Chapter 136: Chapter 97: A Foregone Conclusion (Part 2)
The two great beast packs instantly descended into a chaotic melee—a blur of black and white, one indistinguishable from the other.
Meng Wei’s expression darkened. He hadn’t expected that even his wolf pack would be unable to handle his opponent.
’If this keeps up,’ he thought, ’I’ll never get the Rainbow Gemstone from him before the trial ends.’
’Should I give up and try to snatch the Rainbow Gemstones from the other two?’
The thought had barely formed before Meng Wei decisively dismissed it.
The other two who had claimed a Rainbow Gemstone were long gone by now. Even with the map to guide him, catching them would take a significant amount of time.
’Besides, even if I did catch them, there’s no guarantee I could get a Rainbow Gemstone before the trial is over.’
’It’s a gamble I can’t afford to take!’
After a moment of indecision, Meng Wei finally grit his teeth, having made up his mind. The fur covering his body rapidly receded, and his face and limbs morphed back into their human forms.
He then pulled back his collar, revealing a bright red mark over his collarbone.
The mark, composed of just over a dozen crimson lines, faintly outlined the image of a giant wolf howling at the sky.
Expressionless, Meng Wei straightened his fingers and stabbed them viciously into the crimson mark.
As blood spurted out, his face contorted in what looked like unbearable agony.
In the next instant, his jaw elongated, and his once-even teeth morphed into jagged fangs that jutted past his lips. A thick layer of pure white fur sprouted all over his body, growing at a speed visible to the naked eye.
The muscles beneath his skin writhed like worms, twisting as they bulged and stretched. His hands and feet transformed into four bestial paws.
In the blink of an eye, a ferocious giant wolf, nearly three meters from head to tail, now stood in the center of the corridor.
"ROAR!"
The giant wolf roared at the sky. A peerlessly violent aura erupted from it, transforming into a gale that swept out for a hundred meters.
The distance was too great, and the clashing packs of crows and wolves stood between them. Pei Ze had no time to intervene and could only watch as Meng Wei completed his transformation.
Although he had merely shifted from a Werewolf to a giant wolf, with no drastic change in appearance, the aura he exuded felt worlds apart.
In that instant, Pei Ze had the strange sensation of facing some terrifying, primordial beast.
He vaguely understood. ’This must be the form of a fully awakened bloodline.’
After transforming into the giant wolf, Meng Wei’s sanity seemed to have been affected. With a pair of bloodshot, bestial eyes, he scanned his surroundings for a moment, drool dripping from his maw, before finally locking his gaze on Pei Ze.
Then, a blizzard carrying a bone-chilling cold suddenly erupted around him.
Amidst the raging gale, the giant wolf charged forward like a high-speed locomotive, bearing down with the terrifying force of an avalanche.
Anything in its path, be it wolf or Fog Crow, was smashed to pieces, exploding into clouds of blood mist and black vapor. In an instant, a clear path was plowed through the dense horde of beasts.
"ROAR!"
At the end of the path, the giant wolf suddenly opened its cavernous maw and blasted a tornado of wind and Ice Blades at Pei Ze, instantly engulfing him completely.
On the mountainside, the crowd of spectators gasped as they watched the scene unfold.
Gu Lin’s face paled. She subconsciously clenched her fists, so tightly that her knuckles turned white.
Meng Kai, in contrast, beamed and laughed aloud. "See that? That is the power of the Frost Disaster Silver Wolf bloodline! A mere Third-level Wizard Apprentice is nothing before the might of a bloodline!"
Meng Kai turned to Gu Lin, his face smug. "Looks like I’ve won our bet."
Gu Lin bit her lip and frowned, not offering a reply.
Seeing her reaction only made Meng Kai even more smug.
He was about to needle Gu Lin further when another wave of gasps rippled through the crowd.
Meng Kai quickly looked up.
On the screen, the hurricane was gradually dissipating. More than half of the corridor was now covered in frost, a world of ice and snow.
A thick layer of ice had formed, especially at the epicenter of the tornado’s attack, and a visible, frosty mist filled the air.
What shocked everyone, however, was the silver, hemispherical metal dome standing amidst the frosty mist.
Despite the bone-chilling cold—enough to crack fine steel—the silver dome remained smooth and undamaged, its surface gleaming faintly.
WHOOSH!
The metal dome suddenly dissolved, melting into a silver liquid that hovered in mid-air, revealing a completely unharmed Pei Ze within.
"!!!"
The crowd of spectators fell silent for a beat, then erupted in an uproar.
"Pei Ze is fine!"
"Am I seeing things?"
"What in the world just happened?"
Anyone could see how astonishingly powerful Meng Wei’s last attack had been.
Even a Tier Two Legendary Knight, if they took that devastating blow head-on, would likely be gravely injured, if not killed.
Yet Pei Ze was standing there as if nothing had happened!
This outcome had truly taken everyone by surprise!
"H-How is this possible?! It can’t be!"
Meng Kai muttered to himself, his face a mask of disbelief and his eyes glazed over.
"Defense Magic? Impossible. A One-Ring Spell could never block a hurricane of frost blades!"
"Magic Items? But not even a top-tier Glimmer-grade Magic Item could have blocked that..."
His words died in his throat. It was as if someone had grabbed Meng Kai by the neck; his jaw hung open, unable to form words, his eyes wide with utter shock.
The few Shadow Students around him also realized what it meant, their eyes widening in unison with expressions of sheer disbelief.
Yin Guang and Gu Lin both gasped.
They looked at each other, the same thought flashing through both their minds.
’A Wizard Artifact!’
’Only a Wizard Artifact could have such immense Defense Power!’
...
"ROAR!"
Seeing its target completely unharmed, the giant wolf that was Meng Wei became enraged. A furious storm of frost whipped up around it as it roared and lunged at Pei Ze again.
"Has his intelligence devolved to that of a beast as well?"
Pei Ze shook his head. The silver liquid swirling around him instantly twisted and morphed, forming a multitude of incredibly sharp spikes.
The next second, with a deafening sonic boom, the countless spikes shot forward, overwhelming the giant wolf in a storm of metal!
SHINK SHINK SHINK!
Against the seemingly small spikes, the giant wolf’s vaunted Defense Power was utterly useless. Its hide was torn apart as easily as paper, revealing the raw, red flesh beneath!
By the time the metal storm subsided and the spikes melted back into liquid to orbit Pei Ze once more, the once-mighty wolf was drenched in its own blood, with barely a patch of intact skin left on its body.
THUD!
The giant wolf collapsed to the ground. Its massive body rapidly shrank, reverting to its human form in the blink of an eye. He lay on the ground, barely breathing.
「Outside the light screen.」
The vast mountainside was now deathly silent.
So quiet, you could hear a pin drop.
Everyone stared blankly at the scene on the screen, their mouths agape and dry, unable to speak for a long time.
By this point, even the most unknowledgeable observer could see that the silver liquid metal was clearly a Wizard Artifact.
"It’s actually a Wizard Artifact!"
"No wonder he could block that last attack."
"Meng Wei lost..."
No one had expected that this highly anticipated battle would end this way.
Meng Wei, who had been favored to win by most, had instead lost to Pei Ze.
When Meng Wei activated his Bloodline Mark and transformed into the legendary Frost Disaster Silver Wolf, they had all thought the outcome was decided—that Pei Ze was ultimately no match for him.
Who would have thought that in a stunning turn of events, Pei Ze was holding an incredibly powerful trump card: a Wizard Artifact!
Any Wizard Apprentice understood the power of a Wizard Artifact.
The moment they saw the Wizard Artifact, everyone—including Meng Kai—understood one thing: the battle was already over.
And the reality proved it. Before a Wizard Artifact, even someone as strong as Meng Wei was completely powerless.
After a long, stunned moment, Meng Kai snapped back to his senses, his face instantly turning ashen.
He had lost.
A full five hundred Magic Stone Coins!
He could afford to pay, but it meant his resources would be drastically reduced for the next few months, and his training would undoubtedly suffer greatly.
The thought made Meng Kai’s heart ache as if it were bleeding.
Who could have known that Pei Ze was such a monster?
It was one thing for him to be so powerful, but to also possess a ultimate weapon like a Wizard Artifact!
He knew that even for elite scions of a Wizard Clan like him and his older brother, obtaining a Wizard Artifact was next to impossible.
Just as he was wincing in pain over his loss, Meng Kai’s gaze swept across the light screen, and his eyes suddenly shot wide open.
On the screen, Pei Ze once again manipulated the silver liquid, condensing it into a long spear. Its sharp tip was aimed directly at Meng Wei on the ground.
"What is he doing?!"
The color drained from Meng Kai’s face, and his lips began to tremble.
Before his horrified eyes, the silver spear shot forward with a whistle, plunging precisely into Meng Wei’s chest.
For a split second, Meng Wei’s body convulsed violently as if shocked, then went still and silent.
