Chapter 42: The Great Silver Wolf

After increasing his endurance—and enduring the pain that entailed—Adam still felt a slight stiffness in his muscles, but it was no longer incapacitating.

He had gathered several knights and soldiers at the training ground. Neither Lucas nor the wizard Alaric was present; both were in their respective assigned areas, containing the threat.

Renna remained by his side. Hours earlier, at the mansion, she had asked him to let her face the monsters so she could become stronger.

Adam had agreed without hesitation.

Not out of indulgence.

But because each additional person increased their chances.

His gaze fell to the mana stones laid out on the table, then swept across the tense faces before him. He spoke calmly but firmly.

“I have summoned you to give you mana stones. Use them. Strengthen yourselves with them and distribute them among your comrades. Our territory will not hold out much longer if we remain at a disadvantage.”

He paused briefly, watching as the weight of his words settled in the room.

“I’m not asking you to become heroes overnight. Nor am I asking you to exterminate all the monsters. That would be a fantasy.”

His voice grew deeper.

“I ask something simpler… and more difficult. Hold out.”

The silence was absolute.

“Every second we gain is a life saved. Every minute we hold out brings reinforcements closer. We don’t need immediate victory. We need time.”

Adam said nothing more.

It wasn’t necessary.

The silence following his words lasted only a few seconds, but it was enough. They straightened their backs. They tightened their grip on their weapons. Some exchanged determined glances.

Determination was not proclaimed.

It was assumed.

It was exactly what he needed.

Without wasting any time, he began distributing the mana stones among the knights and soldiers, ensuring each group received the stones needed to strengthen their lines. The small gems changed hands quickly, as if the mere touch of them already gave them hope.

When he finished, the murmur was different than before.

There was no visible fear.

Only contained tension.

Adam looked at the group one last time.

Now all that remained was to wait.

And resist.

…

Two days later.

The rain fell furiously, as if the sky were unleashing its wrath upon the earth. Thick clouds merged into a single gray mass, crushing the horizon beneath their weight. Lightning tore across the sky like a serpent of light, illuminating the world for a second… before plunging it back into darkness.

The trees bent in the wind, but they did not break. The stone and timber roofs of Arkham withstood the storm.

The rain was not as feared.

Beyond the walls, a mass advanced.

It was not a herd.

It was a tide.

Lightning wolves and silver trolls ran in perfect synchrony, more than five hundred creatures moving as if they shared a single will. Their roars mingled with the thunder, making the sounds of war and the sky indistinguishable.

Before the monsters reached the gates, the shadows had already moved.

Hooded figures emerged from the rain and wind, silent and precise. The sentries died without a chance to scream. Throats slit. Bodies dragged out of sight. No alarm was raised.

The city remained unaware.

Then…

Boom!

The first explosion rocked the eastern section of the wall.

Boom! Boom!

Other explosions echoed almost simultaneously, scattered across different parts of Arkham. The ground shook. Windows shattered. Panic spread faster than wildfire.

And the doors gave way.

The beasts burst in from multiple flanks, tearing through weakened defenses. Their collective roar was enough to break the will of many before they even faced a claw.

The screams began afterwards.

A child calling for his mother. A soldier crushed before drawing his sword. A woman was dragged away.

The rain did not wash away the blood.

It spread it.

And as the chaos grew, other figures began to move among the shadows, taking advantage of the distraction.

Not all threats came from outside.

Attacked on multiple fronts, the Hall family was on the verge of collapse.

Amid the chaos, Adam advanced on his horse with cold precision, moving through screams and blood like a shadow who knew exactly where the next blow should fall.

He had already brought his mother and fiancée to safety.

Now there were no excuses left.

Only the battlefield.

It wasn’t long before the first monsters lunged at him. Adam dismounted fluidly and, in the same motion, circulated mana through his sword. Above his head, the Mana Dharma Wheel manifested, spinning slowly like a silent symbol of power.

He gritted his teeth under his helmet and lunged at the lightning wolves.

The blade cut through the air like a true lightning bolt. One body fell. Then another. The ranks I and II creatures barely had time to react before they were torn apart.

[You won…]

[You won…]

The notifications appeared incessantly, but Adam didn’t even glance at them.

His attention was already focused on the silver trolls advancing behind him.

He concentrated mana in his legs and exploded forward. The ground beneath his feet cracked like a spider web as it received the impact. The troll had barely begun to turn when Adam, enveloped in an aura of dark mana, drew a clean arc with his sword.

The monster’s head was severed from its body in a single blow.

The corpse fell with a heavy thud.

Adam landed on top of it without pausing for a moment and lunged at the other trolls, who were now trying to organize themselves into a defensive formation. But their size worked against them; they were powerful, yes… but too slow to keep up with someone who had already decided the battle.

…

The corpses of lightning wolves and silver trolls were piling up on the streets, their red and green blood running with the rain, while Adam moved at high speed among the monsters like a silver demon.

He didn’t know how long he had been fighting, but that didn’t matter right now; his sword already felt like an extension of his body, and with his SSS-rank fencing talent, what he had learned was becoming increasingly sharp.

Adam continued moving through flesh and blood, which were gradually diminishing… Suddenly!

CLANG!

He blocked a large wolf’s claw. It threw him several meters backward and caused several internal injuries.

Through the cracks in his helmet and feeling the blood running down his lip, he observed a large silver wolf, and from the aura it gave off, it was rank III.

The great silver wolf that had nearly killed Adam had come to finish the job.

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