The Golden Lord has a perverted SSS-rank summoning system!-Chapter 72: Beast hunt (02)
The wolf stared down his fourteen enemies for a single moment.
He couldn’t linger too long, for above him, arrows rained down relentlessly, aimed at his back.
He managed to dodge many of them, but every now and then, an arrow would pierce his flesh, drawing a muffled howl of pain.
They weren’t serious wounds, but they were distracting.
While the twelve spear-wielding guards surrounded the beast, Ethan and Doran took up opposing positions, swords in hand, their bodies glowing a vibrant red as all their attributes surged.
The beast growled and lunged toward Ethan, who was closer, the ground trembling beneath the footsteps of its massive, heavy body.
Its jaws snapped open, its fangs aimed straight for his neck.
Ethan reacted in an instant, lunging forward and parrying the creature’s teeth with his blade.
His feet sank into the damp ground, a strained grunt escaping his lips as he held the beast’s weight.
Opening the system interface, he allocated the thirteen free attribute points to strength, and the burst of power that surged through his body allowed him to hold the creature in place.
He could have thrown it back, but he waited for the guards behind the beast to attack.
Doran’s blade ripped through the creature’s right leg as more than six spears pierced it from all sides, the wet sound of metal cutting through flesh echoing through the space surrounded by flames.
"Uh? I can’t get it in any further!" one of the spearmen declared, realizing his spear was stuck, unable to reach the creature’s internal organs.
"It’s using mana to protect itself, fall back!" Doran roared, taking a step back.
The beast writhed in pain, its torn leg nearly collapsing under its own weight.
Still, it managed to turn, snapping its jaws toward one of the guards and missing by a single centimeter.
Just above, arrows continued to rain down, but their power had diminished considerably.
Shooting aura-enhanced arrows was costly, and for first-stage archers, ten enhanced arrows represented the limit for most of them, especially with their low aura manipulation skill.
Without the aura’s reinforcement, the arrows were simply unable to penetrate the wolf’s tough hide, forcing the archers to pause to avoid waste.
"One hundred seconds..." Ethan counted mentally how much time remained before the Burning Blood body enhancement technique wore off, his eyes fixed on the beast as he waited for an opening.
Evelyn, standing beside Alice, couldn’t stop an anxious grunt from escaping her lips as she watched the battle.
She wanted to join in... she wanted to join in so badly.
But she had to protect Alice.
When she used that technique, Alice was completely defenseless, and a single misstep was enough for the beast to finish her off before she could even react.
The beast, with injuries piling up and pain overwhelming its mind, tried to flee, but as soon as it felt the scorching heat of the walls of fire around it, it gave up.
It was a beast completely cornered, with not a single escape route in sight.
The most dangerous kind of beast.
The wolf didn’t move for several long seconds, dragging its claws across the ground while its black fur stood on end like tiny spikes.
A pungent smell of ozone began to spread through the air.
"What the hell is going on?" one of the guards asked, his eyes filling with shock as, among the wolf’s fur, a small bolt of electricity surged, spreading throughout the creature’s body and multiplying rapidly.
A giant, corrupted wolf with electric magic.
The guard who had spoken was the very one who received the creature’s hungry, desperate gaze.
His legs froze with fear and the spear slipped from his hands!
"Get out of the way!" Doran roared.
Too late.
The beast opened its mouth and a silver-blue bolt burst forth, tearing toward the guards, striking one of them in the chest before spreading out and killing two others with the electric shock. The smell of burning flesh filled the air instantly.
At that moment, Ethan and Doran charged forward at the same time, each from one side. They couldn’t afford to let the wolf launch another attack like that.
Surrounded on both sides, the beast scanned its surroundings for an easier target.
Not Ethan, not Doran.
Alice and Evelyn, positioned in front of the only exit from that prison of flames.
It took Ethan only a moment to grasp the beast’s intention, his heart sinking in his chest.
"Don’t you dare!"
A roar echoed, carrying hatred and a dense murderous intent, freezing the wolf in place.
It wasn’t the voice that stopped it, but the ability Ethan used as he roared.
[You used the skill "Lord’s Aura"]
[Nearby enemies receive the effect "Fear"]
Seeing three dead guards had already made Ethan’s heart tremble. But to target one of his women?
Even with the certainty that Evelyn was more than capable of stopping that wolf with her current power, he would never accept that. No way.
The wolf, which had already been about to throw itself at Alice and Evelyn, slowly turned its eyes toward Ethan.
Ethan gave it no time to recover, advancing and thrusting, the blade aimed at the creature’s chest.
The Lord’s Aura ability broke as he lost focus, but even free from the fear effect, the wolf couldn’t react in time.
The sword landed between its ribs, stopping after sinking a few centimeters into the flesh, the creature directing all its mana to protect that single point.
Electric bolts still ran through its fur, spreading across the blade and tearing at Ethan’s hands with searing sparks.
"Die, foul creature!"
Ignoring the throbbing pain in his lacerated hands, he pushed forward another single centimeter before activating the aura slash at the tip of his sword, unleashing all his aura into the creature’s internal organs.
The wolf didn’t even have time to show its pain.
The beast red eyes bulged, and blood poured from its mouth in an endless torrent, dripping onto the blackened ground as its immense body collapsed with a heavy thud.
