The lycan had its air knocked out of its lungs before its back hit the wall. It fell to the ground with a grunt, and as soon as it looked up, Zenith was already upon it with his foot about to stomp its face. Startled, the lycan moved its head in panic. At the point of impact, there was a small spider-like crack on the wall.

Its eyes widened considerably as it saw Zenith about to stomp it again. The lycan immediately crawled away while controlling the chains around its shackles to make Zenith lose his balance. Zenith raised his foot to avoid the chains from getting entangled with his leg but this gave the lycan enough time to get away from him.

Zenith narrowed his eyes. He didn't chase after the lycan right away. Instead, he observed it very carefully.

"As expected, it cannot use its Nu in this place," he thought as he slowly walked towards the lycan in a leisurely manner.

He came to that conclusion when he was talking with the lycan earlier. He noticed that the shackles around its limbs could've easily been destroyed with the use of Nu. But after so long, the shackles were still there.

Furthermore, the lycan kept trying to avoid his hits. If the lycan could use its Nu, it could've easily tanked his attacks. He wouldn't have been able to harm it no matter how hard he tried. The lycan also wouldn't have made a fool of itself like this.

"Running with your tails between your legs? What a cowardly dog you are," Zenith called out, angering the lycan, however, the creature didn't give in to its rage.

The lycan couldn't believe what just happened. It was actually being dominated by Zenith! It didn't even have the opportunity to fight back. A high-ranked lycan like it was forced to retreat by a low-ranked human!

"How is this possible?" it thought to itself as it looked at Zenith with hate and wariness. "This is inconceivable!"

"What's wrong?" Zenith asked indifferently. "Are you scared?"

The lycan gritted its teeth as it stared daggers at Zenith. It wanted to tear him apart and make him feel every bit of pain before eating him alive! It wanted to see his stoic face morph into fear when it began eating him piece by piece!

Zenith ran towards the creature fearlessly while the lycan stood defensively. Zenith stabbed his hand towards its head, but it moved at the last second, only grazing its cheek. In retaliation, the lycan slashed its sharp claws at his chest. Zenith leaned back and made a back handspring while kicking the lycan right in its chin, forcing it to look up.

When Zenith recovered, he stabbed his hand towards the lycan's heart. The lycan looked down and slapped his hand away before kneeing him in the stomach. Zenith placed his free hand onto the lycan's incoming strike, causing its knee to hit his palm instead. He then responded with a kick to its crotch.

The lycan endured the pain as it threw a ferocious kick to Zenith's face, who just moved to the side and made a sweeping kick to the lycan's other leg, making it fall on its butt.

With the lycan losing its footing, Zenith immediately stabbed his hand forward. As he did, he saw the lycan open its mouth, revealing its incredibly sharp fangs, and was waiting for his hand to get within its reach. He quickly retracted his hand before the lycan could chomp on it.

The lycan kicked him with both its legs. Zenith placed his arms forward and skidded several meters away. When he came to a stop, he ran towards the lycan and launched a series of attacks, giving the lycan a hard time getting up.

The two exchanged dozens of strikes. Zenith's attacks kept hitting the lycan but the latter couldn't get a single clean hit to Zenith. He was just way too slippery and he always managed to block and dodge even in the most difficult of positions.

Zenith kept attacking the lycan in its blind spots, slowly guiding it to turn around. The latter had no choice but to follow his tempo so it wouldn't suffer too much beating.

"Don't think I don't know what you're doing," said the lycan as it dodged a kick coming from behind.

Halfway through their exchange, the lycan realized that Zenith was trying to get itself entangled by its own chains.

"I've been living with these shackles for years! Do you think I'm foolish enough not to know my way around these?! As annoying as these chains are, they've already become an extension to my body!" it screamed out while twisting its long chains around Zenith.

Unsurprisingly, the latter managed to get away again before the chains could wrap around his body.

"How?! How are you able to keep up with me?! This shouldn't be possible! You're only a low-rank human! The difference between us is the difference between heaven and earth!" the lycan roared out.

"Keep up?" Zenith raised a brow at his opponent. "You're wrong. I'm not keeping up with you. I am destroying you."

The lycan shivered when it heard the indifference in his voice. Furthermore, the way Zenith said those words naturally as if he spoke nothing but fact— made its heart tremble. This was the first time it had met a terrifying human like him.

Thinking back, his words rang true as well. It kept getting beaten up yet it hadn't even managed to injure Zenith. Throughout their fight, Zenith had always held the upper hand. It never landed a direct hit on him. Zenith, on the other hand, successfully kept hitting it in its weak spots. It was frustrating. Every time it tried to strike back, Zenith would either dodge or block it.

The only reason why it hadn't been defeated yet after all this time was only due to the durability of its body.

When it realized this, the lycan's eyes went wide as all of its will to fight disappeared.

"Impossible! This is impossible! This is just a dream! Yes! That's right! There's no way I'm being defeated by a mere human! A low-ranking human at that! I've probably gone insane after waiting all this time in this wretched dungeon!"

As the lycan broke down, Zenith didn't show any mercy as he hit its temple, shin, stomach, crotch, throat, shin, eyes, and all of its vulnerable spots. When Zenith kicked the lycan's shin for the umpteenth time, the lycan's tibia shattered as it fell on its knee, screaming in pain.

"Ahhhhh! It hurts! It hurts so much! Why?! This is only supposed to be a dream so why?! Why does it hurt?! No! Don't tell me this isn't a dream?!"

Zenith didn't deign a response as he poked its eyes with his index and middle finger. However, the lycan was so durable that he failed to blind it after hitting it in the same spot many times already.

"I only have 7% available Nu left," Zenith thought offhandedly as he checked his core. He couldn't fight this lycan indefinitely.

His eyes went towards the huge stone doors in the distance. The doors were locked and they needed a key to be opened. When he was talking with the lycan earlier, he secretly scanned his surroundings but didn't find a key.

The key should be on the lycan but he didn't know exactly where the creature hid it. It wasn't on its body for sure.

"Is it inside then?" Zenith thought as his eyes fell on the lycan's stomach.

He stomped on the lycan's head forcing it down on the ground. He raised his hand and repeatedly stabbed it on its stomach. Zenith was hurting the lycan but his hand didn't manage to pierce through its skin.

"It's no use. You might be stronger than me but you cannot kill me. I'm immortal. I won't die as long as the god who blessed me lives."

"You're noisy," Zenith said coldly as he increased the intensity of his stab. The lycan's face changed and gradually, Zenith's hand was starting to cut through its skin.

When the lycan realized what Zenith was intending to do, it was horrified.

"Stop! I surrender! I surrender to you! Stop it! I get it! I was wrong for trying to fool you!"

Zenith didn't listen. He just kept stabbing the lycan without any emotion, and ultimately, he cut the lycan's stomach open. He didn't stop at only that. He pulled out its insides as he searched for a key, ignoring its screams as his entire hand got full of its blood.

"By doing this, you're offending the gods! This is a crime punishable by a thousand deaths!" the lycan tried to scare Zenith, however, the latter was unperturbed.

"A mongrel like you can represent the gods? If so, they had fallen from grace."

The lycan endured an unbearable amount of pain. How it wished at this moment that it wasn't an immortal. It just wanted to end its suffering as soon as possible. This was a fate worse than death!

After practically digging all of the lycan's insides, Zenith finally found a golden key.

The lycan looked tiredly at him, and warned, "The gods won't let you off."

Zenith was already heading towards the doors, but when he heard the lycan's words, he stopped for a second.

"Then, let them come. I'm not afraid of them," he said without any emotion on his face.

"Before you go, how did a low-rank like you beat me so easily?"

Zenith looked at the lycan. He saw the inside of its stomach squirming around as it slowly started to form new organs to replace the ones he dug out.

He didn't bother giving the lycan a response. He continued walking ahead and unlocked the door before going in silently. The moment he entered, the door closed on its own with a loud thud.

Zenith fell to his knees as blood escaped from the corner of his mouth. Then suddenly, his world went dark.

Preliminary Test Subquest:

You have successfully passed the dungeon.

Reward:

+10,000 Exp