[ Revenge (D): The loss of your loved ones boosts your attack power by 200% for 60 seconds. Can only be activated once a day. ]
Rowan studied the special skill of the demonic wolf pack leader and was quite shocked by what he saw.
"What an odd skill to have," he thought. "But it's understandable—almost the same as Rage for other monsters."
Sadly, this skill wouldn't help him for the time being, but he still copied it anyway. His future was unpredictable, he might lose someone one day, and this skill would come in handy then.
He didn't plan to lose anyone anytime soon, but he couldn't ignore the possibility that it might occur in the future.
While he copied and merged with the skill, the demonic wolf pack leader activated the Revenge skill.
---
Demonic Wolf Pack Leader has activated (Revenge)
Attack power will be boosted by 200% for the next sixty seconds.
---
Rowan received a notification immediately.
The demonic wolf pack leader, which had been staring at the corpses of its dead minions with a mix of sorrow and fury, suddenly let out a blood-curdling howl. Its eyes burned with intense hatred as it fixed its gaze on Rowan. Without warning, it lunged at him with unpredictable speed, closing the distance between them in an instant.
Its massive form pounced toward Rowan, but he merely smirked and sidestepped slightly, causing it to crash into the ground.
However, it didn't give up after missing and went after Rowan once again, swinging its claws at him.
Rowan evaded all its attacks effortlessly.
Fortunately, the demonic wolf pack leader only got a boost in attack power, not agility.
All Rowan had to do for the next sixty seconds was evade until the effect of the skill wore off.
Rowan continued evading each of its attacks.
"Come on, don't tell me you've grown weak so soon," Rowan taunted.
GROWL
As if understanding his words, the pack leader became even more furious, and its attacks became more erratic.
Rowan continued evading and taunting the wolf until the effect of Revenge wore off.
"Heh, your trump card has been played. Time to join your minions in hell, buddy," Rowan grinned, clutching his dagger and darting towards it.
After the Revenge skill's effect wore off, the demonic wolf became even weaker than before it had activated the skill.
Its mind was disoriented, and its limbs were weakened beyond comprehension.
Using this slight advantage, Rowan was able to finish it in less than thirty seconds. He started by wounding its other eye before finding its heart area and stabbing it, causing it to fall to the ground with a loud thud, lifeless.
[ You've slain Boss Monster: Demonic Wolf Pack Leader, Evolution points +3000 ]
[ 100x rewards | 300,000 evolution points have been rewarded ]
Rowan smiled, observing the gigantic corpse of the wolf lying in front of him.
"Haha, time to harvest some monster cores!" Rowan muttered happily.
He looked at the other corpses beside him, and a sharp smile appeared on his face.
He started harvesting the cores immediately, beginning with the other demonic wolves, who dropped one F-rank monster core each, totaling fifty.
Afterwards, he climbed onto the huge demonic wolf pack leader's body and stabbed his sword through its skull several times until he felt the presence of a hard object inside.
Due to the gigantic body frame, Rowan had to dig for some minutes before his hands finally came in contact with the monster core.
[You've obtained E-rank monster core]
He analyzed the rank of the monster core with his inspection skill.
"This is very good," Rowan muttered to himself, turning the E-rank monster core over in his hands. Its surface glowed faintly, pulsating with condensed mana. "I wonder how much it'll boost Blaze's cultivation. Maybe this will push him to a new level," he speculated, feeling a surge of excitement.
"Blaze, come over here, here is your reward," he called.
Blaze strolled toward him with eyes shining with interest as they landed on the monster core in Rowan's hands. Blaze could perceive the strong mana coming from it and knew it was several times stronger than the ones he had absorbed in the past.
Rowan first observed Blaze's status.
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[BLAZE]
Race: Ashfire Wolf
Advanced Realm (Low-stage - 66%)
Unlocked skills: Fireball (Lv 4), Flame Synchronization (Lv 2), Fire Disk (Lv 1)
---
Blaze was halfway towards a minor breakthrough in his new realm, which was already great considering that not much time had passed.
"This monster core is much stronger than the one you absorbed last time. Are you sure you'll be able to absorb it?" Rowan asked.
Blaze responded immediately, assuring Rowan not to worry.
Without hesitation, Rowan fed him the E-rank monster core.
The same process as usual occurred, and after almost a minute, Blaze was done absorbing the mana in it.
[Your pet has had a minor breakthrough]
Rowan observed his new status afterwards.
---
[BLAZE]
Race: Ashfire Wolf
Advanced Realm (Mid-stage - 53%)
Unlocked skills: Fireball (Lv 4), Flame Synchronization (Lv 2), Fire Disk (Lv 1)
---
Rowan nodded after observing it.
Blaze was a whole realm stronger than before, so it would require more monster cores to level up.
Although he was expecting some miraculous major breakthrough, the result now was still amazing.
"I will give you some monster cores to take with you into your home world. But don't absorb all of them at once, alright?"
Blaze agreed.
Rowan gave him thirty F-rank monster cores afterwards.
Blaze helped Rowan burn up the corpses of the demonic wolves before going back into the Divine Beast Plain.
The corpses were burned in an open space, so there weren't any worries of forest fire.
Rowan even waited for the fire to go out before returning to the village.
It was evening now, and the sun had already retired for the day.
Rowan returned home with a smile, unaware of the news awaiting him.
---
_Wishiros 7th School of Magic, Yellow River City_
Inside a fairly dark room in the vast school, the culprit from earlier could be seen sitting, bound to a wooden chair with chains.
His body had been bloodied beyond description, and he was bleeding profusely from all parts.
Three instructors in the school stood around him with hateful gazes on their faces.
"You still don't want to speak, huh?" one of them asked angrily.
"We should have killed this bastard long ago. Keeping him alive is useless!" another reacted.
"Calm down, Lawrence. Even if you beat this bastard to death, it won't bring your star apprentice back to life," the third one said, tapping the second speaker on the shoulder.
The culprit watched the interaction while his mind wandered.
"What should I do now? I have failed the dark-robed angel!" he thought.
He looked around the room.
All the magic instructors here were stronger than him. Even the weakest of the three was twice as strong as he was. Fighting his way out was out of the question.
Also, even if he managed to beat these three and burst out of here, he wouldn't be able to escape the extraordinary defenses of the school!
"I never expected that bastard to escape," he thought bitterly, clenching his fists despite the chains that bound him. "If only I had caught him, I wouldn't be in this mess. He was supposed to be the scapegoat, taking the fall while I reaped the rewards. Now everything's gone wrong!"
His mind wandered.
He recalled the scene where he spoke with the dark-robed angel—a powerful dark magic entity he found in the Dark Forest one day while hunting.
The dark-robed angel promised him amazing monetary rewards if he succeeded in capturing Dragun and pinning the crime on him. He promised he would come save him the moment Dragun was captured.
However, the deal also had a penalty for failure—death!
Not just death, but one in the most horrible manner!
"I just have to keep stalling for time here. The dark-robed angel wouldn't dare step into the school to kill me if I'm under their care," he thought, letting out a sigh.
He glanced up at the instructors, who were still arguing, and his gaze settled on one of them.
The instructor smirked at him.
Suddenly, his eyes widened in terror as he witnessed a startling transformation. For a brief moment, the instructor's face contorted and shifted, morphing into the sinister visage of the dark-robed angel—cold, piercing eyes and a wicked grin that sent chills down his spine.
"No! He's here!" he shouted. "Please, kill me at once!"