Liens was the first to break the standoff, charging towards the Wind Wolf not far away.

This wasn't recklessness, but a choice he had no alternative for.

He couldn't let his wound bleed indefinitely, otherwise, even if he killed the Wind Wolf, he might die from excessive blood loss.

When his injuries were beyond what even a Healing Potion could cure, the Instructor would undoubtedly give up on him directly.

Just like the person with the severed arm earlier, he was abandoned precisely because ordinary Healing Potions couldn't restore limbs.

So, he needed to deal with the Wind Wolf in front of him as quickly as possible.

Only by passing the assessment could he obtain a Healing Potion from the Instructor to recover from his injuries.

"Awoo--"

Seeing Liens charging towards it, the Wind Wolf let out a roar to express its fighting spirit.

The Wind Wolf's roar was still loud, but compared to before, its tone had inevitably lowered somewhat.

Liens could hear its weakness in that roar, but having learned his lesson, he couldn't afford to be careless again.

During his charge, Liens constantly observed the surrounding air and paid attention to the Wind Wolf's reactions.

Facing Liens's attack, the Wind Wolf, apart from its earlier roar, made no active attacking moves, instead adopting a conservative defensive stance.

This was in stark contrast to its frenzied attacks at the very beginning.

It was truly very weak now.

Whether it was the significant blood loss from its wounds or the 'magic' consumed by releasing Wind Blades earlier, its condition was rapidly deteriorating.

Its physical state no longer allowed it to engage in intense activity.

Therefore, it chose to stand still, defending against the enemy's attack.

Confirming there were no signs of 'Wind Blade' around him, Liens once again approached the Wind Wolf's body, bringing the distance between them within each other's attack range.

The Wind Wolf swung its sharp claws, intending to add a few more wounds to Liens's body; seeing Liens dodge, it quickly followed up with a biting attack.

Watching the gaping maw snap towards him, Liens remained expressionless, shifting his body sideways to dodge the large mouth.

Then he swung his sword at the Wind Wolf's exposed neck; the longsword scraped off the Wind Wolf's fur and broke through its tough 'hide armor,' but ultimately, it didn't penetrate much flesh.

The swinging longsword brought out a small amount of blood, scattering it on the ground, adding another splash of fresh red to the already dark red earth.

Liens knew that with the Wind Wolf's defense, his unburst sword earlier would be difficult to cause effective injury.

It was essentially a futile effort, but he still swung that sword.

And it was all to prepare for the subsequent fatal blow. Sаmplе frоm Мy Virtuаl Librаry Еmpirе—rеаd mоrе оn

With one side of its neck wounded, the Wind Wolf instantly turned its head towards the injured direction, its gaping maw opening again, biting at Liens, who was beside it.

Its reaction was very quick, instantly judging Liens's position based on the wound's location.

But unfortunately, Liens needed precisely this kind of reaction from it.

The Wind Wolf didn't notice that its head was now directly facing Liens, and its body's inertia was still in the phase of exerting force forward.

In other words, if Liens attacked it at this moment, its body would be unable to defend in time.

Holding his longsword level, he lunged forward with a direct thrust.

Seeing the awaited opportunity arrive, Liens's body instantly exerted force, unleashing an extremely fast sword thrust towards the Wind Wolf's head, which was directly facing his longsword.

"Puff"

That was the sound of blood spurting from Liens's chest and thigh wounds after his body exerted force.

But this did not prevent his longsword from piercing unimpeded through the Wind Wolf's left eye and into its brain.

For normal animals, no matter how tough their fur, their eyes are still the most fragile part of their flesh.

And this was also one of the attack methods Liens had envisioned after discovering the Wind Wolf's strong defense.

"Awoo...woo"

After its brain was pierced, the Wind Wolf fell to the ground, unconsciously uttering its final whispers.

Seeing the Wind Wolf fall, Liens pulled his longsword from the Wind Wolf's eye socket and stuck the longsword, stained with a bit of 'white pulp,' into the ground.

He gasped for breath, easing the feeling of weakness caused by the massive blood loss from the intense physical exertion.

Liens hadn't expected this battle to be so perilous.

Even though his overall strength was significantly greater than that Wind Wolf, he nearly fell here.

For him, this was an unspeakable lesson.

Ultimately, he was too arrogant.

Being in the second position in the Training Camp for a long time made him feel that no one was his opponent except the Instructor.

In reality, this feeling was not an illusion, but a conclusion he had verified with each swing of his sword.

But precisely because of this, his arrogance deepened.

After realizing that the Wind Wolf was merely a troublesome nuisance that posed no threat to him, he began to be careless.

At that time, he forgot his experiences of being counter-killed multiple times when he was weak, and believing he understood the Wind Wolf, deep down he only had disdain for that Wind Wolf.

This also set the stage for his eagerness to attack and his neglect of the 'Wind Blade' formation.

He would remember this short-lived battle because it taught him a very simple truth.

Arrogance is an accelerator towards death.

Actually, when the Wind Wolf was continuously attacking him with 'Wind Blade,' there was a cyan light cluster beside him that hadn't moved and was becoming increasingly deep in color.

If he hadn't been so careless, or if he had understood the Wind Wolf or the 'Wind Blade' magic well enough, he wouldn't have suffered this loss.

"Congratulations, you've passed the assessment. Now, follow me and leave this 'arena.' Don't delay the others' time."

"Here... drink this. You should have seen its effects."

The Instructor, who had walked up to Liens at some unknown point, interrupted his contemplation and handed him a bottle of Healing Potion.

"Thank you, Instructor!"

Liens took the potion and thanked the Instructor.

Then, he uncorked the potion and tilted his head slightly, drinking all the liquid in the bottle.

As the Healing Potion's liquid went down, Liens felt a warm current flow throughout his body.

Immediately after, his minor wounds quickly closed and disappeared, and the two large wounds on his body rapidly stopped bleeding and slowly began to scab over.

He felt the pain from those two wounds disappear, replaced by an itching sensation, which indicated that his injuries were gradually recovering.

At the same time, his complexion, which had been somewhat pale from excessive blood loss, slowly regained its healthy color.

The feeling of weakness vanished, replaced by a sense of abundant energy.

"Keep up."

Seeing Liens's body begin to recover after taking the potion, the Instructor told him to quickly follow.

Liens said nothing more, following the Instructor's steps to leave the 'arena,' exiting the surrounding wall, and also seeing the other Trainees waiting outside.

"You know where to go, I don't need to point it out again, just wait over there."

"Oh, by the way, what's your name?"

The Instructor asked Liens for his name.

"Liens, Instructor, my name is Liens."

Liens responded with what seemed like excitement, but inwardly, he felt troubled.

"So, I've been noticed after all? Is it because the strength I displayed was significantly different from my usual performance, which drew attention?" Liens thought to himself.

"Liens... Alright, I know. You can go now." The Instructor repeated Liens's name.

Upon hearing this, Liens, like the 'first person' who had expressed himself at the beginning, saluted the Instructor, then turned and walked towards that spot.

Before leaving, he also made a 'cheering' gesture towards Ben.

"What a coincidence..."

The Instructor looked at Liens's retreating figure, recalling the request Marvin, who was still alive last night, had made to him.

But he quickly dismissed the thoughts that had just arisen and calmly said to the other Trainees outside the arena:

"Next one."