Dogfight

Keanu was behind Anna, both of them running frantically from a pursuing wolf pack. Anna, despite being a woman, moved with exceptional agility. Without his doubled attributes, Keanu wouldn't have been able to keep up with her. She moved like a fox through the jungle and grasslands, constantly altering her path. The wolves were swift, but they couldn't catch up with her, not even for a moment.

"Hurry up! The cliff is up ahead, once we reach the edge, don't hesitate, just jump down!" Anna shouted from the front. "Weren't you the one who claimed to hunt down werewolves?" Keanu called from behind. "I occasionally get hunted by werewolves too!" Anna yelled without turning back. "Not appearing occasionally". Without thinking, he shouted, "Danger!" and pushed Anna ahead.

A silver arc streaked across the sky, accompanied by a shrill, echoing scream. It was like a comet crashing fiercely onto the route where Anna had been running, forming a deep pit in the rocky ground.

Upon a closer look, it could be seen that a white silver giant wolf had fallen from the sky. Its talon power was comparable to a cannonball. "Awooo!" The Silver Wolf, missing its target with its strike, let out a violent howl, and the pursuing pack of wolves simultaneously halted their chase, casting mournful cries to the sky that sent chills down the spines of humans.

"It's the silver wolf leader!" Anna screamed, her face turned deathly pale. The Silver Wolf leader was proclaimed the King of Werewolves, possessing massive attacks, fast speeds, and also one of the crucial henchmen of the vampire count, Dracula. Anna's brother, Vicken, had gone missing while fighting this silver wolf leader. In that incident, dozens of shotgun-wielding Devil Hunters, including the siblings, unsuccessfully attempted to assassinate the Silver Wolf. Instead, they ended up joining the werewolf pack that was now hunting them.

Keanu swung his hand, releasing spiritual exploration over the silver wolf leader's head. The revelation read:

"Silver wolf leader, Attack: 12-25, Defense: 7, HP: 600.

Possessing the skills of:

Transform: changing a targeted individual into one of its kind; Unidentified, Unidentified, Unidentified.

It is an immortal creature, a holy attack could inflict extra damage, classified as the Attack type."

The vital points of this creature were not displayed, probably because the beast had a high level, and thus, the content shown was decreased. Keanu felt a sense of sudden tension.

No wonder the city's main quest was to get him to escape. This silver wolf possessed 4 skills, 3 of which he could not detect at the moment. Even with his regular bullets, he wouldn't be able to penetrate its defense.

Moreover, the silver wolf leader's attack range was staggeringly high. The damage a standard bullet could inflict was 7, meanwhile, the silver wolf's attack could reach from 12 to 25. What did that imply? The kinetic energy from one of its swipes was triple the damage of a bullet.

With 600 HP, even if he fully utilized Holy bullets, it would take over ten shots to kill this creature.

Would this creature foolishly stand on the spot letting him take over ten shots at it? The answer was apparent. However, in many situations, people do not have a choice. Indeed, as soon as Keanu released the spiritual exploration, he rushed out and fired two shots at it. The silver wolf leader seemed to overlook Keanu's attack slightly, given it had been long since anyone could inflict some actual damage on it.

His two consecutive shots landed on the silver wolf leader, causing visible pain. But Keanu didn't get the chance to fire a third shot.

"Roar!" It howled furiously and charged the duo in a sharp arc. "Dodge!" Keanu shouted.

They split to both sides simultaneously, where the silver line that the silver wolf had morphed into skimmed Keanu's waist and drew a vibrant patch of blood.

After missing the attack, the giant silver wolf immediately turned his head, its phosphorescent eyes were locked onto the two again. "Run!" Keanu yelled at Anna. Anna turned around and ran towards the cliff edge, while the silver wolf once again rose to the air with a roar.

Keanu aimed and fired, but to his surprise, that silver wolf made an unbelievable spin in the air to evade the shot, stunning Keanu. "Are you even a wolf?" He gasped.

A prompt appeared above the silver wolf's head: "Silver wolf special skill: Arc Turning, evades the opponent's attack through a mysterious airborne curve."

"Damn it!" Keanu cursed.

After using arc turning, the silver wolf instantly dove down and burst towards Keanu. Its massive paw swung and hit Keanu with a serious, life-threatening blow. Keanu spat out a mouthful of blood. If it wasn't for his doubled Vitality, massively boosting both his HP and Defense, this single blow could've taken away half of his HP. The heavy slap sent Keanu crashing into a small tree, snapping the trunk, while Anna took advantage of this and successfully jumped off the cliff, landing into the river beneath, bobbing up and down with the current.

"Roar!" Standing on the cliff edge, the silver wolf, now devoid of its target, let out an infuriated snarl. With dozens of robust wolves closing in from a distance and the terrifying silver wolf still blocking the edge of the cliff, Keanu's pupils constricted.

"Get out of the way, jerk!" he gritted his teeth as he charged the silver wolf, firing shots continuously. A massive wailing noise erupted from the silver wolf as blood splattered all over its body, but this time the wolf didn't dodge and instead stood up on its hind legs, raising its gigantic paw to strike Keanu.

Keanu hit the ground rolling, dodging the attack, before ending up in front of the silver wolf. He latched onto the beast and jumped towards the cliff. The pursuing pack caught up, watching their leader and Keanu fall off the cliff together, letting out mournful howls.

The silver wolf, shocked by Keanu's daring action, was caught off guard. In the air, Keanu abruptly kicked the silver wolf's abdomen, using the force to fly to the other side. The giant wolf's claw scraped past his face, leaving three scarring cuts on his face.

Without blinking, Keanu aimed his gun at the silver wolf's head that was within striking distance.

The gun fired.

A holy bullet pierced through the Silver Wolf's eye socket, blasting a bloody hole in its head. The silver wolf, hit severely by Keanu, roared angrily. It suddenly inflated, its long tail stretched out like a whip, wrapping around Keanu's neck.

"Silver wolf special skill: Tail Strangle, strangles the opponent with its tail, causing suffocation and death, deducting 2 HP per second for 10 seconds."

Being strangled by the wolf's tail, Keanu felt a sense of suffocation as his HP continuously dropped at a slow yet steady rate.

Losing 2 HP per second could have been tolerable, but the main issue was that the wolf tail strangle acted as a binding effect, immobilizing him. At this point, the silver wolf could launch a new attack.

True enough, in the very next moment, the silver wolf bit down hard on Keanu. Keanu was trapped with nowhere to escape. As he watched the gaping mouth of the silver wolf bite down and his HP rapidly decrease to the verge of depletion, he steeled his resolve. He lifted his right hand, thrusting the gun into the giant mouth of the silver wolf. It was like a stick jammed into the wolf's throat, effectively stopping it from closing its mouth.

His eyes glinted with a cold, ruthless light as he coldly declared, "It's high time you rested, damn it!"

He pulled the trigger.

The bullet entered from the jaw and out from its skull. The massive impact blew the sky-covering lid of the wolf. Critical hit, quad Damage!

Even so, this silver wolf astonishingly didn't die. With half its head thrown back, it issued a mournful howl and managed to lift its giant paw.

"Silver wolf special skill: Paw Strike..."

A huge wolf paw quickly magnified in front of Keanu, the five sharp fingertips glittering in the sunlight bearing a daunting chill as they fiercely thrust into Keanu's chest.

Then came a cracking sound. The sound of the heart shield shattering, followed by a prompt from the emblem: "Possession of the heat shield in use, blocking fatal attacks, reducing attack damage by 50%..."

Keanu was flung backward with this attack, seeing his HP drop to the bottom.

His head spun, an ominous sign of his depleting HP. Suppressing the last of his concentration, Keanu shot at the distant silver wolf last time.

Bang!

The roar abruptly ended.

This shot finally reaped the life of the silver wolf leader. Its body convulsed violently in the air before going still.

With a splash, Keanu fell into the river, causing water to spray everywhere.

Just before he hit the water, he faintly heard the crisp sound of the emblem... —————————————————————————————————————— Plunging into the river, the icy cold water brought some clarity to Keanu. He didn't have the strength to swim to the bank, but the gentle river carried him ashore.

The corpse of the silver wolf lay not too far away. This mighty beast, who had faced countless Devil Hunters, and won numerous battles with its powerful attack and super-fast speed, finally met its end at the hands of Keanu today.

It was rather unjust, considering that if the battle had not happened in the air, Keanu wouldn't have been able to damage it easily. The speed and attack of the silver wolf were unparalleled, and it could even glide in the air for a short time. Regrettably, the fall severely limited its dodging ability, while Keanu's gun was unaffected. Worst of all, who would have thought that someone would dare to fight to the death in such a situation? To cap it all, the silver wolf made a foolish mistake of using its life-draining skill. Although it healed the silver wolf, it slowed down the speed at which it could kill its enemies. Had it struck Keanu cleanly with two claws, it could have emerged as the final winner.

The heart shield given by Scar Face played a crucial role, blocking the fatal attack of the silver wolf.

All these factors combined resulted in this mini-boss being taken down by the rookie Keanu, who himself felt incredibly lucky when he thought about it later.

As for now, Keanu lay half-submerged in the river, unable to even stand. The emblem indicated that when the HP value drops below 10%, he will lose half his action ability.

However, after killing the silver wolf leader, Infinity City granted him an extra 500 CP. Only a 500 CP reward? Keanu remembered that, at the time of awarding random items, a simple trinket gave 200 CP.

Either it's too difficult to earn CP in the city, or in the eyes of the city, the strength of this silver wolf was just average. The dangers and near-death experiences he went through were primarily because of his weakness.

It's what happens when he chooses a 100% difficulty level, isn't it? If he had chosen 50% difficulty, the silver wolf's strength may have been greatly reduced. If he had chosen 25% difficulty, the silver wolf might not have appeared at all.

Moreover, Infinity City's task was to return to town, not to kill the silver wolf. If he hadn't clung onto the silver wolf and jumped, chances are the silver wolf might not have jumped at all.

Upon thinking about this, Keanu understood.

Although the task difficulty level was set at 100%, The city still adopted some special treatment for newbies by toning down conditions in the task requirement.

Looking at the corpse of the silver wolf in the distance, he noticed something shimmering beneath it.

With sudden realization, he managed to crawl over there.

It was a small blue box.

Upon opening the box, the emblem issued a prompt:

"Perfect Silver Wolf Kill: You've obtained a loot box dropped by the silver wolf leader. You are now eligible for a regular boss reward for the silver wolf and a bonus for beginners. Do you want to open the loot box now? Yes/No."

Almost instantly, Keanu chose 'Yes'.

"Silver Wolf Perfect-Level Reward: You received a D-level Skill Book. Upon learning, you will acquire healing ability. 3000 CP. Do you want to learn it?"

"Additional reward for 100% newbie difficulty: An ungraded wolf tooth ring, which increases your Attack and Dexterity by 2 when worn. 350 CP."

"Additional reward for 100% newbie difficulty: 2 light traps. One-time items that can release a sunbeam trap, causing serious damage to all surrounding undead creatures within the diameter of 5 meters. Preset time: 1 minute.200 CP." "Additional reward for 100% newbie difficulty: A bottle of wolf blood. Upon use, you'll gain the werewolf bloodlines and derive the power to transform into a werewolf. An adventurer needs to pay an additional 3000 CP to use it. Werewolf bloodlines, a type of low-tier bloodlines, exhibit neither compatibility nor advancement potential."

Seeing the skill book with the healing spell, Keanu was overjoyed. He was currently in a critical state and needed to recuperate badly.

Fervently selecting to learn, a new bundle of knowledge formed within his mind.

'Despicable Healing', a skill that can be used to treat injuries.

Skill level: 1. Each healing uses 2 SP, effectively healing injury and bleeding-type damages, recovering 30 HP each instance. It gives moderate treatment to puncture, tear, and concussion, as well as, skill damages, recovering 18 HP each time. For chronic and toxic damages mild treatment is provided, recovering 3 HP, but is ineffective against special attacks. Skill cooldown time is 60 seconds.

A wave of vertigo came over Keanu.

'Despicable healing'? What kind of a skill was this? And that name for a skill?

Regardless, he didn't have time to ponder its peculiar name. He instantly put his hand on his wounds, going by the knowledge in his mind. A warm surge seemed to flow towards his wounds from his hand. Keanu's HP rapidly rose, while his wounds visibly began healing.

His overall SP felt markedly better.

He hadn't expected to get such great rewards from killing the creature, and it was certainly good news for Keanu.

No wonder Scar Face referred to the beginner missions as the ones with the best rewards.

Keanu decided to delve deeper into the potential of these beginner missions. As for the dangers, if he couldn't even handle a beginner's mission, there was no point in risking his life through other dangerous tasks.

Having escaped death recently, he left the near-death experience behind. Some individuals inherently possess strong adventurist traits in their blood, cherishing risks and perceiving death as an inevitable end. Keanu was falling into this category. Keanu put on the wolf tooth ring and opened his personal attribute energy screen. He clearly saw his attributes had increased to:

Attack: 4 (10),

Dexterity: 7 (16).

It appeared that an attribute increase obtained through equipment wasn't influenced by the newbie reward. As he contemplated whether to use the healing spell a couple more times to restore his HP fully, he heard a call from far off - it was Anna.

Upon brief consideration, Keanu decided to retain part of his injuries. After all, if he'd just killed a silver wolf and left with no scratch at all, it would be considered suspicious. Keanu wasn't certain how the city managed the people in the mission world. Before getting any confirmation, it was better to try not to reveal his attributes to them.

Anna ran up to him from the downstream, her face full of shock. "Oh my god, what did I just see? You killed the silver wolf leader!"

Keanu replied calmly, "Don't overreact. You didn't run all the way here just to tell the silver wolf, 'Oh my god, you killed that devil hunter,' did you?"

Anna put her hands on her hips, "I ran here to see if there's any value left in saving you." She had seen Keanu fight against the silver wolf in the distance, and even though it lasted only a few seconds, it took her breath away. She had never imagined that a person could maintain the will to fight under such circumstances.

"Of course, there is!" Keanu pointed to his chest wound. "Look at this, I need a beauty's constant personal care."

Anna laughed out loud. "Well, at least your spirit is still good. By the way, did the silver wolf use any transformation on you?"

"With a person like me, if a transformation took place, it would just turn me into a lustful wolf."

"Good." Anna extended a friendly hand to support Keanu. "Go to my house, I'll apply medicine for you."