Chapter 39: King of Wolves Lobo (2)

When faced with a massive presence, people tend to hesitate regardless of hostility.

Conventionally, smaller means weaker, larger means stronger.

Though this world harbored many exceptions to that rule, it didn’t diminish the impact of sheer size.

Lobo, now twice as large after absorbing the Ley lines’s power, was terror incarnate.

Was this how Fenrir appeared when it swallowed Odin in Norse mythology?

If I hadn’t tempered my mind along with my body through sword training, I might have fled right then.

Lobo slowly raised its head, exuding intensified aura and magical energy from its enlarged form.

Its movements seemed sluggish, unaccustomed to its new size – hardly befitting a wolf.

As Lobo’s eyes fixed on me, its gaze had grown even more vicious than before.

‘Surely it can’t move as fast now that it’s so big…?’

I couldn’t help but smirk at the idiotic thought that didn’t seem to come from my own head.

Bigger means slower?

If that were true, how could a beast over 5 meters tall have shown such speed earlier?

Its aura and magical energy had grown along with its size. It would only be faster now, not slower.

I couldn’t approach the massive Lobo recklessly. I kept my hand on my sword hilt, ready to respond at any moment.

Intense aura began concentrating in Lobo’s legs as it steadied itself.

I was prepared to draw at any instant, but…

“…!!”

Before I knew it, I was flying through the air. The attack’s impact was so quick I felt no pain, unsure if I’d taken a direct hit.

I lifted my head to assess the situation and saw Lobo had moved from west to east.

‘A charge…?’

Had the mere air pressure from its rapid advance sent me flying so high?

Looking down, I saw Lobo’s path carved into the ground like a giant finger had drawn a line.

‘The speed itself is incredible. However…’

It was just my guess, but Lobo seemed unable to control this velocity.

Not only had it failed to finish me in one strike, but crucially, it hadn’t used the Ley lines’s power – evidence of its lack of control.

‘It likely hasn’t taken this form many times before.’

Any knights who posed a real threat would have retreated, realizing a numerical advantage was pointless against Lobo’s initial form.

The rest were mere grave robbers after ancient relics.

Lobo could have defeated them without transforming. Even if it occasionally faced strong opponents requiring this form, they were likely few and far between.

I landed lightly, turning in mid-air. Lobo was eyeing me intently, determined not to miss again.

Honestly, reacting to such an absurdly fast technique was beyond my current physical capabilities.

But while my body had limits, my Baldo had none.

A countermeasure using Baldo had already formed in my mind.

Though partly a gamble, I saw no other option. I took my stance, left foot forward, hands on hilt and scabbard.

In the brief moment I assumed my stance, Lobo’s body gathered aura – less than before, but still considerable.

It seemed set on striking me for certain this time, trading some power and speed for accuracy.

‘One wrong move and I’m dead…’

Forcing a smile despite the life-or-death tension, I closed my eyes and drew my sword.

An immense gust hit, and I felt something strike my sword hand.

How to counter an attack too swift to react to?

If you can’t perceive the attack, you can’t counter it when it comes.

The solution: read the attack’s sign and draw preemptively before it arrives.

This strategy was impossible with eyes open, as they’d instinctively rely on sight.

I’d read the attack from Lobo’s aura and muscle movements before closing my eyes. Incredibly, this foolhardy, suicidal tactic succeeded.

Or rather, it half-succeeded, to be precise.

“Aaaaargh!!”

An immense weight slammed into my sword hand, forcing out an unmanly scream.

Unable to withstand the impact of what felt like a collapsing skyscraper, I redirected my blade and slipped between Lobo’s legs, evading its charge.

“Nngh…!!”

After escaping, I instinctively examined my right hand that had swung the sword.

Thankfully no bones were broken or cracked, but repeating this would clearly be disastrous.

‘…Not entirely without gain, though.’

When Lobo charged earlier, I’d managed to slice its nose. Though not a deep wound, it seemed to have hurt or humiliated the beast, which now glowered at me with an even fiercer expression.

‘I was anxious at first, but maybe I can win even in this state…’

Just as that thought crossed my mind, the ground began to shake as Ley lines energy surged towards Lobo once again.

“Is this f*cker insane?”

The second time around, I could clearly sense the Ley lines’s power flowing into Lobo.

As before, Lobo’s body began to transform as it absorbed the energy.

Fortunately – or unfortunately – it didn’t grow larger this time.

Instead, it reverted to a size similar to its first transformation.

The key difference was that Lobo’s front and hind legs now resembled those of a bear.

Cold sweat trickled down my cheek as I beheld those limbs, emanating a crushing power that dwarfed even Peter’s hammer.

Lobo’s chest and waist shifted to match its transformed limbs, and soon it stood upright on two legs like a person.

‘Werewolf…’

Though 5-meter humans don’t exist, no word better described Lobo’s bipedal form.

Lobo raised its head, exhaled hot breath, then lifted one hand high before slamming it to the ground.

“Ugh…!!”

The earth shook violently, uprooting trees from the impact alone.

The shockwave and dust cloud reached me, but that wasn’t the real problem.

Sharp blade energy.

Though not technically blade energy since it came from claws rather than a sword edge, the attack racing along the ground towards me was no less deadly.

Deciding dodging was safer than blocking, I leapt aside. But the energy followed my movement like a guided missile.

“?!”

Before I could process my surprise, Lobo launched a second blast of energy at me.

Like the first, it doggedly pursued me.

‘Magic… No, that’s impossible…!!’

Even if it had guarded a magic swordsman, how could a beast use magic?

I guessed this had to be related to aura or the Ley lines’s power.

As I pondered this, a third energy blast joined the pursuit, tearing through the ground towards me.

A fourth and fifth followed, their numbers growing until over ten were chasing me down.

That’s when it hit me.

‘The energy travels along the ground…?’

Normal blade energy rides the air, imbued with aura. There’s no reason for it to cling to the ground.

So why was Lobo’s energy attack coming at me via the earth?

‘…Because it needs to travel through the ground?’

There was only one explanation for why these attacks had to pass through the earth to reach me.

Ley lines.

The paths of pure energy flowing through the land like blood vessels.

If it was possible to channel the impact one received through these paths, surely the reverse – firing energy through them – was also possible?

To fully grasp the Ley lines’s power beyond surface-level understanding, I closed my eyes.

I needed to shut out extraneous senses to perceive this force flowing through the earth.

Eyes closed, ears covered, I barely dodged Lobo’s oncoming blasts by feeling the air currents on my skin. I focused on the ground.

Vibrations from the moving energy attacks transmitted through my feet. Concentrating harder, I sensed something like intertwining streams of power coursing through the earth like blood vessels.

This was the Ley lines – the purest energy in this world, symbolizing the earth’s power.

If I could harness this immense force for my Baldo, the power would be unimaginable…

“Hehehehe!! Baldo…!! Baldo!!”

Just imagining it made me burst into uncontrollable laughter.

[Laughing in this situation… Have you lost your mind?]

As I grinned in anticipation of an unseen sword technique, the earth spirit’s voice emanated from the ground.

“What do you want?!”

[I’ve come to give you one last chance. With my power, I can still take you far away…]

“Ptoo! f*ck off!!”

Knowing full well what it would say next, I spat at the ground instead of responding.

Run away with my tail between my legs just because the situation got a little dicey?

That’s no way for a warrior to act, let alone one who wields Baldo techniques.

“Fleeing from battle is dishonorable for a warrior!!!”

[…You’ve gone completely mad.]

With those words, the spirit’s voice fell silent. The nuisance interfering with my Baldo was gone.

I leapt high to distance myself from Lobo’s pursuing energy blasts, then turned to face them head-on.

Their numbers had swelled to the hundreds while I was thinking.

Throwing myself at those blasts would leave my body in unrecognizable shreds, no need to test it.

Yet even facing a power beyond my current Baldo abilities, I stood my ground without fleeing.

I drew my katana and plunged it into the earth.

-Thunk!!

As the blade sank in, the Ley lines’s power flowed through the hilt into my body.

Now that I’d awakened to the Ley lines’s power, I could manipulate it.

‘Infuriating as it is, I can’t match Lobo’s skill with the Ley lines power I’ve only just awakened!!’

So I’d bridge that gap with my Baldo.

Drawing on the Ley lines’s power to its limit, I prepared to unleash my technique against the oncoming energy blasts, using the earth itself as my scabbard.

“Ley lines Baldo!!!”

The Ley lines’s might, amplified by the earth’s friction, became an unprecedented torrent of power that collided head-on with the approaching blasts.

Even if Lobo’s mastery of the Ley lines surpassed mine, it was no match for the power I’d enhanced through my Baldo.

My energy attack cleaved through the earth, devouring all of Lobo’s blasts before surging towards the beast itself.

“Grrrrowl!!!”

Lobo leapt aside just as I had earlier – a foolish move.

My attack rode the Ley liness to pursue it, just as Lobo’s had chased me.

“…!!”

“Show me something enough times and even a monkey can copy it!”

Though I’d only just awakened to the Ley lines’s power, redirecting energy through it was simple enough.

My blast, now chasing Lobo via the Ley liness, engulfed the beast like the maw of a dragon.

A piteous howl echoed through the midnight forest.

Well done, Lobo.

Your strength, once hailed as the Wolf King’s, will live on eternally as my katana.

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