Alissa bit her lips in exasperation when she felt the presence of a shadow getting too close to Ryan. When her concentration broke thanks to that, the dire wolves approached quite a lot. However, she didn't feel Ryan's presence disappearing, so she managed to focus on the task ahead.

Ryan felt his bones getting crushed while he was falling. Although the shadow wasn't supposed to be solid, it looked like the damn monster could control its body's properties at will. In the end, Ryan decided to make good use of that opportunity and used his gauntlets to attack the monster. Even with the little mana he had, as long as he decreases the falling speed and manages to move the monster away from him, he could survive.

In the end, much faster than he thought, the shadow dissipated soon after Ryan attacked the monster's red eyes. Fortunately, soon after that, Ryan fell right above a pile of snow right below where the original Fenrir was supposed to be. The monster also fell soon afterward a few meters away from Ryan. Both of them escaped falling on the magma created by Fenrir's flames.

Although Ryan was constantly using Heal to recover from his injuries, as expected, the broken bones weren't mending fast enough. With much difficulty, he managed to get up while covered in bruises and blood. Only to see Fenrir staring at him while also lying on the snow. The Paralyzing Spear still was in the same place, and the Flame Sword somehow managed to pierce the monster's right paw and even damage its right eye. Not only the monster's arms were unutilized, but the creature also couldn't even breathe fire anymore since the paw was covering its face and mouth.

Suddenly, the shadow that attacked Ryan appeared and then was absorbed by Fenrir. Although the beast gained some power and recovered some of its strength, it didn't manage to get rid of the weapons that were piercing its body.

"Serves you right, damn freak," Ryan said. "Just you wait. I will put you out of your misery soon enough."

"We can't have that. Fenrir had to wait for quite a while to recover that much power, and it would be a pit to make my pet do that all over again."

Ryan frowned when he heard another voice in his head, it was the same technique Orgar used to talk to him, but that voice wasn't his… As expected, Fenrir was being controlled by someone, the owner of that voice is probably Fenrir's master. The one who had the idea to use Fenrir's shadows to make him recover some of his power.

"I can't believe I found two interesting humans so soon. A woman who tamed a dragon and a human who managed to slay many beasts despite the obvious difference in strength. I guess that saying that you have is pretty accurate: hard times create strong men."

"Who are you, and what do you want?" Ryan asked. "If you are trying to recruit us, you are wasting your time. We will not work with you."

"Work with me? Would it work with the ants that pass by your feet? You wouldn't, right? So, of course not, I am not here to ask you to work with me, but you can work for me, just like many other humans did."

Ryan's suspicions were correct. Someone or something has been seducing the survivors of this region with sweet words. However, unlike Echidna, this unknown creature didn't offer the power or anything similar. He just promised them the chance to become his servants… given how troublesome the dire wolves could be, Ryan could understand why they would accept that. Of course, understand and accept were two different things.

"I am a man who will not only rule over the Earth eventually. I will become the true emperor of the universe. There is no one more suited for that than me… there is no other who deserves such honor. With your strength, you will be able to achieve many things, and I reward splendidly my servants who work hard. Usually, I don't even talk with creatures such as yourselves directly, but since you managed to cause this much trouble to Fenrir, I decided that you deserve that honor."

So much bullshit… Ryan quickly got tired of it. In any case, at least all that talk refreshed his head, and now he had a good idea. Instead of nocking only a single Blazing Long Sword, he nocked both of them at the same time. To do that, he was forced to use Incomplete Reptilian Transformation, but that was a low price to pay. While Fenrir was struggling to get up, Ryan killed several dire wolves with Power of Money and recovered enough mana to maintain the spell and recover his stamina and power up his attack.

"How rude can a single human be? You didn't even give me a proper answer, and you were already preparing to fight again? I don't remember humans being that bloodthirsty."

"Do you want my answer?" Ryan asked and then raised his crossbow. "Show yourself here with your ass exposed. I think an arrow up your ass is the answer that you are looking for."

­"How disappointing… to think that humans became this unreasonable even after such a long time. All this progress you made in so many years didn't change your real nature, huh. Well, it is a pity, but I guess I will smash you like the worms you are."

"I will be waiting for it," Ryan said. "Idiots like you are all talk but can't do anything and doesn't even have the courage to fight when the situation is unfavorable. Save your breath. Your threats have no effect. When you have the courage to come, I will be waiting with a sharp enough arrow to stick up on your ass."

"… Ryan, isn't it? I will make sure to guard your name in my mind. You may think that you have lost everything, but you couldn't be more wrong. You still can lose a lot more…"