| "So, you're a compassionate type, huh kid? I thought that accepting Old Great One Animo's inheritance would greatly affect your demeanor and actions towards others considering what you went through as a kid… Quite frankly, I'm more of the emotional type myself, so this side towards you ain't bad hahaha…" |
Noctis ran as fast as he could and got closer to the source of these sounds, but a closer look at his face would indicate that he was calm and indifferent. He heard Spirit Ster's voice, but wasn't bothered by its words before refuting what the spirit said,
"It's not like that… this could be my chance to breakthrough again considering this growling beast roar sounded like it came from another Silver Dire Wolf, but a more ferocious one at that. Also, these people have nothing to do with my past and are most likely villagers that came out to hunt. On the off chance that I'm able to save them, then I could maybe get some type of reward from them…"
The 'reward' that Noctis had in mind wasn't anything extravagant, rather it was actually something simple which were actually just clothes! He badly needed a new set of clothes, but he obviously wasn't going to reveal this to Spirit Ster… he didn't want the spirit to know that he had to be shameless enough to ask these villagers about it because in his mind, getting new clothes had become a top priority!
Noctis also thought to himself that this would be a chance to get payback for his horrible arm injury, even though it was an entirely different Silver Dire Wolf. He wanted to see if he learned from his mistake by proving to himself that he can kill another one without receiving any bad injuries, and to overall hone his skills!
Noctis soon went past the few remaining trees and bushes in his way before arriving at an elevated area with a wide river streambank below. The first thing he noticed was that the large Silver Dire Wolf had the two young villagers cornered, as they were hugging each other closely and were preparing to jump down below in the dangerous and fast river stream.
He even heard more Silver Dire Wolves coming near this area, and concluded that the Silver Dire Wolf he was looking at was most likely the leader of a pack. The loud growling roars made by this leader Silver Dire Wolf must have attracted the others to come over, so they would ultimately share their meal.
Noctis still didn't understand why these Silver Dire Wolves were near these forest regions in the first place, but since they were already here, he had no choice but to deal with them.
Noctis thought to himself that it was best to eliminate the leader first before the others arrived, so he quickly circulated the 'Qi Essence' insight towards his hands and feet. He was preparing a large qi essence ball and was determined to catch this large Silver Dire Wolf completely off guard!
...
On the other hand, the large Silver Dire Wolf was inching closer to the two young villagers, as it revealed its sharp fangs.
The two young villagers were actually a small boy and an adolescent girl that looked to be about 13-14 years of age. They were both slowly backing up before eventually reaching the edge… the adolescent girl couldn't help but look down and thought of an insane idea before gulping down a mouthful of saliva. She turned to deeply look at the small boy with tears in her eyes and softly said,
"Moki, this was my fault for getting us into this, but I want you to know that I can get us out! We need to jump, but no matter what, you can't let go of Elder Sister's hands… do you understand!?"
The small boy slowly nodded in response and tightened his grip with the adolescent girl's hands, as his eyes revealed a look of sorrow and confusion.
The adolescent girl closed her eyes and was about to take the leap of faith, but she suddenly heard an explosive sound, as well as the whimpering of the Silver Dire Wolf that accompanied it!
She opened her eyes and realized that a mysterious figure had unexpectedly struck the large Silver Dire Wolf from above!
This mysterious figure was obviously Noctis, as he was successful in dealing a surprise killing blow to the large Silver Dire Wolf!
Noctis landed on top of the Silver Dire Wolf, but the ferocious beast didn't immediately die as it was still struggling to pitifully lift up its legs.
A sharp glare flashed within Noctis's eyes before he got up and swiftly moved to the side of the dying Silver Dire Wolf. He then circulated and transferred the qi essence towards one of his legs almost instantly.
Noctis concentrated the qi essence towards the soles of his feet before he fiercely smashed it down on the Silver Dire Wolf's head!
Crack!
The large Silver Dire Wolf didn't have any time to recover at all before its skull was shattered into pieces, as large amounts of blood were splattered across the ground. The impact was so strong that some of the blood even landed on his worn-out clothes and on the side of his cheek.
Noctis remained expressionless before he turned around and wiped the blood off his face.
"…"
The adolescent girl remained speechless for a while, and was about to open her mouth to speak, but before she was able to say anything, more Silver Dire Wolves appeared from the nearby bushes!
They were a lot smaller than the leader Silver Dire Wolf that just died, but Noctis still remained vigilant and didn't drop his guard. The most dangerous scenario had been removed, but it didn't mean that the group of smaller Silver Dire Wolves weren't a threat to him… he still had to deal with them and would probably exhaust all of his qi essence supply.
Thankfully, he comprehended the 'Berserk Might' insight, which tremendously helped him in being able to easily finish off the large Silver Dire Wolf.
Noctis was close to breaking through to the Fourth Level of the Mortal Blood realm, so he wanted to use this opportunity to do so!
There were six Silver Dire Wolves several meters away from him, as they started to move closer to surround him. They were about ready to attack in unison, but Noctis was a step ahead of them and acted out his own move first!
Noctis circulated the qi essence to his other leg, which enabled him to increase his speed as he moved towards one of the Silver Dire Wolf in the middle. He then transitioned some of the qi essence to one of his palms while he ran and got near the angry beast.
The small Silver Dire Wolf didn't expect that it was the first to be targeted, but it was just barely able to react in time. The small beast moved, but before it was able to go anywhere, it was abruptly bashed in the head by Noctis's palm and was strongly blown away!
Whoosh!
The other Silver Dire Wolves reacted to this and attacked in unison, but Noctis expected this, as his precognition sense informed him of the incoming danger. He continuously sidestepped and evaded all the pouncing and biting attempts from the small Silver Dire Wolves.
As soon as he smoothly dodged the last Silver Dire Wolf that tried to pounce on him, he was able to counter-attack!
Noctis turned around and quickly arrived to the side of this small beast while it was recovering its stance, and then converged the qi essence towards his arm and upper body.
He then wrapped his arm around its neck and tightly held the Silver Dire Wolf into a chokehold!
Noctis used his other hand to securely hold down the ferocious beast's body before strangling it and bending its neck to the point where it was about to break…
Snap!
Noctis clearly heard the loud bone-cracking sound, as the Silver Dire Wolf's body immediately dropped to the ground and stopped moving.
This wasn't the end of it as Noctis didn't have time to fall back and recuperate because two of the Silver Dire Wolves were heading straight for him!
Noctis furrowed his eyebrows and noticed that another two Silver Dire Wolves at his side, as they were about to move while wildly growling, so he had to think up of something real fast.
In almost a blink of an eye, he condensed the qi essence to one of his legs and fiercely kicked the dead Silver Dire Wolf's body towards the two incoming Silver Dire Wolves!
Bang!
This resulted in the intense collision between them, but Noctis didn't pay attention to this sight before he moved towards the two Silver Dire Wolves to his side that were still growling at him.
These two Silver Dire Wolves finally charged at him with increasing speed, while Noctis was able to form two small qi essence balls along the way.
He widened his eyes before throwing them, but not at the Silver Dire Wolves themselves, but at the ground a few meters ahead of them!
Boom!
A small explosion occurred and countless dust filled the air right in front of these two Silver Dire Wolves, as they couldn't help but decrease their speed before coming to a full stop.
They weren't able to see anything which caused them to loudly growl, but then all of a sudden, Noctis appeared right in front of them with another two qi essence balls!
This time, it was two large ones instead and it was actually meant for them!
BOOM!
Noctis pressed these two large qi essence balls against their faces, which caused them to be strongly blown away before they harshly landed several meters from where he stood. Their legs spasmed for a few moments before slowly stopping, which indicated that they drew their last breath and had died.
Noctis moved out of the dust as it was slowly settling in. He was able to see the two remaining Silver Dire Wolves that had just barely been able to recover after colliding with one of their fellow companion that was recently killed by him.
These two small beasts lost their will to fight and were whimpering as they timidly stared at Noctis. They didn't do anything else before turning away and disappearing shortly after into the forest.
Noctis expected this, but didn't chase them into the forest because he realized that he had successfully broken through to the Fourth Level of the Mortal Blood realm!
He was just about to stabilize his cultivation base, but then he heard human voices coming out of the forest… it wasn't before long before they stepped out and Noctis was able to see a large group of them coming in with large strides!
They were an organized group, but Noctis noticed that they were in a somewhat panic and hurried state. Another thing he realized was their unique clothes, which indicated that they had to be villagers since he already noticed these clothing from the two young villagers that he had saved.
These villagers noticed Noctis, but unfortunately the first reaction that they did upon seeing him, was that they actually held up their spears and pointed it against him!
Noctis didn't move, but he furrowed his eyebrows and had coldly stared at all of them. Before he was able to do anything, he heard the adolescent girl behind him shout,
"Uncle Hakan!"
In response to this shout, a tall middle-aged man walked out of the large villager group and had widened his eyes in shock before happily smiling in an unrestrained way.
"Mika… Moki… the two of you are alive! Thank the heavens! Thank the heavens up above that nothing happened to the two of you! The village chief can finally be set at ease now that the two have you been found! Hahahaha…"
The adolescent girl named Mika, and the small boy named Moki, ran and tightly hugged this man known as Hakan.
The villagers around them had wide smiles on their faces seeing the reunion between them, which unknowingly caused them to lower their spears.
Noctis didn't want to disturb this moment as he silently watched on…