Before the beginning of Aurora's battle against the silver-haired man. Rejoke had his eyes locked onto the strange creature that stood on two legs and, in its front legs, held a strange item.
Obviously, Rejoke had no idea what humans were. This was the first time he had seen one, after all. Not to mention that this whole situation was all too sudden. These two creatures had suddenly appeared, and before he even had time to wonder what they were, Aurora had told him to go fight this one with strange golden fur (hair).
Now, even if he had no idea what these creatures were, he wasn't curious enough to reject an order from his alpha. Besides, this human in particular made him feel really annoyed for some reason. It was something about that expression that just made Rejoke want to punch the man in the face.
So, when Aurora told him to fight him, he gladly complied and forced him away from what would soon be the battlefield of his alpha. This was what led up to the current situation.
Rejoke and the blonde man. A wolf and a human stared at each other, both assessing their opponent. While Rejoke carefully observed each of the man's actions, the young man merely smirked arrogantly.
"Truly, I don't understand why that old man told me to fight you. I simply find it laughable that he thinks I can't beat some crappy black wolf." The man said in an arrogant tone, not at all trying to hide his words or thoughts.
But it wasn't like his words had any effect. Rejoke couldn't understand the human language in the first place, even if it was the so-called universal language. At the end of the day, he wasn't an anomaly like Aurora.
So, while the man was merely laughing like an idiot, Rejoke gave his 200% to observe everything about his opponent. If there was one thing he learned from his alpha, it would be that he should always make sure to know his opponent before attacking. The more you can learn, the easier it will be for you to win!
At least, that was what he always thought helped Aurora to overcome any challenge she came to face. Still, even as he tried to keep calm and analyze the man before him, he couldn't help but be nervous.
Now, it wasn't because the opponent he was about to face was strong. Well, he was. He was quite a bit stronger than Rejoke, but that wasn't where the wolf's worried lied. No, he was worried about Aurora's situation.
Rejoke's faith in his alpha had practically reached the level of blind faith. By now, he believed that no matter the circumstances, she would be able to overcome anything. But that doesn't mean he wasn't worried about her.
The opponent, that other strange bipedal creature she was about to face, was terrifyingly powerful. Although he didn't make him freeze up in fright like that being in that dungeon, he was certainly very powerful.
Rejoke's worries weren't unfounded, because the wolf was sure that his alpha was probably badly wounded after her fight with that monstrous being back then. However, he still believed that she would be fine. After all, she had already defeated a being even stronger than that old man, so she should be able to handle him, no?
The wolf shook his head internally, clearing his mind of those currently useless thoughts. He needed to focus on what was to come. Even if not as difficult as his alpha's, he still had a very difficult battle in front of him.
"Whatever. I'll make this quick, and then I'll go ahead and kick that fox's ass." It was just about then that the blonde man stopped laughing and dashed boldly with his sword.
The young man's blade glowed with faint yellow light, and he slashed at the large black wolf. However, as he was about to laugh at the bloody scene, his eyes went wide in surprise when his sword hit nothing but the snow-covered ground.
"What!?" The man exclaimed as he felt great danger coming from behind him. The young man did a 180° spin, slashing horizontally with his sword. However, much to his horror, the blade of his sword once again cut through nothing but air.
Just then, Rejoke jumped out of the man's shadow created by the faint glow of the moon and aimed his claw directly at the man's neck. Unfortunately, while the young man was certainly careless, he wasn't weak, so by the time Rejoke's attack managed to connect, it was already stopped by the sharp blade of the man's sword.
Seeing his attack fail, Rejoke activated his skill once again without any hesitation and disappeared into the shadows, leaving the young man gritting his teeth.
This was a new skill the wolf managed to learn in the last week. After firsthand feeling his uselessness in the face of that absurdly powerful beast, Rejoke was determined more than ever to become stronger. Because of that, the wolf trained nonstop during the last seven days.
Training his magic, using it simultaneously with his physical attacks, he even fought against multiple monsters and magical beasts above his level, two of which even dropped him some more of those strange items that granted him more power. He gave his all to become stronger in every way he could just so he could be of some help to his alpha, even if it meant just fighting the weaker opponent to lessen the load on her tiny shoulders.
And the result of all the determination and hard work was exactly this skill of his. Shadow Movement, a skill that allowed him to use a shadow connected to his own and move between the two.
The skill was certainly powerful, even more so for a physical fighter with terrifying strength like Rejoke. However, the skill obviously wasn't omnipotent and had several limitations.
The first and most obvious problem was the need for his own shadow to be connected to the shadow he wanted to move into. The second problem was the skill's high mana consumption. If one wasn't careful, this skill could easily drain all of their MP before they even got to do anything, as the cost got higher the longer the user used this skill.
And the last, and probably the biggest, problem was only a problem if the opponent could figure it out. Even while in a shadow, Rejoke's shadow remained on the ground, and if the shadow was struck, Rejoke would take that damage not only directly, but the damage would also increase by 50%.
Because of all these limitations, Rejoke had to be extra careful while using the skill, but after training with it for several days, he was at least a bit confident in using this skill.
"Damned wolf." The young man spat and got ready for the black wolf to jump out of the shadows once again.
He was very obviously already angry with how this damned beast managed to avoid both his strikes and even almost hit him. He couldn't allow just a beast that was even more than ten levels weaker than him to hit him.
As the shadows moved, the young man smirked and readied his sword. The next moment, Rejoke shot out from the darkness, lunging towards him with his claw outstretched.
*Clang*
The man's blade and Rejoke's claw met, letting out the sound of steel fighting against steel. However, to the blonde man's surprise, he wasn't able to push the wolf back at all! No matter how much strength he put into his weapon, he just simply couldn't overpower the wolf.
"What kind of absurd strength do you have!?" The man exclaimed, and feeling his arm give in, he jumped back hurriedly.
Just as he thought that he was safe, he felt imminent danger approaching. It was then that he understood that the wolf seemingly anticipated his retreat and prepared beforehand, as a tentacle made out of darkness was already on its way to hit him.
"You fucking beast! Don't play with me!" The man yelled angrily, the yellow glow around the blade of his sword becoming brighter as he cut forward towards the approaching tentacle.
The sword's bright yellow light cleanly cut through the pitch black mass of mana, causing the man to smirk triumphantly. However, he soon realized that the wolf was far from done.
By the time he managed to cut through the magical attack of the black wolf, the beast had already closed the distance between them and was just about arm's length away from him.
In a state of panic, the man raised his sword upwards, somehow managing to meet the claw of the black wolf. But how could such a weak block from such a strange angle be able to stop Rejoke's strength-packed attack? The man wasn't about to physically overpower the wolf in the first place; how could he even dream of doing it with such a half-assed block?
Rejoke's claw fell heavily onto the young man's blade, causing the man's arm to immediately go numb. The wolf put all of his strength into the slash, pushing the man's weapon down as the resulting impact forced the human back at least ten meters.
"Argh! You fucking bastard!" With bloodshot eyes, the man yelled out and screamed in pain as he felt the veins in his hand almost burst.
"Now you've done it! When I'm done with you, you'll wish you would have just let yourself get killed like the dog you are!" Ironically, the man was just like a rabid dog as he thrashed around wildly.
The man rushed forward, slashing his sword with all his might. Soon, after Rejoke deflected the strike, the man attacked again and again. This process repeated several times for the next few minutes.
However, no matter what the young man tried or how he attacked, he simply couldn't hit the wolf. He just couldn't understand. The wolf might be stronger than him, but he's clearly faster, not to mention that the wolf is just a stupid beast!
How could a simple-minded and stupid dog compare to the intelligence of a human!? Such were the young man's thoughts. The young man was so arrogant that even in the face of a clearly losing battle, he just couldn't understand that he was weaker.
"I don't believe I can't kill you!" The man yelled, his sword glowing bright as he slashed with all his might.
Seeing the incoming attack, Rejoke calmly observed the weapon's route before silently activating his skill. His body grew about 50% in size as he aimed his claw directly at the approaching blade.
Under the young man's disbelieving eyes, the two attacks met. Immediately, the man felt the world fall onto his shoulders as his blade met the sheer strength of that metallic claw.
Right after the collision, the veins in the man's arm burst, blood gushing out from all sides. The bones in his arm got turned to dust just as the blade of his weapon cracked.
"Ahhhhh!!" The young man screamed like he had never done before. The pain was so great that he simply couldn't even think about anything else.
Taking the chance that presentee itself, Rejoke aimed his second claw towards the man's shoulder, easily ripping the broken arm away from the rest of his body.
The man screamed even more horrifyingly than before. His mind was in so much shock and pain that he didn't even reflexively stop the bleeding wound.
Without the man being to wield his weapon plus his mind broken by the pain, the battle has just about concluded. During the entire confrontation between the human and the beast, Rejoke had the upper hand.
The blonde man wasn't able to land even a single hit on the wolf, and just the final clash was enough to hinder the man completely useless. It was clear who the winner of the battle was.
Seeing that he had won, Rejoke sighed in relief, but the worries in his heart have hardly disappeared. With a worried gaze, the wolf looked towards the place from which those terrifying explosions had just stopped for a moment.
He could only hope that his alpha had managed to overcome this obstacle in their path as well.