Chapter 147: The Second Encounter

Several battles occurred around the town. The atmosphere was filled with the qi, magic, and psychic power being emitted from both the werewolves and the players, which hindered Sila’s ability to sense beings.

‘Finding a specific person in a battlefield is unexpectedly a difficult task. In a normal situation I could probably do it, but now it’s too hard,’ thought Sila.

“The Werewolf King is in the north, Big Brother Sila, though Bow can’t find its exact location,” Bow said. She was still inside his vest.

Opening his eyes, Sila opened his left palm so Bow could hop out and sit on it. “Are you sure, Bow? How do you know that?”

“Bow used Divine Raiment. Miss Viola taught me to use Divine Raiment whenever I don’t know what to do.”

“Oh. Right. Like that time when I fought Pythia.” He placed Bow on the roof and summoned Lookhin.

The dark brown sparrow flew out of the ring and perched on his finger.

“Please take care of Bow,” said Sila. He hesitated for a moment before speaking once more. “Mister Sebastian.”

This time, he didn’t need to wait. Sebastian teleported to him almost instantly.

“Fufu. I predicted that today must be a good day and it turns out to be correct; Mister Sila finally called me. I have to admit, sir, I have been traveling a lot and I wonder if I should still call myself a butler,” Sebastian said as he emerged next to Sila.

“Could you please look after Bow?”

“My pleasure, sir. Oh? Aren’t they werewolves? Where are we, sir? I’m unfamiliar with the scenery. Are we on the western part of the Main Continent?” Sebastian looked around.

Sila had always thought that Sebastian knew everywhere in Monster Soul, so he was surprised by how Sebastian didn’t recognise this place. As it turned out, the butler had never been to the Town of Beginnings before.

“We are on the Island of Beginnings. Please refrain from acting offensively though. My main goal is to prevent Bow from being in danger.”

“No need to worry, sir. Although these dogs are stupid, they are keen enough to be aware that they shouldn’t come near this spot.”

Sebastian’s eyes were gleaming with red light. Once the werewolves made eye contact with him, they would change their target to another player.

Closing his eyes for a second time, Sila covered his body with a white aura. Suddenly, the chaotic sounds of battle were gone. Once he extended the radius of his qi, he found that he could sense everything with significantly more clarity.

Very pleased with Divine Raiment, Sila shifted his focus to Sebastian and could determine that most of Sebastian’s magic power was concentrated on his eyes.

‘Oh? If I focus on a single target, it seems I can inspect even the target’s usage of power.’

With this idea, Sila shifted his focus to Yardpirun, who was far away. As it turned out, he could feel her presence unlike before. Her power didn’t simply come from her body, but also came from another source, which was a ring on her right ring finger. It was a colorless power that was very hard to detect and discern, flowing from a little gem on the ring.

‘She knows about the Gems of Catastrophe and possesses the Seal skill. It is entirely possible that she has a Gem of Catastrophe in her possession. If this is the case, most of her actions can be explained.’

Anyway, Sila stopped paying attention to Yardpirun. With his enhanced sensing ability, he came to be aware that the player side was in a grave condition. It was only a matter of time before they would all be wiped out, unless he could defeat the Werewolf King soon. Thus, he put his focus on the werewolves. Although their powers were similar, he was certain that one of them possessed a superior power compared to the rest, and that would be the pack leader.

Despite the Werewolf King’s effort to conceal its qi, it couldn’t hide its presence from Sila’s search. He sensed the strong source of power in the north, like Bow had told him.

However, in the instant that Sila sensed its qi, its qi exploded and moved toward him at high speed. It seemed the Werewolf King could trace his search back to him. As expected of a Lord Rank qi-type monster.

“We no longer need to find it,” said Sila as he opened his eyes. Surely, Sebastian understood what he meant as he could sense the great source of power rushing to them as well. The butler picked Bow up and jumped to the roof of a building five blocks away.

‘It’s been a while, and he seems to have become a lot stronger. He has that peculiar magic-type ability and his right arm has entered the third stage. It should only be a matter of time before I get the chance to encounter my dear lord,’ thought Sebastian while looking at Sila from a distance.

The speed of Tiger Dragon Qi’s circulation throughout his body increased. Even if his opponent was a Lord Rank monster, he should still be able to fight it. It was baseless confidence that Sila himself couldn’t find the source for.

Once the Werewolf King approached, it howled and its qi surged. As a result, most players were pressured by its killing intent and died under other werewolves’ claws.

The Werewolf King’s power surge affected Sila as well, but the burden it put on his body was significantly less than the time he fought against Rex in dragon form. It must be due to the fact that Tiger Dragon Qi was superior to the Werewolf King’s qi as well as Sila’s fighting ability being stronger than when he encountered Rex.

[Fenrir, the Black Werewolf King, Level 15 Lord Rank has appeared.]

Fenrir’s fiery red eyes glared at its enemy. However, Sila was more concerned about his surroundings. It seemed the player side started losing even more when the Lord Rank Fenrir arrived.

‘I need to hurry.’ With such thought, Sila charged at Fenrir.

No one had ever expected the sight of a single player daring to charge at a Lord Rank monster. However, Fenrir seemed to have already predicted Sila’s action. Its leg muscles tensed up, and it shot itself at him with a similar speed. The battle was about to break out in mid-air.

‘My stats are lower, so I mustn’t clash with it directly.’

Tapping his foot on the empty air, Sila changed his direction with Cloud Stepping. Ever since he started playing Monster Soul, he found that this skill was by far the most useful in-game skill. The ability to move freely in mid-air granted him an overwhelming advantage in a fight.

Using Twelve Celestial-Travelling-Steps, Sila’s body seemed to be split into two. Meanwhile, the actual body sneakily appeared behind Fenrir and struck a punch at its back.

*Pa!!* With the power in the punch, Fenrir’s body flew forward and slammed into a building. Many players looked at what happened with a dumbfounded expression, but not Sila. He was the one who struck so he was aware that the result wasn’t as great as he had expected.

Fenrir jumped from the remnants of the building. It scraped the street with its claws, creating a grating noise, and flicked its wrist, sending blades made of qi toward Sila. It was a quick and unexpected attack, so even though Sila had reacted in time by dodging, he still received an injury on his left ankle.

A sharp pain was felt from the wound. The slash didn’t break through his bone, so his left ankle wasn’t severed. He circulated qi to the wound and felt the pain lessening. Although the injury wasn’t completely healed, he could move properly now.

‘Long-range attack using qi, eh? That’s unexpected... No, Rex can use Unblemished Cool Breeze as well, so I should have expected a high-level qi-type monster to possess some qi techniques. Now, the problem is, can it only use Cruise Breeze... or will there be another?’

More qi blades flew at Sila. It seemed Fenrir didn’t like fighting against Sila in mid-air.

Sila was more prepared this time so he could avoid all of the blades depending on Twelve Celestial-Traveling-Steps. As there were some he couldn’t really avoid, he blocked them with his right arm instead.

Fenrir’s Blood Wolf Qi continued to surge as if its power was inexhaustible, unlike Sila’s. Since its long-range attack was as lethal as its close-up swipes, Sila should close the distance to seize the chance to attack as well. Thinking like this, Sila evaded the qi blade for the last time before dashing toward Fenrir.

Fenrir licked its white fangs while releasing even more qi. The qi that was previously pressuring the players was pulled back and instead focused on Fenrir’s body using Ray Assemble. This level of qi density was extremely deadly. It swung its claws eight times in an instant. Even though they were only basic attacks, with the intense qi enveloping the Werewolf King’s body, just one was life-threatening.

Despite how he had expected Fenrir to possess another qi technique, Sila didn’t expect that it would be Ray Assemble. Even worse, Fenrir’s Ray Assemble didn’t focus its qi into a single part of its body while leaving the other parts defenseless. Rather, its entire body was enveloped with qi. It compensated for Ray Assemble’s weakness with its enormous qi reserves.

Being at a loss as to what action he should take, Sila chose to activate Divine Raiment first.

Time seemed to slow down. It would be best if that was really the case, but his actions became slower too. Only his mind sped up, but it was good enough. Sila read Fenrir’s series of attacks and reacted to them using his qi-strengthened hands with the application of the Parry technique. He used his wrists to push Fenrir’s wrists away.

When the attacks ended, Fenrir’s body inevitably showed an opening. Both of Sila’s fists were pressed against its chest with one of Nine Sun-Melting-Fists’ martial moves. This time, however, Sila didn’t stomp his feet like he did with Tiger. Rather, he enhanced his fists with the Tiger Dragon Qi’s dragon attribute, resulting in Dragon’s Fist.

*Pa--!!* Two dragon roars simultaneously exploded, sending Fenrir back five meters. Its toenails dug into the ground and blood seeped out. Two wounds had appeared on its chest while a small amount of blood trickled from its mouth.

Nevertheless, the damage it took was still considered insignificant because its qi had negated most of the damage.

‘I need to weaken its qi first. Otherwise, Genesis Punch is needed if I want to deal permanent damage.’

With him also being qi type, Sila was aware that this much damage was only temporary. One of the advantages of qi type was that it granted the user enhanced recovery speed.

Sila charged at Fenrir. It only took an instant for the wounds on Fenrir’s chest to disappear. The Werewolf King quit using small moves and sent a wall made of qi at Sila.

The wall was wide and moved at an incredible speed. Sila couldn’t dodge far enough to escape, so he had to reluctantly block it head-on using Divine Raiment. He didn’t forget to activate Formless Soldier as the second line of defense.

Divine Raiment blocked most of the power behind the attack, and Sila was only pushed two meters back as a result. As he ran out of magic power, Divine Raiment vanished and he quickly drank the last Fountain of Life to refill his magic power.

Fenrir jumped at him. This time, it swung its claws from left to right, creating walls of qi that flew toward Sila. Knowing that he couldn’t dodge them, Sila used one of the step-in techniques of Nine Sun-Melting-Fists, narrowing the distance and appearing in front of Fenrir during its moment of carelessness. His right fist unleashed the power of Genesis Punch and struck its chest.

Blood seeped out of Fenrir’s body. Sila could tell that Genesis Punch had worked wonders. However, similar to when he had used it against Fargo, if the opponent possessed great power, some of the damage would be canceled out.

With Sila being this close, Fenrir brandished its qi-strengthened claws at him.

Circulating Tiger Dragon Qi’s tiger attribute, Sila struck his fists at Fenrir’s upper arms using the Weaken technique. Even better, he utilized this chance to weaken Fenrir’s qi with his Weapon Subduing Fist.

In the next instant, Sila struck his elbow at Fenrir’s chest again, damaging wound even more.

Fenrir’s body was about to be blown away by the impact, but Sila grabbed it and sharply pulled it back punching it in the stomach. At the same time, he stomped his left foot on its right foot and pulled it to the ground using qi.

Afterward, he continued to hit Fenrir using Nine Sun-Melting-Fists combined with Weapon Subduing Fist. Even if he didn’t have enough time to slam it with the power of Dragon’s Fist or Genesis Punch, the barrage of qi-strengthened punches shouldn’t be inferior by much.

The players rubbed their eyes in disbelief. They were witnessing the sight of a single player, not an Independent NPC, keeping a Lord Rank monster in check. It was even a one-on-one duel against a qi-type monster. Everyone knew how insane that task was.

“And here I even thought fighting two Marquis Rank werewolves without breaking a sweat was badass. This is even more brutal. I’m starting to pity that Werewolf King,” said Tod.

Currently, Tiger Team had finished two werewolves and was waiting for more to come into their range, so they had spare time to watch Sila’s battle.

After punching Fenrir for thirty seconds, Sila had dealt over a hundred blows. Seeing that it was a suitable time to put an end to this, he used lightning-element Orbiting Cosmos to stiffen the Werewolf King, gaining a little time for him to prepare Genesis Punch.

Genesis Punch slammed into Fenrir’s body and its blood gushed out. It screamed in great pain before falling down on its knees in a pool of blood.

Tightening his fist, Sila threw Dragon’s Fist at Fenrir, aiming to kill it in an instant so that it wouldn’t feel more pain.

*Pa--!!* The sound of Dragon’s Fist echoed, but it didn’t hit Fenrir. Rather, it stopped at a circular barrier that suddenly appeared and covered Fenrir’s body.

Above the battlefield, there were four men standing on the roof. Among them, Sila only knew two of them. The first was a man with curly white hair wearing white battle-mage armour with a dragon embroidered on the chest area. He was gazing down at Sila, but his face showed no emotion. The next one was a man in brown magician clothing. The metal arm guards and ankles seemed to put a burden on his body, but Sila was aware that they were formidable weapons.

The third man had long red hair and wore a red magician clothing with black stripes. In his hand was a heavy sword which contradicted his magic-type garment. His red eyes were looking at Sila with interest. As for the last man, his facial features were absolutely stunning like he was an angel. He possessed golden hair and eyes, wearing shining white heavy armor. Two pure white wings were folded up behind his back, emphasizing his angelic elegance.

“Montra... Kawin.” Sila guessed that the other man must be Revin. However, he was clueless as to who the man with wings was.

“Sila... If you don’t die here today, I won’t use the name Montra ever again.”

Montra was staking his name, which represented his pride and reputation, on the line. And that meant he was confident that he would surely kill Sila this time.