Chapter 85: A tough fight

Soon, Lucian increased his pace as he ran towards the direction of the sounds, his footsteps echoing faintly against the empty road.

The air felt heavier the further he went, thick with a faint metallic scent that grew sharper with each movement.

The air touched his face, fluttering the hood over his head.

After a few minutes, he suddenly stopped.

Corpses.

The road was littered with a lot of corpses, littering the ground, stretching to a wide area.

They weren’t even intact.

Not even close.

All of their bodies were chewed out, mutilated, or scraped apart, which made it clear that they hadn’t just died—they had been torn apart.

The ground itself was darkened and slightly wet with the blood.

Even Lucian’s lips twisted at such a sight.

But before he could focus on that—

His ears suddenly picked up something.

His body reacted instantly as he jumped sideways, twisting his body slightly to see the creature that had attacked him.

A wolf landed in the place where he was just standing, its claws raised before it hit the road.

It turned toward him, taking a deliberate step back.

It stood nearly as tall as his waist, its body lean and tightly packed with muscle, which was hidden beneath the thick, coarse fur that covered almost all of its frame.

Its fur was dirt-colored, with streaks and splashes of blood scattered across its body in thin, uneven patterns.

“Grrrrlll.”

A rough, guttural growl came from its throat, low and vibrating, as it opened its mouth into a snarl.

Its face was entirely covered in blood—especially its maw—where thick, dark blood clung to its teeth and gums. Vicious drool dripped from its jaw in thick, heavy strands, slowly spilling onto the road.

Lucian’s hand tightened around his knife.

‘I barely noticed it.’

His face turned slightly grim, his eyes narrowing at the creature before him, analysing it with sharp focus.

But before he could think more—

The wolf dashed at him.

Its body blurred forward, its maw opening as it lunged directly at him.

Just as its jaw was about to bite into Lucian, he sidestepped, twisting his body smoothly before slashing his knife at its neck.

The attack had worked perfectly for the Mutated Canine—the big dog that he had just killed.

But—

Just as the blade was about to pierce into its thick fur, the wolf’s head snapped at him with terrifying speed, and its jaws clamped shut—

On the knife.

Lucian’s eyes widened, feeling a jolt run through his body at its reaction.

Then—

It opened its jaw, releasing the knife from his hand… before lunging at him again, closing its mouth again, taking the knife along with his entire arm.

But before its fangs could tear into his hand—

Lucian dropped the knife suddenly and pulled his hand sharply, before he stepped back at the same time, creating enough distance from it.

The wolf’s teeth snapped shut, biting into empty air.

The weapon dropped onto the road with a dull clatter, skidding across the blood-slick surface.

Lucian stepped back.

His heart tightened, and his breathing grew slightly heavier.

If he had just stayed at second longer, if he hadn’t moved back, then—

His entire arm would’ve been ripped off.

Torn apart… or at least his bones would’ve snapped.

“Heh.”

But despite all that, a small smile spread across his face.

There was tension in his body, but along with it, something else was present.

Excitement.

Without any weapon, he rushed forward, as the wolf too, dashed at him at the same time.

Both of them instantly closed the distance.

As soon as it opened its maw—

Lucian jumped over it before bringing his foot down, slamming it into its upper jaw before it could even raise its head.

The wolf’s body dipped slightly under the force.

Lucian landed—but the ground beneath him was still wet and slippery.

His legs slightly slipped over the blood.

The wolf’s body trembled slightly.

“Ouuuuuuuuu!” It howled loudly, filled with rage, before it came at him again.

Lucian sidestepped as soon as it ran at him, before his gaze fell on the knife on the floor.

He rushed at it, but the wolf came in between, attacking relentlessly.

Lucian twisted his body, narrowly dodging its claws as he kicked it away.

Its body slightly hurdled away from him.

Without looking at it, Lucian quickly turned away, before he bent down, his hand reaching out—grabbing the knife.

He turned to the wolf, who was looking at him, too.

Its chest rising and falling.

Both of their eyes locked onto each other, before—

They moved at the same time.

They lunged at each other.

Again.

And again.

The fight continued.

Relentlessly.

The wolf attacked with everything it had—its jaws snapping as it closed up to him, its claws slashing through the air, trying to aim at the human before it, wanting to rip it apart, to kill.

Each of its attacks was sharp and aggressive.

Minutes went by, as Lucian dodged each of its attacks carefully, not letting its natural weapons touch him, while he himself tried to attack with his knife, which the wolf escaped through each time, becoming more ferocious.

Slowly, the wolf was getting slower, maybe fatigued… but that didn’t make much of a change.

Lucian, too, was getting fatigued.

His breathing was growing slightly heavy and uneven.

But it didn’t hinder him too much.

He still had enough stamina, though it was depleting by the minute.

Again and again, he moved slightly away from the wolf, while being careful not to fall over the corpses or slip over the bloodied trail.

The wolf growled loudly, its voice rough and aggressive, filled with frustration, seeing the human before it—who refused to die despite all its attempts.

Just then, Lucian’s foot slipped slightly over the blood.

The wolf, seeing this, growled and rushed at him, seeing an opportunity.

As soon as it was about to bite him, Lucian rolled to the side, instantly moving again.

He twisted his body sideways and vaulted over its shoulder, and—

Stabbed the knife in his hand into its lower jaw.

After a slight resistance, it tore through its flesh with a wet, tearing sound, blood splashing outward as the wolf let out a sharp, guttural growl, its body thrashing violently under the sudden attack.

He pulled the knife out with a wet splash of blood… before stabbing it into its neck.

The knife sliced into its neck with force, slicing through fur and flesh, its impact enough to disrupt its movement.

Because of the pain, the wolf wasn’t even aware of his second attack.

Lucian took advantage of that.

He removed the blade and stabbed it again, into the same spot.

The wolf’s body trembled violently.

Its movements became erratic and uncontrolled.

Its paws lashed out wildly—

As they ran over Lucian.

But just as it was about to hit him, Lucian removed his grip over the knife completely, before grabbing both of its paws with his hands.

His fingers clenched tightly over the paw, as the claw was just before his eyes, as he forced them away from his body.

The wolf struggled.

Slowly, its body began to lose its vigour.

Its trembling weakened.

Then…

It stopped moving.

The paw in his hand lost its movements.

Lucian looked at it for a second, at its now lifeless eyes, before loosening his hands over it.

Its limbs fell to the ground with a soft, heavy thud.

He stared at it for a while, feeling the tension in his body because of the fight, and the remnants of adrenaline.

His breathing was slightly heavy.

His chest rose and fell as he took deep breaths, stabilising his breathing.

Feeling the slight suffocation due to the mask covering his mouth, he lowered it slightly, making his mouth and nose visible, taking in deep breaths.

After a couple of seconds, his lips parted.

“What rank was it?” he muttered, his voice slightly trembling because of the exhaustion of the fight.

It wasn’t exactly fatigue.

It was more about the life-threatening situation and the sudden loss of adrenaline.

[F rank.] Akasha answered.

Lucian’s gaze dropped to the corpse at his feet, as he grabbed the knife that had been lodged in its neck.

“Fucking hell,” he mumbled to himself.

Just an F rank, and he took over ten minutes to kill it.

He couldn’t help but wonder how that was possible.

He had killed F rank monsters before. And they weren’t this… strong.

[It seems to have been in the process of its evolution.]

Lucian’s expression didn’t change much. His mind didn’t settle with that.

Even if it was E rank, he was still too weak to fight it.

He lowered his gaze, looking at the knife in his hand.

“Fuck.” he cursed, seeing that it was slightly bent.

It couldn’t even be used to stab now, as it would just curve the moment it hits something

He threw it aside before grabbing his bag and removing a bone dagger from it, the one he had gotten from his goblin friends.

“Mm?”

He suddenly frowned, thinking over something, before his eyes widened in sudden realisation.

He had kept the bag with him, making the fight a bit more difficult, affecting his movements—even if only slightly.

But that was not the real problem here.

It was something else.

Something he had overlooked.

Lucian looked at the bag for a few seconds, staring at it as he gave a mental command.

Instantly—

The bag in his hand disappeared.

Gone—just like that.

Lucian looked at his now empty hand, and with another thought, it reappeared.

The bag was back in his grasp.

‘I could’ve done that too.’ He thought inwardly, feeling stupid for forgetting about the skill he had just gotten.

Add the novel into your Library if you like what I write.

Thank you for reading.