Chapter 38: King of Wolves Lobo (1)

After the spirit departed, I gazed at the desolate black path it had created for me.

The path, split in two for easier walking, was initially made of carbonized, crumbling trees.

However, as I progressed, the charring gradually lessened until eventually, green trees like those found anywhere came into view.

‘There’s no one here…’

Strangely, I hadn’t sensed any signs of life around me for a while.

From small birds to the tiniest insects, it seemed as if all living things had sensed a certain presence here and vanished.

Of course, my fire-starting played a role, but clearly, they had instinctively hidden from the powerful being ahead.

Even in the original work, there were descriptions of animals fleeing when powerful magic beasts appeared, so this was undoubtedly the case.

Though I didn’t think I’d lose, facing potentially the strongest opponent of my life made me tense.

Lobo’s combat power was at least on par with Peter’s, even by the most conservative estimate. At least 200 years ago, the royal knights believed they could handle Lobo themselves.

A magic beast judged to be equal to a single royal knight, not even the captain.

Just imagining what kind of beast it might be and what abilities it might show made my hands tremble with excitement.

As my anticipation for the unknown powerful enemy waiting ahead grew stronger, my pace naturally quickened.

“…!”

My relentless advance suddenly stopped at a certain point.

Despite still being quite far away, a fierce killing intent directed at me made my hair stand on end.

Unlike human warriors who hide their killing intent while sharpening their blades from behind, Lobo’s unconcealed bloodlust seemed almost pure.

‘I like it more and more!’

I couldn’t wait to harvest Lobo’s teeth like a dentist and forge them into a sword.

When I came to my senses, I found myself sprinting towards Lobo, having abandoned my initial slow approach.

The closer I got, the more distinctly I felt Lobo’s razor-sharp killing intent piercing my body.

“Haa…!”

At the end of my headlong rush, like a child meeting their idol, waited an enormous magic beast unlike any I’d ever seen.

Its size dwarfed any wolf, rivaling even an elephant in scale.

Lobo, the silver-furred beast gleaming brightly under the eerie full moon, glared at me with eyes full of murderous intent, as if ready to tear out my throat at any moment.

Even from this barely visible distance, I could feel Lobo’s intense aura and demonic energy.

‘That’s some impressive aura…!’

While it was natural for a beast turned magical to emit demonic energy, handling aura like a human was extremely rare.

Whether Lobo had awakened to aura before becoming a magic beast or not, the aura enveloping its body alongside the demonic energy was remarkably refined and skillful.

This was to be expected.

For the past 200 years since its master Pierre’s death, Lobo had been honing its aura while guarding its master’s corpse.

It was more accurate to think of this as battling a Swordmaster in the form of a magic beast rather than just a magic beast.

“Whew….”

After taking a deep breath, I approached Lobo slowly this time, my hand resting on my sword hilt, rather than charging recklessly like before.

Conversely, Lobo merely bared its teeth at my approach, remaining still and observing me without hasty movements.

As I gradually closed the distance, Lobo’s expression grew increasingly ferocious.

“Grrrrr!!!”

Perhaps unable to tolerate my further advance, Lobo opened its mouth wide, and energy began to gather around its gaping maw.

It was common for magic beasts to gain abilities they didn’t possess before transformation.

As I prepared to dodge, expecting a breath attack of fire or frost, it came.

“Awooooo~!!”

A howl.

The first sound that comes to mind when thinking of wolves. Originally meant for communication, Lobo clearly had no such intention.

-!!

From the moment the howl sounded, everything around us began to explode one by one, as if pre-planted bombs had been detonated.

Having seen a similar attack in the original work, it didn’t take long to realize what this was.

This attack imbued sound, or more precisely vibrations, with aura, causing it to explode from within.

Seeing the shockwave advancing while detonating everything in its path, I understood why the knights had retreated.

No matter how skilled their teamwork, each knight in the order hadn’t reached the level of a Swordmaster.

They must have thought that no matter how many knights they prepared, they couldn’t withstand this attack, making it a futile death.

‘…Now’s not the time for such thoughts.’

While I was considering unnecessary things, the shockwave approached to point-blank range.

Yet I felt no fear. Why? Because I already knew how to counter this attack.

-Clang!

In an instant, my sword left its sheath, cutting through the air with a white arc.

How does one neutralize aura imbued in sound? The answer is surprisingly simple. Just counter it with the same method.

The shockwave I released advanced forward like Lobo’s, and soon they collided.

When the two sound-imbued auras clashed, the aura dispersed in all directions with a tremendous roar.

Zzzzt.

As the faint aura scattered upwards touched my body, a sensation similar to static electricity ran through me.

Lobo seemed to feel it too, its fur slightly bristling as it charged towards me.

Instead of rushing to meet Lobo, I waited with my hand on my sword hilt.

There was no time to waste energy needlessly. To conserve as much strength as possible, I stood still, waiting for Lobo to come to me…

-Whooosh!!

Lobo suddenly stopped its charge and leaped high into the sky.

Though I’d predicted such a move from direct observation, the abrupt action left me staring dumbfounded at the sight.

Lobo jumped incredibly high. So high that I had the foolish thought it might pierce the clouds and reach the moon.

Yes, it jumped high. High enough to escape my field of vision.

‘Sh*t…!!’

It took me about 3 seconds after Lobo’s leap to realize its intention.

Countless slashes rained down on me as it tore through the clouds above.

People often use the phrase “raining down” to describe many things falling, and that’s exactly what these slashes did.

As if watching me from that distance, numerous slashes fell precisely towards me.

I deflected some and narrowly dodged others, evading the slashes.

Even as I tried to hide among the trees to escape its sight, the slashes pursued me like guided missiles.

It wasn’t simply judging by sight, but accurately pinpointing my location using smell and aura.

‘First time I’ve ever envied a dog….’

With that thought, I returned to open ground to be ready to respond immediately when Lobo descended.

Even if it jumped high, without wings it would eventually have to return to the ground.

As I continued dodging slashes while waiting for that moment, I soon saw Lobo emerging from the clouds.

“Baldo!!!”

I unleashed a vacuum slash with all my might towards Lobo as it broke through the clouds.

Sensing the incoming vacuum slash, Lobo tried to dodge nimbly, but no matter how agile, it couldn’t change its innate size.

“Kuooh!!”

Though not as numerous as Lobo’s attack, countless vacuum blades sliced into its body.

An incredible amount of blood, enough to make one wonder if a rainbow might appear, scattered in the wind.

Lobo fell to the ground limply, groaning painfully, in stark contrast to its initial powerful leap.

As I approached Lobo to deliver a follow-up strike, the scene before me made me stop in my tracks.

‘What the hell…!’

Wounds that should have been fatal to a person or other magic beast were regenerating at an astonishing rate.

The surreal sight of injuries healing at a visible speed felt more like watching a movie I’d seen on Earth than reality.

Literally in the blink of an eye, all wounds were healed, and Lobo was starting to rise. I was shocked.

‘Prolonging this is dangerous…!’

Intending to kill it while it was still recovering, I concentrated aura into my legs.

The accumulated aura in my legs exploded, propelling my body towards Lobo at bullet-like speed.

-Crackle!!

With the sound of metal slicing, I activated the sword technique One Slash.

This attack, faster and more powerful than a normal draw slash, aimed for Lobo’s neck, but…

-Zzzzzk!!

Instead of Lobo’s neck being severed, the ground split open, just like when I had used a draw slash on Peter before.

“…Ley lines?”

It wasn’t unreasonable to mutter that involuntarily.

I had expected it to use aura, but I never imagined it would employ Ley lines as well.

Quickly resheathing my sword, I retreated a great distance, preparing for Lobo’s attack now that it had fully recovered.

However, Lobo didn’t immediately charge in like before, instead just glaring at me.

‘Why isn’t it attacking…!’

It didn’t take long for the question in my mind to be answered.

Ley lines aren’t just a technique for redirecting received impacts into the ground, as just demonstrated.

The truly terrifying aspect of Ley lines lies in harnessing the power flowing through the earth for oneself.

Focusing all my senses on Lobo and the ground beneath it, I could feel the pure energy flowing through the earth being drawn towards Lobo.

Lobo’s body began to swell like a balloon.

If only its body had swollen, I might have been glad for the increased target area, but along with its body, the aura and demonic energy enveloping Lobo were also expanding.

“…Ah.”

Seeing Lobo, now several times its original size and shrouded in dizzying amounts of demonic energy and aura, I thought:

‘…This is a bit f*cked up, isn’t it?’

[raei: In case you didn’t see my edit and note for the previous chapter, I changed ‘Pier’ to ‘Pierre’]