Chapter 385: Act 142 – The Howl of Fog (Part 1)
As the Howl of Fog lunged forward, its fur bristled, and its massive body blotted out half the sky, as if time itself had come to a halt.
Brendel caught a whiff of a fishy odor rushing towards him, realizing he was nearing the fangs of this beast, and the next moment could mean his end.
For an ordinary warrior of the Golden Realm, this moment would mean certain death.
But let’s not forget, Brendel also had a secondary role as an Elementalist. He turned in mid-air and shouted, “Wind, Release the Bonds!”
A Wind Dance spell was instantly cast upon him. This air-type spell was a trick any apprentice Elementalist would master, designed to slow down one’s fall, originally meant for exploration rather than combat.
However, the creativity of players knew no bounds. Ever since the first Elementalist named ‘deathzone’ used this spell in actual combat to alter flight trajectories and evade incoming attacks, it has become one of the most popular low-level spells among Elementalists in PVP encounters.
Since Wind Dance was merely a trick, as long as one’s willpower reached a level of 20, it could be cast without incantation—
Brendel wasn’t an Elementalist in the past, but he had seen countless videos on how to use this technique. The Howl of Fog had calculated his descending speed and lunged forward, but Brendel spread his wind-crafted wings and suddenly decelerated in the air.
The great wolf let out a roar, narrowly passing him by.
Brendel rode on countless azure feathers, twisting in the air and grasping the silver mane of the Howl of Fog, leaping forward with the beast.
The scene looked like Brendel had mounted the great wolf’s back, but in reality, it wasn’t so leisurely. The Howl of Fog reacted swiftly, realizing Brendel was on its back the moment it missed its strike, and it began to sweep its massive body side to side.
It surprisingly changed direction.
Yet Brendel reacted just as fast; while the great wolf tried to throw him off, he thrust a sword into the area near its spine—Earth’s Sword pierced in as if puncturing a layer of worn leather.
A jet of blood spurted from the wolf’s back.
Brendel couldn’t help but sigh; not to mention he had never considered facing a level 60 monster (Elemental Awakening) with his strength in the low 40s (Golden Lower Tier), even if he had that capability back then, his weapon probably wouldn’t have been enough to breach its defenses.
Normal weapons in the 30s or 40s couldn’t even penetrate the resilient skin of an Elemental-grade monster. Even the same fantasy-grade weapons would barely be able to bypass its defenses. But the added sharpness and hardness of Earth’s Sword made it a precious tool to face higher-level monsters.
With that strike, the results became evident.
The Howl of Fog emitted a mournful howl, but strangely, its blood turned to mist upon contact with the air, dispersing in the wind. Brendel quickly held his breath—monster’s blood wasn’t something to take lightly; for humans, it was mostly a form of deadly poison.
Having landed a hit, he instantly released the mane and jumped to the side. An inexperienced warrior might have remained on the Howl of Fog’s back to attack, but monsters that had undergone Elemental Awakening were far from easy to deal with.
There would be no such thing as attack blind spots.
Sure enough, as he leaped away, white mist billowed from the Howl of Fog, and four white tendrils of mist coalesced by its side. These four tendrils swept horizontally across the wolf’s back; had Brendel still been there, he would have been utterly crushed.
The great wolf, controlling the mist tendrils, quickly realized its opponent had moved, and the human’s cunning astonished it. It had previously believed it had a chance to take the warrior down three times but each time had been evaded at the last moment.
If the first two occasions could be said to be coincidences, then repeatedly escaping wasn’t by chance. The great wolf had a high intelligence, and it immediately jumped back to distance itself from Brendel.
The dazzling exchanges between the man and the beast lasted only a couple of seconds in their descent, and finally, both Brendel and the Howl of Fog landed, bringing their skirmish to a pause.
The spectators in the distance had not clearly seen what occurred; only Quinelle and Xi comprehended everything that had transpired. Xi was fine; she didn’t realize how fearsome the great wolf truly was, but Quinelle’s expression changed.
As a tree spirit who had long lived in this forest, he understood the immense strength of the great wolf.
Yet such a terrifying creature had been momentarily outmaneuvered by that young human during a critical attack. Brendel’s mastery of technique was simply astonishing, as if he understood how the Howl of Fog would attack every time, always taking the initiative.
Brendel indeed knew what the Howl of Fog would do next.
Though each great wolf had a unique name, it was merely a legend; in truth, the Howl of Fog was the title shared by these kinds of wolves.
Wolves that mastered the Element of Mist.
Brendel had engaged in combat with such creatures before and was well aware of their habits. It was like the moment the beast landed, it was already preparing to pounce with bared fangs.
It crouched low to spring, reacting astonishingly fast—Brendel too landed, but regaining his balance was too slow to match the creature’s movements. A full second difference—
This displayed an agility disparity akin to several times over on the battlefield.
Brendel focused his thoughts, the resilience of the trees kicking into full gear, growing a layer of horned skin across his body. It looked terrifyingly dark. He now had close to 250 points of magic power, enabling him to convert 5 points into innate armor.
Coupled with 2 points from the Scarlet Blessing and 5 points from the Fire Shield, he had reached 12 points in total.
Brendel planned to weather the blow.
That was enough; the three of them had jumped from the rock bridge, and this distance was the most dangerous. Brendel’s reason for attacking first was to draw the Howl of Fog’s attention — he knew he alone could evade its attacks in mid-air, while anyone else would face a fatal end.
And he had indeed accomplished this.
Brendel steadied his center of gravity, raising Earth’s Sword with both hands, prepared to directly receive the beast’s blow. Ten seconds. As long as he could weather this hit, the battle would surely be decided.
But the Howl of Fog ultimately didn’t pounce.
Because two green shadows descended from the sky, effectively blocking its advance. Ordinary arrows wouldn’t have fazed this beast, but these arrows were different.
Brendel nearly gasped in surprise upon recognizing them—the Arrows of Life, the mortal enemy of all monsters—the legend stated these were holy relics blessed by the Forest Goddess, possessing the power to rival that of divine artifacts in shattering darkness and chaos.
Of course, that claim was somewhat exaggerated, but the Arrows of Life could indeed temporarily suppress the elemental powers of monsters; meaning if struck, the Howl of Fog would instantly degrade to an ordinary creature at the peak of the Golden Realm.
If it could be hit.
The Howl of Fog clearly wouldn’t allow the arrows to strike. The monsters of the forest and the goddess Nya had long been arch-enemies, both knowing the other’s tactics well. The moment the green arrows were fired, the wolf instinctively sensed the threat, retreating—
Avoiding Quinelle’s arrow but forgoing its attack on Brendel.
Three seconds passed.
Only then did Xi’s attack arrive for the first time. The red-haired girl, just landing, extended her left hand towards the Howl of Fog. “Seventh String of Thunder—” Knowing how powerful this monster was, she immediately used her strongest skill.
Five bolts of lightning surged from her fingertips, far more powerful than when she dealt with the Mistral Shepherd in Shubli. The lightning twisted and spiraled, resembling a dragon made of electricity, intertwining as it shot toward the Howl of Fog.
With a loud boom.
The electric dragon pierced the body of the Howl of Fog, the arcs scattering, forming a dazzling white ball of electricity in the night. But to her shock, it seemed as if the lightning struck a ball of mist; the Howl of Fog’s body suddenly dispersed, dissolving into the air like true fog.
Xi didn’t believe she could eliminate this Elementally Awakened monster in one strike, and she quickly spun around, just in time to see the beast reconstituting its body from a cloud of mist behind her.
A pair of blood-red eyes fixated on her.
Xi almost held her breath.
The great wolf raised its sharp claws—
“Quinelle!” Brendel immediately shouted, as the Howl of Fog, reformed and now merely sixty meters away, was too fast for an attack on him now.
And though Xi possessed the recovery ability of a divine envoy, a single swipe from the Howl of Fog would likely put her out of commission for at least ten days to half a month.
Last time against the divine envoy Eckmen had already taught a valuable lesson—
Quinelle lifted his bow again, firing two more Arrows of Life. The green light once more forced the Howl of Fog to retreat; the monster howled in anger, having grown agitated after multiple attacks that failed to land.
From its throat came a deep growl, commanding the surrounding black wolf lords and their kin to begin their assault.
This was the fifteenth second.
However, Brendel had long anticipated this; this was precisely why he brought Quinelle along—though the young lord had now changed his mind—initially, he had planned for Quinelle to suppress the surrounding black wolf lords while Xi would handle the attacks, but now that the tree spirit leader wielded the Arrows of Life, that changed everything.
“Xi, deal with the monsters around us,” Brendel shouted urgently, “Quinelle, shoot that silver line on the Howl of Fog’s forehead; that’s its magical power convergence point.”
Monsters were catalyzed by magical power, and their convergence points were similar to vital spots of ordinary creatures.
Quinelle paused slightly, squinting; indeed, he saw a faint silver line on the forehead of the gray-white giant wolf. The tree spirit leader hesitated briefly before raising his bow.
Two Arrows of Life appeared on the bowstring.
Meanwhile, a circle of continuous lightning struck the surrounding black wolves, causing these monsters to immediately suffer grievous wounds, their burning fur emitting a nauseating charred smell.
Brendel circled to the side of the great wolf.
But the wolf was also turning, feeling the threat from Quinelle’s arrow; it clearly understood that its weakness had been targeted—this sensation made it somewhat uneasy.
Unease mingled with agitation.
(PS: I’m dizzy… It clearly said it would be published at 8 o’clock… luckily someone asked me… tears streaming down my face) (To be continued, for further developments, please log in; there are more chapters. Support the author, support genuine reading!)
