The South Gate was collapsing. Even from the East, I could hear the cries, the splintering of wood, the roar of beasts slamming against the barricades.
I ran there, magical energy beneath my feet, sustaining my strides.
[Flow Step]
The world blurred around me, villagers and adventurers shouting out as I cut through the chaos.
When I got there, the defenders were at breaking point. Their line was shattered, bodies strewn across the blood-soaked ground. I lifted a hand to cast; at that exact moment…
A wave of killing intent washed over me.
My chest tightened. My magical sense screamed.
The world went quiet.
That aura… vast, crushing, ancient. The kind of pressure only an apex predator could bring.
"No," I whispered, breath catching. "That's not another monster."
A wolf figure was at the far end of East Gate's battlefield, red eyes blazing through smoke and blood. Its presence alone was stifling.
The Bloodfang Alpha Wolf of B+ Rank.
My jaws clenched. A D-ranker like Alenya wouldn't make it. Not even the South Gate adventurers would survive for long.
I could not utilize my true strength here. The Temple of Light or the Necromancer Temple discovered what I was, my life of hiding would be over.
Which implied… I could not stay.
I turned on my heel and sprinted the way I had come, towards the East Gate.
By the time I returned, it was already too late.
The barricade was ripped apart, bodies scattered across the mud. And there, in the center of it all, stood Alenya with her petite frame trembling as she stood among the dead.
Bram, the healer, lay motionless, his staff broken. Torren, the shieldman, was torn nearly in half.
The scent of blood filled everything.
Alenya's sword shook in her hand as the Bloodfang Wolf padded closer, its huge paws sinking into the earth, claws rending the ground. Its muzzle was dripping blood, steam screaming with each drop.
She screamed, her voice raspy. "Stay back!"
The wolf crouched, eyes on her.
She fought to call up her mana,
[Steelguard Slash]
Her sword flashed with a soft silver light as she struck upwards. But the Alpha barely reacted, slapping her blow aside with one paw.
The strength of the strike sent her tumbling to the earth, her sword ripped from her hand.
She had time to look up and see its fangs coming down.
I stepped between them, my own hand raised. [Blazing Veil]
A wall of flame erupted in front of her, consuming the wolf's attack. The Alpha growled, its fur blackening as it stumbled back, red eyes blazing at me in fury.
Alenya screamed behind me, her voice trembling. "You!"
I did not turn back to her. My attention was on the creature, its presence looming like a storm.
Two of her party members were already dead. The others were dangling by a thread. And Alenya herself was just seconds away from joining the ranks of the dead.
But not on my watch.
My sword flashed free, magic erupting into a red aura as a pattern burned itself into the ground at my feet.
[Crimson Fang Formation]
The ground rippled red, fangs of light erupting from the earth beneath me, my sword humming with energy.
The Mutant Bloodfang Wolf growled low, its breath aflame, its eyes fixed on me now.
"B+ Rank, huh?" I growled, my lips curling into a grim smile. "Good. That way, I don't have to hold back too much."
The wolf struck again, faster than the stroke of a shadow.
I faced it head-on with fire and steel in my hand.