Chapter 138: Escape and Pursuit
A mighty wolf’s claw extended from the darkness, snatching Edward as if he were a rat.
Edward trembled, his face filled with terror, as if targeted by a natural predator at the top of the food chain. He couldn’t muster any thought of resistance, only fear and despair filling his heart.
“Where is it?”
The giant wolf’s pupils were filled with cruelty and indifference. It increased its grip until Edward’s bones creaked under the strain.
“Tell me! Where!”
Its massive head and fang-filled maw could swallow Edward in one bite. The voice emanating from within sounded like an abyss, terrifying and absurd.
Edward felt as if all his bones were about to shatter. He opened his mouth, and shards of blood and internal organs flowed out.
“…It’s… It’s in my…” He struggled, as if speaking his dying words, but the pain caused by the increasing strength of the wolf prevented Edward from uttering a complete sentence. Gradually, he understood that the wolf wasn’t unwilling to let him answer, but was simply toying with him.
It was like a beast catching its prey, not eating it immediately but playing with it, savoring all its struggles and pathetic attempts to survive. Such twisted thinking was unique to beasts.
Although this giant werewolf still possessed reason and could use human language skillfully, its heart had likely been replaced by depravity.
Understanding this, Edward despairingly gave up struggling. He didn’t believe that handing over the damn stone egg would make this cruel, cold-blooded beast spare him. A hunter would never allow their prey to escape.
As death approached, the giant wolf casually tossed Edward into the cold, damp mud.
Edward got a chance to breathe and pondered. Perhaps this beast wouldn’t kill him easily, not before it got the stone egg.
But his thoughts were surely mistaken. The reason the giant wolf stopped was that a more dangerous enemy was approaching.
Its pupils contracted, staring intently into the distance.
The sound of armored boots hitting the ground echoed repeatedly, but faster than that was a bright white longsword, reflecting light even in the darkness. It instantly closed in on the giant wolf, forcing the wolf to twist its body desperately to avoid a fatal strike.
The sword blade struck the werewolf’s fur, producing a metallic clang. This seemingly insignificant edge easily broke through the giant wolf’s defenses, leaving a glaring wound on its waist.
Before the giant wolf could get a clear view of its attacker, the opponent clenched a fist and struck the giant wolf’s lower abdomen.
The unreasonable, immense power sent the giant wolf’s vision blacking out. It arched its body, foul saliva spilling everywhere from its massive wolf maw.
However, only such a degree of attack was not enough to harm it in the slightest.
The giant wolf howled, its eyes glowing with a faint light as it completely transformed into its wolf form, turning around and pinning the attacker beneath its claws.
The attacker was an “iron can” covered in armor. No matter how much the giant wolf exerted itself, it couldn’t crush this can and squeeze the person inside into a paste through the gaps. Clearly, this armor was no ordinary item.
With another sound of a sword being drawn, the giant wolf looked up warily, only to see someone swinging a blazing longsword at it. Fire was the natural enemy of all beasts, so the giant wolf didn’t hesitate to leap high, dodging the slash.
Its massive yet agile body landed on a nearby rooftop without a sound.
Stage Three异种猎人 (Abnormal Hunters) had their异种怪物 (abnormal monster) blood perfectly digested, allowing transcendentals to command it freely, even more easily than commanding their own bodies and strength.
The giant wolf stared intently at the two attackers. Its keen sense of smell had already told it that the opponents were undeniably powerful and dangerous. With the slightest carelessness, even it would become a victim of their blades. The giant wolf’s attention was fully focused on these two, so much so that Edward had already escaped stealthily, and it couldn’t spare any attention.
Moria also stared at the giant wolf. If it were to attack Li Wen or Her Highness the Princess, he wouldn’t have a hundred percent certainty of stopping it unless he used divine abilities. Fortunately, there was another equally strong kingdom knight here.
The fully armored knight stood up silently. His dirt-covered appearance seemed disheveled, but in reality, he was unharmed. He was the first to launch an offensive against the giant wolf, charging forward without any communication with Moria.
The giant wolf leaped, swatting the knight away with one paw, but the knight’s sharp longsword also left a shallow wound on its shoulder.
In this brief exchange, neither side seemed to gain an advantage, but in reality, the giant wolf was at a disadvantage. It was already injured, yet the knight who was knocked flying stood up again, unharmed.
In this situation, fighting two on one, the giant wolf already had thoughts of retreat. After all, the target Edward had escaped, and it had to pursue him quickly.
However, if it were to expose its back to the enemy, death would be its only fate. It needed to find an opportunity to disengage from these two safely.
Moria and Knight Lance were also facing different challenges. From the previous exchange, it was clear that the giant wolf’s speed was too great. Unless the opponent was willing to trade blows or showed any fear, it would be difficult to deal with, especially with Li Wen and Victoria nearby.
The wolf and the two remained locked in a stalemate for a moment, but it was Li Wen who broke the deadlock. She put away her magic map, then decisively activated Witch Form, using the power of the Emerald Star Cloak to fly up and quickly pursue in the direction Edward had escaped.
Watching herself fly away, Moria’s attention briefly shifted. Taking advantage of this change, the giant wolf transformed into human form and, with a light leap, escaped in another direction. Before doing so, it threw a gray, wispy spell directly towards Victoria.
Lance did not hesitate, carrying his weapon and stepping with heavy strides as he pursued.
Moria swung his sword and destroyed the spell attacking Victoria. After hesitating between the two directions, he ultimately followed Lance in pursuit.
The fleeing person was only Stage Two. Li Wen would likely not be in significant danger facing them alone. This Stage Three Abnormal Hunter was clearly more powerful and would cause greater harm. Knight Lance, encased in heavy full armor, might not be able to catch up, so Moria, weighing the pros and cons, decided to go help Lance first.
In an instant, the initially tense atmosphere quickly vanished.
Only Princess Victoria, who had held an umbrella throughout, remained on the scene, calmly watching everything unfold with a knowing, faint smile on her face.
