Chapter 131: Slayer’s Fate - I

"Face me, thief!"

Aventine barely gave the Wolfman a glance before activating the enchantments in the heir’s room, just moments before the leaders of the 16 Claws took control of them.

"Huh? Why are the enchantments already activated—?" One of the leaders of the 16 Claws muttered from several meters behind the charging Wolfman.

Those were... famous last words.

—VWHOOOOM!

Clouds of flame like a barreling tsunami doused the world in the hellish colors of red and orange.

This leader of the 16 Claws was a young Beastwoman with the traits of an eagle and a cheetah combined. Though wingless, her agility was unmatched.

With a swish, her tail kept her balanced as she retreated before priming every muscle in her body.

Her foot came down.

[Burst Step]!

A huge force travelled through her skeleton—but instead of bounding forward, she translated all that force into an open-palm strike facing the tsunami of flames.

[Wind Wall Palm]!

"Hyap!"

—Whoosh!

A gust of wind was blasted forward from the accumulated mana in the Beastwoman’s palm. From its blast, a hand-shaped imprint first formed on the torrent of flames before being violently pushed back.

A backdraft surged as the surrounding flames sought to refill the hole created by her strike, truly acting like some kind of sentient liquid.

"...The hell is this magic?"

The Beastwoman narrowed her gaze as she struck several more times. With every <Burst Step>, there came a powerful <Wind Wall Palm> blasting through the flames.

She had carved a space for her and her companions with sheer brute force of muscles and mana. Allowing them to follow after their eager companion.

Meanwhile...

—Crackle! Boom!

Lightning flashed, snaking towards the 16 Claws vanguard—the now isolated Wolfman—as he charged upwards into the heir’s room. The Wolfman had already slammed his fist into the Space Mage but was left in the dust by an easy <Blink>.

However, he knew that his attack connected.

After all.

"Heh,"

The Space Mage’s arm seemed sore.

Wait...

"...Sore?"

As if doused by cold water, the Wolfman’s momentum wavered. He put his entire body into that punch, and although the Space Mage had escaped...

A hit was a hit!

...Right?

A Mage’s physique should have shattered in that very same instant.

So...

Why was the Space Mage simply shaking their wrist as if someone had merely slapped them?

Suddenly, the soft, unbothered smile on the Mage’s face meant something a little different.

’I’m... outmatched...!’

The Wolfman hesitated. But in that moment of his hesitation, the Space Mage vanished from where he stood.

[Blink].

"You’re also outclassed," Aventine whispered.

Then, there was another blinding flash of light. The Wolfman could feel it burning through his cornea, practically blinding him in the next second.

"...!" Stunned by the realization, the hissing whisper in his ear, and the sudden, searing illumination—

The Wolfman could only react with his instincts. The most famous defensive Martial Art was universal for a reason:

[Immovable Fortress]!

—Clang!

His steel claws slammed against the lethal blade of the <Sword of Light>. A massive spark crackled to life as a gigantic force was transmitted from his claws and into his hands. With all his might, he redirected that monstrous force—

But then...

Suddenly, his arm felt light.

"...Huh?"

The Wolfman, blind as he was, operated on his hearing, smell, and touch. The arm that he used to defend suddenly felt... nonexistent.

Absent.

Instead, his sensitive wolf-shaped snout perceived the scent of blood.

It wafted over from... his left... shoulder...

"AAAAARGH!"

The realization set it, along with the scalding pain of light-attributed mana cutting off his arm. Lethal intent pricked the Wolfman’s instincts just then, but he was still in shock.

All he could do was sway left to dodge, but it wasn’t enough—

—CLANG!

Another impact rang out right beside his ear, mere inches away from his neck. The sparks between steel and claws stung his skin and lit tufts of his fur on fire.

Still blind, the Wolfman staggered to the ground and rolled away as another three rattling impacts resounded in quick succession.

"Get up, Ragi!" Grevira roared as she engaged the Space Mage in an unexpected melee.

"We’re here now, you reckless oaf! You were a step too fast! Let my mana heal you!" Yelled another leader of the 16 Claws.

With Ragi allowing the foreign mana to enter his system...

A warm aura embraced him, and his eyes began mending themselves at a snail’s pace. What had suddenly become a vision of pure white regained a hint of blurry color, like messy oil smudges on canvas.

But Ragi could not sit still.

—Bang!

There was a metallic clap of colliding steel and bone, and suddenly, Grevira was thrown out. Her ragged figure traced an arc through the air and slammed against the dark green walls of the heir’s room, breaking off pieces of emerald-like stone.

Ragi winced.

That probably shattered several of Grevira’s ribs. He wanted to rush over and help; however, Ragi did not have time to settle on that thought for long.

The Space Mage spoke once more:

"Welcome, leaders of the 16 Claws."

Ragi directed his recovering gaze towards the other side of the room, where two figures were fast asleep behind the Space Mage, and one was barely able to stand in meek defiance.

Only the Space Mage, holding a simple and unadorned sword in one hand, had crouched down. One hand had been placed on the ground, hazy with a large efflux of mana.

’That... isn’t the posture one would take before a charge...’ Ragi had such a thought as he warily took a step back.

The other leaders of the 16 Claws finally emerged from the tunnel, having been momentarily separated by the fiery explosion of enchantments the moment Ragi charged in.

Luckily, Grevira braved the flames and rushed to Ragi’s side, shielding him from the Space Mage’s trap.

But that also set everything up for an even wider net.

"It is good to see that you are all in good health." Aventine chuckled. "But this is also goodbye."

The mana in his hand flowed straight from the <Sword of Light>, bearing a distinct density greater than his own.

A wide, bronze-colored magic circle expanded beneath the leaders of the 16 Claws. Their eyes widened in shock and despair.

7th-Circle Fire Magic.

[Pillar of Incineration].