Caesar noticed that the Moon Wolf stood still, staring at him and Angelina without making a move. A thought crossed his mind—could this magical creature actually be hesitating?
Seeing that the Moon Wolf showed no signs of attacking, Caesar allowed himself to relax slightly and began to observe it more closely. What he noticed left him surprised. This Moon Wolf bore an uncanny resemblance to the brown wolf he had encountered a few days ago. Aside from being larger and having its fur turned a grayish-white, it was almost identical.
A few days ago, Caesar had been injured and far from his full strength. Facing a magical creature-level brown wolf then, his only option had been to avoid it. But now, the pressure radiating from this Moon Wolf was even more intense. Could it have advanced in just a few days? Caesar wondered.
The Moon Wolf's eyes were a dim shade of green, but one eye was noticeably duller than the other, surrounded by deep scars. Caesar realized with certainty that this was the same one-eyed wolf he had encountered before. It had evolved.
In just a few days, it had leveled up. Caesar felt a bitter taste in his mouth. Lately, it seemed like every encounter was more disastrous than the last.
Despite the power difference, Caesar wasn't afraid. With beasts, fear only invited aggression. The Moon Wolf continued to observe them silently. After a moment of hesitation, it took a step back—then another—as if reconsidering whether these two humans were worth the effort.
Seeing the wolf retreat, Caesar's gaze stayed locked on its every movement. Only after it had backed away by more than ten steps did he let out a sigh of relief, his tense body finally relaxing.
"Watch out!" Angelina's sudden cry shattered the brief moment of peace.
Caesar's head snapped up just in time to see the Moon Wolf lunging at him with blinding speed. The creature had feigned retreat!
In desperation, Caesar swung the wooden staff he held in his hands. The thick branch splintered instantly in the Moon Wolf's jaws, but the wolf's momentum was undeterred as it lunged for Caesar's throat.
Too fast to dodge, Caesar twisted his head to the side and thrust his left arm forward, using his shielded forearm to block the wolf's bite. The black arm shield held strong, emitting sharp creaking sounds under the wolf's immense jaw strength, but it didn't shatter.
The successful block left Caesar drenched in cold sweat. Anger surged through him—he hadn't been pushed this far in a long time. Roaring, he raised his right fist and smashed it directly into the wolf's weaker, injured eye.
The Moon Wolf let out a painful howl, its head jerking back in agony. Caesar had been precise, striking its blind eye and exploiting an old wound. Blood trickled from the wolf's damaged eye socket.
The wolf shook its massive head violently, flinging Caesar away. But Caesar executed a perfect backflip, landing on his feet. His left arm shot out, finger pointing defiantly at the Moon Wolf.
Enraged, the wolf abandoned any plans for retreat. Its initial strategy had been to strike once and flee if unsuccessful. But now, fury clouded its judgment. It believed itself to be the ruler of the Bering Mountains after its recent evolution.
With a furious roar, the Moon Wolf lunged at Caesar again.
Caesar did not retreat. Instead, he activated his fighting energy and charged straight at the beast. On a chaotic battlefield, refined techniques often gave way to raw survival instincts. Caesar knew he couldn't match the wolf in speed or agility, but he could rely on sheer strength.
Adjusting his arm shield slightly to cover his left fist, Caesar turned it into a makeshift gauntlet and punched directly at the wolf's charging head.
The wolf snapped its jaws at Caesar while Caesar's shielded fist smashed into its face. The two were locked in brutal close combat, each refusing to back down.
Angelina, standing at a distance, quickly cast a lightening spell on Caesar. Though it didn't make him as fast as the Moon Wolf, it gave him just enough agility to keep up. The two combatants became a whirlwind of snapping jaws and swinging fists, rolling across the ground in a savage brawl.
Angelina, with her apprentice-level magical abilities, couldn't contribute much to the fight. She stayed on the sidelines, ready to cast a flash spell if necessary to distract the Moon Wolf.
Caesar had chosen this brutal style of fighting for one reason: Angelina had no means to protect herself. If he failed to hold off the wolf, she would be torn apart in an instant.
Compared to the magical creature's robust physique, Caesar, even with his fighting energy enhancing his body, was still at a disadvantage. His left shoulder had already been torn open by the wolf's fangs, and deep claw marks marred his back. The wounds were so severe that bone was visible.
But the Moon Wolf had paid a price too. Half of its face had been pummeled into a misshapen mess. For most creatures, the head was always a vulnerable point. Caesar's strikes, though not lethal on the wolf's muscular body, caused significant damage when they landed on its skull.
Despite his grievous injuries, Caesar remained unfazed. His fighting energy was working automatically to repair his body, numbing the pain and accelerating his healing. A lesser soldier would have already fainted from such wounds, but Caesar merely felt a dull ache.
With a roar, Caesar swung his arm shield and charged at the Moon Wolf again, fists hammering down on the wolf's battered head.
The Moon Wolf, though formidable, was beginning to slow down. Its physical strength was immense, but most of its recovery relied on its light-element magic spread throughout its body. It couldn't afford to cast spells, but the passive effects of its light magic kept it in the fight.
The brutal clash continued—flesh against steel, claw against shield. Caesar's relentless strikes and the wolf's vicious counterattacks created a cacophony of violent sounds.
With a savage bite, the Moon Wolf clamped its jaws around Caesar's shoulder. A sickening crunch followed as the wolf's teeth threatened to shatter Caesar's shoulder blade.
"Ah!" Caesar let out a painful cry, but his blood boiled with fury, and his left hand showed no signs of stopping. Instead, his attacks grew more ferocious as he hammered down on the Moon Wolf's head.
Finally, with a sickening squelch, the Moon Wolf's blinded eye was crushed under Caesar's relentless assault. Blood and soft tissue burst from the wolf's ruined eye socket, and the beast howled in agony, releasing Caesar's shoulder.
From a distance, Angelina seized the opportunity and unleashed the Flash Spell she had been preparing. A brilliant light struck the Moon Wolf's remaining good eye. Already bloodshot, the wolf's vision was now completely robbed, plunging it into total blindness. The Moon Wolf, driven mad by pain and fury, roared in frustration.
Though blind, the Moon Wolf still had a rough sense of where its attackers were. With terrifying force, it charged toward Angelina. Perhaps still haunted by the ambush from the Shadow Leopard the night before, the wolf seemed to harbor a deep hatred for ambushers and sought to devour her whole.
As the enraged beast bore down on her, Angelina froze in terror. Given her fragile strength, even if she survived the impact, she would be left crippled.
In the critical moment, Caesar threw himself in front of Angelina, raising his arm shield to intercept the charge.
Thud! The Moon Wolf slammed into Caesar with full force. The impact bent Caesar's arm shield inward, and blood sprayed from his mouth as both he and Angelina were sent flying backward.
Still blinded, the Moon Wolf rampaged through the forest, smashing into trees and reducing the area to chaos. Caesar coughed up more blood as he struggled to his feet, glancing at the unconscious Angelina beside him. His body was battered, and he knew that once the Moon Wolf regained its composure, they would both be dead.
Through sheer willpower, Caesar pushed himself upright. He noticed that one of the Moon Wolf's hind legs seemed injured. Ignoring the searing pain coursing through his body, Caesar quietly approached the beast.
The Moon Wolf, still frenzied and disoriented, failed to detect Caesar's approach. Seizing the moment, Caesar lunged and wrapped his arms around the injured hind leg, drawing a short dagger from his boot and driving it deep into the wound.
Caesar had always believed in striking where it hurt most. The tactic worked; the wolf howled in pain and staggered, but its injuries were not fatal. Apart from the destruction of its already blind eye, the wolf had suffered no critical damage.
Caesar, however, was in far worse shape. His shoulder wound was so severe that it rivaled the injuries he had sustained when he fell off the cliff days ago. Only his iron will kept him on his feet.
The Moon Wolf thrashed wildly, trying to shake Caesar off. But Caesar clung stubbornly to the dagger, the blade slicing deeper with every violent movement. By sheer luck, the dagger had struck an old wound left by the Shadow Leopard's bite—a wound that the wolf's light-based magic had not fully healed overnight.
Had the Moon Wolf been in a calmer state, it might have realized the futility of its struggle. But blinded by pain and rage, it continued to thrash, widening its wound and losing more blood with each movement. The grass around them turned crimson with the wolf's blood.
Finally, the Moon Wolf began to slow. The reckless loss of blood was taking its toll, and its frenzied energy began to wane. Its remaining eye, though still blinded by Angelina's spell, started to recover faint vision.
Realizing its situation, the Moon Wolf pooled the last of its magical energy. Its mouth began to glow with a blinding white light as it prepared to unleash the light-based magic it had mastered just the night before—a Flash Bomb.
Caesar's instincts screamed danger. Looking up, he saw the glow gathering in the Moon Wolf's bloodied maw. In that light, he saw death staring back at him—a feeling he hadn't experienced since facing Baron Kashir's court mage.
"No!" Caesar roared and charged toward the Moon Wolf, determined to stop the spell from being cast.