The Rise of the Winter Wolf - Book 3 - Chapter 4 - Skating (Patreon)

There won't be a chapter tomorrow due to me having to spend a bunch of time researching stuff.

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Wolf

“For a boss, that thing was pretty weak,” I mutter before turning around to see all of the remaining dark sprites getting torn apart by Sapphire and my arctic lycanthropes.

The ease at which they slaughter the remaining dark sprites surprises me.

I guess losing their leader hurt them pretty badly.

Suddenly, in the middle of the slaughter, a large chest appears with a crown in front of a pair of butterfly wings.

I begin to approach the chest with a smile on my face whilst occasionally killing a dark sprite that had gotten too close. At the same time, I begin to hear footsteps coming from about fifty meters away.

“The hell?” I mutter with a pause in my step before sprinting towards the chest.

There aren’t any monsters on this floor that actually walk on the ground. Which means that is likely a Competitor.

I quickly touch the chest before frowning at its contents and placing both Tier 5 items into my inventory.

Without wasting any time, I howl towards the moonlit sky, calling all of my arctic lycanthropes towards me before shouting, “Find the exit!”

I don’t know who this Competitor is, but for all I know, they might try to use the now-bossless exit for themselves.

All of the lycanthropes rush through the clearing in search for the door before one of them – one of the bats – makes a screech to draw my attention. I quickly find it standing above a trapdoor next to the large tree.

“Good job,” I say as I sprint over towards it and stop in front of the trapdoor. I then turn around and howl again before shouting, “Come here!”

All of the lycanthropes growl in irritation as they congregate near me. At the same time, the owner of the footsteps finally reveals themselves to be a woman with pointed ears wearing a deep blue armor that covers her entire body except for her head.

I raise an eyebrow and lower my guard slightly as I recognize her face from one of my times in the viewing rooms.

“Adriana?” I mutter with surprise.

As soon as she sees me, she raises her hands in a peaceful gesture and shouts, “I just want to talk! I won’t try to take this exit from you!”

I frown at this before glancing at the lycanthropes and saying, “Guard this exit. Don’t let anyone near it except for me and Sapphire.”

Without even looking back at the obviously annoyed lycanthropes, I begin making my way towards the elf as Sapphire shrinks back down and climbs my shoulder.

As soon as I get within a dozen meters of her, she shouts, “Look, I’ll keep this brief. I just wanted to ask you what you are planning to do with those monsters behind you!”

Both of my brows raise in surprise before I answer her, “I will set them free with an order to not attack Competitors or turn other monsters.”

My answer seems to surprise her as her eyes widen for a moment before she smiles and says, “Alright, thank you.”

She then bows and quickly leaves the clearing without another word.

“Huh,” I mutter while watching her departing figure, “she isn’t exactly talkative.”

I shrug before turning back around and walking back up to the arctic lycanthropes.

“You may go free, but you are not allowed to kill any Competitors or turn any of the monsters,” I tell them as I walk through them towards the trapdoor.

After a brief moment of hesitation, all of the lycanthropes begin to fly away from me, once again leaving me alone with Sapphire.

I glance at Sapphire before opening the trap door and jumping in to touch the exit below it.

Before the green light from the door even fades, a very welcoming feeling covers me as I sense all of the ice element around me the second I appear.

The snow beneath my feet crunches as I fall a couple of inches to the ground after the teleportation.

I lift my head and breathe deeply, taking in the beautiful smell of the cold air, mixed with the lovely feeling of the cold wind blowing against the fur covering my body.

Even Sapphire purrs at the feeling of the cold around us.

I shift back to my neutral form before opening my eyes and looking at my surroundings. Everything in sight is white for miles around, without any sort of greenery, water, or even monsters.

“This floor really is a wasteland,” I mutter with a tinge of interest.

It’s a good thing that I’m immune to the cold.

I glance at Sapphire, who seems to be bathing in the cold winds of the floor, before focusing on the ice element around us. Without any trouble at all, I gather a large chunk of it and create some skates out of ice around my feet. Then I create a pathway made out of ice through the snow.

“Let’s go for a little trip,” I say to Sapphire with a smile before stepping onto the path of ice and skating my way across the snow-covered mountain.

I love this floor theme.

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Arcadian Live

Seemingly endless laughter echoes throughout the stadium as everyone watches Wolf casually skating through one of the dangerous floors of a hazardous theme with a look of peace on his face.

“I expected him to be at home on this theme, but this is just…” Mikaela begins before breaking out into laughter at the sight of Sapphire falling asleep on Wolf’s shoulder.

Katherine watches the screen with a mixture of amusement and exasperation as she says, “I guess we can always rely on The Winter Wolf for comedic relief.”

Her comment feeds into the audience’s already loud laughter.

“I don’t remember the last time,” Niklai begins while shaking his head, “that I saw a Competitor in the Administrator Dungeon treating a hazardous themed floor as if it were his backyard.”

Thousands of viewers throughout the audience begin messing with their menus to take pictures of the main screen before posting them on the System Forums.

This reaction only grows even further as Wolf begins whistling a random tune while skating.

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Executive Stream

Diane ignores the amused look Leo sends her as she shakes her head with exasperation.

Both of them had just finished reading through the many System Forums threads about Wolf’s actions on the thirty-first floor.

“Even if he wasn’t famous before now, he will likely have an entirely new following after this little stunt,” Diane mutters with a tired tone of voice.

Leo chuckles at this before he says, “Yeah. He will be famous for being the Competitor that went skating during the Administrator Dungeon!”

Diane groans at the thought before focusing on the screen showing Wolf as he continues to skate through the mountains.

“That said, it’s good that he gets to have a break during the Administrator Dungeon Run,” Leo says as he turns serious again, “even if the other Competitors are all struggling on this floor.”

“Yeah,” Diane mutters before a sad look covers her face, “especially considering what will be on the one hundredth floor…”

Leo’s face mirrors Diane’s as he watches Wolf continue skating on the ice.

“Yeah…” he says while remembering his first time against a centurion boss. “He will need breaks like this if he is going to survive the rest of the dungeon.”

Diane nods her head in silent agreement without taking her eyes off of the screen.