"Big guy..." Qiqi mumbled instinctively, then her lips quivered, and large teardrops started to fall.
Seeing this, Mike crouched down, gently rubbed her little head, and patted her cat ears, feeling satisfied.
"This isn't the time to cry."
"Get behind me." He said as he stepped past Qiqi and walked forward. Watching the Wolf Demon shake its head and rise from the ground, a smirk formed at the corner of his mouth.
"This guy... should fetch a good price."
Meanwhile, the caravan was in chaos. Mike had rushed out so suddenly that he shattered the floorboard of the carriage, causing it to topple over, and breaking some of the magic potions. The lead carriage flipping meant the ones behind had to make sharp turns and brake abruptly, nearly overturning as well. The immense centrifugal force broke the wooden wheels.
Now, they were stuck. Whether this was intentional or not was unclear, but Geoff was livid.
However, seeing Mike send the Wolf Demon flying made his curses get stuck in his throat, his eyes filled with disbelief.
This guy... can match the Wolf Demon's strength? And even overpower it?!
Not exactly... The Wolf Demon hadn't been prepared and was airborne. But it didn't change the fact that Mike's strength was superior!
Could this guy... not be a rookie? Or perhaps a very strong rookie?
Regardless of what he thought, the battle had begun.
Mike pulled out his warhammer from his back. The hammer's long handle was about 1.8 meters, and the hexagonal head was nearly a meter wide. It looked incredibly heavy, yet in Mike's hand, it seemed small. Moreover, he held the warhammer with one hand, making one wonder if it was meant to be a two-handed weapon.
He walked toward the Wolf Demon, twisting his neck, and making his bones crack.
"Come on, little doggy, let's have a go."
The Wolf Demon responded with a roar. Its face twisted into a vicious grin—possibly its only expression due to its anatomy—and it was utterly repulsive to Mike.
"Roar!!!" The Wolf Demon wasn't about to waste words; it couldn't speak anyway, but Mike found the joke amusing.
With a roar, the Wolf Demon became a blur, zigzagging with nearly undetectable speed toward Mike, clearly trying to confuse him. If Mike missed his strike, the Wolf Demon's dagger-like claws would be his end!
Unfortunately for the Wolf Demon, Mike's reflexes, honed by his grandfather's training and his natural physique, were far superior. He stood still, seemingly petrified, but his eyes tracked the Wolf Demon's every move.
As the Wolf Demon lunged from his side, Mike moved without hesitation. His massive body twisted with frightening agility, veins bulging in his arm as the warhammer sliced through the air with a whistle, aiming straight for the Wolf Demon's head.
"Clang!!!" A deafening clash and a shower of sparks sent the Wolf Demon flying again. But this time, it was the Wolf Demon who had thrown itself back. Mike's hammer hadn't landed solidly.
Mike glanced at the five white marks on his hammer's head and smirked. This was going to be tough.
The instant they clashed, the Wolf Demon had reacted swiftly, slapping his hammer, and engaging in a brief contest of strength. The result was clear—Mike won, but not by much. The Wolf Demon had used the impact to leap back, so Mike hadn't inflicted much damage.
The Wolf Demon looked at its trembling paw, astonished. This human was stronger than it was.
But soon, it snarled again, charging at Mike head-on. This time, it didn't use tricks, sprinting straight at Mike, claws crossed and slashing down.
Mike blocked with his hammer, and another metallic crash rang out, sparks flying. The Wolf Demon's claws were harder than steel!
But Mike's hammer wasn't ordinary steel either, only gaining a few more white marks. Mike didn't retreat, and neither did the Wolf Demon.
A two-meter-tall man and a three-meter-tall Wolf Demon stood face to face, engaging in a fierce brawl!
Mike's warhammer swung through the air with a roar, creating gusts of wind. The Wolf Demon's claws glinted with a cold light, whistling through the air. Every clash sent sparks flying, illuminating their faces—one with a wild grin, the other with a vicious snarl!
After a dozen or so clashes, the Wolf Demon began to wobble. Mike's hammer strikes were too powerful for its claws to withstand, forcing it to change its posture to deflect the blows.
But Mike wasn't unscathed. His vest had several slashes, and his chest, shoulders, and arms bore long scratches, blood seeping from the wounds.
Though the Wolf Demon's claws weren't as strong as Mike's blows, they were razor-sharp and faster than his hammer swings. Whenever it found an opening, more scratches would appear on his body. If not for Mike wielding his hammer single-handedly, using his other hand to fend off and block the claws, he would have twice as many wounds.
His extraordinary physique was a blessing; without it, he would have been torn apart. It was precisely this resilience that made Mike choose to confront the Wolf Demon head-on. He could withstand many claw attacks, but the Wolf Demon couldn't survive a single direct hit from his hammer! This was the difference between sharp and blunt weapons. Sharp weapons could cause multiple wounds, but a single hit from a blunt weapon, even to the limbs, could incapacitate the opponent significantly.
After hundreds of collisions, Mike's upper body was stained with blood, but he hadn't blinked once. Not because he was remorseless, but because in a battle at this intensity, blinking could be a fatal mistake. The combat skills and instincts ingrained in him from his mercenary days, where he lived on the edge, were impossible to forget.
Just a mere wild dog standing on two legs, what do you have to compete with me?
With a roar, Mike took two claw strikes to his chest, blood splattering as he swung his hammer upward like a cannon, smashing into the Wolf Demon's abdomen. The three-meter-tall beast doubled over like a shrimp, eyes bulging as the force lifted it off the ground, launching it skyward.
Exchanging injury for a kill—an essential mercenary technique!
It hurt, but it was effective! Once airborne, unless the Wolf Demon could fly, it was already dead. As the three-meter Wolf Demon soared several meters up, Mike was already waiting at its landing spot. Ignoring the deep claw wounds that exposed bone on his chest, Mike gripped his hammer tightly.
As it descended, he struck again. The Wolf Demon was sent flying once more, the crack of bones and Mike's wild laughter echoing through the air. Blow after blow, the Wolf Demon was like a ball, constantly rising and falling. Everyone watched, their gazes following the Wolf Demon up and down.
By the fifteenth time, the Wolf Demon was limp, its body seemingly boneless. Mike, with one hand on his hammer, pulled a potion from his back pocket and gulped it down. Martina, with her keen eyesight, noticed and glanced at the toppled carriage.
The potion he drank looked a lot like the magical potions they were transporting. Could he have intentionally damaged the carriage to steal the potions?
This batch of potions included several types, the most common being a red one for healing and stamina recovery—precisely what Mike drank. As he downed it, his wounds began healing visibly.
With another swing, the Wolf Demon flew high. Mike spread his legs, gripped the hammer with both hands and raised it above his head. Everyone stared at his back, muscles exposed through his torn vest. For a moment, his back muscles bunched up, resembling a demon's face.
As the Wolf Demon fell to chest level, before it hit the ground, the hammer came crashing down.
"Boom!!!"
The ground trembled, dust filled the air, and everyone's hearts pounded. Gradually, the dust settled.
Qiqi, sitting on the ground, stared blankly at the muscular figure emerging from the dust. He stood there, a large crater before him, the Wolf Demon a bloody mess inside. His blood-stained hammer rested head down, propped up by one hand. With a cigarette in his mouth, he took a deep drag and exhaled slowly. Then he turned, a goofy smile on his blood-smeared face.
"Nothing beats a good smoke after a fight!"