Chapter 338 Volume V - Chapter 56: Almost... Divine
I have to do something.
That was the first thought that went through my mind. The wolf was right in front of us. Even if it couldn't see us with its own eyes, it was aware that there was something where we were. It had found us and if I waited a little longer, it would really know we existed.
But... what could I do? This wolf was a C grade creature and I was only D grade, and on top of that, I had to keep part of my focus on the mana around me at all times. The mana that was dormant in the atmosphere and the mana that was awakened here... was very different. As if that wasn't enough, my movement was so limited that even if I wanted to do something, I would be very slow.
I gritted my teeth and placed my hand in the gap facing the wolf.
There was no time, I couldn't wait any longer.
The wolf outside must have seen my hand because it suddenly growled louder. It even charged toward the rock above us. So I had to be even faster.
For a brief moment, I stopped channeling the mana swirling around my body. The mana rushed at me from all directions. But I didn't care. I focused the mana swirling around my body into my hand, which I was pointing at the wolf outside, and formed a ball of flame in my palm.
I quickly shrunk it, squeezed it as tightly as I could, and kept pouring mana into the... marble of flame, strengthening it.
Then, without waiting another second, I threw it through the gap toward the wolf.
First, a red streak flew out of my palm, making no sound. But... as it did so, the growling sound from outside turned into a momentary moan. The wolf's attack did not reach the rock, did not shatter it... nor did it expose us. Instead, I heard it back away as if it had encountered something disturbing. It also... sounded a little bit like it was in pain.
Before I gave in to my rapidly blurring senses, I looked out through the gap. The wolf had taken a few steps back, its head down. Blood was dripping down its face. The fireball, or marble, that I had thrown outside had hit it in the eye.
The wolf raised its head slightly. But this time, I didn't have the opportunity to retreat as quickly as before, the mana around me had already caused my muscle movements to become strange. So... I locked eyes with the wolf.
Yes, just as I had predicted, one of its eyes was damaged. But the other eye was still intact. His right eye, glowing blood red, was staring at me, angry. I could tell.
I tried to prepare another fireball, even though I knew it wouldn't hurt the wolf much. It was going to attack again, that was obvious. And there was nothing else I could do.
But... just before the wolf lunged at me... something unexpected happened.
I heard a howl, a split-second howl, of an object splitting the air. But... it was coming toward us.
I hadn't yet realized what was happening... when the body of the wolf in front of me suddenly twisted unnaturally. The second ball of flame that started to form in my palm dissipated before it was complete. I stared straight ahead, the only thing I could do was to widen my eyes.
A small shockwave spread around the wolf, accompanied by a wave of dust hitting my face. The wolf was clinging so hard to the ground that it trembled slightly, but only briefly.
On the wolf's twisted body in front of me was a spear, the cloth at the end of the shaft swaying in the gentle breeze. There was a blurry halo around it, but it was not the mana of a person. The spear, seemingly amplified by the mana itself in the atmosphere... had nailed the wolf to the ground.
The wolf's glowing red eye focused on me again. But this time, it neither growled nor moaned. It only looked at me. As the glow in its one remaining eye slowly faded... it just died before my eyes.
I swallowed involuntarily, trying to shield my body from the mana in the atmosphere again, and focused my trembling eyes upward, on someone I couldn't see, but knew was there.
The next second, I felt a... difference there.
No, it was like that before. I had difficulty feeling it only because it was too far away and because of the danger at our feet, but now... especially when I focused there, I could feel it.
The mana in the atmosphere was different. The unclaimed but awakened mana was not running wild as it should. But... it seemed to be under the control of something. It was constantly being pulled toward a point and concentrated there.
After a short time, a difference appeared in my vision. Standing on a Platform he had created in the sky, Adrian entered my field of vision with slow steps with other Platforms he had created in the form of a staircase.
His hair was slightly longer. His emerald green eyes sparkled with a fierceness I had never seen before. His skin was covered in runes that shimmered with a golden glow. His ears were a little more pointed and longer than they should have been.
The mana in the atmosphere was being drawn toward him. It was entering his body, coming under his control. No... it didn't need to enter his body. He could control it directly. He was staring coldly down at a spot beneath him where there were probably dozens of wolves.
I swallowed again, I could only stare at his figure, overflowing with mana. Again, unanswered questions arose in my mind.
Adrian... since when was he so powerful? He is not a C grade person, it's impossible. What I feel when I look at him, the intensity of his mana, the purity... everything is much more powerful than a simple C grade. On top of that, he can control the mana itself in the atmosphere...
What is this nonsense?
But just then, I saw what was dripping from his lips, a red liquid, and my eyes widened again.
Adrian just narrowed his eyes. He didn't care about the blood oozing from his lip as he continued to descend and simply raised his hand. The atmosphere itself trembled for a moment, the ground shook. And... that's when I realized exactly what was actually happening.
No, Adrian wasn't really that strong. It was because the mana in this dungeon was awakened that he was so... overwhelming, even divine. If he had the dormant mana at his disposal, he wouldn't have been so powerful, he would have been limited in what he could do with it. But right now... he was surrounded by an enormous amount of awakened mana. It was because of this special situation that he was able to show such a display of power.
But his body didn't match the power he had. I could tell just by looking at him. It was as if... his whole being was slowly disintegrating. All the mana that he could control, all the mana that entered his body, was tearing him apart from the inside.
Adrian was soon out of my sight again. He was on the ground again, maybe even among the wolves. But I couldn't see what he was doing.
"Lucia...? What's going on out there?"
I quickly raised my finger at Sue's whispered voice, signaling her to be quiet. She probably couldn't see Adrian. It wasn't as if she could fully perceive what was going on because she was an ordinary person.
"Wait, just wait."
Sue frowned at my words. But she didn't say anything, she just waited as I told her to. She wanted to know what was going on, I could understand that, but... I was in no position to tell her what was going on.
And if I tried to, I would have been interrupted. Because shortly after I opened my mouth, the ground shook violently again. It was sudden and more like a shock wave than an earthquake.
Soon there was another tremor. And then another... and another. It happened at regular intervals, like a heartbeat. Mana accompanied these waves, making my head spin even more than it already was.
My curiosity soon reached such a level that I focused on the necklace around my neck. Without caring too much about what was happening, I pulled my sword out of my dimensional inventory, then positioned it so that it lifted the rock above us slightly and gave it a thrust. And I succeeded. The sword lifted the rock slightly, if not completely. It widened the gap through which I could look out.
With my field of vision suddenly widened, I lifted my head up, looked down to the spot where Adrian had come down, and what I saw there... made me stiffen once again.
Almost a hundred wolves were gathered around a single point, forming a circle. But they weren't attacking, they weren't even moving. They were just... watching. Their bodies were straight as if they were especially focused on the center of the circle they had formed.
And... they were. Because in the center of this circle, there was a fight going on... if I can call it a fight.
There was a wolf here, two meters in height compared to the other wolves. The glint in its eyes was much sharper and brighter, its fur much more... beautiful. It looked like the leader of the wolves.
But despite that, its condition was far from good. It was covered in bruises. Not simple cuts, but wounds from crushing blows. Its legs were trembling, it could barely stand. The sharp glow in its eyes was slowly fading. It was clear he was in no condition to move.
Facing the wolf was Adrian. The golden runes that covered his body were much more prominent, almost covering his entire body in a golden glow. Around this golden glow was another light blue glow that accompanied it.
Blood was dripping from his right fist. It trickled between his fingers and fell to the ground. His eyes were on the half-dead wolf in front of him.
He clenched his fist, the blood seeping between his fingers stopped for a moment. The golden yellow and light blue glow around him intensified. All the mana around him was drawn into his fist, wrapped around it.
Adrian tensed his strengthened fist and swung it hard at the wolf in front of him. All the mana that had enveloped his fist spread out in an instant, the ground shook again. The punch landed right in the wolf's face.
The wolf's head turned to the side so suddenly that its neck might have been broken. The force of the punch was so strong that his body stopped trembling and let itself go. As the wolf's body slumped to the ground... a deep silence fell over the plain for a moment.
But it didn't last long. Soon, all the wolves around him raised their heads, all howling at the same time. But this time, their howls were not as magical, as dizzying as before. This time... it was like a beautiful melody.
The golden glow around Adrian slowly faded as the wolves howled. All the runic writing on his skin began to disappear. His slightly long hair receded, the glow in his eyes faded. All the mana that had surrounded him came out from under him. It began to spread randomly and wildly, as it should.
But that light blue glow was still around him. Faint, maybe not very visible... but it was there.
Adrian turned toward us. He probably couldn't see me, but our eyes met. He took a slow step forward. The wolves in his path stopped howling and stepped aside, making way for him. They even bowed their heads, as if he was their king.
He kept coming toward us, with the others howling and all the wolves in his path making way for him. Finally, when he was in front of us, he paused. He bowed slightly, got down on one knee, even though I could only see his feet. Then the rock above us began to tremble and move.
Adrian simply pushed the rock over us to the side. As he did so, the night, which we could not see because of the rock, came into view.
The blue glow coming up from the river really resembled an aurora. Together with the stars, it was so spectacular that I couldn't take my eyes off the sky.
But the sky was not the only thing we could see anymore. Adrian was right in front of us, looking in our direction. He had a slight smile on his face. Soon, he parted his lips.
"I'm... sorry."
He didn't say anything else. The light blue glow around his body faded completely with his last words. Then his whole body trembled... he just collapsed.
The howling of the wolves stopped with it. When I looked for them, fearing they would attack us... they were nowhere to be seen. They had disappeared into the night again.
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