Shindo was bloodied and breathing heavily while he leaned against the altar, staring coldly at the werewolf.
To his side, Captain Valen held her longsword surrounded by corpses that lay all around her.
Soren could feel the bloodlust radiating from both sides as he remained passive.
He knew if he tried to interject himself, he would most likely be wolf meat.
The werewolf shifted its jaw before a loud sound rumbled from its neck.
“Ahem,” the werewolf growled, clearing its throat and surprising Soren.
“Who… are you?
Female?
This… is my… prey.”
Captain Valen stared at it strangely, almost amused by the attempt of communication with the Abyssal Creature.
It wasn’t every day an Abyssal Creature spoke to a human.
It usually only happened if they tried to mimic human intelligence or if they were high enough along the ranks or manifestations.
“He is not your prey,” she replied coolly.
“He is a… friend of a friend.”
Soren saw Shindo look from the captain to him immediately, surprise evident in Shindo’s expression.
Soren could understand that.
Shindo definitely knew that Soren was all alone on the other island, utterly unprepared for an Order Break of the Divine level.
Hell, he was surprised that he was still alive too!
Shindo straightened up and raised his fists.
“Abyssal scum.
I can tell you possess some intelligence.
If you leave right now, I will spare your lives.”
The werewolf stared at Shindo before a deep rumble sounded from it, obvious that it was laughing in mockery at Shindo.
“You… humans are… funny… I have… tasted… your kind… many times… before I came… across you…Your existence will fuel my… ascension… You are weak and I will consume you…”
Before it could even finish, Captain Valen and Shindo launched themselves at the wolf pack.
This was nothing like the horde of bat-like creatures they fought earlier.
No, it was obvious these Abyssal Creatures were strong individually and stronger together.
The moment Captain Valen moved, the pack responded, surging to her.
However, unfortunately for them, they were tossed into all different directions due to her ability to change the momentum of anything nearby her.
Taking advantage of this, Shindo rushed to the center of the pack with the captain and stood before the werewolf creature.
The werewolf growled before a pressure erupted from it, causing Soren to tremble just by being in the near vicinity of it.
It wasn’t like the Transcendent aura being released by Captain Valen.
No, it was definitely a specialized pathway ability.
“I am an Echoed Transcendent Abyssal Creature!” It boomed, swiping at the two Transcendents.
“Kneel!”
The command wasn’t just spoken.
It was a command backed by the tyranny of its Transcendent ability.
A sudden, crushing gravity slammed down onto the cathedral floor.
Soren’s knees buckled and hit the stone with a sickening crack, causing every bone and wound to flare.
Then, Soren felt a pervasive command echo through his mind, forcing him to kneel through compulsion rather than physically.
A strong and firm gripped Soren’s shirt before he was thrown far back, away from the presence established by the Abyssal Creature.
He landed on a bed of vines, catching his fall.
He gasped as clutched his knees in pain while looking at Rivor, mouthing a thank you for throwing him away from the insidious ability.
Meric quickly ran over, sweat beading all throughout his body as he placed the glowing green hands over Soren’s knees and healed it.
Soren could immediately feel a sense of relief from the healing.
He itched to go jump in the fight but he didn’t think he’d be of much help rather than be a liability.
Yet, at the center of the pressure, Captain Valen and Shindo held their ground.
She narrowed her eyes as she warped the unbearable gravity around her to simply cease.
Next to her, Shindo remained standing as easily as the captain was, her ability acting as an umbrella against the onslaught by the werewolf.
“Something I’m very familiar with.”
The alpha roared, cracking the remaining stained-glass windows that remained overhead and throwing debris all over the place.
The pack reacted instantly, their bodies swelling in size and strength in response.
Before the Abyssal Creatures could close in, Shindo dissolved from Soren’s view.
He dashed through the wolves with Transcendent speed and weaved through them with supreme skill.
He struck any wolves that got in the way, smashing them into the walls or the floor.
At the same time, Captain Valen flickered.
She didn’t merely push through the pack.
She simply ran through them.
She phased through any and all Abyssal Creatures in her path, including the alpha werewolf until she appeared behind it.
With unnerving synchronization, Captain Valen launched herself high above the werewolf while Shindo planted his feet and crouched deep under it.
“Die,” they spoke as one.
Valen struck downwards in a devastating strike, her longsword slashing downwards like a bolt of lightning.
At the same time, Shindo launched himself upwards using the pure explosive strength gathered from his legs, driving his fist right up the crotch.
In an instant, the werewolf reacted with terrifying instinct.
Instead of attempting to dodge the two simultaneous Transcendent strikes, it shifted sideways.
Valen’s longsword struck the abomination’s shoulder and cleaved it right off.
Shindo’s fist struck the side of the werewolf’s left leg and shattered it.
The werewolf ignored the pain and instead howled, manifesting a golden crown on top of its head.
“Let’s see you defeat a King within its army,” it said, grinning darkly as blood oozed out of his arm and mouth.
“You cannot manipulate space.”
A heavy authority settled over the area around the werewolf as it forced its will upon the world.
Valen winced as she felt the abilities she possessed be locked away.
Her one solace was the fact that it would’ve taken a lot of entropy to force its will upon another Transcendent.
Shindo, on the other hand, didn’t flinch at the command.
He merely rubbed his shoulders before tensing his muscles.
A dozen sludge-green wolves pounced on the two on all sides.
The two of them struck.
Valen decapitated two of the beasts in a horizontal sweep while Shindo struck one in the face, completely caving it in.
Even with the authority of the werewolf Abyssal Creature suppressing her abilities, Valen was a Transcendent against an Echoed Transcendent.
Her Order was not below the creature’s rank.
In fact, she was on the brink of becoming a Divine.
She took a heavy step forward and teleported, activating Coordinate Swap.
She appeared behind the rest of the Abyssal Creatures, trading places with the dead body she killed earlier.
It just used a lot more entropy.
As long as she makes contact with something, she gains the ability to trade with it.
She stabbed forward, skewering two more wolves with a single strike.
She looked to the side and saw Shindo smashing the heads of two wolves.
She looked up and saw the werewolf, crowned in all its glory, smirking.
It was slowly but obviously healing the grievous wounds it sustained.
It was using the wolves as cannon fodder in order to heal back up.
She narrowed her eyes before crouching and brushing her hands against the stone beneath her boots.
Contact.
Noticing this, the werewolf growled, already having a hunch that she can teleport through contact.
It growled before howling.
“You cannot teleport.”
Valen felt definite shackles lock over her abilities as the second command forcibly and finally sealed away her ability to activate Coordinate Swap but only that.
This would normally be a problem but Valen anticipated and even wanted this.
She still had her other abilities.
Although the crown visibly increased the creature’s strength and healing, it would all be for naught if it drained all its entropy. This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
The creature knew that but could only growl in annoyance that it was forced to drain its entropy to seal her ability.
After all, the ability to teleport at will was a fatal blade that left the user with infinite adaptability.
“Shindo!” Valen shouted, her voice cutting through the snarls of the pack.
“Keep its eyes on you!
Break its balance!”
Shindo didn’t hesitate.
Operating on sheer strength, he kicked off the stone, shattering the stone beneath his feet flying into a flying shower of shards.
Two sludge-green wolves lunged to his sides but Shindo simply grabbed both by the throats and slammed their skulls together.
A sickening crunch sounded as he hurled the limp carcasses straight at the werewolf’s face.
The werewolf swatted the dead wolves aside with its remaining arm, but the distraction was all Shindo needed.
He closed the gap within the seconds it took the werewolf to swat the bodies away, driving a heavy knee straight into the creature’s already-shattered left knee.
The werewolf, already anticipating the strike and sacrificing his left leg, let Shindo and instead slammed a heavy arm straight down into his neck.
The arm suddenly twisted its direction and drove itself straight into its chest.
It slammed itself with the strength of a cannon, howling at the pain it just withstood in the left leg and chest.
The werewolf let out a wet, guttural roar as its left leg gave out entirely, collapsing to one knee.
Driven by pure rage and primal desperation, its yellow eyes locked onto Shindo to issue another crushing decree, uncaring about its entropy reserves.
Valen felt her entropy drain from shifting the strike so that the werewolf would hit itself, fighting the authority and will of the werewolf’s insidious ability.
However, the split-second shift in its attention was exactly what Valen needed.
She didn’t need her Coordinate Swap.
The werewolf was already drained in entropy and was distracting in killing Shindo.
It foolishly thought it had disarmed her and that Shindo was the biggest threat but her ability over space itself extended far beyond elementary spatial manipulation.
Valen stepped forward and pushed.
The world blurred before her as the combination of her Transcendent speed and Vector Shift, the ability to manipulate the momentum, allowed her to travel at a speed not much inferior to teleportation.
She landed right behind the werewolf instantly, leaving no time for the werewolf to even detect her presence.
She swung her blade upwards, Vector Shift enhancing the sword.
Momentum gathered along the blade and accelerated it far beyond its natural limits.
The air screamed as the sword carved a silver arc towards the werewolf.
The air parted as the blade transformed into a blur of pure, annihilating force.
The werewolf realized its mistake too late as Valen’s longsword cleaved straight through its chest, cutting its body in half.
It growled.
“My subjects shall forfeit their lives as fuel for my regeneration!”
The bleeding on its back stopped and started stitching itself before the air instantly turned razor-cold, every particle vibrating with an intense static.
An annihilating web of blue-white lightning erupted across the entire chamber, grounding itself into every single wolf creature simultaneously.
The sheer intensity of the sudden discharge illuminated the Cathedral in a blinding blue, incinerating the pack in a single moment.
Before the alpha’s command could fully take hold, the entire pack collapsed at once into smoldering heaps of charred bone and ash, leaving only a scent of incinerated flesh and ozone.
The mad werewolf looked around, stunned as a desperate growl replaced its menace.
Every single wolf was dead, killed by Rivor in an instant—a testament to his terrifying strength.
The werewolf was depleted of its entropy.
Without missing a beat, Shindo jumped right into its face and brought both his arms above his head, tensing every muscle in his body.
“Now, die.”
Shindo brought down his arm at its face with every fiber of his being and struck.
Its eyes widened in disbelief as it faced death before a large explosion erupted from the place where Shindo struck it, caving the face completely in and killing it instantly.
Silence settled heavily over the ruined Cathedral of the Heavenly Angel.
Valen drove her sword into the ground before leaning on it and swiping a thin trickle of blood from her nose—the price of pushing her entropy against the tyranny of a King Pathway’s multiple commands.
Shindo pulled himself up from the corpse of the werewolf’s headless body and wiped the blood on his arms on his cloak.
Behind the dense vine barricades far away from the cathedral, Soren slowly stood up and walked over, clutching the dream sword.
He looked at the cratered altar, cooked bodies, and the corpse of the werewolf and could only feel awe.
“Are you guys even human?” Soren breathed out, voice echoing through the empty building.
Shindo turned around, offering a weak smirk.
“Nice to see you too, birthday boy.
Happy birthday.”