I Woke Up as the Villainess's Friend. I Don’t Want to Be the Next Dark Queen

By the way, we're still in the cave. There are big ice golems left to finish off. But as long as we don't enter their attack range they won't bother us. If I had a mirror, I'm sure I'd see myself with a goofy, happy smile on my face.

Stats. I love stats.

Back on Earth, I always made the weirdest builds instead of following whatever streamers were doing in LoL or what my guild mates said in MMORPGs. I know, I know... most of the time it was a disaster, but other times I discovered builds that later became trendy when they showed up on some YouTube channel or Twitch stream, like my full damage and crit Varus.

When I saw the damage listed on the shadow wolf's stats sheet—for example, his shadow claws—I thought that 5 times the mana points spent was the total damage.

Now I know it's not. It's base damage. After all, the Phase II seed has the same description for the spell and it makes perfect sense. Think about it: a fire dart does 1 point of base damage and costs 1 mana point. A basic fireball does 2 damage points and costs 2 mana points. So a divine beast having 5 base damage points per mana point spent seems right. That's why, at grandmaster level, it makes sense that the shadow wolf could take out an entire city.

At first, when I didn't really understand the magic system before they explained it in class, I thought that if he spent 5 mana points on those claws it would do 5 damage. Now I know that's not how it works. At grandmaster level and with the insane intelligence he has, the damage is way, way higher. Brutal.

And if divine beasts from other gods are hunting him—fully developed ones—or there's some even greater threat I don't know about, I need to level up more, and so does he.

I give the pup a pet. I'm still holding him tight against my chest and he's barking and licking me. He can definitely sense my excitement about his Phase II.

And the teleport... they've added a cooldown to it, but otherwise it works like my flash. It could save his life since it's instant.

I think now I can probably risk him a bit more in combat.

And he summons wolves, like the snow alpha. I try tapping where it says shadow wolf level 1 and its stat sheet opens:

Shadow Wolf. Level 1:

Constitution: 6

Strength: 9

Intelligence: 4

Agility: 10

Wisdom: 3

Health Points: 6

Good. I give the pup a little kiss on the soft fur of his forehead and put him back in the backpack.

"Later, maybe I'll let you out for a while. We might even look for a pack of wolves," I tell him.

Time to continue clearing what's left of the room. Since I'm not in a hurry, I meditate for a bit first. It's what I've been doing between each fight as I advanced to this point. Not to recover health—the defense my channeling gives me, which leveled up, has gotten stronger. I don't know what type of armor it could compare to, but definitely some heavy armor like Erika's. And I have it on my whole body without the mobility impediment her armor undoubtedly gives the tank. My body might feel heavier, but nothing my muscles can't handle.

Once past the labyrinth, we emerge into the gigantic cave containing the forest and lake. It's snowing. Perfect. Because I want to fight the wolves. My mana, by the way, is full.

We avoid the troll villages and trek through the snow for a good while. The flakes filter down between the forest trees since the canopy isn't dense or close enough to act as an umbrella. Finally, I hear the howls. Distant at first, but getting closer.

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I pull the pup out of my backpack.

"Grow to your real size," I tell him.

And I'm surprised by the result. I'd expected his head to reach just above my knees, but he almost reaches my waist.

"Wow, you've grown."

His response is a bark that's both happy and excited.

I pet his head and leave my hand there for a few seconds, feeling his warmth in this cold environment. Despite my protection against the cold, the warmth is welcome.

The wolves are approaching. I cast my earth channeling and add two more spells on my sword—water first, then fire.

I'm ready.

The wolves surround us and begin their attack. The alpha stays hidden, but I can sense it boosting its pack. They charge toward us, zigzagging through the snowy tree trunks. I raise my sword as the pup teleports into the shadow of one wolf, catching it by surprise from behind. I smile. The others keep advancing.

I have time to spare a few moments to calm myself and watch the pup leap and deliver a powerful bite to the white wolf's neck. This one's bigger—a full head taller than my seed of darkness. The white wolf tries to fight back but ends up falling to the ground with my wolf cub on top, refusing to let go. Relief washes over me.

I already knew he was capable. But I like seeing with my own eyes that he's both agile and strong. He'll be fine.

Now I focus on the other snow wolves still charging toward me. Even though I have the magical defense from earth channeling, I don't plan to let them all reach me at once and bite me from behind. I wouldn't want them overwhelming my defenses and wounding or killing me. That's why I run forward, straight at one of them.

At the last moment, I switch targets to the one on the right, which I cut clean in half with my sword. The smell of burnt flesh spreads through the air. The wolf I was initially going for didn't expect my sudden change in trajectory. Easy prey. I go for it and slay it with one slash.

My movements are fluid, both cuts flow naturally, the sword following my momentum. Now I pivot on my toes, spinning the weapon with me. My feet trace a half-circle in the loose snow, sending it flying. A couple of wolves that were chasing me meet my steel. As I finish the movement, I catch sight of another coming at me from the left. I duck to dodge it, then stand up.

I raise my sword to block the next one leaping on top of me while I kick the previous one. With earth channeling, my foot, inside my boot, weighs more. The sound of cracking bone mingles with a sharp yelp of pain. I cut and burn the other wolf—the leaping one—in one swift motion. Meanwhile, the rest are regrouping. I face them.

Here begins the real battle. My legs, my body, my arm, and my sword are perfectly aligned with my mind. I enter a kind of trance where my intermediate sword mastery helps me sense the geometry of positions—where there's no room for doubt, just my steel and the wolves. It's like when I used to dance to music back on Earth and felt, kinesthetically, that I was one with it and knew I was doing it right.

Some of the beasts manage to bite me, especially my legs from behind. They can't sink their fangs in, my channeling holds. Because of that, their freezing bite doesn't affect me either. Occasionally, the pup pulls a wolf away from me, attacking swiftly and fiercely despite being smaller than the white wolves.

I keep fighting, maintaining awareness of time despite being in this trance-like state. The water channeling fades. Of the twenty-odd wolves that attacked us, four remain. I don't renew the earth channeling, I'll eliminate them before my remaining minute runs out. The alpha, which unlike the first one Ronan and I encountered doesn't seem able to control the weather, howls to renew the buff for the remnants of its pack and emerges from among the trees. Its yellow eyes gleam as it walks toward me, taking its place among the four blue-eyed wolves.

Is it trying to study me further? Gauge my reactions? Or intimidate me?

I don't care. I'm happy to take advantage and renew my earth channeling before it runs out. I'm going to need it for the alpha. The fire channeling doesn't need renewal because it lasts longer. I also connect to the ground beneath my feet with earth control.

The pup positions himself beside me. I don't like him fighting with the alpha around, but it's too late to hide him in my backpack. The five wolves lunge toward us, zigzagging. I'm not taking chances. I raise earth spikes from the terrain, creating a barrier of stakes between them and me. The alpha is fast, it growls an order, and they all change trajectory, but one wolf doesn't react in time and one of my hardened stakes pierces its belly.
Without the stone hardening, I don't think I could have penetrated their legs or back.
Since I'm maintaining earth control, I make the nearby stakes bend inward to pin it and wound it further in the belly. It's still alive, but I think it'll bleed out.
The others are already coming for me, from behind this time. Since my earth control covers that area too, I repeat the move. They dodge quickly by jumping backward—seems they expected it, at least the alpha, which is controlling them and issuing orders.
I can't afford to keep wasting what little time I have left on fire channeling. I dissolve all the stakes back into earth except the ones pinning the wounded wolf and release the spell from my mind.
"Alright, you and me. No more stake tricks. Come at me, alpha."