Battle

You bastard! You're dead!

Harried and attacked by a monster that was neither human nor beast, Wang Zhifan's anger flared at once.

He was indeed a cautious person by nature, but he was also young. Before and after crossing over, the same hot-blooded youthfulness flowed through his veins!

After their two exchanges just now, Wang Zhifan had judged that the monster before him was not especially powerful. He immediately changed his strategy. Rather than trying to flee and call the authorities, he launched a full-force counterattack.

First, he relied on his incomparably swift speed to dodge the monster's savage pounce sideways. Then, seizing the instant when they passed each other, the Blade of the Wolf Fiend flashed in his hand, carving a deep wound across the monster's body covered in long blackish-gray fur!

But what Wang Zhifan could not understand was that after being injured, this crazed opponent acted as though it did not care at all. It made no attempt to evade his attacks and continued lunging at him with the same reckless, life-or-death fighting style, its two thick, sharp claws repeatedly striking for his neck, heart, and other vital areas. He had no choice but to keep bursting forth with speed and fight it with all his strength.

About two seconds later, the two beings, both far faster than ordinary people, had exchanged nearly ten blows. Relying on his superior speed, Wang Zhifan had left seven or eight wounds on his opponent, while the monster had torn several holes in his clothes.

Yet the tall, vicious wolf-like monster, which was clearly at a disadvantage, grew more and more excited. Opening its terrifying wolf jaws, it taunted Wang Zhifan with great confidence in clumsy Xia Kingdom language. "You... cannot... defeat me."

Then Wang Zhifan, still on guard, saw the monster's chest suddenly heave violently. The bloody wounds on its body vanished and healed as though snow and ice were melting. Clearly, it had used some kind of rapid regeneration ability!

What monstrous recovery... The blows I landed just now weren't light, yet it healed completely in the blink of an eye. No wonder it fought so brutally and recklessly... And is this thing not a wolf-type monster? Why hasn't the Blade of the Wolf Fiend triggered its instant-kill effect after I've struck it so many times? Could its level be above Lv5?

Wang Zhifan had always remembered that his old companion, the Blade of the Wolf Fiend, possessed two traits. One was a defense-breaking effect with 40% physical penetration, while the other gave it an 80% chance to instantly kill wolf-type enemies. However, that instant-kill effect required the wolf-type enemy to be no higher than Lv5.

He had originally thought that this creature, which obviously had to be related to wolves, would let him experience an instant kill firsthand. Instead, after the Blade of the Wolf Fiend struck it so many times without any special reaction, it was as though that 80% instant-kill ability was fake.

Still, my Berserk buff is fully stacked now, and none of those previous blows triggered double damage. The next few strikes should hit it hard. It's just a pity I'm not wearing the Rage Gloves, so I can't push my damage to the maximum.

It had to be mentioned that Wang Zhifan was not currently wearing his full set of equipment. After returning from work in the Ash Domain, he had changed out of his Wolfhide Armor and into regular clothes. He had not worn the Rage Gloves during the entire job either, only the Berserk Bracers.

Compared to the equipment he had used during his previous job, the only addition was the Ape King's Rage ring. He wore that ring solely to experience its 15% chance of double damage while killing monsters in the Ash Domain.

After all, he had not used melee attacks at all while clearing the dungeon this morning. He had to enter the Ash Domain to experience the actual effect of double damage firsthand.

While Wang Zhifan was considering this, the tall, long-haired monster before him, whose injuries had fully healed, launched another fierce attack. This formidable enemy clearly wanted to rely on its advantage of not fearing injury to crush its opponent to death. But was Wang Zhifan really unable to deal with this type of foe? Naturally, the answer was no!

Tiger Fiend!

Sprint!

This time, while dodging the monster's attacks, Wang Zhifan activated both active skills he possessed. One was Tiger Fiend, the soul-damage enhancement skill granted by the Tiger Soul True Rune. The other was Sprint, the Blademaster class skill he had only obtained after reaching Lv3 today.

With the activation of these two skills, the battle's momentum changed instantly. Wang Zhifan, already faster than the monster before him, became even faster. He could strike the monster's vital points more easily, while the soul damage brought by Tiger Fiend directly shattered his opponent's formerly unshakable confidence.

WTF!

Wang Zhifan had just ducked beneath the monster's claw swipe and slashed its thick waist and abdomen when the creature, which had never taken his attacks too seriously, abruptly changed expression and blurted out a foreign curse.

It had clearly just experienced the soul damage currently imbued in Wang Zhifan's longsword, equal to the attack level of an Lv5 Tiger Spirit! As a rare type of damage, soul damage had a singular purpose: it attacked the souls of living beings! Thus, this enemy, with its powerful body and strong regenerative abilities, immediately found itself unable to endure it. It could ignore physical wounds, but once its soul was injured, it had no way to recover quickly.

For a moment, this creature, caught off guard by Wang Zhifan's trump card, no longer dared to continue fighting him to the death. It turned and threw itself to the ground, using all four limbs to rush toward a sewer entrance dozens of meters away. It was actually trying to flee.

Trying to run? Too late!

Wang Zhifan had no intention whatsoever of letting this enemy go. He burst forth with power, increasing his speed another notch, and caught up in the blink of an eye to the enemy fleeing across the ground like a dog.

This enemy was quite cunning as well. Knowing it was slower than Wang Zhifan, it had long anticipated that it would be caught if it fled like this. The instant Wang Zhifan rushed after it at full speed, it suddenly twisted its body, flipped around, and thrust a thick, powerful, fur-covered arm before Wang Zhifan. Its long claws shot straight for his throat!

I knew you'd try that!

Wang Zhifan was not at all surprised by the fleeing enemy's sudden counterattack. He had never expected it to obediently run away and simply take a beating, so he had been prepared. Tilting his head, he narrowly avoided the claws that had reached his face. At the same time, instead of retreating, he surged forward and rammed into the monster's chest, bringing the Blade of the Wolf Fiend down vertically with all his strength onto the forehead of the monster, which was still in the middle of its attack.