The Divine Wolf... or?

Pain and suffering… why did it always follow him around? Was he never allowed a break from this endless hell? Ark could already feel his consciousness beginning to fade, but he wouldn't just let it end like this! This wasn't the time to feel bad about himself, he needed to do something!

Immediately, he started revolving a large amount of light mana within his body, not only healing his wounds, but also combating the darkness within. Before the light of the mana could escape his body, one of the adventurers, namely a healer, had already started casting their magic on him, enshrouding his body in light.

This worked out in Ark's favour, as he had been holding back his light magic just in case, and it seemed like it would stay hidden for a little longer. Naturally the healer was able to feel the presence of Ark's magic, but he couldn't care less at the moment, and he just kept using his magic to heal Ark.

This wasn't any sort of selfless act or even something he did out of the kindness of his heart, he just wanted to survive, and saving Ark would increase his chances even if only by a little bit.

Ark was barely able to stay conscious, but his mind was rapidly coming up with different strategies and ideas to beat the fallen angel who had just shown its tremendous strength. Just using his strength and hoping for the best wasn't going to work on this opponent, and he knew this, it was fairly obvious after all.

The taste of blood was still lingering inside of his mouth, and the numbing pain that pulsated throughout his entire body was driving him crazy, yet there was nothing he could do, he could only wait for his wounds to heal slowly, whilst spectating what was happening in front of him.

Seeing Ark in such a miserable state, Thufrat wasn't just going to sit still. Seeing his best friend getting impaled right in front of his eyes, his rage was not something to be taken lightly. Today was supposed to be a rather carefree day of exploring a dungeon and reaping benefits, how did it turn into this? Thufrat couldn't wrap his head around why any of this was happening, was this god's will?

Was he not allowed to enjoy his life for even a moment before something had to go wrong?

As Ephine watched these events unfold before her eyes, she could feel some sort of emotion welling up inside her. She glanced at Ark who was in a sorry state, and the feeling just wanted to go out of control! What was this feeling called now again? Anger? No. It was something more.

It was something worse.

She could feel a fire of burning passion light within her heart as she felt a sort of clarity she had never felt before. Though the situation was tragic, and she was furious beyond belief, she couldn't help but let a slight smile escape her lips as she glanced at Ark once more. Today, she had realised something important, something which she would never forget.

And today, she was going to protect just that.

Unlike Thufrat and Ephine who both felt furious, Atar felt something completely different. He didn't have the time to feel mad, he didn't even really understand what it meant to be mad either way, and he just felt sad. The thought of losing Ark only ended up with Atar feeling sad.

He didn't want Ark to leave them, he wanted to keep hunting with Ark, he wanted Ark to pat him on the head when he had done something well, and he wanted to cuddle with his mother and Ark before falling asleep. Ark was the only thing close to a father figure that Atar ever had, and he never wanted him to leave. He didn't want their happiness to go away.

Even though he wasn't necessarily angry, he was going to fight the fallen angel anyways, for the sake of protecting his family's happiness.

The fallen angel who had just strutted away after impaling Ark had no idea what he had awakened, and as he turned around, three people immediately caught his attention. Thufrat was standing on his right side, with his eyes nearly turning red from uncontained rage.

Atar was standing in the middle, with a sombre expression on his face, from a glance he looked unassuming, yet he was ready to pounce any second now. Ephine looked… radiant? Her expression made the fallen angel a little surprised, as he had no idea what she was thinking. The real reason behind Ephine's expression was quite simple, she finally understood her own feelings.

To most people that might've been something obvious, but to Ephine, understanding her own feelings and emotions was like a breakthrough, and she felt stronger than ever before. Rather than being mad about what had happened, she was focusing on what she wanted to protect, and for what reason.

Thufrat didn't want to just stand around and do nothing, and he decided to take the initiative. A large amount of thick dark-brown scales appeared all over his body, forming an intimidating set of armour. From his spatial bag, he retrieved his warhammer, and to all the onlookers, he looked like a fierce beast made for war.

Before he attacked, Thufrat let his unimaginable rage took control of him for a second, as he tilted his head back and roared!

This roar seemed like it would be enough to shake the heavens themselves, and surely enough, the angel faltered. It had never felt this oppressed by the bloodline of a magical beast before, and there was only one reason why. A look of astonishment could be seen on the angel's face as it watched Thufrat rush as fast as he could towards it.

This dwarf actually had the bloodline of a dragon in its body!?

Thufrat swung his warhammer with all the force he could muster as soon as he got within range of the angel's face. Though it was certainly under pressure, the angel managed to recover somewhat before Thufrat's strike connected. Since it could move, it haphazardly put up one of its hands in front of its face to catch the warhammer.

"BOOM!"

The collision sent the angel flying over 50 meters before it managed to recover somewhat on the ground, but not unscathed. The arm that had been met with Thufrat's warhammer was so crooked and bent that it barely resembled an arm. Bits and pieces of muscle tissue and skin were completely missing, and pieces of bone jutted out from all sorts of different angles and places.

It was a horrid sight, and even the angel wasn't able to act its way out of this one, as it was genuinely in a lot of pain.

"Hahahahahahaha, how do you like that one you fucking bastard?" Thufrat couldn't stop himself from laughing upon the sight, but the angel was far from amused.

It quickly conjured up a sword made out of darkness mana in the hand that wasn't mutilated, and it stared creepily at Thufrat. Thufrat naturally didn't take this angel lightly, and he quickly got into a defensive stance. The angel swiftly slashed out with its sword, and before anyone realised, an arm was already flying through the air…