The cheering didn’t last long.

  Because even though the Shadow Wolf Alpha was down, the fight wasn’t over.

  The seven Shadow Wolves were still circling below, snapping and snarling, looking for any weakness.

  And in Towerbound, you didn’t get EXP until the entire fight was officially over.

  No XP for mid-battle kills.

  No partial rewards.

  You either finished the encounter—or you didn’t.

  Which meant they couldn’t celebrate yet.

  Ren leaned out from behind his rock shield, eyes narrowed.

  “Hold it together!” he barked. “Don’t get cocky! We don’t get squat until those wolves are dead!”

  The group sobered instantly.

  The warriors kept throwing rocks, one after another.

  The ranger swapped targets and started sniping the nearest wolf, arrows thunking into its hide.

  The mage, already panting from mana depletion, managed to squeeze out another Firebolt before having to sit down and start recovering mana naturally.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  The thief? Still unstoppable do thiefy things, joined into rockapalooza.

  The Shadow Wolves were fast, vicious little bastards, but they weren’t smart.

  One tried to climb the cliff face directly, scrabbling up on its claws.

  A quick barrage of rocks knocked it loose, sending it tumbling back down with a yelp.

  It suffered fall damage, which made the group smile.

  Another tried leaping from a fallen tree.

  The ranger caught it midair with a perfect shot between the eyes.

  The others prowled nervously, occasionally lunging up only to get pegged by rocks or magic.

  From his ghostly perch, Kanuka hovered, arms crossed.

  ‘God, this is nerve-wracking,’ he thought.

  ‘If they mess this up and wipe, I’m going to laugh. Then cry.’

  Ren kept barking out short orders, keeping the group’s momentum up.

  “Focus fire! Target that one on the left!”

  “Watch the mage’s mana!”

  “Don’t stop throwing rocks unless your arm falls off!”

  It was messy.

  It was desperate.

  And it was exactly the kind of ragged teamwork that Ren had been counting on.

  One by one, the Shadow Wolves fell.

  Every time a wolf died, it triggered a slight morale break among the others—causing them to hesitate longer between attacks.

  Finally, after what felt like an eternity of throwing rocks, firing arrows, and scrambling for more ammo, the last wolf gave a pathetic whine and bolted for the treeline.

  It didn’t get far.

  A well-placed rock from one of the warriors clocked it right in the skull, sending it sprawling.

  [SYSTEM MESSAGE: Battle Complete.]

  [Experience Gained.]

  [Bonus Experience: Overleveled Monster Defeated.]

  [Loot Generated.]

  The flood of notifications rolled across everyone’s vision at once.

  Kanuka whooped from his ghostly position, even though nobody could hear him.

  The others slumped back, panting, bruised, battered—but grinning.

  They had done it.

  They had actually taken down a mini-boss at Level 2 without a proper tank, proper healers, or even proper gear.

  Ren just leaned against the cliff wall, letting out a long, slow breath.

  ‘Phase one complete,’ he thought grimly.

  ‘Now we just have to survive phase two: dividing the loot without a fistfight.’

  And, of course—

  Getting Kanuka’s dumbass ghost back to his body.