Chapter 28: What Did You Expect?

The forest erupted into chaos.

Thirty—no, thirty-five—magic wolves burst from the treeline like a living tide. Their fur shimmered faintly with ethereal blue runes, and their eyes glowed with feral intelligence. This wasn’t a random beast attack; it was a coordinated hunt.

“”Magic wolves!” the bulky man shouted, his voice sharp and commanding. “Form up! Protect the cart!”

Zane’s eyes narrowed slightly. Aaron, that was the name he’d given during their short travel—the apparent leader of the group. His commanding tone and the instinctive way the others reacted to his words only confirmed it.

The driver yanked the reins, trying to control the terrified horses. The other men leapt off the cart, swords already drawn. Aaron took point, his posture solid and seasoned. He wasn’t just a bulky man—he was a fighter, battle-hardened and experienced. The other man, leaner and younger, moved to flank him, ready to intercept the first wolf that came too close.

Zane remained seated, leaning lazily against the side of the cart, arms still folded. His gaze wasn’t on the snarling beasts, nor the swords clashing against enchanted fangs. No—his eyes were fixed on the cloaked pair still sitting quietly near the back of the cart.

“When are you two going to move…?” he murmured under his breath, a faint smirk tugging at the corner of his lips. “Surely you didn’t dress like that to just watch.”

The wolves struck like lightning.

The first wave slammed into the defenders. Aaron sidestepped a lunging beast and brought his sword down clean through its spine—one kill. The younger man parried a bite, then stabbed forward, piercing the throat of another. The driver stayed near the horses, slashing wildly to keep the beasts from spooking beyond control.

They fought valiantly. Four wolves fell, then a fifth. But they were outnumbered, vastly.

More wolves circled behind them, flanking with unnerving intelligence. Two leapt simultaneously toward the injured man, knocking him down. He screamed as enchanted claws tore through his shoulder and leg.

“Damn it!” Aaron roared, turning to help—but too late.

One of the larger wolves, clearly the vice leader, surged forward, leaping at Aaron with brutal speed and claws glowing red-hot with mana.

“Dad!” William’s voice cracked through the air.

“AAARON!” his wife screamed, already halfway off the cart.

Zane didn’t move. He watched.

The air shifted.

Two cloaked blurs streaked past him.

Finally…

The boy in the cloak moved like a phantom, wind twisting around his feet as a long, elegant spear appeared in his hand—conjured from pure mana. He intercepted the wolf mid-air, his spearhead meeting claw in a brilliant clash of blue and silver light.

Clang!

The impact sent a shockwave through the battlefield. The wolf growled, skidding back.

The girl landed beside him, her cloak unfurling. A flash of steel glinted from beneath it—her sword, slender and curved, trailing faint violet light.

One clean, fluid motion—and the wolf attacking the wounded man was bisected cleanly, its body falling in two neat halves.

The momentum shifted instantly.

Zane’s eyes narrowed, interest finally sparking in them. He leaned forward slightly.

“…Oh?” he murmured. “Now this is getting fun.”

The two newcomers moved with frightening efficiency. Not just fast—trained. The boy’s spear spun in wide, sweeping arcs, keeping wolves at bay while the girl carved surgical lines through the enemy with every swing.

Aaron, still catching his breath from the saved attack, turned to look at them—recognition dawning in his eyes.

“You two—!”

“No time!” the boy shouted. “We’ll talk later!”

Zane watched, still seated, one leg lazily crossed over the other.

“And yet,” he muttered to himself, “the big one’s still hiding.”

His gaze flicked to the tree line, where faint pressure pulsed. Hidden behind illusion and mana suppression, the true alpha lurked. It was clever—far more intelligent than any beast should be. Waiting. Watching. Biding its time.

But Zane felt it. The weight in the air. The faint shift in the wind. The subtle, predatory hunger.

He smiled.

So that’s your game.

And still—he didn’t move.

Not yet.

Let the show play a little longer.

The pair that had leapt from the cart landed with precision, a breeze fluttering their cloaks as dust kicked up around their boots. The illusionary magic cloaked their features in common shades—brown hair and modest eyes, one male and one female, both seemingly no older than sixteen or seventeen. They wore fitted light armor, trimmed with leather and reinforced with mana-threaded plates. Practical. Clean. Silent in motion.

But to Zane, the illusion was like painted fog. His eyes—those ever-seeing purple orbs—pierced straight through.

He thought to himself, “Huh. Not bad illusion, good enough to fool most people in this world. But that magic layering… flimsy at best.”

In truth, their appearances were far from ordinary.

The boy had short, untamed cream-white hair, glinting slightly gold in the sun, and sharp amber eyes that mirrored a watchful beast. His posture was composed but aggressive—like a predator always two seconds from pouncing.

The girl, meanwhile, was striking. Long brown-gold hair flowed like silk under her hood, her deep, dusk-pink eyes glowing faintly. She radiated calm confidence and moved with a dancer’s grace—even when drawing her blade.

Both wore armor that was elegant and enchanted. The boy’s chestplate was laced with thunder-sealed lines, while the girl’s curved light-padded armor pulsed with fire resistance inscriptions. These were not simple travelers.

Zane’s smirk twitched. “Finally… showtime.”

The boy raised his hand. A spear materialized in his grasp—etched with silver runes and glowing faintly blue.

“You take the ones on the right,” he said to the girl, voice calm and sharp.

“Got it,” she replied, unsheathing a slender, curved blade that shimmered in the air like moonlight. The edge was unnaturally thin—fast, lethal.

They leapt into action, wolves charging from every direction.

The girl darted right, slashing through two magic wolves in a single spin. Flames burst from her blade with each strike, searing fur and flesh. Her movement was a blur—impossibly fast, elegant and brutal. She ducked under a claw swipe, swept its legs, then pierced the creature’s eye mid-roll.

The boy charged into the left flank, spear spinning like a tempest. With practiced strikes, he skewered two wolves, then turned, blocking a third’s bite with the haft and following up with a knee to the skull. One wolf lunged from behind—but he threw his spear mid-turn, impaling it clean through the mouth and into the forest floor.

In less than two minutes, the battlefield was cleared—only the vice-leader wolf remained, growling and snarling, mana crackling from its fangs.

“I’ll take it down,” the boy said, stepping forward.

The girl scowled, wiping blood from her blade. “No. We’re doing this together.”

He sighed. “You never listen, huh?”

Together, they circled the wolf, twin shadows moving in harmony. The wolf lunged, but the girl twisted around it, cutting across its back. The boy drove his spear upward, piercing its shoulder. The wolf snapped back and forth, wounded but ferocious.

With a coordinated charge, they both jumped—and brought their weapons down in perfect sync, piercing its skull from opposite sides.

The vice-leader dropped with a dying growl. The boy wiped sweat from his brow.

“It’s finished—”

“—And there it is,” Zane murmured from the side with a grin. “The classic red flag line.”

Suddenly, a bone-chilling howl echoed from the trees. The bushes exploded open—and a far larger wolf emerged.

Its fur was a storm of dark grey, with deep indigo markings glowing like sigils across its body. Mana oozed from its breath. Its steps cracked the earth. Eyes that shimmered with sentient hate locked onto the downed girl and boy.

Aaron—the injured leader—gasped. “A magic dire wolf?! That’s… it was hiding!”

Zane’s eyes narrowed. “Clever thing. Suppressed its aura until now. Waiting. Calculating. That’s no beast. That’s a strategist.”

The pressure it radiated was suffocating.

William passed out in his mother’s arms. The woman, clutching her son, trembled—though she didn’t move away.

The beast leapt at the duo—just as they barely rolled aside.

Their faces were pale. The boy had lost his spear. The girl’s arm was bleeding and her eyes half-lidded in pain.

Aaron and the others were frozen in fear.

Still… they stood.

The girl winced. “We can still—”

“No,” the boy growled, placing himself between her and the wolf. “You’re hurt.”

The wolf charged again.

This time, the boy couldn’t counter.

But just before its claws reached them—

Clink.

A single finger blocked the strike.

Zane stood in front of them, one hand casually outstretched. His coat billowed in the force of the clash.

“Hmm… quite weak,” he said, tilting his head at the beast.

The wolf instinctively backed away. A primal fear surged through its core. Its predator had arrived—and it knew.

It howled again, this time activating its full power. Dark winds circled around it, lightning crackling, mana bursting from its body like a tidal wave.

Zane glanced over his shoulder. “Wait here. I’ll heal you after this.”

The boy blinked. “Wait, what?! Who even—”

Before the sentence finished, the wolf lunged.

Zane didn’t move.

He exhaled.

Just a soft puff of air.

Then, like the judgment of the world itself, a cyclone of invisible blades surged forth.

The air twisted violently.

Before the beast could even process what happened, its flesh was torn clean off its bones, muscles shredded into ribbons, fur incinerated, and limbs flayed midair. The carcass collapsed into a pile of cracked, twitching bone—then stilled. A faint wind scattered the remains into dust.

Only the skeleton of the dire wolf remained, rattling where it fell, as if still trying to comprehend its own end.

Zane adjusted his coat collar and stepped forward slowly, boots crunching on fragments of bone. He looked down at the lifeless heap, then smirked.

He tilted his head slightly and said to it with a mocking tone—

“What did you expect?”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep