The Mini-Boss vanished again and reappeared beside its brethren, licking its bloody claws. It left out a satisfactory growl and lowered its head before the Rift Boss.

The massive wolf growled hoarsely, and the Fangs, who’d frozen at the arrival of their pack leader, began to move again. But what used to be a slow fight of attrition transformed into a bloody carnage. The Fangs, as if driven to insanity, charged ahead without an ounce of their cunning tactics. They pushed forward and lunged at the closest enemy. The Mini Bosses followed a similar tactic as they charged forward, but they circled the group of enemies and watched their actions intently.

Why aren’t they charging like before? The Mini Bosses are fast enough, or was the initial attack merely a tactic to shatter our morale? Are they unable to repeat such attacks more often, or are the special powers of the Mini-Bosses different?

The Mini-Bosses looked almost the same. Even though their sizes were very similar, only one of them had turned into a blur twice.

As for the Rift Boss…David’s eyes lingered on the massive pack leader for a moment, enough to tell that the Rift boss wouldn’t attack. It observed them from behind, unmovingly.

Was the Rift Boss bored? Why didn’t it charge ahead to kill everyone while the Fangs and Mini-Bosses distracted them? Was it a power play?

Whatever.

David shrugged inwardly. It acted to their advantage, though David’s heart was beating like crazy at the thought of fighting the massive wolf in the chaos of the bloody battlefield.

The Mini-Bosses will be fun to fight as well!

The morale of the combatants around him was eerily low. David didn’t even have to look to feel that the sudden death of the Bronze Rank took them by surprise. But that didn’t concern David.

Melach was right. His earlier concerns weren’t empty words. How annoying.

Even though David understood Melach’s concern, there was no time to waste on regretting their decision to come here.

In the first place, David didn’t regret anything.

He dashed forward, unsheathed the kobold shortsword, and pressed it firmly against the warrior longsword as he got into position. David took a deep breath while using [Holy Touch] to coat both weapons in an incredibly thin line of [Holy Touch].

That should be enough to inflict some damage…

David licked his lips, using the last boon he’d acquired in the Pantheon temple.

[One Attribute Point has been used to enhance the User’s Body.]

Middle(Basic) → Middle(+)(Basic)

Getting struck by a divine lightning bolt twice is sure helpful at times.

Strength surged into his body as his muscles bulged. His feet pressed firmly into the ground right before he kickstarted, propelling his body forward to face the masses of Fangs ahead.

[Bless]!

Everyone was within the Skill Runes range, allowing David to increase the remaining survivors’ power and durability considerably. It required three uses of [Bless], but given the growls of defiance and the shouts of resilience echoing through the battlefield, [Bless] did its work.

The combatants’ crushed morale was being tended to.

As the final instance of [Bless] applied on him, David accelerated again. He leaned forward, beheaded a pouncing Fang with the warrior’s longsword, and stabbed another Fang’s head with the kobold shortsword. David twisted the blade in the Fang’s heart and ripped it out in a fast spin. The blade whirled in his hand and smashed into the side of another Fang’s head, piercing its skull and brain in one go.

[Fang(Common) has been defeated.]

[Fang(Common) has been defeated.]

[Fang(Common) has been defeated.]

David barely took note of the notifications. His eyes narrowed to tiny slits as blood filled his view. He twisted his body, evading a claw coming for his neck, and stabbed one Fang in the eye when it, left behind a deep claw mark on his chest before severing the front legs of another Fang. The warrior longsword danced around David in sync with the kobold shortsword as he spun around, his blood merging with the blood of his enemies.

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His movement sequence was dangerous. It was deadly not only to him, as his blood splattered in all directions, but it was even worse to his enemies. David accelerated. His body screamed at him in pain and defiance, yet David grasped the potential hibernating within him tightly. He forced it awake, transforming the quick movement sequence into a dance of blood and death.

The Fangs around him died quickly. Countless notifications popped up in the corner of his view, but David did not even notice the corpses filling his perimeter, let alone the notifications. He noticed Torb once when he crushed the spine of a nearby Fang, and he recognized the Hunter of the other group as one of the three Mini-Bosses crunched on his head.

A fireball hurled past David, and it would have burned his hair if the divine lightning bolts in the Pantheon temple hadn’t taken care of that.

The fireball was larger than the norm. It reached a group of three Fangs and exploded in their bloodthirsty faces. They weren’t dead, but the trio had been weakened, creating an opening for another Mage’s [Mana Bullet] to deal the finishing blow.

However, David couldn’t witness their deaths. His hair stood up to its end, and his body tensed up. He didn’t have time to question what was happening as he kicked the ground to dive forward. Something sharp caught his leg, ushering David to use [Cure Wounds] twice instinctively. The pain was severe, but his legs weren’t lost. He rolled on the ground and jumped to his feet smoothly.

His left leg caved in, forcing David to use [Cure Wounds] once more. Simultaneously, he ushered bits of [Holy Touch] to fill several thick energy pathways, altering the natural Aether stored within. His Holy Sea was struggling to keep up with his constant use of Skill Runes. A light headache crept up the back of his mind, but it was still acceptable. He could endure that much easily.

But David couldn’t promise it would stay like that. Not with a wolf the size of an average human adult towering before him, growling deeply as it glanced at the deep wound it had inflicted a moment ago.

The wolf attacked. It was faster than David, but his reaction speed was nothing to scoff at either. David reacted instinctively. He compressed the coat of [Holy Touch] around the kobold shortsword at its tip and released everything at once. Yet, instead of replicating [Mana Bullet] with a touch of holiness, David created a dazzling light.

The Mini-Boss looked straight into the light and yelped. Near-simultaneously, Melach’s [Arcane Blast] whizzed past him and smashed heavily in the wolf’s face. A crunch resounded, but the Mini-Boss wasn’t dead yet. David followed his instincts and shot forward. The Mini-Boss whisked his head left and right, its eyes shut tightly.

Was it still blinded or merely afraid of getting hit by another dazzling light? David didn’t know, but he understood the golden opportunity. Torb seemed to think similarly. He appeared right next to the Mini-Boss, using [Crunch], while David emerged to the left, infusing more holy power into the longsword’s coat of [Holy Touch].

Torb’s mace crashed heavily into the wolf’s neck. The attack was much stronger than the Dwarf’s usual attacks, resulting in far more damage than expected. Torb’s beard was already drenched in sweat, but a victorious smile emerged on his lips as a loud cracking noise rang out.

The wolf wasn’t dead, and against Torb’s expectations, it could still move. It squealed in pain and was about to tear the Dwarf apart when David’s glowing sword filled its wide-open maw. David stabbed the Mini-Boss and twisted the blade in the creature’s throat.

The wolf tried retaliating. Its fur expanded, and its muscles bulged suddenly, but everything came to a halt when David ripped the warrior longsword out of the wolf’s throat.

The massive creature collapsed to the ground, which Torb used as a clue to smash the Mini-Boss’ head. The wolf’s skull burst open, and a kill notification popped up.

“I just wanted to make sure it's dead.” Torb made a sorry excuse, but David waved dismissively, “Keep going.”

They spun around, and the battlefield unraveled before them. Most Fangs were dead at this point. Only two or three were still alive, albeit injured. Unfortunately, the same could be said about the other Familia members. Only two out of seven combatants from the other group were still alive. The only advantage was that the other Mini-Bosses weren’t faring well either. The dead combatants and the two survivors had inflicted enough damage to cripple one of the Mini-Bosses, all while Melach released a series of [Fireball] and [Arcane Blast] to wear down the other Mini-Boss.

The Rift Boss, on another note, had yet to move.

It didn’t budge even as the second Mini-Boss, the one Melach had been bombarding, had been killed. The Mini-Boss appeared behind Melach all of a sudden. It turned into a blur and emerged behind the Elf, ready to rip him apart, just like it did with the Bronze Rank Warrior. But before the Elf succumbed to the surprise attack, Melach reversed the situation.

A massive [Arcane Blast] emerged behind Melach. It shrunk suddenly while its color intensified as it burst forward, piercing hte Mini Boss’ chest and heart in one go. Melach’s legs caved in following the perfect execution of his risky plan. Beads of sweat poured down his temples, and he writhed irritable, but the Mini Boss was dead. Just like that, the second Mini Boss died.

But even then, the Rift Boss didn’t move against them. Quite the contrary. The massive monster watched the last Fang die and approached the crippled Mini Boss with a deep growl.

The Rift Boss’ claws flashed, and a fountain of blood spurted in all directions, dying the massive wolf crimson.

The final Mini-Boss collapsed, killed by its alpha.

What was that?!

David’s eyes narrowed, but his body remained taut. The pressure around the battlefield shifted suddenly, and crimson motes materialized everywhere. They emerged from the blood and corpses spread throughout the battlefield, transforming the surroundings into a majestic scenery of crimson fireflies…which headed straight to the Rift Boss.

A deep howl escaped the monster’s throat, fueling David with fear and awe as the Rift Boss started to change.

The monstrosity expanded, and its yellow eyes turned crimson. All this while, the bloodlust in the air intensified and expanded.

The Rift Boss was not satisfied. It needed more blood. More death.