The Amber Sword volume 3 - Chapter 142

Chapter 142 – Misthowler
Brendel’s vision was a mouth coming at him filled with sharp fangs. An awful stench erupted in his nose as the Warg growled at him. Scarlett felt as though time had stopped for a moment as the wolf’s jaws closed down.
Any Gold-ranked warrior would be greatly injured by the attack.
But Brendel turned around at a sharp angle and shouted:
“Wind, unshackle me!”
The Wind Dance spell was cast on himself. It was a cantrip spell similar to the spell Feather Fall. Brendel copied this technique from an Elementalist player who founded this technique. It allowed the angle of a flight direction to be changed, allowing an Elementalist to dodge at sharp angles, and became one of the signature low-level spells in PvP.
Although Brendel was not an Elementalist, it was required to at least know the trick in order to deal with it in PvP. Wings appeared behind Brendel’s back and he suddenly jerked sideways, causing the Warg to miss him.
An angry howl was made as the Warg realized it failed to bite the youth, and the latter spun around and grabbed onto its fur with both hands while quickly sheathing his sword. It seemed like Brendel had managed to ride on the Warg, but it was nothing like that.
The monster was moving so fast that the wind seemed to smash against him. Its reaction was also swift when it sensed Brendel had grabbed onto it. The ground shook as it landed and tried to shake him off. Brendel did not stop moving and pulled out Halran Gaia with one hand and stabbed it into the wolf’s spine.
A stream of blood spurt out from the Warg.
[Wow. A level 40+ NPC piercing through the defenses of a boss that’s at least level 60. An ordinary weapon wouldn’t even break its skin, and any weaker Fantasy-ranked sword would just cause a simple flesh wound. As expected of the highest tier amongst its class, Halran Gaia’s sharpness and hardness allow me to bypass the level difference.]
Misthowler let out a sharp cry. Its blood quickly turned into a mist and spread out with the wind.
“Don’t breathe the air that’s tainted with the Warg’s blood!” Brendel quickly covered his nose and mouth as he shouted. A corrupted monster’s blood, especially when it’s a high-level one, was more like poison.
He quickly jumped off from the Warg’s back. Someone who was inexperienced with it might have stayed behind and continued attacking it, but any monster that had an Element Power would not be that easy to deal with.
Mist gathered around the Warg and formed into four whips that swept against its back at different angles. if the youth still remained there, he would have been crushed by them.
The wolf only took a few moments to realize that the human had landed on the ground. His cunning actions had greatly surprised it. It believed that each of its attacks would have killed him, but he dodged it every single time.
Once or twice might be a coincidence, but escaping three times was an anomaly, and it immediately chose to distance itself from Brendel. The entire exchange was only a few seconds. The people far away were only able to see blurry afterimages, and only Scarlett and Quinn saw things clearly. The red-haired girl was unable to discern how strong the creature was when Brendel avoided it so easily, but Quinn paled a little.
As a Tree Elf protecting the Green Tower, he had encountered countless monsters and the Warg was one of the most powerful opponents he had ever seen. Yet even when it attacked the young human first, it was him who gained the upper hand by using a perfect control over deft tricks, almost as though he predicted how the Misthowler would attack.
His guess was not wrong.
Even though Wargs had their unique names, they attacked in similar ways. Brendel knew that the Misthowler was preparing to attack again after a moment of consideration. It lowered its body and lunged at him again.
[It’s too fast. I’m not steady on my feet yet—]
Brendel made a judgment that he was unable to dodge it. He quickly conjured up the spell Barkskin and activated it at full speed. Black Ironbark covered his entire body.
[250 MP spent to create 5 armor, with Bahamut’s Grasp at 7 armor. Let’s see if 12 armor holds up against one attack.]
He needed to make the Warg focus its attention on him. If it had gone for Scarlett or Quinn during that jump, they might have been torn into two. He was the only one capable of escaping from it. Halran Gaia was raised over his head, preparing to receive his foe’s attack.
But that was unnecessary.
The monster’s charge was halted mid-way. Two green lines descended from the air, firing straight into the Warg’s body.
[Arrows of Purity!?]
Brendel immediately identified the projectiles. The Warg could easily ignore any ordinary arrows shot at it, but these arrows were certainly not ordinary. Lore stated they were divine arrows blessed directly by the Goddess Nia, the counter to all monsters born from Chaos or Darkness. It was a little exaggerated, but these Arrows of Purity could indeed suppress a monster’s Element Power. If the Warg was struck by them, then it would become an ordinary monster with the stats of a Gold-ranked creature.
But the Warg felt an instinctive fear from the arrows and immediately retreated away from them. Perhaps it had encountered a similar power in the past.
Scarlett jumped down as well. Her first attack came after a few seconds of preparation.
‘Lightning, Seventh Chord’; her strongest technique.
She knew that the Warg was one of the strongest opponents she had ever encountered and struck at it with all her strength.
Five lightning bolts shot out from her left hand, more potent than when she fought against Madara’s elite general Iamas, and they shot towards the Misthowler’s body while rotating around each other with frightening velocity and sound.
An explosion of noise rang out.
The light intensified and forced the girl’s eyes to narrow. Electricity surged and ran all over the air, but to her surprise, the lightning did not reach the Warg. A mist shrouded it and with a shake of its body, the mist expanded forcefully and dispelled the electricity.
Scarlett thought that she was able to at least halt the monstrous wolf for a few seconds, but since it did not, she quickly went into a stance and observed it.
The Warg turned around and stared at her with a pair of glowing red eyes.
She held her breath as the Warg’s muscles tensed up—
“Quinn!” Brendel yelled at the top of his lungs.
When the Warg jumped away, it distanced itself by nearly sixty meters. It was impossible for him to help her in time. Even if Scarlett had the status of a God Acolyte, getting struck by it would mean that she would probably need to stay in bed for at least half a month.
At least, that was how long she needed when she fought against Ekman—
The Tree Elf did not need Brendel to tell him; his bow was ready and it was another two Arrows of Purity, forcing the Misthowler to retreat. The monster roared in anger, frustrated that it failed to even land an attack on its foes.
A low bellow came from its throat, ordering the Dire Wolves and its minions to attack the three people that came after it.
[Fifteen seconds— Fuck, I almost screwed up. Even with the Golden Apple, her Element Power lost out to the Warg. I originally wanted Quinn to suppress the Dire Wolves, but it looks like their roles have changed since he has the Arrows of Purity.]
“Scarlett, deal with the surrounding wolves,” Brendel gave a new order with a yell, “Quinn, aim for the silver tuft of fir on the Misthowler’s head. That’s where its Mana Point is.”
A creature corrupted by Mana gather its Mana at a certain point, and it could be seen as a fatal vital point.
Quinn narrowed his eyes and indeed found a small patch of silver that seemed to glow a little. He hesitated for a moment before he quickly raised his bow; it was a small area and the Warg was fast enough to dodge his projectiles.
Two Arrows of Purity formed between his fingers and on the bowstring, but he did not release them, as he wanted to wait for a better opportunity.
Scarlett created a continuous loop of lightning to the wolves that charged in, immediately causing their skin to rupture and burn up with a choking stench.
Brendel started running to the Warg’s side and the monster’s eyes momentarily went towards the youth, recalling that he had injured it. However, it felt a different source of danger and became restless and uneasy.