Martial Destiny

Julius, Frans, and Eleonor were face-to-face with the five enraged wolves. Even though Julius had managed to defeat one of the creatures with extreme ease, they were still outnumbered.

"Good job, boy." Although Frans was impressed by the power behind Julius' strike, he didn't have time to dwell on it. He stepped in front of the group and positioned his shield defensively.

ROARRR

The wolves snarled, baring their sharp teeth at the group, but always keeping an eye on the human with the sword. They were all positioned close together, prepared to assist each other at any moment.

"We need to create chaos so my mother can attack!" Eleonor realized that Katharina would be in danger in a situation like this and needed them to cause a distraction so she could act safely.

Julius was ready to attack. In fact, if it weren't for his primitive instincts triggered by the game's incredibly realistic graphics, he probably would have continued his assault.

The power behind his last strike had given Julius an overwhelming sense of confidence. Aside from the white wolf, he was sure he could easily handle the rest.

"[Charge]"

"[Charge]"

Both the swordsman and the guardian activated their abilities in unison, using MANA to close the distance between them and the wolves quickly.

Fortunately, even though they hadn't planned it, the two had different targets, allowing their actions to complement each other without interfering.

Frans used his shield to slam into one of the wolves, causing the creature's blood to spill onto the shield. Quickly, the shield seemed to absorb the blood, and an image of a wolf was drawn on its surface.

"[Prison]"

Frans activated another ability, and when the mace in his hand collided with the shield, an energy burst from the drawing on the shield and wrapped around the wolf's neck, forming a tight collar.

This time, it wasn't just one wolf that had its neck encircled by a collar, but four of them!

Four of the five wolves snarled at Frans, preparing to attack!

Meanwhile, the fifth wolf was busy dodging all of Julius's attacks, putting in a noticeable effort to do so. As a result, Frans's ability didn't work on it at that moment.

Julius swung his sword back and forth, trying to land a blow on the creature, but the wolf dodged every strike with impressive agility, showing that these creatures were a bit stronger than the others Julius had fought.

Without even realizing it, the white flame had reappeared in Julius's mind, this time slightly larger than before, pulling him deeper into the flow state.

'When I attack from above, it dodges to the right...'

'From below, left...'

'When I attack from the left, it tries to sneak behind me...'

Julius was starting to memorize how the creature reacted to his movements.

But more than that, Julius was also beginning to memorize the creature's reaction time.

Now, he had a clear plan for what to do next.

Julius raised his sword above his head and used gravity to accelerate the blade as it descended toward the wolf.

Seeing this, the wolf instinctively tilted its body to the right, ready to dodge the strike once again.

At that moment, a blue explosion erupted from the black sword, and the unfortunate wolf had no chance.

BOOM

The blue explosion originating from the black sword engulfed the wolf's body entirely, but the main damage occurred on its left legs.

The entire lower part of the wolf's legs vanished, causing the creature to collapse and unable to stand.

Seeing this, Julius quickly finished off the creature and moved on to the next target.

[+1 to primary attributes, +0.5 to secondary attributes, +0.3 to tertiary attributes]

Once again, Julius felt the physical boost and became stronger.

In his flow state, Julius hadn't noticed anything beyond his opponent. It wasn't until his fight ended that he became aware of the rest.

Frans and Eleonor were struggling, but they were still managing to handle the remaining four wolves. Frans had numerous wounds all over his body, clearly from bites and scratches.

Eleonor used [Heal] repeatedly on her father, trying to keep him standing as long as possible, but if they kept going like this, she probably wouldn't be able to keep him on his feet much longer.

"Do something! My MANA is almost gone!" Almost in sync with her shout, a figure took advantage of the wolves being focused on just one member of the group.

"[Stab]" Katharina appeared for the first time in the battle, and her dagger disappeared into the skull of the most isolated wolf. Without having time to react, the wolf fell to the ground with no chance of retaliation.

Katharina quickly disappeared again, and since the other wolves were still under the effect of [Prison], none of them reacted to the [assassin].

"Hey, swordsman! Help too!" Eleonor sighed in relief but quickly shouted for Julius to assist in easing the burden on her father.

"I'm on it!" Without wasting any time, Julius ran toward the wolves.

RIP

He took advantage of the fact that the creatures weren't paying attention to him and drove his sword into one, piercing the wolf horizontally.

WHIMPER

The wolf whined in pain, but Julius wasn't finished yet.

"[Charge]"

He used [Charge] to close in on another creature with the first wolf still impaled on his sword.

"[Supernova]"

As he approached the second wolf, Julius used [Supernova] to hit both wolves!

[+2 to primary attributes, +1 to secondary attributes, +0.6 to tertiary attributes]

The notification sounded again, this time showing that Julius had taken down two wolves with a single strike.

With that, Frans only had to deal with one remaining wolf.

Sigh

The burden on father and daughter had practically vanished in an instant, allowing them both to breathe a sigh of relief.

"[Stab]"

Once again, Katharina appeared out of nowhere and finished off the last wolf!

"Boy, you're really incredible!" Katharina couldn't help but compliment Julius for how easy it was to hunt with him.

"Don't get too excited just yet; the main beast hasn't fallen." Julius stayed focused on the last and most powerful wolf.

The white wolf looked on with a certain surprise in its eyes. It hadn't expected this group of humans to deal with its pack so easily!

ROARRR

It snarled in fury, as if ready to face the group of humans alone, but it wasn't that foolish.

Without thinking twice, it began running back into the forest, fleeing from the humans...

It wasn't stupid enough to face four humans, three of whom weren't even injured yet!

Moreover, the pack had proven utterly useless by failing to even make the four humans expend much stamina!

'The humans are practically at full energy from the nature mana. I wouldn't be able to handle all of them alone.' The story would have been different if the pack had at least managed to injure Julius and the others considerably. 'I've already memorized the scent of these humans. Once I find a new pack, I'll return to hunt them!'

The wolf promised to itself as it dove deeper into the forest, doing something it had been trying to avoid until now...

'I have to be careful,' the white wolf thought as it noticed the air growing heavier the deeper it went into the forest.