Mana surged into Riftmaker. A familiar, electric warmth flooded Riven’s arm, coiling in his palm before sinking into the weapon’s core. The runes along its length glimmered with a faint golden light, pulsing as if alive.

He swung upward in a flawless arc. The Riftmaker passed through the gorilla’s torso from waist to chest as if it weren’t there. It left no mark, no scratch, not even a cut fur on its hide. The blade was pure illusion, intangible and harmless.

The true strike came the instant Riven released his hold on the power. The Riftmaker snapped back into solidity inside the beast’s body, its unbreakable edge now occupying the same space as muscle and bone. The gorilla’s chest exploded outward, a horrific gash tearing open to unleash a torrent of thick, dark blood.

“RAAAAAH!” The beast’s roar shook the very rain from the air. Its massive frame shuddered, eyes burning with feral rage. It raised its tree-trunk arms, poised to smash Riven into paste.

In one fluid motion, he twisted. Since the blade had phased through, there was nothing to wrench free. He simply slid it out effortlessly. He dropped low, sliding beneath the crushing blow, and emerged behind the creature just as the grievous wound finally registered.

The gorilla staggered. Blood poured, staining the mud and rainwater. Its knees buckled, and it collapsed forward with a ground-shaking thud that sent a plume of muck high into the air.

Riven stood frozen, chest heaving. His hands, locked white-knuckled around the Riftmaker’s hilt, trembled slightly. The blade, now solid and real, gleamed in the gloom. He shot a wary glance at the fallen gorilla, ensuring its demise.

He drew a sharp, damp breath, the metallic scent of blood filling his nostrils. His grip tightened.

He needed to move, but the cacophony of battle had already drawn an audience. The earth trembled again, harder this time.

Two wolves emerged, their sodden fur plastered to muscular frames. Golden eyes glinted with predatory hunger, jaws dripping. From a side street, a boar the size of an ox obliterated a wooden fence, its sharp tusks ready to gore anything in its path.

Riven’s jaw clenched. No time to rest.

The first wolf lunged. Riven didn’t parry. He let the Riftmaker become intangible and simply held it in the path of the wolf’s skull. The animal’s head passed through the shimmering illusion unharmed. The moment its neck was fully inside the blade’s arc, Riven solidified it. With a wet crunch, solid steel manifested within matter. Dark blood erupted, and the creature dropped lifelessly into the mud.

The second came from his blind side. Riven pivoted, bending at the waist as he let the Riftmaker phase through the wolf’s torso. It felt like cutting through cold air. He completed the swing, and as the blade cleared the beast’s body, he willed it solid. The wolf’s belly split open mid-stride, spilling its entrails onto the rain-soaked earth.

Riven’s breath hitched as a sharp pain shot through his side. He had barely a heartbeat to react before the boar lunged, tusks flashing. He threw himself aside, boots skidding through the muck, but not fast enough. The beast’s bulk clipped him, and in desperation he rammed the intangible Riftmaker into its neck.

The boar didn’t falter. It barreled forward, dragging Riven with it, his grip locked on the hilt as the world blurred past in a chaos of mud and snapping undergrowth. The brute’s strength nearly tore his arms from their sockets, every stride jolting his body like he was caught in a runaway cart.

Then, teeth clenched, Riven released the weapon’s power. The blade solidified inside the boar’s throat. A wet, tearing sound split the night as the beast gave a strangled roar, its charge staggering into a spray of blood.

But the onslaught was relentless. Riven became a whirlwind of precise, lethal timing. Parry with a normal block, counter with a phased strike that solidified inside his foe. One by one, the beasts fell, their corpses adding to the gruesome landscape.

But his body was failing him. Fresh gashes opened on his arms and thighs, his own blood mingling with that of his foes. Every activation of the Riftmaker drained him further. His lungs burned, each breath a knife of fire.

Finally, after manifesting the blade inside the final wolf’s spine, the Riftmaker’s glow flickered and died. He couldn’t phase it anymore. The blade was just cold, heavy steel in his grasp. His mana reserves were utterly, completely drained.

Riven collapsed to his knees, mud splashing around him. His chest heaved, blood dripping from a dozen wounds. The stench of iron, wet fur, and death clogged his nostrils.

He lifted his head, his vision blurring at the edges.

And he knew, with a cold, sinking certainty, that it was not over.

A massive bear, its eyes twin coals of pure hatred, barreled into the clearing. Its guttural roar vibrated through Riven’s bones.

Riven’s reflexes screamed at him to phase the blade, but nothing happened. His body was too slow, too broken.

The impact was devastating.

“Ughhh—!”

The world upended as the bear’s weight slammed him into the mud. White-hot agony seared across his chest as claws ripped through flesh and muscle. His own blood spread before his eyes, turning his vision into a haze of red.

“AARRGHH!” The scream was torn from his throat.

The bear swiped again, shredding his shoulder. He could only gasp ragged breaths, his body pinned. Pure instinct made him jam the Riftmaker’s now-ordinary hilt against the beast’s snout, holding those bone-crushing jaws at bay.

Fetid drool, thick with blood, dripped onto his face. The beast’s roar was deafening. Its claws tore into him again. He knew a single falter would be his end.

I need… one chance…

And then it came. The bear reared its head, maw gaping wide to crush his skull.

Summoning the last dregs of his strength, Riven did the only thing he could: he thrust the solid, unphased sword upward with a final, desperate cry. The ice-white blade punched through the bear’s lower jaw, shattered the palate, and buried itself in the brain.

The roar died into a wet, choking gurgle. The beast convulsed violently before finally going still and collapsing fully upon him.

“UGKHH—!” Crushed and drowning, Riven fought through a haze of pain to wrench his blade free.

He clawed his way out from under the monstrous carcass, his body a ruined map of deep, ragged wounds. Every breath was a ragged, hoarse struggle.

Then his swimming vision focused, and a cold dread washed over him.

Silhouetted in the fading light were more than a dozen giant wolves. Their black fur was bristled, every golden eye fixed unblinkingly on him.

Riven froze. His breath caught in his throat.

The storm had ended, leaving an eerie silence broken only by the steady drip of water from broken rooftops. Then, as if guided by a single, murderous thought, the pack crouched, muscles coiling like springs.

They leapt all at once.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep