Chapter 17: The Crescent Moon?
The wolf standing in front had finally begun to move closer. Its steps remained unhurried; not even a sliver of noise erupted when the wolf’s paws touched the ground.
Sara and Max tightened their grip on the hilts of their swords. Although the wolf wasn’t a boss, which they needed to worry about, there was still no certainty because it wasn’t brain-dead.
It could attack Ethan, Sylv, or Micah because they’re the weakest ones out of these five. And if something like that happened, they might get brutally injured.
Ethan studied their expressions; he lowered his stance slightly and gripped the hilt so tightly that his skin began to turn white.
’One wrong move... and this moment will be my last day.’ He muttered inwardly; his gaze remained fixed on the wolf in front.
"Max, stand back and protect those two."
"Ethan, try to help me while I fight the boss," Sara said, her voice remaining firm.
Ethan and Max gave a tiny nod, acknowledging her command. Max didn’t waste time; he walked towards Micah and Sylv. He stood right in front of them, still scanning the surroundings entirely.
Both Ethan and Sara were still waiting for the boss to finally make a move, and finally the wait came to a halt.
The wolf leaped up in the air; it jumped over a rock and then on another. It kept leaping; its speed kept increasing from time to time.
A few seconds passed, and the boss began circling them at an astonishing speed. Its movements were so fast that Ethan’s bare eyes could no longer follow its actual body.
All he could see was nothing more than the afterimages, which appeared around them, each one vanishing almost right away and the next formed instantly. The wolf was moving so quickly that Ethan couldn’t even determine where its real body was.
Ethan’s gaze kept swinging from one direction to the other, but soon Sara’s voice echoed through his ears. "Don’t follow around the boss’s body. It wants to lure you and make you nauseous, and you’re doing the same thing it wishes."
"What should I do then?" Ethan asked, though his stance remained firm. His muscles stayed tense, ready to react at the slightest movement. If the boss attempted to lunge at him, he would be prepared to fight back without hesitation.
"It’s a wolf; they will act only when they think you’re vulnerable, so make it feel like you currently are. Instead of allowing yourself to be lured, try to lure the wolf towards you. She said firmly.
Ethan gave one nod and started acting as if he didn’t know what was happening around him. He tried to move his eyes in the opposite direction; sweat drenched his face.
From time to time, he looked at Max and the others, as he didn’t even spare a single glance at the boss. That was the moment when it thought Ethan had finally gone vulnerable.
The boss’s movement suddenly came to a halt, though its afterimages continued lingering throughout the chamber.
Then, without warning, the wolf lunged toward Ethan. Its fangs were fully bared, while its claws shot outward from its paws. The sight of those was intimidating; their edges were sharp, and crimson blood soaked around the corners of them. From that visual, it seemed that it had come here after hunting several other beasts already.
Those claws were anything but ordinary. Each one of them was enormous, nearly the size of a human’s skull.
Ethan’s jaw clenched, his grip tightened enough to make his skin hurt. His gaze locked on the wolf’s face as he noticed that it was salivating as if it had already considered him an easy ’prey.’
But little did it know that Ethan had already lowered his body slightly; his crimson mass had begun coating the blade entirely. Ethan knew if he wasted even a sliver of a second, he’d lose an eye or two.
Immediately, he swung the sword in a clean arc, and his crimson mana flowed through the blade, forming a crescent-shaped moon.
The color of it was so magnificent that it lit up the den entirely for a few seconds; this time the mana used was slightly higher than the one before. His move cut through the wolf’s neck, which left a serious injury there, making its blood shoot out through the wound.
Ethan fell down to his knees; his sword fell beside him. His pupils were shutting down; it became difficult to even breathe. His heart was beating so fast against his chest that he could hear it. His muscles had begun to tense; his arms were cramping so badly that it made pain shoot right through them.
But he didn’t feel even a bit of that pain because of the unnecessary adrenaline rush he was currently feeling. After exerting most of his mana, he remained there begging for oxygen.
He noticed that the wolf was still alive, and his move had just left a small dent over its enormous frame. He slowly closed his eyes; a tired yet painful smile crept onto his lips as a thought appeared inside his mind. ’Yeah... It was foolish of me to think that I could attempt a dungeon with just two days of training.’
He had already accepted his fate; anyway, not everyone can live a peaceful life in a fantasy novel’s world like he used to read during his time back on Earth. Although he had spent just a few days here, the memories he made with people around him were enough to make him feel satisfied.
But a loud voice echoed through the chamber. "I’m definitely treating you to a meal, Ethan."
Sara had stepped forward, now standing in front of him. She spared him a single look before continuing with a huge, amused grin on her face.
"That move was definitely worth the show. Now let me take it over from here."
A/N: I was so sick for last few days, I tried my best to write these Chapters... I will release one more in few minutes.