Chapter 51
Jade said as he gently stroked Whid's head.
As he spoke, he tickled the tiny horns that seemed to have grown a little.
But even then, Whid swung his forelegs wide.
Kkyuuu!
-Since you're hurt, stay here with us and wait quietly. Jade will catch the Wolf King and bring him back soon.
-Let's watch from here in comfort, Whid!
Elestra and Silestin soothed Whid, who waved his forelegs widely as if he wanted to go too.
Whid was strong, but since anything could happen on a battlefield, it was better for him to stay here.
Nothing had happened earlier only because Jade and the others had been watching over him; if Whid had been alone, there would have been no telling whether he would live or die.
The battlefield was that dangerous, and there were many powerful foes.
Kkyu! Kkyuuu!
But despite the two spirits' coaxing, Whid shook his head stubbornly.
Because he didn't want to be separated from Jade.
And he didn't necessarily need to be held by Jade.
Whid forcefully insisted on his opinion, as if saying he could cling to Jade's back instead.
-He's gotten a little bigger, and now he's being stubborn.
-I know. But he's cute, hehe!
Seeing Whid point at Jade's back with his stubby foreleg while making incomprehensible noises, Elestra and Silestin smiled the way mothers do.
They felt strangely proud to see Whid, who had always seemed like a baby, assert himself so strongly.
“No. Wait here.”
Whine.
Unlike the two spirits, who had soothed him gently, Jade answered firmly, as if he had no intention of giving him even the slightest leeway.
He thought that since Whid was growing so quickly, he could no longer indulge his every whim.
And sometimes, letting him watch from the sidelines like this was helpful too.
“I’ll come with you. The numbers are roughly even now, but they have many powerful fighters over there. It’s not obvious yet, but once they join the battle, the balance will tip in an instant.”
Aruellia, who, like Jade, had been watching the wolf tribe's army, spoke.
Her gaze was directed toward the middle of the mountain beyond the army.
She was looking exactly at where the silver-haired man stood.
“Don’t overdo it.”
“Don’t worry. I’m not ready to die yet. I still have a lot I want to do.”
“Then let’s go.”
“Yes.”
Jade kicked off the ground.
He had finally joined the battle in earnest.
But even after he entered the battle, the werewolves couldn't bring themselves to attack.
Several vortices sweeping across the battlefield stood guard all around him as if escorting Jade.
“Kill that bastard! He’s the spirit mage!”
“Everyone, attack!”
The werewolves who appeared to be commanders shouted when they saw the flame-filled vortices protecting Jade, but the outcome did not change.
Instead, everyone who charged was swallowed by the vortices and shredded.
The same was true of the werewolves who could barely raise aura blades with their claws.
“Graaagh!”
Dozens of werewolves were torn apart by the strangely even more powerful vortices.
But even so, the werewolves did not stop charging.
Because they knew Jade was advancing toward their king.
“No farther!”
“How dare you!”
A huge werewolf who appeared to be a chief charged, but unfortunately, he couldn't even get within arm's reach of Jade.
A warrior of the White Lion Tribe, covered in blood, stepped in front of the werewolf.
“We’ll clear a path!”
“You don’t have to go that far…”
At some point, Raul had joined the tribal warriors and was doggedly clearing a path.
He had stepped forward on his own, though Jade hadn't asked or ordered him to.
Then the valiant Red Tiger Tribe and Stone Mountain Monkey Tribe joined him as well.
As if to say they would make a path for him no matter what.
“Open a path! We must ensure the lord doesn’t waste his strength needlessly!”
“Yes!”
“Graaaar!”
“Hmm.”
Jade furrowed his brow.
Because it seemed everyone had misunderstood.
It was true that he had unleashed incredibly powerful spirit arts, but the mana he had actually consumed was not very much.
Yet everyone seemed to think he had little mana left.
“There’s no harm in conserving it, right? And we can deceive the enemy, too. If it lets them carry out psychological warfare on their own, there’s no reason to refuse.”
“Now that you mention it, that’s true.”
“If we take down their leader, the rest should be easy to clean up. After all, Lord Jade’s spirit arts are overwhelming. I never imagined you could produce this kind of power with low- and intermediate-grade spirits.”
Aruellia, walking beside him, looked at Jade with admiration in her eyes.
She had known from the beginning that Jade possessed extraordinary abilities, but after seeing this battle, Aruellia was truly shocked.
She had keenly realized that spirit arts could vary tremendously in power depending on how one handled spirits.
At the same time, she felt ashamed.
Even though elves were a race far closer to spirits than humans—and she was even a war elf who enjoyed battle—she couldn't handle spirits like Jade did.
Aruellia was deeply ashamed of that.
“It’s a method I discovered through research. You should be able to do it too if you work at it, Lady Aruellia.”
“You think so?”
“Yes. Spirits, like people, aren’t defined solely by rank. That’s what I believe.”
“We can go no farther!”
While they talked, they had already crossed more than half of the wolf tribe's formation.
With the help of the three tribes, they had reached this point without lifting a finger.
At that, the nine men escorting the silver-haired man charged all at once, as if to make clear they would allow no further approach.
Every one of them charged while radiating a terrifying aura.
“It’s my turn to step in.”
“Kheong-heong-heong!”
The nine men charging with killing intent grew enormous in an instant.
They had activated beast transformation as they charged.
Yet all nine of them were enormous.
Their physiques were no less impressive than Pent's, showing they were truly fit to be royal guards.
Sssheeeek!
Moreover, with formidable physical abilities and the ability to wield aura blades freely, each of the nine was essentially a killing machine.
But Aruellia, standing before them, was no pushover either.
Whooosh!
Her twin swords were one thing, but she was a war elf.
Aruellia was a great warrior capable of using spirit arts and even simple magic.
“We’re here too!”
“I’ve arrived too!”
Pent joined them as well.
Though covered in blood from head to toe, Pent charged the werewolves with his fighting spirit undiminished.
Boom! Boom! Booooom!
As a result, the surrounding area was turned into a wasteland in an instant.
With enormous monsters fighting one another, the area around them was devastated.
Yet Jade's expression remained calm despite the terrifying aftershock.
Even as the ground shook and the earth split apart, Jade calmly kept walking, looking only at the silver-haired man.
“How long do you plan to keep watching from there? Are you going to step in only after everyone is dead?”
“Do you think you can kill them all?”
“It’s only a matter of time—whether I wipe them out quickly or take a little longer. Well, ideally, you’d just stay still and let me kill you.”
Flash!
A streak of light flashed from Jade's hand.
He had used a sword-drawing technique while speaking.
Yet its power was beyond imagination.
A mere sword-drawing technique had caused the hill to collapse.
“Hmph!”
But the silver-haired man dodged the sword strike, swift as lightning.
He had avoided it perfectly without suffering even the slightest injury.
Yet Jade wasn't disappointed by the sight.
Instead, he flung sword after sword.
Sssheeeek! Sssheek!
Since the silver-haired man was still suspended in midair, Jade did not let the opportunity pass.
In the end, the flying sword force (飛劍罡) unleashed from Jade’s sword shot straight toward the silver-haired man.
The flying sword force was unleashed repeatedly, as if it meant to tear space itself to shreds.
“Grrrrr!”
With dozens of aura blades converging on him in an instant, the eyes of the silver-haired man—who was also known as the Wolf King—turned red.
At the same time, his clothes tore to shreds, revealing his true form.
A gigantic silver werewolf, well over ten meters tall, appeared.
Pow-pow-pow-pow!
Even though the aura blades said to cut anything exploded against him, not a single scratch appeared on the Wolf King's body.
His hide was that hard and tough.
Whooosh!
Having taken the aura blades head-on with his bare body, the Wolf King swung his hand roughly.
His massive claws hurtled toward Jade with a terrifying whoosh.
They came crashing down with enough force to tear him apart in one blow.
Boom!
Unfortunately, the Wolf King's attack struck the ground by a hair's breadth.
Jade had moved faster than expected.
‘Aura blades don’t work.’
Watching the Wolf King charge again, radiating an even fiercer momentum as if enraged that his attack had been dodged, Jade furrowed his brow.
Because it seemed his hide was even tougher than expected.
‘And he’s incredibly fast, too.’
Swoosh! Ssswoosh!
Despite his enormous size, the Wolf King's movements were quite agile.
So agile that it was hard to believe he was a monster with a ten-meter-tall body.
But he wasn't so fast that Jade couldn't see him.
‘I could fight more advantageously by using spirits, but for now, shall I see how far I can go as a swordsman?’
Hummmmmm!
The sword made from Black Drake's teeth rang.
When Jade poured in a tremendous amount of mana, the blade trembled and naturally emitted a sword hum.
At that moment, Jade’s sword collided with the Wolf King’s claws as they rushed forward like lightning.
Clang!
Even though their heights differed fivefold, the result was a draw.
And the one who had charged was the Wolf King, at that.
Perhaps his pride was wounded by that fact, for the Wolf King bared his fangs and thrust the claws of his other hand.
But even the second attack was blocked.
“Graaaar!”
Frustrated by having his attacks blocked one after another, the Wolf King let out a roar filled with irritation.
But that changed nothing.
If anything, it merely gave Jade an opening.
Shraaak!
Jade sent a slash precisely at the moment he howled.
Yet the power of the aura blade that surged from his sword was completely different from earlier.
Unlike the first aura blade, which had only cut a few strands of fur, this slash split the Wolf King's hide.
Not merely a shallow cut on the surface—the aura blade dug in deeply enough that the Wolf King recoiled in fright.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
Jade charged at the Wolf King as he took his first step backward.
Holding an aura blade compressed as much as possible to increase its cutting power, he drove straight in.
Kwaaang!
But the Wolf King was no pushover.
Like Jade, he formed aura blades around his claws and met the attack head-on.
“Hng!”
The deafening boom was one thing, but Jade gritted his teeth at the shock that shook his entire body.
It was difficult to ignore the difference in mass.
Jade's body was hard to regard as human, but even so, it was no match for the Wolf King.
Sssheeeek!
As Jade retreated, carving deep furrows in the ground, five enormous aura blades tore through the cloud of dust and drove toward him.
The Wolf King had launched another attack.
His arms were as long as his huge body, so his range was far wider than Jade's.
‘Blocking is disadvantageous.’
Seeing the Wolf King's claws rushing at him, Jade kicked off the ground.
There was no need to fight in a way advantageous to his opponent.
Ssshhh!
Jade slipped stealthily into the thick cloud of dust raised by the explosion.
He couldn't see anything, but his senses picked up
the distinctive, savage energy emanating from the Wolf King.
“It’s useless!”