Chapter 49 - Deadly Queen (2) (1/2)

Enraged, the queen turned around and used its tail to hit Wulf. Fortunately, the wolfkin perceived the attack through the skill 'Beastly Instincts' and barely evaded it.

However, the queen's tail began to glow at that moment.

When Wulf evaded the queen's attack, he prepared to counterattack using a skill against the beast. But at that moment, a strong sense of danger filled him. The warning from coming from 'Beastly Instincts' caused his expression to change; with a terrified face, he moved all his mana towards his legs and jumped away from the queen with all his strength.

And then, the tail that he evaded just a second ago, hit the ground.

With a bright glow, the skill in the queen's tail activated. The space around the point of impact shook briefly, and an instant later, a powerful explosion occurred.

Despite the warning of his skill, Wulf was unable to escape completely the area of effect of the queen's attack. At last, he resorted to activate the skill 'Steel Body' at maximum output to protect his body, but even it was not enough to avoid being seriously injured.

To be honest, Wulf could not be considered outstanding between other level five. His skills were pretty average and his combat techniques lacked finesse. He was unable to compare with a mage like Caira or an irregular like D'vina when it came to combat power. Actually, the only reason that he survived until becoming a level five was the skill 'Beastly Instincts'.

'Beastly Instincts' was a powerful skill, only a level below the skill 'Precognition', one of the most valuable skills known.

But even a skill as powerful as that was unable to close completely the gap between him and the queen. So, when the queen used a skill that he was unable to evade despite knowing about it beforehand, Wulf could only make his best to endure the attack.

When the skill's effects finally stopped, one of Wulf's front limbs had been crippled, and his entire body was filled with injuries.

*SCREEEEECH!!!* The Queen Brooder cried in glee before jumping towards the injured level five to finish him. When the other three members of his team saw it, they tried to stop the monster, but it simply strengthened its defenses and ignored their attacks before continuing with its attack.

Wulf growled painfully, but he was someone that reached level five after all. He did not panic despite facing the beast's attack, and instead, used all his mana to activate his third skill, 'Wolf Pride'. Different from 'Steel Body', this skill ignored defense in exchange for a powerful boost to his strength and speed. Wulf knew that he was unable to endure another attack from the monster, so he decided to discard any form of defense and concentrate completely in evading the beast long enough for the other three to come at his rescue.

However, Wulf underestimated the queen's strength.

If the first queen could be considered young and inexperienced, the second one was powerful, old and wise. It knew that it had to decrease the number of enemies quickly if it wanted to survive the fight.

So, now that it had a great opportunity to kill an enemy, it wasn't going to waste it.

At the moment when Wulf tried to avoid the queen, it activated the skill 'Intimidation'.

To be honest, this kind of skill wasn't very useful in fights against beings of the same level. After all, the mana and ki inside a super's body would move automatically when it detects something affecting the body, eliminating any adverse effect towards the host. Because of it, 'debuffs' are not useful when the difference in strength between the user and the victim is not large enough.

Wulf's body reacted at the instant when the skill was unleashed, and the mana inside his body moved quickly, helping him to recover from the skill almost immediately.

Despite it, however, the queen's skill was able to stop Wulf for a very brief instant.

And that brief instant was all it needed to kill its enemy.

When Wulf recovered his movement, the scythe-like claw of the queen was already before him.

He tried to use his remaining claw to stop the attack, but the queen's attack cut through his limb as if it was butter.

Wulf made a surprised expression when he saw it. In a last attempt to survive, he tried to move his body aside to avoid the attack, but strangely, his body refused to answer.

When he moved his sight to see what was wrong, he found his body falling backward powerlessly while blood flowed non stop from the place where his head was supposed to be placed.

'Fuck.' With that thought, the first level five from the group died.

"Bastard!" Caira swore when she saw it. She knew that the situation was spiraling out of their control. If things continued like this, every one of them would end dead.

D'vina also furrowed her brows when Wulf died. She did not expect the queen to be so decisive. It chose to endure the attacks coming from the three of them before leaving Wulf escape.

With an excited cry, the queen turned towards the other three. It had been injured in the process of killing Wulf; and though none of its injuries was fatal, they were enough to decrease its combat power. That did not decreased its bloodlust however. Before the other three could process the death of their companion, it lowered its stance and jumped towards the next enemy.