cavern.

The succubi queen barely managed to flip herself in time to land perpendicular to the ground with her feet on the wall. She immediately kicked off and flapped her wings again, sending her to the ceiling of the cave, where she held on to one of the pitfalls that led to inside the fake roof, where the workers hid in the crawlspace with stone stakes at the ready.

A projectile shot through the air where Salome had collided with the wall moments before.

Following whatever that was, a stream of beasts surged around the corridor to see Salome floating by the ceiling, Awilix on the floor, a little further ahead — the archer and a man with a whip on a ledge on either side of the winged demoness.

'Lycanthropes?'

The beasts all looked like humanoid wolves.

They ran on two legs, and fur covered their whole bodies. They had wolf-like heads, pointy ears, and long snouts. Their eyes were not slit, but still narrow, and their bodies looked well-trained, even hidden beneath the fur… Their genders were recognizable as female or male, but no bits could be seen under their thick coats.

There were 12 light gray, 10 dark gray, one black, and one matte black.

As for which was the Wretch and which was the Emergent Aberrant of the two black ones…

The black one, who looked male and wore a traditional fur coat, was tall, muscular, and imposing…

'That must be the Wretch…'

The matte-black one, which looked to be a woman, was small, agile, and appeared quite ferocious.

'And you must be the Aberrant.'

Though it was possible that it could be swapped, but it didn't matter. Salome had to deal with them both either way.

Awilix threw her hands to the side and extended her claws to their maximum reach.

"Puppies?! I can't wait to rend their flesh and claim my reward!"

Salome let go of the pitfall in the ceiling and flapped her wings just in time to dodge another projectile, which appeared to be a 'bone?' As Salome flew to the left and collided with the wall a little ahead of Vale, she screamed back at the cat.

"Remember your role! Screw up, and the cage is coming back!"

As the bone hit the ceiling, puncturing a small hole in the fake roof, a thick stone spike slipped from one of the many gaps and fell into the horde.

[Vana Vilkas has been slain]

[+2 Aether]

A worker had drawn first blood…

'Good job, little imps!'

But that was just one of 24, and the surprise of such an attack was gone. They'd be wary of it now.

With all the enemies clustered together, the biggest challenge at the moment was getting the correct targets to focus on Salome and Awilix, while trying to spare Two and Vale of attention.

Such a blessing wasn't going to just come to them; they had to make it happen.

Sadly, they were once again going to rely on the winged demoness to pull off the spectacular feat.

Salome shot down from the ceiling and landed on the ground a little in front of the ferocious feline, but she didn't stay in that spot for long. The moment her toes touched the ground, Salome simultaneously flapped her wings with immense force, and all her quills detached and floated in the air.

Then, the Champion of Lust shot straight into the mass, clamping her hand around the neck of a Vana Vilkas and carrying them through to the middle of the pack. Her quills chased after her and sank into the nearest targets they could find in their attempt to get to their master's side.

As Salome slammed the Vana Vilkas into its brethren, her momentum was killed. When her charge finally came to a halt, she threw the wolf down to the ground and hovered her foot above its neck. A rogue quill quickly floated beneath her heel, and she kicked it down into its throat.

[Vana Vilkas has been slain]

[+2 Aether]

The rest of her quills, having rended the flesh of many different wolves, caught up with her and began to whirl around in an attempt to make a modicum of space between her and her many opponents.

Salome's bold action seemed to have done the trick as the 22 remaining lycanthropes stopped their advance in favor of maintaining Salome's encirclement.

"Now!"

As Vale screamed, he readied his whip and took a crack at the mass, aiming for a Vana Vilkas at the edge of his weapons range. At the same time, Two drew her crude bow back and let an arrow fly.

Vale's strike bit into the ankle of a dark grey wolf while Two's shot sank into the abdomen of a Vana Vilkas.

The two wolves, and a few others, who'd been facing Salome, turned around to face their attackers, only to be met by the swipe of the ravenous cat.

Awilix had stalked her way up to the edge of the group surrounding Salome and swiped her claws, biting into the chest of the nearest one. After her attack, a few, including the two injured, turned around and bounded after Awilix, who did as she was told and ran away.

The Emergent Aberrant, the small black one, also started to chase after Awilix, but Salome spotted her before it was too late and, despite her predicament, was able to launch herself through the pack at the wolf girl, who she grabbed by the nape.

Salome, in a sadistic voice Vale could barely hear over the mass of snarls, spoke to the puppy:

"Why don't you wanna play with me? A night with me…"

Salome clenched her hand around the tiny wolf's nape and quickly threw her into the chest of the Wretch.

"Is something most would die for ᥫ᭡"

The tiny black wolf slammed into the Wretch, and the two snarled savagely as they regained their footing. A group of dark grey wolves pounced on Salome, hiding her from Vale's view.

As much as Vale wanted to keep watching Salome, he had his own job to do.

Awilix now had seven wolves chasing her; four were Vana Vilkas, and three were the yet-to-be-named Monster-class. Awilix retreated until she was right below Vale and then kicked off the wall just in time to avoid a bone that had been thrown at her.

Awilix fell on all fours and skidded to a stop as her claws scraped against the ground.

Two and Vale immediately attacked and managed to maim four more of the wolves, meaning six of the seven were injured; to varying degrees. But Vale had to be careful, as it seemed like the wolves cared not if the tip was covered in razors; whenever he struck, the beasts would try to grab his whip to pull him down.

But, all in all…

'This is going well…'

[A challenger has entered the dungeon]

'Oh…'

'Uh oh…'

[A challenger has entered the dungeon]

[A challenger has entered the dungeon]

[A challenger has entered the dungeon]

[A challenger has entered the dungeon]

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