The silence weighed more than our steps...After the fight, something had shifted...We'd lost one of our own...No one said his name, but everyone felt the gap he left behind...
Even the ones trying to act normal—clutching their weapons tighter, walking faster—they weren't fooling anyone...The tension hung in the air...We kept walking...
No one cracked a joke...No one argued about formation...It was all quiet obedience...A team that didn't feel like a team anymore...
They had seen what the wolves could do...What one mistake could cost...And for the first time, they weren't sure they could win...
Zaine didn't speak, but he noticed it too...His jaw was tight, eyes sharper than before...He walked ahead like he was dragging us all forward by sheer will...
That's when we saw the cave...Hidden by the roots of a bent tree, narrow and half-sunken into the ground...Zaine didn't hesitate—he just walked in...The rest of us followed...
Inside, the air was damp...The stone walls close...But up ahead, something caught our eyes...
A glow...A faint green shimmer pulsed from a crack in the wall...A herb—alive, thriving in the dark...
Someone whispered, "Is that…?"...Zaine nodded. "System-grade. Rare type."...
Just then, a panel appeared in front of us...
[SYSTEM NOTICE]...[Item Discovered: Verdant Core Herb]...[Effect: restores stamina and increases energy regeneration rate.]...[Note: Effect stacks only once.]...
Hope flickered, just barely...
Then came the sound...Boots... echoing through the stone...From the far entrance, another group entered the cave...
Ten of them...Gray cloaks... The Howling Rats...
Their leader stepped forward with a lazy grin..."Didn't think we'd meet so soon."...
No one from our side moved...Morale was low...Weapons were slow to rise...And they knew it...
Zaine stepped forward alone..."This isn't your floor. Back off."...
The man smiled wider..."It's not yours either. But here we are."...
He looked around at our group—tired eyes, uneven stances..."You look like you just buried someone."...
Zaine didn't answer...Neither did we...We just stared back, waiting for something to tip the balance...
And deep down, we knew it wouldn't take much...
A low growl echoed through the cave...Not from the Howling Rats...Not from us...
From deeper within...
The air shifted—damp and heavy with something that didn't belong...Every instinct screamed before the sound even became a shape...
A wolf—larger than the last, twice the size of a man—emerged from the shadows behind the herb's glow...Its eyes were pale, empty of light...Its breath hit the stone like steam...
No one moved at first...Then it leapt...A blur of gray and muscle...
The Howling Rats didn't even hesitate..."Back! Out!" their leader shouted, scrambling for the exit...They didn't draw weapons...They ran...
Cowards...I didn't blame them...But I didn't move...Neither did Zaine...And neither did the rest of our group...
The wolf landed between us, sending a shock through the cave floor...One of ours tried to strike first—he was fast, brave—but the beast swiped with its claws and sent him crashing into the wall...Down... Not moving...
"Spread!" Zaine shouted... "Don't stay in a line!"...
We reacted on instinct—splitting off, moving around the creature as it turned and lunged again...I drew my blade, waiting for an opening...
Zaine charged first, slashing across the creature's hind leg to slow it down...The wolf howled, spinning to snap its jaws, but Zaine ducked under and rolled behind a pillar...
I moved next—slashing upward while it was turned...Sparks flew as my blade scraped its hide, barely cutting through...
It was stronger than the first pack...Smarter, too...It didn't fight like a beast...It fought like it wanted revenge...
Two others joined the attack from the sides—blades, spears, anything they had...The wolf reared back and slammed down, cracking stone beneath its paws...
Zaine leapt again—this time going for the neck...His strike landed clean...Blood splattered...The wolf staggered, snarling, but it didn't fall...
"Again!" I yelled, charging forward...
Our group surged...One distraction after another, hitting from all angles, until—
Zaine struck again...Straight through the chest...
The wolf twitched once, then collapsed...Silence returned, thick and crushing...
The dead player in the corner didn't stir...
Zaine stood over the beast, blood on his blade..."They'll be back," he muttered... "But next time, we won't be the ones running."...
The body of the giant wolf began to dissolve...Its form breaking apart into light fragments as the system registered its defeat...
A faint chime echoed in our ears...Then the panel appeared in front of all of us...
[SYSTEM NOTICE]...[You have defeated: Great Gray Wolf – Elite Variant]...[Quest Progress: 1/1 Elite Wolf defeated]...[Time Remaining: 1h 06m]...[Calculating Contribution...]...
[Top Contribution: Zaine]...[Reward Granted: Cloak of Silence]...[Item Effect: Allows the user to mask presence for 3 seconds. Cooldown: 60 seconds.]...
Zaine stared at the screen, then at the hide in his hands—soft gray, darker at the edges, already woven into a short cloak by the system's strange logic...
He didn't say anything...Just tied it over his shoulders and stepped back, eyes scanning the cave entrance...
"They know we're here," he said..."Let them come," I replied...
The rest of the team stood in silence...Recovering from the fight...Eyes still on the corpse of the teammate we lost...And the path ahead that wasn't done shifting yet...
The quest wasn't over...Not while the Howling Rats were still in it...
[SYSTEM NOTICE – HIDDEN QUEST: GRAY SILENCE]...[All 9 Standard Wolves have been Eliminated.]...[Remaining Players: 20]...[ALERT: Main Quest Phase Has Begun.]...[Alpha Wolf Now Active.]...[WARNING: The Alpha Wolf hunts freely]...[Time Remaining in Quest: 1 Hour 5 Minutes]...
We all stared at the panel...No one spoke...The ground trembled slightly beneath us...
Somewhere in the darkness, a low growl echoed...Longer... Deeper... Meaner...
Zaine exhaled slowly..."It's awake."...
Everyone tightened their grip on their weapons...The real fight hadn't even started...