Drake gritted his teeth as he watched the first set of Direwolves leap off the hill of bones, landing on all fours and charging towards him.
'Three at a time, fuck!' He took a cautious step back, bracing himself for the worst as they came.
The first wolf that reached Drake swung its menacing claws at his throat. He predicted this easily thanks to the battle experience from his previous life and swung his sword to deflect the claws of the beast.
However, the attack was far stronger than he anticipated, and even though he deflected it, that did not spare him from an injury as it cut deeply into his shoulder, causing blood to spew out uncontrollably.
Another set of claws came at him almost instantly, this time he attempted to dodge.
Still, despite sidestepping to avoid the blow, the claws of the Direwolf sank deep into his shoulder, injuring him further.
"Arrrgh!" Drake winced, doing his best to ignore the pain. After all, in a battle this delicate, the slightest mistake would surely cost him his life.
Not giving a second to rest, the next wolf came more ferocious than the last, snapping its fangs at Drake.
An obvious assault, however almost too fast to evade.
He ducked, avoiding the snapping jaws just barely. 'Shit...' Drake's eyes shifted away from the Direwolves before him and towards the numbers that were still coming to join the battle, and this made his heart throb in urgency.
He wasn't outnumbered yet and he was this overwhelmed.
'I wanted to test out my physical strength before using my talent. But I will die at this rate,' Drake thought, jumping back to get a few feet away from the Direwolves.
His move was quick and unpredictable, buying him mere seconds.
Well, for Drake that was more than enough time.
Letting out a sigh, he instinctively called to an enigmatic burning sensation in his chest, the feeling was as though a ball of energy—his core—begging to be unleashed.
He wasted no time to call on the energy. 'Please give me something not entirely useless.'
Drake's hopes were to be decided in the next few seconds, whether he would die miserably from being a summoner or live.
At his command, an explosion forming a pool of darkness burst out from his legs so sudden that all the wolves stopped in their charge.
Were they surprised? Drake thought. However, that wasn't it as the looks on their faces were something else. They were not in awe, neither were they in shock, but it was fear that was pinned on each of the wolves' expressions.
A sudden inflow of power poured into Drake's body from the darkness, causing him to stagger, almost losing his footing. Grabbing his chest he spoke, "Is this the power of a summoner?"
{First summoning reward: You have gained 1 point to your Draconic body}
{Draconic Body: 1}
The notification from the system answered it all. Although, reading through the interface was something needed to be left for later.
The pool of darkness began to bubble and from its gnawing depths a terrifying figure began to rise, covered in dark jagged scales for skin, massive wings that caused the wind to churn from each gentle yet disturbing flap, nostrils that burnt with ash, and a massive tail that coiled as though a club.
This regal being was a 'dragon.'
A number of snarls arose from the pack of wolves as they escaped their daze and seemed more furious at the sight of what seemed like an apex monster.
A few of them reacted first, jarring open their maws, and out from them they shot out multiple purple beams of lightning at the dragon.
The Dragon snarled and retaliated against their attacks, opening its own mouth with a roar and sending a dark blast of fire at the hounds.
The two energies collided in the midst of the two and the fire clearly encased the bolts of lightning, consuming it and hitting a handful of Direwolves, instantly incinerating them into ash.
The Dragon did not stop there. Snarling, it lunged forward at the wolves with intense bloodlust, tearing through their numbers like they were simply cotton before a sharp knife.
Still, whether an apex predator or not, it was not invincible. Being surrounded by many Direwolves, they were able to land fatal and small injuries on the mighty being of the dragon, making it shriek in pain.
Other than that, a few other wolves had gotten past the Dragon and now charged at Drake.
About five racing his way.
Drake, on the other hand, had been standing in wait, watching the amount of havoc his single summon could cause, and that gladdened his heart.
Still, despite a dragon being powerful, against such annoying numbers it would be easily killed.
Concluding that, he turned to the Direwolves closing in on him quickly.
"You idiots think I'm the smaller prey." Drake took a much more confident stance as he waited for the wolves to reach him.
He was weak in this body, true. However, he knew how an enemy's mind worked, and seeing the desperation in the eyes of the Direwolves, he was sure he could win the battle... barely.
As the first wolf came into range, ready to pounce forward to bite at Drake's throat, he did the most insane action that made even the Direwolves hesitate.
He had leapt forward at the first wolf instead of preparing a block or getting ready to avoid the attack.
His stance all along was a feint...
And the first wolf paid dearly for it with its life.
Drake swung his sword right through the skull of the beast, ripping open its skull and killing it almost instantly.
He wasted no time in charging at the next.
At this time the Direwolves had recovered from the daze, however not enough to evade what came next.
Drake had flung his sword out of his grasp with all his strength, the blade lodging into the throat of another wolf, making it gurgle on its blood and then collapse to its side, dead.
He was left defenseless but now the numbers had reduced to something a bit fairer.
'I can feel it. Ever since I summoned my dragon, at first I was unable to keep up with the wolves easily, but now, it's like I'm getting stronger by the number of enemies the dragon and I slay...'
Drake thought as he saw the next claw come for his head slower than it usually was, allowing him to pull away and let the claw miss him by a foot.
Immediately seeing an opening at the attacking wolf, he took it. Tightly clenching his fist, he struck hard at the wolf's neck.
A cracking noise was heard, which confused Drake, but that was not the end. The wolf instantly lost control of its head, which drooped down, and then it staggered until it fell to its side.
'My strength too has changed, well, strong enough to deal with E-rank monsters...'
Drake took his time during the battle, not rushing in for attacks just because of how his strength increased. He studied the wolves and their movements before going for the kill.
And with his patience, in a matter of what seemed like an hour, the only beings left standing were Drake and his Dragon, drenched in the gruesome sight and smell of blood. Theirs and that of the wolves.
"I actually won—" Drake spoke with a heave.
{Slay all 26 wolves}
{Reward +2 to dragon core}
{Mission successfully accomplished}
Seeing the set of notifications arise, Drake's eyes lit up. 'If this is how being a necromancer is, I can grow stronger from killing enemies... Even if I don't know how it fully works now, there should be a very good chance of me becoming a very high-ranked awakened.'
Still, his strength was not up to many awakened even at a lower rank than he was.
The fact was simple, getting awakened meant your strength would increase dramatically for all, but for summoners most of their increased strength was their brain, their mental energy.
Drake smiled, turning to his dragon and he spoke, "If this is what being a Dragon Necromancer is, this life might just be well worth living."