[Powerful Strike Activated!]
With precise timing, Raven unleashed a ferocious attack, driving his sword through the enemy's back. The bloodstained blade pierced the body and emerged from the chest. Ellie's opponent froze, then slowly collapsed to the ground. Even a Transcendent, with a heart pierced, faces certain death.
"Raven! Well done! Is everything inside taken care of?" Ellie's heart lifted at Raven's arrival but quickly darkened with concern over the situation within the warehouse.
"All resolved, no Transcendents inside. It seems they all fled outside," Raven nodded, easing Ellie's worries so she could focus entirely on the external battlefield.
The battlefield was in chaos. Most of the First and Second Squads were injured and had withdrawn, leaving behind several bodies of drug traffickers and a few writhing, gunshot-wounded enemies. The Fourth Squad was locked in fierce combat with six or seven foes, who, though well-trained, struggled to match the elite Guard.
Arios, still engaged in a three-on-one duel, skillfully wielded his dual sabers, creating an impenetrable defense that left the mid-level Transcendent and two lower-level Transcendents at a loss.
Ellie quickly made a decision, "Raven, support the Fourth Squad! I'll assist Inspector Arios!"
"Yes, ma'am!" Raven promptly charged towards the Fourth Squad's position, breaking the battlefield and helping the squad members dispatch their enemies one by one.
What had been a balanced battle swiftly turned in favor of the Guard with Raven's intervention. Even without fully tapping into his Transcendent powers, Raven's presence bolstered the squad's morale, enabling them to work together to defeat the enemy.
With a final strike of his baton, Raven knocked out the last enemy, then turned his attention to Ellie and Arios.
With Ellie's assistance, Arios's pressure visibly lessened, and his sabers, previously used solely for defense, now struck with fierce aggression, forcing the sword-and-shield Transcendent to retreat.
Ellie slashed at the rapier-wielding Transcendent, forcing him to leap back to evade her attack. Swiftly, she drew a flintlock pistol from her waist and fired.
*Bang!*
As the smoke cleared, the rapier-wielder's face was frozen in shock and disbelief as he fell lifeless to the ground.
"Retreat!"
Seeing the tide turn, the sword-and-shield Transcendent disengaged, delivering a shield bash to create distance from Arios before retreating into the forest. The dual-dagger Transcendent also quickly withdrew, fleeing in the opposite direction.
"I'll chase the mid-level one. You handle the lower-level one!" Arios, breathing heavily, clearly felt the strain from the earlier three-on-one battle.
"Yes, Inspector!" Ellie responded decisively, instructing the Fourth Squad to secure the prisoners before setting off with Raven to pursue the dual-dagger Transcendent.
Slicing through the night, Raven and Ellie raced through the forest, their eyes locked on the dark figure ahead.
"Can you keep up, Raven?" Ellie asked, her tone tinged with concern.
"No problem, ma'am."
"In that case, I'm speeding up." Ellie's eyes sharpened, and her pace quickened, rapidly closing the gap between her and the dual-dagger Transcendent.
Panicking, the Transcendent pushed his body to its limits, running desperately.
But Ellie's speed was unmatched, and as the distance between them shrank, the Transcendent's heart sank. With a reckless resolve, he drew a concealed dart and flung it at Ellie.
*Whoosh!* The dart shot through the air toward Ellie.
Ellie dodged the poisoned dart with ease, but the Transcendent, using the dart as a distraction, rushed forward, his daggers flashing like silver streaks aimed at Ellie.
Yet, Ellie remained unflustered, calmly stepping back and firing her pistol straight at the Transcendent's chest.
*Bang!* The pistol roared, but the Transcendent, prepared for this, evaded the shot and lunged from another direction.
Ellie unsheathed her military saber, and the two clashed fiercely. The Transcendent, agile and swift, relied on speed and unpredictability, while Ellie, balanced in her approach, fought with steady precision.
The Transcendent, realizing he was outmatched, began to retreat deeper into the forest.
"If this keeps up, once Raven joins the fight, he'll have no chance of winning," Ellie thought to herself.
"Chief! Watch out!" Raven's urgent warning came from behind.
Watch out…for what? Ellie barely had time to react before a tremendous force struck her from the right, sending her flying through the air.
Ellie felt as if she had been hit by a speeding carriage, slamming into a tree trunk before crashing to the ground.
*Cough! Cough…* Blood spurted from Ellie's mouth, staining the grass beneath her.
"Tsk, tsk, what a foolish Guard, daring to chase so far out of the city?" A burly man wielding a massive hammer appeared in Ellie's fading vision, followed by a dozen armed thugs.
This man…a mid-level Transcendent…
"Chief!" Raven's voice seemed distant, and Ellie's vision blurred, her senses dulling. Her organs felt as if they had been crushed and were burning with pain—no doubt some of them had been damaged by the blow.
*Thump! Thump! Thump!* Ellie's heart pounded wildly, her pupils dilating as cold sweat poured down her face.
"Boss, this chick's tough. Let's kill her quickly. There's still that lackey of hers; we can take him," the dual-dagger Transcendent respectfully suggested to the hammer-wielding man.
"No rush. The lads are all here. This chick won't last long after taking that hit. Let's hope that boy doesn't run…" The man's voice grew fainter in Ellie's ears.
"Raven…run…" Ellie mustered all her strength to shout before slipping into unconsciousness.
So tired…
I just want to rest…
So hungry…
What is that smell?
Blood? Flesh?
So hungry…
Why am I so hungry?!
No! Stop!
"Captain Ellie..." Seeing Ellie gravely injured and unconscious, Levin felt a surge of anxiety. But the dozen men before him stared him down with predatory intent, sending a chill through his heart.
Drawing his longsword, Levin silently assessed his available resources.
Cunning Trickery, Mighty Strike, Follow-through Slash, Combat Reflexes, three potions...
The enemies included at least one mid-tier and one low-tier transcendent, along with over ten ordinary men. Clad in full armor, if he drank the Potions of Bull's Strength and Pain Suppression, and used Follow-through Slash with Combat Reflexes...
Levin calculated his slim chances of victory, his heart sinking further.
"At least, I must try to get Ellie out of here..." With that resolve, Levin steeled himself to drink the potions and break through the enemy lines to escape with Ellie.
"Awooo!" A long howl echoed from beneath the tree where Ellie lay.
Damn it! Things just got worse!
Levin's heart tightened as he instantly grasped the situation and turned to look at Ellie.
"What the hell is that sound?!" The burly man and his henchmen, equally unprepared, turned toward the tree.
Heavy breaths, like the bellows of a forge, issued from the massive figure before him, the gusts of air condensing into white frost in the night.
The cold moonlight illuminated her silver mane, and where once was a beautiful face was now covered in fur; her mouth and nose had become a lupine muzzle, and her ears, now pointed, had migrated to the top of her head, transforming into sharp wolf ears.
Her once sky-blue eyes had turned a deep violet, and her body had grown to surpass the burly man's in size, her muscles swollen with surging power. Both hands and feet were now covered in thick fur, ending in sharp, elongated claws.
In the moonlight, the majestic silver wolf stood, both beautiful and perilous.
"Fuck! No one told me the Guard had fucking werewolves!" The burly man staggered back a few steps, unable to overcome his mounting fear, and bolted into the distance.
"Retreat, now!"
"Awooo!" The burly man's retreat order seemed to trigger the start of a hunt. The silver wolf dropped to all fours and charged forward with wild abandon.
"Ahh!!" A drug dealer, tripping over a tree root, fell to the ground, only to have the giant wolf pounce on him, severing his throat with a single bite, his agonized screams piercing the night.
The sound of the wolf's gnashing teeth and the man's dying cries sent chills through every heart on the battlefield.
"Run... run!!" The drug dealers' last shreds of morale collapsed, and they fled through the forest in panic.
The silver figure hunted effortlessly under the moonlight, felling any who resisted or attempted to flee with swift, lethal precision. Soon, only the dual-dagger transcendent and the burly man remained.
"Damn you, beast! I'll take you down with me!" The dual-dagger transcendent, realizing he was being targeted, lunged at the wolf with his blades, but the wolf didn't even flinch. His daggers merely glanced off her seemingly soft silver fur.
"Growl!" With a fierce snarl, the silver wolf pinned the dual-dagger transcendent to the ground, finishing him off with a swift, merciless bite to the throat.
Seeing his comrade fall with just a single blow, the burly man hefted his warhammer and charged at the wolf.
"Fuck it! If I can't run, then I'll kill this damned beast!" He swung his hammer at the silver wolf, but she leapt high, evading the blow. As she pounced back down, the man had to roll desperately to the side.
Man and wolf became locked in a fierce struggle.
"What should I do? Should I seize this chance to escape?" Levin's heart was torn as memories flashed through his mind.
Ellie's care for him on countless occasions...
Ellie saving his life with a single gunshot...
Ellie, bloodied and beneath the tree, urging him to run...
No, I can't just leave Ellie behind like this!
Resolute, Levin concealed himself, silently waiting for the battle's outcome.
Ellie's stamina seemed endless, with strength, speed, and defense all at the level of a mid-tier transcendent, pushing the burly man to his limits.
But the most terrifying aspect was Ellie's regenerative abilities. Any injury dealt to her seemed to heal almost instantly. Even when the warhammer landed a solid blow to her vital spots, she would swiftly rebound as if untouched.
Driven to desperation, the burly man put everything into a final swing, aiming his warhammer at the silver wolf's head.
The silver wolf howled in pain, but in return, her claws raked across the man's chest, leaving three deep, bloody gashes.