Chapter 44: In the End, I Still Have to Do It Myself, You Useless Wastes
The berserk wolf had completely abandoned all reason, yet it still retained its proficient combat skills. After a long howl, it lowered its body, its remaining three limbs tensed, gathering strength. In an instant, a surge of immense brute force scattered the black-purple mist, and a white shadow shot across the ground like a cannonball, charging at the young city guard with lightning speed.
A distance of just over ten meters was almost negligible in such a swift charge. Anria instinctively raised his shield and braced himself for the impact—but how could the giant wolf's current strength compare to before? He immediately felt as if he had been struck by a speeding dragon-drawn carriage. Both feet left the ground as he was sent flying, the steel shield in his hand caving in a large chunk, with cracks spreading across its surface.
He crashed heavily to the ground, his back slamming against the hard, cold gray stone. The immense recoil made the city guard feel as if his lungs and organs were about to be shaken loose. But before he could even groan in pain, an enraged howl echoed throughout the entire gate area.
"ROAR!!!"
The white giant wolf shook its head and retreated a few steps. Its eyes were blood-red, and black-purple patterns spread from its head across its entire body. The previous collision had also dealt it considerable damage, but what truly made the white giant wolf howl in pain was a small knife embedded in its neck and a long gash.
It was a sharp boning knife, but that was all. It was about the length of a palm. Even in an ordinary fight between people, it would be considered too small and inconvenient, let alone against this berserk giant white wolf.
Yet that was the reality. During the previous impact, Anria hadn't simply taken the attack. At the moment of the enemy's fierce charge, the young city guard had successfully used the enemy's own force to drive his only weapon deep into its vital spot.
Large amounts of purple blood gushed from the wound on the giant wolf's neck. The berserk state had activated the power of its entire body, making its bloodline power surge even more violently while simultaneously worsening the damage it received.
"Cough... If I hadn't taken advantage of that split-second pause when the beast attacked me, I probably wouldn't have even touched its fur. It's too fast..."
His body twitched involuntarily from the pain. His helmet had fallen off, revealing a head of short white hair. Anria spat out a mouthful of blood, feeling as if his internal organs were churning wildly. But even so, he mustered all his willpower to lift himself up. He grabbed his severely deformed shield and, while the enemy was stalled by its injury, quickly moved toward the passage leading up to the central tower.
That area was narrow. By using the terrain to his advantage, he should be able to stall for a bit more time!
But the enemy didn't give him that chance.
*Squelch. Thud.*
The twitching muscles pushed the small knife out of the wound. The metal clattered to the ground with a clear ringing sound. The magical beast's powerful physique temporarily sealed the torn blood vessels. Due to massive blood loss, the giant wolf was forcibly released from its berserk state. But even so, its remaining combat power far surpassed that of the city guard with his internal injuries.
It was this human! Who had caused it such great pain!
Rage began to burn away its remaining reason. Facing the fleeing enemy, the white wolf didn't waste time with any fancy roars or probing attacks. Instead, it opened its massive maw, revealing its ferocious fangs, and lunged forward. In an instant, it crossed the dozen meters to stand before Anria, blocking him between itself and the entrance.
The two faced off. The human's blue eyes met the terrifying monster's red beast pupils. The young city guard could even clearly smell the thick, bloody odor emanating from the creature and hear the angry growl rumbling in its throat. He saw viscous saliva dripping from between its fangs. At this moment, he abandoned all illusions and gritted his teeth, raising his already shattered shield. This man knew that the moment the standoff ended would be the moment of his death.
"BOOM!"
A tremendous explosion sounded, shaking the air.
"BOOM!" "BOOM!" "BOOM!"
Without pause, after the first explosion, continuous, massive rumbles echoed around the southern city gate, growing closer and closer.
The white giant wolf shook its body uneasily and let out a low growl, as if sensing something terrifying. But its simple mind couldn't focus on two things at once. So the monster stopped paying attention to the inexplicable rumbling and, in its most ferocious posture, lunged at the human before it. Now, its only thought was to completely crush the enemy's throat!
And Anria had no energy to spare for the strange rumbling. Predicting the beast's attack target, he immediately crouched, moving his shield to his right shoulder to cover his vital points and his entire body, preparing to withstand the blow.
Even if the powerful impact would worsen his internal injuries again, or even kill him on the spot, it was still better than having his neck bitten off immediately.
Holding his breath and concentrating all his strength, in this moment between life and death, he even felt some power stirring deep within his body, at the very root of his will. The young city guard had a premonition that if he could withstand this attack, he would usher in a complete sublimation—though the most likely outcome was death.
But the anticipated attack never came.
"BOOM!"
A huge explosion rattled his eardrums. Anria, dazed by the intense sound waves, regained his clarity after a moment.
At the same time, a dignified male voice sounded in front of the young city guard.
"This beast is different from the others. It's got some strength... Still alive?"
Completely unaware of what had happened, Anria's confused blue eyes looked toward the source of the voice. Then, a horrifying scene immediately shocked him back to normal thinking. The severely injured city guard stared dumbfounded at what was before him, unable to utter a single word.
Before him was a man in casual clothes with black hair and red eyes. He had one foot planted on the head of the giant winter wolf, stomping half of the monster's skull into the hard stone ground—this was presumably the source of the previous explosions. The massive magical beast hadn't given up struggling either. It continuously clawed and bit at the man, but to no avail. Its sharp claws, comparable to swords, could easily shred clothing but couldn't harm the flesh beneath, only eliciting flashes of dark red light and producing a grating, metallic screech.
"What's going on here?"
This warrior didn't pay attention to Anria's shock. He simply asked in a calm voice: "Five silver-rank winter wolves just barged into the main city. If I hadn't arrived in time, even letting just one loose would have caused incalculable losses... I need an explanation."
"Lord, this is entirely my fault!"
Snapping back to reality, how could Anria not recognize that the person before him was none other than his newly sworn lord, Joshua? He immediately suppressed his pain and recounted the entire incident from beginning to end.
"...That's how it was. Following my commander's orders, I immediately closed the city gate, preventing more monsters from flooding in. Winter wolf fur can perfectly camouflage itself in the snowfield, and they all seemed to have some kind of explosive burst ability, with much greater strength than their usual kin. That's why the city guard couldn't hold them off at first, and I was severely injured due to a miscalculation."
Finishing his report, Anria immediately felt a burning pain in his lungs. He coughed softly twice, while Joshua fell into thought.
"The beast horde in the southern Northlands has already gone mad to this extent... It seems the Ural Fortress didn't manage to hold back the monsters in the mountains."
With every word he spoke, the force in his foot increased. The giant winter wolf beneath him let out agonized howls, but the black-haired warrior showed no sign of stopping. He turned his head to look northwest, a hint of worry in his eyes: "Black Forest Fortress hasn't sent a short-range message for three days. I thought it was just a routine report of nothing to report, but now it seems the situation is very bad."
*CRACK!*
As the force under his foot reached its limit, accompanied by a miserable howl, the giant white wolf's skull finally gave way under the pressure, completely crushed into a spray of bone fragments. Gray brain matter and purple blood mixed and exploded, scattering across the ground.
Turning around, Joshua walked toward Anria. He observed the young city guard for a moment, then shook his head: "Three broken ribs, severe internal organ damage. You actually used a human body to withstand a berserk magical beast's attack head-on. I don't know whether to call that bravery or recklessness..."
Sighing, the black-haired warrior grabbed Anria by the back of his collar, easily lifting him up, and then strode briskly toward the church in the city center.