The Lupine System-Chapter 130: Sudden Shift

Sudden Shift

Once Mike opened his eyes, it was like a secondary pulse went out, and everything around him was repulsed.

Not violently, mind you, but it was like an inviolable force was released and pushed everything away regardless of their resistance, the chieftain included.

When he landed and regained his bearing, the chieftain realized that he could move again, but he didn’t feel much better.

If anything, the sense of dread only grew.

The chieftain stared at Mike and couldn’t help but shudder involuntarily.

He was back on his feet now, slowly straightening. When he did, the chieftain could finally see his eyes.

Before, his eyes blazed like blue suns in the forest. But now, though, his pupils were nowhere to be seen. Instead, they were filled with milky white light that resembled the color of his hair.

As soon as Mike focused his attention on the chieftain, the gorilla shuddered, then he gritted his teeth. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

He tried to create more vines to bind Mike, but something weird happened.

His energy entered the ground, and the vines started to grow, but when the time came for them to come out of the ground, they simply... didn’t.

It wasn’t like something had happened to the ground to prevent their emergence, like a wall. No, it was as though they simply refused to manifest. Like the moment they had the chance to breach the surface, they simply gave up, and no matter how much energy the chief poured into them, they wouldn’t sprout.

Frustrated, the chieftain used its ability and burned more of its vital energy.

In an instant, it felt its lifeforce drop, but in return, the boost in strength was incredible.

Once more, he shot forward like a comet, axe raised and ready to cleave Mike apart, even faster than before.

But before the axe arrived, Mike finally moved.

His movements seemed slow, almost sluggish, like he was just waking up from a long slumber.

However, despite seeming this way, his arm was raised almost instantly and moved into the path of the axe, and he caught it.

There was no shockwave. The axe simply lost all momentum and sat in his palm easily.

Seeing this, the chieftain roared and tried to push the axe forward, but it was like an ant trying to push a mountain. It simply wasn’t possible.

Then, Mike exerted some force.

Suddenly, some of the white energy swirling around him focused on that arm and into the axe. Countless cracks filled with that same energy appeared on the axe, and a moment later, it shattered like glass.

The weapon the chieftain had been using for years, the one that had accompanied him through countless battles, destroyed just like that.

But the chieftain had no time to feel regret. Right now, the only thought on his mind was taking Mike out before he did anything else.

The moment his axe was destroyed, his fist descended, aimed right for Mike’s skull. But Mike simply swiped his hand, and the chieftain was sent flying despite nothing actually hitting him.

In truth, Mike wasn’t conscious. Not really. Everything that was happening to him was happening without his knowledge, and his body was moving based purely on instinct, with none of his input required.

If he had been conscious, he would have been aware of the barrage of notifications the system was sending. But he couldn’t hear them.

He tilted his head.

At this point, the white energy around him was fading, fast.

It’s clear that whatever this state was, it was bound to end soon.

Mike’s instincts were aware of this as well. So they moved based on what instincts did.

Picking the best possible result in a dangerous situation.

He held out his hand towards the chieftain, who had only just gotten up, and he was unable to resist as a force clamped around his body and pulled him towards Mike.

As he got closer, his senses screamed, and he burned his vital energy with wild abandon, not caring how it damaged his body, because he knew.

The moment he arrived in front of Mike, he was done for.

But it was all for naught.

Even if he burned everything, the result would have been the same.

When he was only a few meters in front of Mike, a pretty gruesome scene played out.

Like stripping layers from the bark of a tree, the chieftain was shredded by the invisible energy clasping onto him.

First, his skin, then veins, then muscle, bones, tendons, everything was stripped away systematically, until there was a row of neatly arranged strips in front of Mike.

These strips then condensed into a singular orb no smaller than a finger that floated in front of Mike, and he opened his mouth and swallowed it.

By now, only a few small wisps of the energy surrounding him remained. So, with its remnants, Mike swung his arm in a random direction, sending out the rest of the energy, and a moment later, a pained yowl was heard.

Almost as soon as this happened, Mike’s pupils reappeared, and his body swayed as he felt incredibly confused and disoriented.

’H-Huh...?’ Was the only thought he was able to get out before his instincts suddenly warned him.

Without thinking, Mike dived out of the way just as several deep claw marks appeared in the ground where he had been.

In an instant, he pushed back his confusion and entered a state of battle-readiness.

He didn’t know what happened, but his senses warned him that whatever attacked him just now wasn’t weak. And yet, when he locked onto his opponent, he couldn’t help but be slightly confused.

From the treeline, a figure emerged.

A black panther.

Compared to a lot of the creatures Mike had encountered on Naraka, it was surprisingly normal-sized.

However, Mike did not let his guard down in the slightest. In fact, he was even more wary.

The danger he felt from it was on par with the chieftain.

’But... something is wrong.’ Mike couldn’t help but frown.

The panther was strong, his instincts told him that much. However, his keen senses also let him know that its aura was... flickering, and the reason was quite apparent.

On its chest, there was a gruesome wound that stretched down its torso. Blood soaked its dark fur, and the bones were even visible.

Moreover, the wound wasn’t merely physical. Mike didn’t know how he knew, but he knew that something was messing up its energy, preventing it from bringing out its full strength.

The more he comprehended the situation, the more confused he became.

What had happened?

He lost consciousness, and when he awoke, the chieftain was gone, and this panther, which looked VERY angry by the way, appeared and attacked him.

...

On second thought, he knew the panther.

He hadn’t seen it before, but he knew it because its gaze was familiar.

’That’s the thing that was following me!’ He realized. At some point, he’d noticed a creature observing him while he caused mayhem in the Greenback Gorilla Territory. He hadn’t been able to reach it, though.

Why was it here now?

Had it been waiting to see the result of Mike’s battle with the chieftain? Perhaps take out the winner after they were weakened?

Before he could ponder on it the panther moved.

Mike’s eyes widened as the creature appeared in front of him instantly.

But he had already moved his head out of the way, allowing him to barely avoid claws raking across his ne–

CLANG

Mike’s gauntlets smashed down on claws coming from below.

’What the...?!’ He raised his leg to kick, but he hit nothing but air as the panther reappeared a couple dozen meters away, stalking him silently.

’... That wasn’t simple speed.’ Mike noted as his eyes narrowed. He’d seen such movements before.

Teleportation.

He recognized the movement due to his encounter with that member of the disciplinary committee who was from the Sairell Family that specialized in space.

Instantaneous movement through space, an extremely troublesome ability on its own. And from the exchange just now, Mike noted that the delay between teleportations was so negligible that he only reacted because of his instincts warning him beforehand.

Moreover, he knew that the teleportation wasn’t the only thing it could do.

A suspicion that was confirmed a moment later as the panther raised its paw, and danger immediately exploded in Mike’s brain.

He ducked, and several trees behind him were cleaved apart by an unseen force. But now that he was paying attention, his senses caught on to what happened.

’It’s shredding space in the direction of its claws. By doing so, it eliminates any distance between itself and the target, allowing the strike to hit instantly. What’s more, due it directly cutting space, conventional durability will be negated if you get hit.’ With that information in mind, Mike instantly made a decision.

Pinning down the panther was of utmost importance. He didn’t know if he could tank one of those space strikes directly, and the realization that it could simply teleport in front of him while its claws were already brandished wasn’t very comforting, so Mike decided that now wasn’t the time to hold anything back.

Without hesitation, he activated Primal Authority at full force.