This Wourein, he’s the same as ever. Doing what he wants, whenever he wants. I stepped in front of Asellus, towards Wourein. With a single thought command to Eva, a silver axe materialized out from my hand.

“Wourein, can you possibly move away in peace out of respect for the Mystic Lord, or do I really have to move you away by force?” (Gideon)

I flooded the surrounding with my killing intent and most of the werewolves in front of me can’t help but take a step back or two, overwhelmed by my fierce killing intent. Wourein however, stood his ground and stared with amusement, both at me and the axe that just materialized in front of him.

“For a young Mystic you sure know how to talk big, and not to mention that you indeed have the strength to back it up as well! To be able to scare away most of my well-trained warriors with a single glance, you must be quite highly ranked even within the top echelons. However…” (Wourein)

He stomps one foot on the ground and howls towards the sky loudly and fearsomely, which helps to clear up their fear as well as stirring up the werewolves behind him.

“…Your death is ensured, and your blood shall be used to cleanse the humiliation that you brought to the Werewolves Clan!” (Wourein)

All the werewolves start to howl as well, their battle spirits surging to the very heavens.

I turned my head slightly to Asellus, and whispered to her my plan which I had formulated to deal with the crowd of werewolves.

“Asellus, can you help me hold up Wourein for about ten seconds? Within that time, I’ll get rid of the rest of the werewolves in one fell swoop.” (Gideon)

Her face was one of shock, and before she can even begin to comment on my idea, I cut her off with a short, convincing speech.

“Don’t worry; you are definitely capable of stalling Wourein for a few moments with your current strength, even if he gets serious. Trust yourself, and remember that your ultimate goal is to defeat Vergil. This is a good chance to measure your strength!” (Gideon)

“But…okay. I may not know you for long, but I have trust in your strength, if nothing else.” (Asellus)

It’s nice to know that someone has trust in you. I can get used to it; after all, she’ll prove to be a valuable ally in the future, if she manages to defeat Vergil.

“When I say ‘now’, jump back as much as you can.” (Gideon)

After whispering the last set of instructions, Wourein rushes towards me, being his main target and all. Barely seconds before he can nick me with his fangs and claws, I jumped up with a boost from [Burst Stream], throwing up a cloud of sand and dust from the resulting force which creates a nice little distraction.

Caught surprised, Wourein hesitated for the tiniest of moments and that opening is sufficient enough for Asellus to take the initiative. She jumps forward and clashes with Wourein using [Tiger Rampage], forcing him to block the incoming strikes that are flying towards him with incredible speeds.

I expect Asellus to be capable of doing this much. I can handle her attacks and techniques because I have seen her attacks first hand when she was fighting with the slave trader’s boss, not to mention that I’ve been training with her for the past two weeks. Therefore, even though her rate of improvement is extremely fast, I can still overwhelm her with my combat experience.

And even that, she can still last a good thirty minutes when fighting against me with her kinetic vision helping her. Even though I did hold back slightly to be honest, it is still an incredible feat.

Wourein has fought against Mystics before, obviously. However, every Mystic has their own unique skills and abilities depending on what they absorbed. Therefore, every Mystic can be said to be entirely different from another. Without prior knowledge for their fighting style and techniques, Wourein will definitely play it safe for the first few seconds, no matter how much of a savage he is in battle.

Asellus is a human who Vergil blooded personally, and she’s fortunately enough to receive a large portion of his potential. Along with her kinetic vision and [Tiger Rampage], stalling a member of the [Six Pillars] when the initiative is on her side is an idea that is definitely not too farfetched!

When I got to the highest point of my jump, I begin my next step of the plan.

“Eva, can you increase the size of the axe? Make it about three times bigger!”

(It is possible…but master, are you sure you know what you’re doing?) (Eva)

“No worries, I’m just going to swing the axe down with a bang!” (Gideon)

(You know that Wourein will definitely be able to avoid that, right? But no matter, here’s one gigantic axe coming right up!) (Eva)

I lifted the axe above my head, which grew rapidly to almost three times my height, and even one side of the axe-head is probably bigger than my entire body! Except for a small length of the pole that I’m gripping on, the rest of the axe is effectively three times the original size.

(Master, shall I turn it back to normal after the impact?)

“That’ll be…great!” (Gideon)

I look down to adjust my aim, targeting my axe to fall exactly where Asellus and Wourein is currently struggling for dominance in their fist fight. Slowly but surely, Asellus is losing her momentum as Wourein adapts to her attacks.

She has done well, now it’s my turn!

As the ground approaches swiftly, I swung the gigantic silver axe down with brute strength and a boost with [Burst Stream], with axe pointing at the direction towards the crowd of werewolves.

“Now!” (Gideon)

Upon hearing my signal, Asellus crouches down to avoid a strike from Wourein and jumps backwards with all her might. Wourein notices my attack as well and does the same, jumping backwards to avoid the gigantic axe falling towards his location.

He may be able to avoid the axe, but he definitely won’t be able to anticipate and cannot avoid the attack that comes next!

“Take my [Devastating Earth Wave]!” (Gideon)

The instant the axe hit the ground a shockwave of dust, sand and stone erupts from the place of impact and spreads forward. It spreads forward conically twenty meters ahead of the initial impact almost instantly, flinging back and injuring most of the werewolves. Even Wourein himself took some damage, despite reacting quickly enough to the waves of sand and stone flying towards him.

Even though I didn’t hold back my attack, the [Devastating Earth Wave] did not manage to kill any of the werewolves. However, a large portion of them are definitely down for the count. Only a handful of them at the very back and a couple of elite werewolves came out barely injured, including Wourein himself.

As for me, I flew upwards from the shockwave of the impact. Taking advantage of the momentum, I flung myself backwards in order to make some distance with the remaining werewolf forces and to group back up with Asellus. Since I angled my attack forward, only a fraction of the debris flew in her direction, which she avoided easily with her kinetic vision.

In short, this exchange is a brilliant victory on our side, taking down most of their forces in a single attack while suffering minimal damage on our side.

(Master, you really are an idiot. If you wanted to do that, shouldn’t you ask me to change into a club, or a pointed hammer? The kind of blunt weapons will definitely be more effective than an axe!)

Oh right, that would work well.

(Oh someone, please give me the strength needed to support this pea-brained master of mine…) (Eva)

Well, I am extremely used to using a Greataxe so it just slips out of my mind. The next time, alright?

Wourein looks behind of him and witnesses the destruction that was caused by my [Devastating Earth Wave], with more than half his werewolves out of commission and most of them taking a huge hit in morale levels. Only he and his elite werewolves are in proper condition to fight.

“That attack, and that impossibly fast jump of yours…that’s due to [Burst Stream] isn’t it?! I know it when I see it! You’re not a Mystic, little human; you must be the human reincarnation of Buvul!” (Wourein)

“Gideon, what does he mean? Isn’t Buvul the late Ogre Lord of the [Six Pillars]?” (Asellus)

“It’s hard to explain in a few words, I’ll tell you the story later. For now, be on guard and defend yourself from the other elite werewolves. Wourein’s mine to deal with.” (Gideon)

As Wourein reveals my true identity to everyone, his face is stuck in a savage, yet extremely creepy sneer. Killing intent rushes out of him which is aimed almost directly at me, as a cold wave of dread rushes over my body. Some of his werewolves behind him start to back away quickly, while carrying the injured and unconscious away after being exposed to that killing intent. Even Asellus subconsciously took a few steps back in fear.

“This must be fate, for me to be able to meet you here. Fighting between members of the [Six Pillars] is not allowed, but now that you’re a mere human, I can challenge you to a life or death battle!” (Wourein)

Even when he realises that I’m Buvul, he still insists on fighting just for the sake of fighting? Man, he really is a battle freak.

“Move out of my way, Wourein. I have more important things to do than you stay here and fight- Damn you, Wourein!” (Gideon)

Before I can finish my sentence, Wourein rushes forward and slashes at me with his claws. I manage to dodge it in time, but a small cut still finds its way on my chest.

“Fool! There is no retreat for the werewolves. Before I complete our objectives, no one shall leave this area! Today, either your blood shall be used to wash away the humiliation of the Werewolves Clan, or I shall die trying!” (Wourein)

“You idiot…fine, if that’s how you want it to be then I’ll simply break all of your limbs over and over until you give up!” (Gideon)

I rather not kill everybody who stands in my way, but I’m not so stupid as to just stand there and let him attack me while I continue my futile attempts of persuading him. If I can’t persuade him, then I’ll simply disable him temporarily; long enough for me to make my escape.

“Try it then, IF YOU CAN!” (Wourein)

He rushes toward me, sending strikes after strikes. I stand with ground and repel his attacks with my Greataxe, swinging it at him with great vigour.

Every swipe from Wourein threatens to claw right through my body, even against my tough physique. He wasn’t slow either; his attacks are definitely a notch above what Asellus delivers – stronger, faster, and deadlier.

I may have a further reach with the Greataxe, but that doesn’t mean much if Wourein can cover that short distance easily and force me into his attacking range. After blocking and parrying a few attacks from him, I forcefully put some distance between us with a fierce slash to the heavens with the Greataxe and begin to take the offensive, forcing him to parry my slashing attacks with his claws.

“What’s wrong, Buvul; this shouldn’t be all you got, is it? The Lord of Ogres that I know is much stronger than this!” (Wourein)

“I don’t want to hurt you any further than necessary. My goal is not to defeat you; it’s the destruction of Del’thrush and his Undead Clan. After all, we’re on the side of the demons; to needlessly harm members of the [Six Pillars] is to hasten the downfall of the demons, am I not wrong?” (Gideon)

“Your blood must have all rushed up to your head, for you to think that a mere human like you can hurt me?!  Don’t overestimate yourself Buvul; For what that you are now, don’t even think for one second that you can actually cause any real harm to me-” (Wourein)

An explosion of [Burst Stream] propels my next swing at neck-breaking speeds, unleashing a fierce uppercut towards Wourein who is caught unaware. Even though his reaction speed was fast, I still manage to slice off his entire fist before he retreats a few meters away. If I had been just a little faster, I would have taken off his entire forearm.

At that moment, it was pretty obvious to everyone that Wourein’s face is the very image of anger. His killing intent is stronger than ever, causing me to even flinch ever so slightly by it.

“Don’t…don’t think that just by this, your win is assured! I know that you can’t use [Burst Stream] forever, especially with that human body of yours…let’s see whose physique can last longer, shall we?!” (Wourein)

He focuses on his missing fist and within seconds, another one grows right back out of the severed area. Wourein shakes and flexes his newly grown hand, his eyes burning in fury.

Werewolves have regenerative capabilities and this allows them to regenerate parts of their limbs even if they were to be destroyed or sliced off. However, this will temporarily eat at their stamina and vitality until the destroyed body parts were fully grown back.

However, elite werewolves are able to perform high speed regenerations which give their body a rapid healing factor. Recovering from any form of damage, with the exception of the brain, will only take a matter of seconds. High speed regenerations do take quite a bit of energy and stamina, but it is definitely better than a permanent loss of combat strength.

Combining this together with their high movement and attacking speeds, are what that makes werewolves such a huge threat to the humans.

“Don’t underestimate me, Wourein. I may be slightly weaker in terms of physical strength as compared to my previous body, but my speed is now incomparable to when I was an Ogre Lord. Not to mention that, my physique is just as good as the old me. In some ways, you can say that I’m stronger than before, especially when I’m to deal with speed-orientated beings such as you.” (Gideon)

I ready myself for his counter-attack and decide to warn him once again, against my better judgment of his personality.

“As a form of goodwill, I gave you that slight window of opportunity to recover the severed fist of yours. This is your last chance, Wourein. Give up and let me go in peace, or suffer repeated mutilations until your eventual surrender.” (Gideon)

Of course, he won’t surrender immediately, that I expected as much. I was hoping that my words will at least make him consider and think about giving up the fight, but it looks like that’s too much to hope from a battle maniac…

“Yes…you are indeed still strong, as expected of one who was once a [Six Pillars]. Being able to adapt to a human body in such a short period of time and unleashing this level of strength, equal to that of those pesky [Heroes], should not come as a surprise. But don’t you dare underestimate me! I haven’t even unleashed more than half of my total strength yet!” (Wourein)

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Author : Kiribou

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