CHAPTER 26: CH 26: SAVING THE DOG....ER WOLVES - PART 2

Inside the cave, the air was thick with the stench of blood and wet fur. A faint whimper echoed from the back—weak, desperate, and trembling with fear.

Lucian’s eyes narrowed as he observed from his hidden position. Five figures stood inside, all clad in thick protective suits, their faces hidden behind tinted visors.

In front of them, two wolves stood their ground.

One was swaying on shaky legs, blood matting its fur, its chest rising and falling unevenly. The other lay sprawled on the ground, breathing faintly, its body twitching in pain.

Even so, their eyes burned with defiance.

The wolves did not back down.

One of the intruders, a woman in a crimson-lined suit, took a step forward. Her voice echoed coldly through the helmet’s speaker.

"We’re not your enemies. Don’t resent us. Survival leaves no room for pride."

Lucian frowned. Hypocrisy. Her words dripped with false regret, yet her stance betrayed no hesitation.

The wolves snarled, lips pulling back to reveal broken fangs. The female sighed as if pitying them. Then her hand lifted, glowing with orange-red light.

Mana.

Flames licked across her arm before surging forward in a coiling wave.

"Food and resources are scarce. And your lives will help ours continue. Resent fate, not us."

She continued almost softly.

The fire danced toward the wolves.

Lucian felt his fingers tighten around his weapon. The heat illuminated the injured pair, and for a brief moment he caught the wild fear in their eyes.

But behind that fear was something else—unyielding resolve. They had pups behind them. No beast would bow its head so long as its young still lived.

The flames crashed forward. The wolves charged through them anyway, howls echoing inside the narrow cavern.

Lucian exhaled slowly, his eyes drifting upward. High above, at the cave’s ceiling, enormous shards of glacier clung dangerously close to breaking.

The firefight below had already cracked part of the frozen surface. A single shot... just one... and the entire ceiling would come crashing down.

His eyes hardened. If he pulled the trigger, the intruders would be buried under tons of ice.

They wouldn’t die—not all of them, at least. Their suits would protect them.

But they’d be slowed, forced to dig themselves out. It would give him the perfect window to grab the pups and retreat.

But the wolves—their bodies were already barely holding together. The collapse would crush them. Even if they lived through it, their injuries would never heal.

A messy sacrifice.

Lucian hesitated, finger steady on the trigger. His mission was survival. He had no luxury to indulge in morality.

If he didn’t act now, Mira and Berry could be dragged into a fight they couldn’t win. And if he tried to save everyone, he risked losing everything.

He exhaled again, low and quiet.

"I’ll make the choice then."

At that moment, one of the wolves—the one still barely standing—turned its gaze toward him. Its golden eyes met his through the drifting smoke and flame. They locked.

For a heartbeat, Lucian’s chest tightened.

There was no hatred in that look. No begging, no rage. Only understanding. As though the beast could sense the decision weighing in Lucian’s mind.

And then—acceptance.

The wolf gave the faintest dip of its head, its chest heaving with effort. Permission.

Lucian froze. He had lived long enough to know that beasts did not give away their young easily.

For this wolf to acknowledge him, a stranger, and silently entrust its children—it was both trust and condemnation.

"...Tch. Fine. I’ll carry your will then."

Lucian clicked his tongue, raising his gun.

The gunshot cracked like thunder.

The sound echoed through the cave, sharper than the flames, louder than the wolves’ howls. The bullet struck true—smashing into the weakest point of the glacier.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then the ceiling groaned.

Cracks spiderwebbed outward, splitting the frozen mass into jagged fragments. Ice shifted. Snow trembled loose.

The intruders jerked their heads upward, startled.

"What—?!"

And then it fell.

A roar of crushing weight thundered through the cavern as entire sheets of glacier came loose, burying the ground in an avalanche of jagged shards.

The flames were snuffed out instantly, replaced with the deafening crash of ice smashing against stone.

The suited intruders shouted, their voices muffled under the roar. They scrambled, some raising barriers of mana to shield themselves.

The fully-suited female cursed, erecting a wall of fire that hissed as snow and ice consumed it.

The wolves... they didn’t move.

The standing one gave a final low growl, curling its body around its unconscious mate. Its eyes never left Lucian’s, even as the avalanche swallowed it whole.

Lucian lowered his weapon, his jaw set tight. The cold spray of snow brushed against his face, but his eyes didn’t waver.

Behind him, Berry let out a horrified whisper.

"You... you buried them—"

Lucian cut him off.

"We don’t have time. The pups are still alive."

His voice was flat, but deep in his chest, his heart thudded with something heavier than he’d admit..

Mira struggled against Berry’s hold, tears streaking her dirtied face.

"No! The parents—"

Lucian spun, eyes flashing.

"Do you want to die here?!"

His words silenced her.

Snow continued to fall, filling the cave’s entrance with pale mist. The intruders’ muffled curses still echoed from under the ice, but they were trapped—for now.

Lucian adjusted his grip on the gun and started forward.

"We move. Now. Before they dig themselves free."

Berry swallowed hard and nodded, tugging Mira along despite her trembling.

Lucian’s gaze swept the cave one last time. Where the wolves had stood, nothing but shards of ice and blood remained. But the faint whimper from deeper inside...

Still there. Still alive.

Lucian’s lips pressed into a thin line.

"Hold on, my new work force. I’ll get you out."

He muttered under his breath.

And then he stepped deeper into the frozen tomb.

Lucian’s boots crunched over the fresh layer of ice as he pushed deeper into the cave, his gun raised, eyes scanning the darkness.

The faint cries of the pups grew louder, guiding him forward.

But just as he neared the small hollow where they were hidden, the ground trembled. Snow and shards of glacier shifted violently, scattering across the cavern floor.

Lucian froze, his instincts screaming.

A moment later, a bloodied paw forced its way out of the frozen mass, claws digging deep into the stone. One of the older wolves, battered and broken, struggled to claw its way free.