Isekai Elf King: Architect of a New Empire

 Leo started forward, but Hugh reached out and put one forepaw on Leo's arm, stopping him. "Leo, buddy, you're not the guardian here. Let me go first."

 Leo nodded. That's fair.

 "And you lost your sword."

 Lily snickered, putting her hand in front of her mouth.

 "I didn't 'lose' it," Leo said, feeling maligned as he held his fingers up in air quotes. "I used it up to save you, remember?"

 "All I'm saying is you're about as dangerous as a bird."

 That must be a dragon-ism.

 "I already agreed. You should go first. Once you win the argument, you have to quit arguing. That's the rule."

 Lily snickered again, and Hugh harrumphed.

 Then he walked in front of Leo and headed through the gate. Leo followed him in and gazed on ruined grandeur.

 The scene in front of Leo reminded him of the Coliseum of Rome—the shattered remnants of a once-grand civilization brought low. A massive marble plaza, arranged in great, sweeping tiers, stood before him. It filled a huge depression in the ground with a great statue in the center—a world-famed gathering spot forgotten to time.

The statue, an epic depiction of an elf—perhaps a renowned leader or philosopher—overlooked the plaza from the center. Its arms had been broken off and lay at the feet of the once stunning work, and the plaza it gazed upon was cracked and empty, but for the vines that snaked across it.

 "Ten thousand people could have filled this place," Leo said in awe as he gazed out over the ruins. "What was it used for?"

 Lily's voice was choked with excitement. "This was the Great Marble Forum. It's so beautiful, so incredibly beautiful. More than I even imagined."

"But it was used for…?"

"Thousands of people, many from other continents, once sold their wares here every day. The stalls and kiosks of the merchants here had everything, from magical crystals and items to the animals and spices of unknown lands. This place was once the center of the world."

 Lily slowly stepped forward, into the plaza. "Can you imagine this place in its prime, Leo? I read about it on hundreds of occasions—it features in so many stories. The Plot of the Artificers, The Romance of Iluthinae, The Last Stand of Fiolanthi's Own…"

 Lily trailed off and then looked up at the statue. "Can you imagine the things that the eyes of the first king have witnessed? This plaza was here for over four thousand years. And now it's ruins."

 Since the pyramids were built. Okay, yeah, that's pretty impressive. I'd be depressed if I saw the fall of something that great as well.

 "Well, we're getting close, Lily," Leo said, reaching out and squeezing her shoulder gently. "Let's go get the treasure so you can rebuild the empire."

 She nodded, then smiled at him, her teeth a brilliant white, her eyes mischievous. "Sure you don't want to stay here, in this world? This is a worthy goal, even for a dragon lover."

 I can tell she's not being insulting, just bantering. And honestly, seeing this makes it a touch tempting. This city is a thing worth rebuilding. Plus, I would love to be able to use my civil engineering degree again.

 "So, not to spoil the awe and whatever, but I think I should draw your attention to the wolves across the way," Hugh said, using one foreclaw to point across the broken market, a slight quaver to his voice.

 Two wolves were exiting from the ruins of buildings at the edge of the plaza, a thousand feet away, almost dead across from them. Each wolf bore a strong resemblance to Leo's buddy, but only if that buddy had been turned evil. They had the brown fur, but it was falling out in diseased patches. Their eyes were too large and not quite the same size. And even across the great, open space, Leo heard cackling from the wolves, an insane giggling that clawed at his mind.

 I didn't even know wolves could laugh.

 "So, you'd mentioned something about corrupted magic, Princess?" Hugh asked.

 "Yes," Lily said, her voice tight. "The magics that sustained, warded, and improved Calasti have been decaying, and the corrupted magic has been spawning terrible magical beasts."

 She unsheathed her dagger and held it out with one painfully thin arm to Leo. "You fight better than I do, and you never seem to use your bow. How about a trade?"

 "I only have the two arrows," Leo said, but he passed her the bow and took the beautifully filigreed dagger, then shrugged out of the quiver holding the arrows. He was terrified, but having a dagger eased his fear somewhat.

 At least I can hurt them back now.

 "Why don't you use it?" Hugh asked as he moved forward over the cracked marble tiles of the Plaza to stand in front of Leo. "The bow, I mean. You didn't use it on the harpies or the goblins."

 "I'm a really bad shot," Leo said. "Just absolutely abysmal."

 "That's a good reason," Hugh quipped. "Also, not to point out the obvious, but do we have to fight these wolves? I mean, sure, we can probably take the two of them, but they're still far away… Perhaps we could just run?"

 Leo hadn't thought of that for some reason—it wasn't like he was a great warrior, and this could go badly for him. Fatally bad, and quickly.

 But there was another consideration. In this world, soul energy apparently made you stronger. He didn't really want to kill sentient creatures for it, but insane, corrupted wolves… he was okay with that. In fact, Leo was outright pro culling the evil canids.

 Leveling had been amazing. Leo figured that they would probably need the levels to complete their goals—so this fight was a risk, but the payoff was a permanent gain, and a permanent increase in their chances of success.

 And I want to be more powerful, Leo thought, recognizing the sliver of greed in him. It could get addictive, making baseline improvements to himself. He might already be hooked on it, if he were being honest. But I need to keep my perspective—if I'm going to level, it needs to be on evil magical beasts, not people.

 "We'll need the experience, Hugh. I just made Level Two, and I'm sure Lily needs to level as well."

 "I'm partway there, from the goblins. It would be very helpful if I leveled."

 "Alright, dead doggies it is," Hugh said nervously.

 Leo winced as a third wolf carefully picked its way out over a ruined wall at the far edge of the plaza, and joined the two in stalking forward.

 "Wolves tend to fight in carefully coordinated packs," Leo said, reciting tactics he remembered from a YouTube video. "The species relies on quick attacks to generate bleeding, darting in and out to avoid damage, and almost always attacking from behind. They tend to retreat from any violent response, so be prepared to counter their darting attacks and strike quickly."

 The monstrous wolves broke into a loping run, heading for Leo and his group, still keeping up their insane laughter.

 "These aren't wolves, Leo," Lily said in a low voice from beside him. "They just vaguely look like them. Be prepared for a lot of possible tactics."

 She had the bow drawn back to her ear, and her arms were trembling.

 "Wait for the perfect shot," Leo said. "You only have two. And one wolf hurt enough to slow it could make an incredible difference."

 The wolves accelerated from a loping run to a full-on charge. They split into three, two running around to the left and right, and one charging Hugh.

 Hugh roared and lunged, but the first wolf managed to skid and backpedal, dodging the strike, and then accelerated again, running behind Hugh and snapping at his hindquarters.

 Leo got to see the error of that. Even though the wolf got a mouthful of Hugh's calf, it barely drew blood—and dragons weren't defenseless to the rear. Hugh's tail smashed down with the same force he'd used to smack trees and rocks. The wolf yelped and leapt back, shaking its head and trying to retreat.

 Then Leo had his own problems. He slashed with his dagger at the wolf charging him to drive it back, then dove sideways at the wolf attacking Lily. Lily waited until the wolf was in mid-leap before releasing her bowstring. The arrow speared it through its open mouth, and Leo's lunge lodged his dagger in the wolf's side.

 The wolf still hit Lily and bowled her over, and then thrashed, trying to remove the arrow and the dagger at once. Lily screamed as claws raked her. She grabbed her last arrow from the quiver and tried to stick the wolf with it.

 The wolf rolled away, pouring blood and hacking, and immediately broke the arrow off by chomping on it. Leo started to stand, then screamed. The first wolf that had attacked him had darted back in and bitten him on the back of his thigh.

Diseased Wolf bites Leo for 4 damage. Leo has suffered a crippling wound to his leg. -40% to dodge and -20% to accuracy. Leo fails Toughness check against bleed. Leo is bleeding for 1 damage per minute until 10 damage has occurred or medical attention has been received. Leo fails his Toughness check against Thel's Rot. Bleed damage does 200% and has 200% the duration.

 Leo turned around to see a chunk of his thigh in the wolf's mouth. He tried to slash with his dagger but missed as the wolf darted away, spitting pieces of Leo on the ground, giggling insanely as its mouth was freed.

 Lily came to her feet gracefully. In one fluid movement, she nocked her last arrow, pulled it back, and shot it into the shoulder of the wolf. It howled in agony but still started forward as Leo tried to stand. But it abandoned its charge as Hugh rushed it from the side. The dragon caught it by the spine in his huge mouth. He crunched, and the wolf screamed before Hugh simply lifted the struggling beast by his horrid hold and slammed it to the ground of the plaza. The wolf feebly kicked until Hugh did it a second time.

Three Diseased Wolves slain. Leo's share of experience is 72.