Chapter 3: Dog of the Kingdom

An unbelievable amount of energy surged throughout the canyon.

The blood lust The Wolf released wasn't something the soldiers could handle. As soon as the words left The Wolf's mouth, more than half the battalion fell to the ground. Every one of them, showing the whites of their eyes.

But they were top knights of the kingdom. Though Vedious, the strongest of them, fell so quickly it was nearly comical, they had no time to mourn.

Melv immediately called for the reserve adventurers that were hired as mercenaries.

("Zef! General Vedious fell. We need immediate backup! We can't hold him for even a minute! Get here NOW!")

Even with the speed of telepathy, Melv prayed they'd make it in time.

(Think Melv think! There's no way we get out of this unscathed. What in the world is he? Just by releasing his blood lust more tha-)

Melv suddenly had his train of thought interrupted.

Next to him a wave of blood lust erupted. But it was different. While the aura around The Wolf gave off a brilliant crimson red, next to him stood a woman, covered in a mist of black.

It was Ava.

She was looking at the ground where Vedious' beheaded body lay.

If one described how her aura felt, it wouldn't be anything except ominous.

Melv couldn't move. In fact, no one could move. This feeling, it was more than just blood lust. It was hate, grievance, despair. Even those far away suddenly felt their skin crawling. Only one man was able to move comfortably.

"Ohoho. Look what we have here."

Turning towards the frozen Ava, The Wolf stared at her.

(Looks like she's been consumed by her emotions. Tsk. Who knew she had such an attachme-)

A blade nearly sliced through his neck. Barely bringing a dagger out in time to block the attack, a burst of air flew out after the collision of the two blades.

"You leveled up quite a bit haven't you? Now, was that [Teleportation] or have you become that much faster?"

Ava stayed silent.

Holding her sword with both hands, she pushed harder against the dagger.

Ava opened her mouth

"..."

"Sorry can you say that again?"

"ie..."

"ie?"

"DIE!"

An explosion of pressure shot forth toward The Wolf. Completely enveloped inside the black aura, the crimson glow was being consumed.

(Better break away before the rest snap out of it and help her)

The difficulty of holding off the longsword with one hand was increasing. The amount of strength being put into Ava's arms were nothing to joke about. Summoning his second dagger in his left hand he quickly jabbed it into her side.

The instant the strength in her arms weakened, he kicked her stomach with a force that'd blow away a tree.

Ava flew backwards, knocking over a few knights along her path. Before she could even fall from the kick, The Wolf leapt forward, leaving a crater in the ground and appearing right in front of Ava.

Grabbing her face with his left hand, he swung the dagger in his right straight towards her neck.

"!"

The Wolf immediately jumps backwards before he could get the final hit off. Landing into the body of a standing knight to stop his momentum, he instantly stabbed the knight in his neck leaving a river of blood flowing out.

"Oi oi I know sniping is your specialty but baiting your friend like that is a bit cold isn't it?! You could've hit her!"

Right in front of Ava were 3 holes in the ground. Each hole containing an arrow clad in wind magic. For an arrow to pierce the ground and be embedded a few kels within was... to be frank, terrifying.

(This isn't looking good. I'll have to deal with Elai-)

BOOM!

A massive crater formed killing a handful of knights.

In the center of that crater was a giant man, clad in armor so black, it seemed to consume light itself. His hand, holding onto a gigantic sword that was stuck in the ground. Practical use of that sword would make no possible sense. It shouldn't be able to even be picked up let alone be swung.

The man in the crater slowly stood up. Pulled the sword out of the ground as if the size of the sword had no correlation to its weight, and rested the sword over his shoulder.

"Hahahaha, to think you could even dodge that! And here I even had to sacrifice some of the precious knights."

The man with the massive sword started laughing. At a closer look he seemed to be around his mid-forties. With wild gray and black hair and a scruffy beard, he was not someone who matched with a body built like a tank.

A-Rank adventurer Zef. One of the strongest swordsman within the continent of El. There are very few who make it into A-Rank. One of the qualifications being able to conquer a dungeon with a Lord residing in it. If Zef wanted to, he could've helped eradicate a large portion of dungeons years ago but chose not to.

With the conquering of dungeons, the monsters dwelling within controlled by the Lords become less organized. Without the Lords, their sense of loyalty is lost and so is most of their intelligence. They'd start fighting for territory with other monsters, turning back to more animalistic ways.

With the Lords, although the strength of these organized monsters become a genuine threat, as the Lords try to raise an army, the amount of monsters increase at an uncontrollable rate. This caused for the profession of adventurer to become one of the most popular.

With so many monsters to defeat, and materials and resources to collect, it could be said that having Lords residing within the dungeons was good for the economy and society.

But with so many dungeons and Lords, the rate of monsters appearing were too great. Soon the monsters were invading small villages and towns trying to expand their ever growing population. Thus, the kingdom of Yvnahal started to take action.

(Shit it's Zef. This is going to be difficult.)

Underneath the mask of The Wolf, his face twisted.

No matter how strong he was, he was only one person. No matter how much he dodged, how many he killed, it would just take one mistake for the situation to turn poorly.

(I can't take out Elaine now that Zefs here. I need to run)

The gears inside The Wolf's head were turning at an incredible rate. Figuring out every situation and his best possible chance of getting out of it.

"Hey lil' wolf how've you been? You know, I figured with you being crazy enough to solo dungeons on your own you'd take yourself out but, looks like I should've approached you sooner huh?"

"Zef, I never expected you to become the dog of the kingdom."

"Dog? That's a little ironic coming from you don't you think? I only took the job because they were giving me a reward for something I was planning to do anyways you know?"

"Tsk..."

(I didn't want them to see it but I guess I have no choice now)

The Wolf closed his eyes. Focusing on gathering mana within him.

"Oi oi, what are you planning to do? Leaving yourself with so many openings, you can't get mad if I can't help myself right!?!"

(Just a little bit more)

Zef appeared right in front of The Wolf just as words could be heard leaving it's owners lips.

"[Cataclysm]"