Chapter 46: First Cut

As the sword descended.

The wolf roared and lunged at him in a burst of red, its body transformed into a projectile of fury and flesh, its one good eye burning with murderous intent.

The earth pulverized beneath its paws; rain was thrown out in concentric waves; the very air seemed to part before its charge.

Adam did not flinch.

He didn’t tense his muscles.

He didn’t scream.

He smiled as the sword came down with a golden glint.

And then the world split in two.

Red and gold collided in the middle of the street. The wolf’s descending claw met the blade at a perfect angle, and for a fraction of a second that seemed like an eternity, both forces were suspended.

The crater beneath his feet sank even deeper; the already destroyed houses collapsed completely; the rain evaporated into a dome of steam that enveloped the scene like a shroud.

Mana’s Dharma wheel, cracked and on the verge of breaking, released the compressed mana not outward, but inward toward the cut. Each golden point on Adam’s armor burned like a dying star, feeding the blade with more than just energy: determination, war.

The wolf pushed.

His muscles swelled, crimson blood spurted from previous wounds, his fangs descended, seeking the knight’s throat.

The difference in rank was real; his physical power surpassed Adam’s; his mass was enough to crush him like an insect.

Adam barely turned his wrist.

A minimal adjustment.

Imperceptible.

The blade found the crack he himself had opened in the beast’s wounded eye.

And it descended.

It wasn’t a wide or spectacular cut. There was no exaggerated arc or immediate explosion. It was a line. A decision turned into a trajectory. The golden steel penetrated the wolf’s face, pierced fractured bone, cut through flesh, and continued down in a perfect diagonal that split the monster’s torso.

The wolf’s roar transformed into something else.

The claw lost its strength.

The weight began to tilt.

And then the impact occurred.

The accumulated energy exploded in a vertical column that tore through the street. As if an invisible sword had split them apart, the entire street was swept away by a wave that tore up debris and lifted dirt.

When the light faded, silence fell with an unnatural heaviness.

The crimson wolf remained standing.

A golden line ran down its body from its eye to its belly.

For another second, its only good eye stared at Adam with hatred.

The line glowed.

And the monster’s body split cleanly in two, falling to either side with a crash that shook the ground. The blood did not splatter; it evaporated into reddish particles that disintegrated in the residual light of the cut.

[You gained 3 EXP]

The great crimson wolf of rank III was dead.

Adam remained standing for a few more seconds, sword still extended and in the perfect stance that Asterin had demanded he repeat. The rain began to return, timidly at first, then steadily, washing the blood from his armor and cooling the incandescent steel of Repentance.

Mana’s Dharma wheel, finally unable to withstand the strain, broke completely over his head and shattered into fragments of light that fell like golden ash.

His knees buckled without warning. The sword fell first, digging into the ground to support him, but even that was insufficient. He felt something inside his chest crack; his veins burned; the mana, forced beyond its natural limit, retreated, leaving a frozen void.

Victory was undeniable, and the beast was dead.

But as his vision began to darken and the sound of rain grew distant, as if the world were sinking beneath the water, Adam clenched his teeth tightly.

He spat out a mouthful of blood that mixed with the dirt at his feet.

He coughed again and again.

The recoil from that technique coursed through his body like a destructive wave. His muscles tensed, then shook uncontrollably. He felt every fiber tear from within.

The rain continued to fall.

Finally, he fell to his knees in front of the split corpse of the crimson wolf. The beast’s body, split from the eye to the skull, still sizzled with remnants of red energy.

He had defeated a Rank III monster.

As a mere Novice Knight.

With an effort bordering on the inhuman, Adam leaned his sword on the ground and forced himself to stand. Blood ran down his chin and dripped from the edge of his armor.

His gaze was unfocused.

But it still burned.

Then he saw them.

Lightning wolves.

Silver trolls.

Dozens of them.

They were advancing toward him at full speed, drawn by the death of the rank III monster.

Adam let out a low, harsh laugh.

“It seems… I won’t be getting any rest for a while.”

He raised his sword.

He pointed it toward the approaching tide of monsters.

And he stepped forward.

…

Under the torrential rain, Lucas resisted the attacks of the rank III lightning wolf. Each charge from the beast shook the air with blue flashes that lit up the battlefield.

The knights around him moved with trained precision, appearing at just the right moment to cover his flanks and deflect minor attacks.

The Knight’s Hymn burned on his armor.

With the technique activated, his strength far exceeded that of a common High-rank knight.

CLANG!

Lucas took a step back as he blocked a claw wrapped in crackling lightning. The shock ran through his arms, numbing them up to his shoulders.

Blue sparks flew in all directions.

He saw the next attack coming.

“Back up!”

The knights obeyed without hesitation.

Lucas gritted his teeth and gripped the sword with both hands. The golden dots of the Hymn began to concentrate on the blade, gathering into an intense glow.

Then he swung his sword with all his might.

The blow cut through the wolf’s electric discharge as if splitting the sky itself, dividing the attack in two and dissipating it in a burst of light.

The beast stumbled back several steps, surprised.

And behind Lucas, the knights remained unharmed.

He had taken the blow all by himself.

Looking at the monster, Lucas made a decision; he could see that the Rank III Lightning Wolf was a distraction to allow the other wolves to break through his defenses and enter the city. Something he couldn’t allow.

“Take care of the other monsters! I’ll face this one alone!”

The golden points intensified as he took a step toward the creature.

“Come on, you damn monsters!”

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