Redo: Grimoire System in the Apocalypse

The further they went, the more stifled Geth felt. He did his best to conceal it from the others, but they could tell.

Unbeknownst to him, he was giving off a suffocating pressure that the others found difficult to bear. At first, it was minimal, but the more time passed, the harder it was for them to deal with.

Still, the party persisted without saying anything. They felt that Geth was going through some type of mental struggle.

Geth was too focused on himself to even notice the sweat building up on the others. The hair on their necks and arms stood on end as if their lives were in danger.

Albus seemed to be struggling as well. Geth continued to converse with him, using it as a distraction from this strange sensation.

While this was going on, the party had received the following three inheritances and headed toward the third floor.

Based on the memories that their Tames had received, these three Sub-Bosses would be the last left alive. Those that were on the fourth floor had long since perished.

"Have you guys noticed something strange about these Direwolves?" Peter asked.

Geth's ears perked up. He would focus on anything to help ignore this uncomfortable sensation. Swole was the one to respond.

"What, that they're chained up like this?"

"No. Each one of them seems to have a different specialty, very similar to a Human party.

It's like they were made to counter any party that may have been lacking in a specific area."

Geth thought about what he said. He hadn't noticed that fact with his current predicament, but Peter was right.

If any unbalanced party entered, the Direwolves would have destroyed them. Anyone without Wisdom would have been floored by the first or the two-headed Sub-Boss. 

If a party were heavily focused on magic, the Agility Sub-Boss would have torn through them.

Without Dispel or similar spells, the damage over time from the flame Sub-Boss would have countered any possibility of healing.

The second floor had been the same. Each creature had a specialty that needed a specific counter.

"I wonder if this will remain true for the next floor?"

Geth had spoken, but it was so weak the others barely heard him. They glanced back, the worry apparent on their faces.

They were confident in their abilities, but Geth was the pillar that their team was built around. If he wasn't 100%, then neither was the party.

Peter replied quickly.

"I'm pretty sure it will be. We still haven't seen one that focuses on Defense or ranged physical attacks."

The rest agreed. It would make sense for those to be two of the last three available.

Peter still had two Direwolves while Filthy had been waiting for the proper inheritance to come along.

  The Direwolves in Peter's possession would eventually be given to the rest of the party, but they would grow faster with him.

As predicted, the Sub-Bosses on the right and left-hand sides ended up with ranged attacks. One was a mage while the other shot spikes from its tail. 

It wasn't until they'd reached the last creature that they found what Filthy had been looking for.

Unlike the other wolves, this one stood tall.

As they stepped into the final chamber, a colossal Direwolf stood in front of the pillar. It looked expectantly down toward the entrance with bright silver eyes as if it had been waiting for them.

The wolf's silver fur reflected the green light that radiated from the surroundings. It was beaten and battered, and many of the metallic pieces of fur littered the ground.

The blood seeping from its wounds still traveled down the chains, but it didn't seem to affect the beast.

The wolf's eyes hovered over Geth for some time before shifting to the young Direwolf that stood waiting at the entrance.

After a few moments of studying both the young wolf and its master, the beast laid on the ground and tilted its head forward.

The smaller Direwolf approached without fear, earning further respect from the massive creature before it.

The two's foreheads touched. Filthy's six-foot tame looked like a pup standing in front of its mother.

After the pair spent time conversing, Geth could see that the sheen on the Sub-Boss' fur started to dull. The beast's life force slowly drained and empowered the smaller wolf.

It took much more time than the previous transfers had, showing that this creature could have held on longer even if the party hadn't shown up.

It didn't grow any larger, but Filthy's Tame took on the metallic properties of the Sub-Boss. Its fur hardened and turned silver while its eyes turned grey.

After the Sub-Bosses death, the smaller wolf searched around the beast's corpse for a few moments before returning with something in its jaws.

It dropped a card in front of Geth before padding over to Filthy. The wolf rubbed up against its master and pointed its nose toward the corpse.

"He says that the Direwolf wanted you to have that. He also said that we have to take its corpse."

Geth picked up the card before looking at the body of the massive wolf. He found it hard to concentrate, but he estimated the corpse to be close to eight thousand pounds.

"Uhh... does anyone have enough storage for it?"

All eyes turned to Zolis. Everyone had seen the Carry Weight Talent that she possessed.

"Well... I can, but someone is going to have to take my stuff!"

She proceeded to empty her storage item with the largest capacity. Hundreds of boxes, chests, corpses, Skill Cards, broken weapons, intact weapons, and many other miscellaneous items poured onto the floor.

The rest of the party had to move back multiple paces to keep from being crushed by the discharge of items.

"All right, that should be i... What?"

Zolis looked up to find that everyone was staring at her strangely. She glanced at the pile before her and then back to the others.

She shrugged, "I like my loot."