As the night had already fallen, Edward was running alone in the middle of the forest. Although he was faster than before, he would have to spend the whole night in the forest. That didn’t bother him, as a predator he didn’t need much sleep, and he didn’t fear the monsters anymore. On the contrary, the more monsters he eliminated now, the less trouble he would have later on moving out Agripin’s population. If things went well, his presence and all the monsters that he had killed would be enough to deter the others.

His hopes didn’t last long, however. Furious howls echoed through the forest from behind Edward. The latter winced. I guess they found the wolves’ dead bodies. I had hoped it would work as a threat but from how angry they sounded, they took it as a provocation instead. Another deeper and mightier howl silenced the others, requesting obedience. The forest returns to silence but that didn’t placate Edward. This howl, I remember it. It sounds just like the Regal wolf that pursued us when we were searching for the Damkinan’s ruins under Mark’s orders. Marc wasn’t his match. The wolf left us alone in the end because it got distracted by another monster. That means it is stronger than the awaken stage. It could be a worthy opponent.

Edward continued to run at the same pace, he didn’t need to flee, if the monsters came after him, he would deal with them. No more howls tore through the night. However, ten minutes later, he noticed with his aura one wolf pursuing him. The wolf didn’t notice him immediately, it found Edward only after it came closer to him. The wolf stopped in his track, and howled, warning the others. Great, now they are working strategically. Did those wolves disperse to search for me through the forest? Well, if it saves me the trouble of chasing after them, I won’t complain.

As he was running, Edward noticed more and more wolves gathering near him. They ran behind him but kept their distance. How many of them are coming after me? There are already at least forty of them after me. This is a large hunting pack. Edward slowed down, then stopped completely. With this many after me, it is enough to require my attention. Better to deal with them now, that when I reach Agripin. However, even though Edward had stopped running, the wolves didn’t attack and simply surrounded him while growling threateningly. Edward took a step forward and the wolves took a step back keeping their distance.

Edward didn’t have much patience and was ready to take the initiative when he felt a larger presence enter his aura perception. Edward felt the monster’s presence but he wasn’t able to probe him with his aura. The Regal wolf was able to push off his aura in a limited radius. Edward raised an eyebrow in surprise. As the monster walked onto the path, Edward was able to see him clearly, his enhanced vision able to see through the darkness. At this point, it was more appropriate to describe this monster as a Fenrir than a wolf. The Fenrir was dominating the other wolves which looked like puppies compared to him. He was the same size as a Bloodmaw and was displaying a lot more cunning and intelligence behind his eyes.

He looks even bigger than in my memories. Did he grow stronger? If adventurers can grow stronger by killing monsters, I guess monsters can do the same. If he is still alive right now, it means he must have killed the Bloodmaws that managed to enter his territory. The Fenrir entered the opened circle between Edward and the other wolves, not taking his gaze away from Edward. His black fur was melting into the night, only his yellow eyes shining brightly under the faint light that managed to cross through the canopy. The wolves actually fell back a few steps, expanding the fighting ring between the Regal wolf and Edward.

They didn’t circle each other, the Fenrir only stared at Edward haughtily before leaping on him. Edward extended his daggers with his aura, his fist clenched on the dagger’s handle, and threw a stab at the massive beast. To his dismay, the beat’s form partially dissolved into grey smoke. His attack pierced through empty air, however, the wolf’s forearms hadn’t turned into smoke. The wolf’s claws glow a sinister red and cut through Edward’s armor, landing a solid hit on Edward’s left arm that he had managed to put in front of him to protect his chest.

Edward flinched with pain and surprise. Shit! This bastard is using aura, he cut right through my armor as if it wasn’t there. Edward was bleeding heavily, the claws had cut deep into his flesh. The wolf had turned and was facing him again, enjoying Edward’s suffering. I can’t stay like that. The bleeding is too heavy. Edward glanced at the wolves forming the fighting ring. There is no reason to limit myself and to fight fairly. I will use everything I can. He left the fighting circle and teleported into the middle of the ordinary wolves, killing one of them before it could even realize what was happening, and absorbing its blood essence to heal himself.

Edward’s felt the blood essence flow into his body and head for his injury. However, he felt it clash against an aura remnant nesting inside his injury. What the heck?! Edward thought, thrown off by the unexpected reaction. The blood essence dissipated without achieving anything.

Seeing a member of its pack getting killed, the Fenrir snarled furiously and jumped in pursuit, half turning into smoke mid-jump, and chasing after Edward like a specter. Edward couldn’t teleport yet, his power was still in cooldown since he had just used his teleportation. Instead, he used his acceleration and perception power to run away and open the distance. To his dismay, he realized that while he was able to avoid the wolf without difficulty, his acceleration had also accelerated his blood flow and his bleeding had increased accordingly.

I’m running out of options. I like to save consumables but they are made for times like this. Edward took out one of the healing syringes that he had bought in anticipation of his fight against Quintus. He injected the content near his injury, and this time he accompanied the essence flowing into him with his aura, protecting and supporting it.

He felt the foreign aura inside him more clearly. Luckily there wasn’t much of it, and he was able to dispel it, letting the essence heal his injury. This asshole wasn’t satisfied with cutting me with his aura, he had to sneak it inside my injury to prevent healing and probably to track me as well. Edward was angry, and yet he couldn’t help but admire this new way of using aura. This wasn’t something that he would have thought of. And yet, he could see how it was perfectly fitting for a Regal wolf. This monster had a pack under his order. If he felt like it, he could simply soften a prey, mark it, and let the others do the work while he was hunting elsewhere.

Edward shook his left arm now that the bleeding had stopped. It’s still paining but it is not incapacitated. I need to be more careful. It would have been bad if it had cut through the bone, I don’t know if blood essence can help with broken bones. I have fought too many weak monsters recently. I got complacent.

The wolf had caught up to Edward, using the same move to attack him, half dissolved into smoke. This time Edward used his acceleration from the get-go, easily avoiding the hit while counterattacking. However, his attacks kept cutting harmlessly through the smoke. Seriously, this is cheating! This makes no sense, he can attack me but I can’t do anything to him.

Wait. He has to manifest physically to hurt me, let’s focus on those parts.

Edward focused his attacks on the Fenrir’s forearms, he managed to make a first cut, but the arm dissipated into smoke before the damage could be important. The Regal wolf was reduced to a blob of smoke floating near Edward, not able to attack him but still invulnerable. My idea seems to be working, but I still can’t injure him in his smoke form. We are entering a stalemate and I won’t be able to maintain my accelerated state forever. Edward opened the distance with teleportation and stopped his acceleration to save his stamina. The Regal wolf materialized with a sneer on his maw, from the exchange with Edward he only had suffered a small cut while Edward had to use his syringes to heal a serious injury.

Several more exchanges ensued, Edward was more careful and didn’t let himself be hit by the Regal wolf, but he wasn’t able to injure him either before he turned into smoke. Frustrated with his lack of progress, Edward focused on the normal wolves which couldn’t do much to escape him. They started dropping like flies. If he can become invulnerable, let’s make him angry. He may make a mistake due to his rage.

Indeed, the Regal wolf grew more and more unnerved as his pack was getting killed. He grew more aggressive, but he wasn’t able to injure Edward any more than the latter was able to injure him.

The Fenrir growled threateningly, but he was already fighting Edward, he could threaten him all he wanted, but it wouldn’t change anything about the current situation. While the wolf was drowning in a mindless rage, Edward was thinking about ways to solve this situation.

Normal attacks are unable to harm him. Then let’s treat it as smoke. One uses the wind to remove smoke. I don’t have the power to control the wind but I may be able to do something. Quintus had been able to push me away with aura blasts. I should try to do the same.

Edward struck the smoke harmlessly one more time, took a step back, and focused on his aura. He concentrated his aura on the Regal wolf in smoke form, as if he was trying to pressurize him into submission. Then he compressed it once more in a single point and let it explode outward. Edward felt the blast, the explosion wasn’t focused in one direction so Edward was affected as well making him stumble. However, his intent succeeded, the shock wave was enough to force the Fenrir to materialize. He stood in shock, his fur disheveled.

Edward grinned savagely, accelerated, and went into the offensive. His opponent had barely time to turn back into smoke avoiding being lacerated by Edward’s flurry of attacks. However, his smoke form wasn’t out of reach anymore. Still in his accelerated state, Edward replicated another blast of aura. This time the Regal wolf didn’t have the time to react before Edward landed several hits, cutting deep into him.

Severely injured, the Regal wolf stumbled. Seeing that he didn’t have the force to defend himself right now, Edward used the opportunity and finished him with a few more moves.

He stopped his acceleration and stood silently above his fallen foe. With the death of their leader, the wolves’ response was chaotic, some chose to flee away while others charged Edward to avenge the death of their king. However, they were nowhere near the level of power of the Regal wolf. They were cut into pieces, not able to achieve anything, Edward wasn’t an opponent they could match.