As a merchant who had traveled far and wide, Mace had certainly seen wolves before. But he could swear to the heavens that he had never seen one this huge in his entire life.
Just judging by its size, the giant wolf stood as tall as a man. Its thick coat gleamed in the sunlight as it lazily narrowed its eyes, basking in the warmth of the afternoon. Its sturdy tail swished back and forth behind it, and it looked utterly relaxed. Lize had already closed her mouth and was following close behind Rhode, holding her breath. As a mercenary, she knew how terrifying and dangerous these beasts could be. Though she wasn't as tense as the fat merchant, who didn't even dare breathe, the young woman also turned her gaze toward Rhode, waiting for his orders.
Rhode himself was also thinking.
The Silver Wolf "Moon Soul," a level-ten elite. It wasn't a boss, but it was still troublesome. After all, on Dragon Soul Continent, the danger posed by monsters—apart from humanoid creatures—was classified into three levels: beasts, giant beasts, and magical beasts. Beasts were ordinary creatures, while giant beasts were monsters that had grown enormous and vicious after living for a long time or being subjected to some kind of stimulus. Once they awakened their soul power, they would advance to magical beasts. At that point, they no longer fought with just their bodies, and became even harder to deal with.
The Silver Wolf before him was less threatening than the Wind Serpent Lord they had encountered earlier, and killing it wouldn't be difficult for Rhode, but...
At that thought, Rhode instinctively glanced around. If they were still in the game, he wouldn't have hesitated to kill it for the experience and materials. But this wasn't a game, and there were only three of them. Lize was a Spirit Master and couldn't protect herself. As for Mace, he was even less capable in a fight. In this situation, it was better to avoid trouble.
With that in mind, Rhode made a gesture, then turned and headed in another direction. Moonlight Lake was large enough; there was no need to take a shortcut by going out of his way to do something thankless. Seeing his signal, Lize and Mace exchanged a glance, then followed after him, intending to leave. Unfortunately, it seemed luck wasn't on their side.
"Crack."
The moment the fat merchant turned around, his foot suddenly slipped, and he fell heavily to the ground, crushing a branch beneath him.
At once, Rhode, who had been walking ahead, turned around and raised his right hand. A sharp chirp rang out, and a green figure shot from his hand, streaking toward the area behind them.
"Boom!!"
The impact was followed by a low growl from behind them. Lize and Mace turned around, only to be astonished to see that the white giant wolf, which should still have been some distance away, had somehow appeared behind them. Its massive body now lay sprawled on the ground, as though something had slammed into it.
Then a shadow flashed past them.
The moment the fat merchant fell, Rhode had known something was wrong. In Silver Moon Forest, these giant wolves ranked among the top three in both sharp senses and perception. Fortunately, Rhode had encountered more than his share of unexpected trouble caused by idiotic NPCs in the game, and those experiences came in handy now. Although his perception wasn't high enough to lock onto these giant beasts, his familiarity with them let him judge the situation at once. "Moon Soul," which had been resting, probably wouldn't attack them immediately, but it had definitely noticed them. Given the nature of these wolves, it would most likely follow them in secret and wait until nightfall to attack. They could afford to wait, but he couldn't. Rather than be forced to deal with them later, taking the initiative and controlling the situation was more effective.
Rhode's judgment was spot on.
Moon Soul hadn't expected them to launch an attack so quickly. Faced with the Soul Bird flying straight at it, it reacted instinctively, but was a split second too slow. The blue-green Spirit Bird struck it squarely, and the resulting shockwave sent it flying backward.
As the white giant wolf lay on the ground, still reeling from the impact, Rhode activated Shadow Blink and appeared at its side. He stared intently at the giant wolf before him, then extended his right hand.
"Cage!" (In the language of the elves: transform)
The green bird flew back into his hand and turned into a card, its color shifting from green to white in an instant. Rhode didn't spare it a glance. He turned his hand over, gripped the card tightly, and thrust it toward Moon Soul's right hind leg.
A beam of white light pierced Moon Soul's right leg, pinning it heavily to the ground. At that moment, a pure-white longsword appeared in Rhode's hand.
"—!!!"
The Silver Wolf let out a pained howl and stared at the hated human before it. It tried to get up, but as soon as it found its footing, it staggered and had to steady itself again.
Rhode's second strike came then.
Watching the Silver Wolf's movements, Rhode felt a quiet sense of relief. The defining trait of elites like these was their incredible speed. If he couldn't cripple them right away, the fight that followed would inevitably be a hard one. Now that it had lost a hind leg, the wolf could no longer rely on its speed as it had before. The rest would be much easier.
Though the Silver Wolf had lost a hind leg, it didn't panic. It fixed its gaze on its target. As Rhode thrust his sword straight at it, it raised a forepaw and swiped hard at him.
But the Silver Wolf's counterattack didn't catch Rhode off guard; he had already anticipated the move. Instead, he turned his right hand, and the white blade slid beneath the wolf's paw, leaving a streak of blood. As the wounded wolf pulled its paw back, all it saw was a razor-sharp blade, brighter than the sunlight before its eyes.
A critical hit!
The flying Shatter Blade pierced its massive body, effortlessly tearing through its tough hide. With a pained howl, the white giant wolf was thrown into the air and crashed into a small tree before falling back to the ground. A mangled wound had torn through half its body, exposing the stark white bones within and its entrails, slowly spilling out.
The sight was truly sickening. Even Rhode, who had been about to move in and land the finishing blow, couldn't help frowning. In the game, the damage from a critical hit had been represented only by numbers, not a scene this vivid. He had seen it before during the fight with the Wind Serpent, but no matter how often he saw something like this, it was hard to stomach.
The impact from the Soul Bird, combined with Rhode's highly targeted attacks, had pushed the black giant wolf to its limit. Its threatening growl had become a feeble whimper, and it struggled to hold itself up as it tried to stand again. But Rhode gave it no chance. He raised his sword and brought it down, driving Star Trace into its head and decisively taking its life.
Though the fight seemed to last a long time, only a minute or two had passed. To Lize and Mace, all they saw was the Silver Wolf knocked to the ground, Rhode appearing at its side, then finishing it with a few swift, clean strokes. Both were astonished. This was a giant wolf, after all, and it was no easy opponent. Lize knew that even her own mercenary group, with all its members present, would have struggled to kill one so easily. But look at Rhode—did that even look like killing a wolf? It was as easy as killing a chicken!
The fat merchant's feelings were even more complicated. When he fell, a chill had already swept through him. He knew what that meant, and he was afraid the wolf would notice them. But though he had guessed what would happen, he hadn't expected the outcome. The Silver Wolf had indeed noticed them, but before it could satisfy its hunger, it had tragically become a corpse...
Though the danger had passed, the fat merchant was still uneasy, nervously watching the young man nearby. He knew this was his fault. What if Rhode got angry and left him behind? In the past, he wouldn't have worried about such things. The guards around him had all been hired with his money, so even if he made a small mistake, he had nothing to fear. But this was different. This young man wasn't his guard or a mercenary, and their relationship was entirely equal. If Rhode got annoyed, he could leave Mace behind without a second thought. And then Mace would be finished!
"Um... I... I didn't..."
At the thought, the fat merchant broke into a cold sweat. He licked his cracked lips and tried to say something, but nothing came out. Just then, Rhode stood up again, turned around, and gave him a calm glance.
"Watch your step."
Mace realized that all he could do was nod...
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