CHAPTER 131: AN INTRUSION INTO THE GAP

As he gripped the massive neck of the winter wolf, Wang Yu forcefully slammed the leader of the pack onto the ground with sheer brute strength. The tremendous impact sent the wolf tumbling uncontrollably, its eyes bloodshot and blood oozing from its ears and mouth. It was unable to stabilize itself enough to counterattack.

Wang Yu had thrown the winter wolf in Edward's direction. Edward stood in its path, his sword at the ready.

Fighting spirit condensed on the trembling blade, which was being supercharged with energy. With a swift upward slash, the iron sword shattered into tiny fragments in Edward's hands, and a blade of fighting spirit shot through the air.

A knight whose reserves and control of fighting spirit reached a certain level would be able to manifest fighting spirit outright. Though this was an ability typically accessible only to grand knights, Edward, who had diligently honed his fighting spirit far beyond his level, was an exception.

The blade of fighting spirit sliced through the air. Though it didn't appear particularly sharp, its destructive power was astonishing. Having predicted the wolf's tumbling path, Edward cleanly severed the wolf's two hind legs without resistance. The blade flew into the forest and cutting down two unlucky pine trees before dissipating.

Hot blood steamed as it gushed out from the winter wolf's stumps.

These winter wolves hadn't been strengthened on a fundamental level; they had simply gone mad. They were fearless of pain and driven by extreme bloodlust. This made the pack highly lethal against hunters who were unprepared.

However, the leader of the wolf pack, which was roughly as strong as a mid-tier knight, had become easier to deal with after losing its rationality. After Wang Yu and Edward killed some of the winter wolves, their leader had charged out—but failed to pose any real threat to the duo.

Even with its hind legs severed, the wolf leader showed no signs of pain or retreat. It opened its maw and let out a piercing roar at Edward.

Blue-white light flickered within the wolf's gaping mouth, and the temperature around its jaws plummeted below freezing. The mana crystal within its body was charging up for its signature spell, Winter's Howl.

However, the long, ear-piercing howl was abruptly cut short, as if someone had stuffed a sock into its mouth—and, in truth, that was almost exactly what happened. Wang Yu, sprinting at full speed across the snow, slid into a tackle and shoved his right hand directly into the wolf's open mouth. The high-quality Voidblade gauntlet protected his hand from the wolf's sharp teeth.

By then, he had already activated his Spellweaver's Tome to produce a simple fireball. Though its damage against a knight-level opponent would be limited, Wang Yu simply wanted to nullify the wolf's ice-based spell.

The fire-attuned mana reacted explosively with the ice-based mana deep in the wolf's throat. Wang Yu's gauntlet-covered hand contained the resulting explosion entirely within the wolf's body. A muffled boom echoed as the wolf's abdomen visibly swelled before it collapsed.

The massive wolf carcass fell to the ground as Wang Yu pulled his smoking right hand from its mouth. A ripple of energy swept out from his body and confirmed that the wolf leader had truly died.

"What's going on with these wolves? They've never acted up before—Selwyn's surely responsible, isn't it?" Wang Yu muttered, frowning.

Despite the surrounding screams and explosions, more roars and battle cries joined the fray. The hunters that had initially been caught off guard and suffered heavy losses, were now realizing that the wolves hadn't grown stronger and were fighting back.

"I'm not sure. Let's see if we can find anything on these wolves. There must be some sign of what's going on," Edward said, stepping forward to examine the massive wolf's carcass.

"Right," Wang Yu nodded. He crouched down, placing his hand on the wolf's body. Ripples of energy flowed from his palm into the lifeless carcass, searching for traces of the void, magic, or anything suspicious.

After a while, Wang Yu shook his head in confusion, his expression a mix of bewilderment and frustration.

"What's wrong? Didn't you find anything?" Edward asked, aware of Wang Yu's powerful detection abilities.

"Nothing at all, aside from its pulped internal organs. Its mana crystal has a fair amount of mana, but there's no trace of any other supernatural factors. There's nothing like the devices I found in the goblins' brains outside the city..."

"That... doesn't seem possible."

"I agree. These wolves couldn't have gone mad for no reason. Something must have changed them, but I didn't detect any traces of the void or unusual mana... Damn it!"

As Wang Yu frowned, a strange sense of familiarity nagged at him. Something felt off.

Suddenly, a burst of blood erupted from the wolf's head as a fleshy mass shot out at incredible speed, aiming straight for Wang Yu's forehead.

Whatever it was, it had no traces of mana, void energy, or even fighting spirit. It launched out of the wolf's head, mere inches from Wang Yu's forehead, at a speed almost invisible to the naked eye. Its writhing tendrils telegraphed its malice and clear interest in Wang Yu's brain.

The attack was so fast and unexpected that Wang Yu's consciousness didn't even register it in time. By the time he realized what had happened, his body had already reacted and grabbed the squirming mass in his gauntleted hand. The thing twisted and writhed like a cluster of earthworms split into several pieces.

"What the hell is this thing? Why didn't I detect it in advance? Did it block my ripples?"

Wang Yu felt a moment of relief. One of the goals of his training had been to ensure his body could act autonomously even without conscious control. Clearly, it had been effective.

Though the sudden attack caught him off guard, his body had moved faster than his mind and grabbed the... thing... before it could reach his head.

Wang Yu looked at the writhing mass in his hand. His ripples hadn't detected it at all. He was growing more and more stupefied by what had happened.

His ripples had failed to detect whatever this was. Until now, his ripples had only ever been obstructed. They never passed over something without being able to detect it.

If there were a way to hide from his ripples, that would be a serious problem—it significantly weakened the effectiveness of his ability.

"No..." As Wang Yu carefully examined the twisted mass in his hand, he started noticing inconsistencies in his initial assumption. The tangled bundle of tendrils seemed to lack any form of extraordinary power.

Wang Yu crushed it into pulp to ensure its death, if it even were alive in the first place. Then, he returned to the winter wolf's body and examined the bloody hole from which the tendrils had emerged. He probed the cavity more carefully with his ripples.

"So that's how it is..." Upon carefully scanning the internal structure of the wolf's skull, Wang Yu discovered an empty cavity that matched the shape of the tendrils when they were fully extended. In other words, the tendrils had originally been attached to the winter wolf's brain. For some unknown reason, they had suddenly detached and attacked him.

As he refined his ripples, more details became clear. Countless minuscule, densely packed conduits lined the wolf's brain around the cavity. It was now obvious what had happened—those tendrils had used tiny filaments to control the winter wolf's brain, explaining its unusually frenzied behavior.

"It must have been purely biological—that's why my ripples didn't detect anything amiss..."

Wang Yu's ripples hadn't malfunctioned. This thing was simply a biological construct. Its abilities and strength came entirely from its own biological structure. That was why his detection had "missed" it—he had been looking for anomalous, void-based forces when there were none.

"If it's purely biological, then no matter how powerful it is, my ripples won't detect it. It's just life, after all. Just like goblins, orcs, and even elves... If they don't actively use transcendental powers, my ripples will only identify them as normal biological entities."

Wang Yu furrowed his brow, deep in thought. While he was relieved that his ripples hadn't failed, this conclusion raised troubling new questions. He had the odd feeling that he was overlooking something crucial.

A sharp whistle from behind snapped Wang Yu out of his thoughts. He rolled sideways just in time to dodge a disk of ice hurtling through the forest at incredible speed, slicing everything in its path—trees, boulders—cleanly in two.

He turned toward its source, only to find a storm of ice spreading through the forest. Something was emerging from within.

A distorted howl rang out. A massive white wolf, even larger than the pack leader he and Edward had just slain, stepped out from the forest. Oddly enough, its eyes were filled with bloodshot veins but had not turned completely red. It shook its huge head violently as two crystalline disks of ice materialized out of thin air and flew toward Wang Yu and Edward.

At close range, the attack was nearly impossible to dodge. Wang Yu twisted and rolled, but the projectile still grazed his back.

His leather armor and chainmail lining provided minimal resistance. The void barrier covering his body shattered instantly. A deep wound split open along his back, but it froze solid even before blood could spurt out. A wave of extreme cold surged through the wound and invaded his body.

However, as the icy chill spread, his blood suddenly ignited with searing heat—Bloodburn Drive had triggered. The burning energy coursing through his veins instantly repelled the freezing force.

A haze of white steam rose from Wang Yu's entire body, giving him a fierce and imposing presence, but his next words shattered that perception instantly.

"Edward, run!"

This was a beast at the level of a grand knight. Even if there were something wrong with its condition, it was still far beyond what either of them could handle. Both he and Edward had been injured in just a single exchange.

Waiting for the Professor's support was their only option.

"I'm on my way." Hugin set down the communication device on his desk. Taking a deep drag from his pipe, he exhaled slowly before pushing open the door to his office and stepping into the Gap.

The instant he entered the Gap, a thick, razor-sharp tendril of flesh and bone pierced straight through his body. The sheer force of the attack drove its blade-like tip through his torso and out the other side, stabbing deep into his office door.

"Hugin, captain of the Nightblades." A grotesque voice echoed through the corridor. "If not for your inner potential, you'd already be dead. Never let your guard down. Have you been rotting away in your office for too long, buried in those useless reports?"

The source of the voice... was a mass of rotting flesh clinging to the walls of the Gap.

The impaled Hugin dissipated into smoke before reforming a few steps away, completely unharmed. His expression remained calm, but his eyes were more serious than ever.

"How did you make it into the Gap?" Hugin's voice was cold. He didn't expect an answer.

"Don't you recognize me?" The lump of flesh writhed grotesquely. "Well, I suppose it's no surprise—you wouldn't recognize me in this state. My old rival... What makes you so confident in this little space of yours? It's just a gap between reality and the void."

The voice crackled and rasped, half mocking, half sinister. "Did you really think it was secure? Look at me. I'm half-void, half-matter. Isn't that all it takes to step inside? Aleisterre is full of holes, like a sieve."

The rotting flesh morphed, slowly shaping itself into a humanoid figure. "Hugin Smokes, you're not going anywhere."

As the figure fully took shape, Hugin's pupils contracted.

"Captain of the Abyssal Gate, Odette..." The name slipped from his lips.