My Werewolf System

Chapter 1811  The Unmovable Alpha

Lupus could feel the wet, heavy resistance of Unzoku’s flesh through his gauntlet. It was a clean, punishing hit. As his fist buried itself into the monster's face, it felt as though the very bones and musculature of Unzoku’s head were reconstructing and shifting around the point of impact to keep his skull from shattering.

A sound like a cannon blast echoed through the ruins, the kinetic energy of the Qi-infused strike rippling outward. Unzoku’s entire body was thrown back, but he didn't tumble. He skidded across the broken stone, his heels carving deep furrows in the earth for several meters before he came to a halt. His muscles began to bulge and ripple under his skin, his entire frame swelling as he grew slightly larger, fueled by a surge of primal rage.

“Beast weapons... so you’re relying on cheap toys and tricks now!” Unzoku spat, his voice distorted by his mangling jaw. He didn't wait to recover; he rushed forward, his arms becoming a blur as he threw out a barrage of heavy hits.

The first was a wild, wide swing, a Haymaker that displaced the air around it. Lupus could tell by the sheer displacement of wind that the hit was lethal. When he moved to block, he didn't just raise his arm; he shifted his entire center of gravity so his whole body could absorb the weight of the blow. The fist slammed into the shield with the force of a falling building, the impact lifting Lupus clean off the ground.

Before Lupus could even reorient himself in mid-air, Unzoku followed up with a brutal strike from the opposite side. This time, it was Lupus’s turn to be sent bouncing across the debris. He hit the ground once, but before he could be sent tumbling into the ruins, his shield began to glow with a fierce, pulsating light.

“Anchor!” Lupus roared.

It was one of the primary active skills of the shield. At any moment, Lupus could anchor himself to the ground with a localized gravitational lock. He could have used it the moment the first hit landed to keep from being moved, but he knew the physics of combat better than that, taking the full force of Unzoku’s strength while pinned to the ground would lead to him being hit by a barrage of punches. He had used the flight to bleed off the momentum, only activating the skill now to stop his retreat.

His entire body suddenly stuck to the ground as if an immense, invisible weight had been placed upon him. He became an unmovable pillar of iron. Unzoku, seeing his target stop, was quick to capitalize. He swung his arm wide again, putting his full weight into a powerful follow-up strike.

“I don’t know how long you’ve been this monster, Unzoku, but it seems you’ve forgotten how to actually fight!” Lupus shouted, thrusting the shield out with one hand. “You haven't learned a single thing from your mistakes!”

As Unzoku’s arm swung in, it was suddenly caught in the shield’s secondary active skill, a magnetic pulse. The swinging arm was unnaturally drawn toward the center of the shield, forced to punch the reinforced metal instead of the opening Unzoku had targeted. This left Unzoku’s entire side exposed.

Lupus didn't hesitate. He punched hard, driving his fist into Unzoku’s shoulder. Not only did the physical strike slam into the opponent’s body, but the Qi-infused frost immediately bloomed upon contact, covering a large portion of Unzoku’s torso in a jagged layer of ice.

Unzoku roared and tried to strike again, but Lupus kept the shield wide. Every time Unzoku targeted a weak point, the shield’s magnetic pull guided the strikes back to the metal plate. It was a perfect defensive loop.

Lupus was in a state of flow now. He used the shield to dictate where the attacks landed, then delivered punishing counter-punches to different parts of Unzoku’s massive frame. Frost marks began to appear all over the monster, on his ribs, his neck, and his head. Unzoku was visibly slowing down, the biting chill of Lupus’s powers beginning to numb his superhuman reflexes.

The reason Lupus was faring so well was the precise combination of his gear. Without the "Anchor" skill, his arm would have been wrenched from its socket when he held the shield out wide to catch those heavy blows. The gravitational lock kept his body in place, allowing the shield to do its job.

Still, the cost was rising. Lupus’s striking arm felt incredibly numb, and the arm holding the shield felt as though the shoulder might give way at any second. It was only the structural integrity of his armor and the raw tenacity of his own body that kept him standing.

And, of course, there was the joy. A dark, cold satisfaction filled Lupus as he slammed another fist into the side of Unzoku’s head, sending the creature’s body swinging to the side. Before Unzoku could recover, Lupus slammed the shield itself into the other side of the monster's face.

“I can tell... you’re the type of damned creature that just keeps getting back up, no matter how hard I pound you into the dirt,” Lupus growled. He looked around at the shattered remains of his home. “For someone like you, blunt force isn't enough. I need to slice you into pieces.”

There was one active skill left on the shield that would be useful for a situation like this, the one he had been saving for the killing blow.

“How dare you set foot in my castle? The home you destroyed,” Lupus said, his voice rising with a king's fury. “If I don't kill you for returning here, then I am no longer fit to lead!”

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