Chapter 188: Tail, Research, Training, Day of Reversal

On top of the dining table.

Ayla’s hands tightly gripped the edge of the tabletop while all four limbs pressed against the surface, her center of gravity lowered to the extreme, looking exactly like a she-wolf preparing to pounce.

As the wooden board beneath her feet let out a faint groan, her entire body shot forward like an arrow released from a bowstring.

This posture utilizing all four limbs was precisely the close-range killing technique most commonly used by werewolves in forests.

Ryan’s living room was not particularly large to begin with.

Yet Ayla practically ignored gravity itself, darting wildly across walls and furniture at high speed like a gecko.

While moving, she stared fixedly at Lance, attempting to find a blind spot where she could finish him in a single strike.

But the instant she moved, Lance moved as well.

He did not stupidly stand in place as a target, but instead utilized the footwork of the Azure Dragon Ultimate Art Style, rapidly maneuvering between the bulky furniture.

His positioning was absurdly tricky. Every movement happened to perfectly block the routes Ayla wanted to use to ambush him from behind.

He knew very clearly that his earlier performance had successfully ignited this little princess’s competitive spirit.

If she truly managed to seize an opportunity and pounce on him from behind, he definitely did not want to experience the scene of being mounted and attacked by a she-wolf around his neck.

“So fast, how is this possible?!”

Ayla, clinging to the wall, became increasingly alarmed as the fight continued.

At the non-Professional stage.

Across all intelligent races on the continent, the Azure Moon royal family absolutely stood firmly among the top tier regarding Agility Attributes.

And judging from the strength Lance displayed earlier when casually blocking her whip kick.

The Breathing Combat Art this Dragon-blooded cultivated should absolutely belong to one of those heavily armored styles that sacrificed speed in exchange for ultimate power.

But why?!

Why could his movements now actually match her full-speed burst head-on?

She continuously shifted positions across the wall, only to despairingly realize that she simply could not find an angle to strike from.

Every single movement he made felt as though he had already read the script and predicted her trajectory in advance.

This also indirectly proved that this Dragon-blooded’s Perception was every bit as monstrous as his Strength and Agility.

Just what kind of monster had crawled out of some random backwater corner?!

“Forget it!”

Unable to break through after repeated attacks, flames of frustration erupted in Ayla’s heart.

Her legs violently kicked off the wall as she lunged downward through the air. Her hands appeared to aim for Lance’s shoulders, but at the peak of her leap, she suddenly twisted her waist with extreme cunning.

The gray wolf tail hidden behind her instantly tightened straight under centrifugal force, resembling a spiked steel whip as it lashed toward Lance’s face unexpectedly with a shrieking whistle.

However, this move had long since been seen through by Lance’s heightened Perception.

Without panic, he simply bent his upper body backward at an exaggerated angle.

The gray tail barely brushed past the tip of his nose, carrying only a sharp gust of wind.

But Lance’s dodge happened to step perfectly into Ayla’s trap.

“Got you!”

A crafty glint flashed through Ayla’s eyes midair.

Her flexible waist twisted violently like a water snake, forcibly changing her falling trajectory before losing balance, allowing her to immediately coil around him.

Her long legs precisely locked around Lance’s neck.

As the muscles in her thighs suddenly contracted, Lance could even smell the unique scent radiating from the sweating werewolf girl—a mixture of wildness and floral fragrance.

“Caught you!”

Ayla revealed an arrogant grin of triumph while suspended in midair.

She intended to use the momentum of her descent combined with the power from her waist to execute a high-level grappling choke technique and directly slam Lance onto the ground.

Once dragged into ground combat, werewolf close-range grappling was invincible.

Unfortunately, she had still vastly underestimated Lance’s absurd monstrous strength.

Faced with the tremendous force constricting his neck, Lance’s feet remained rooted to the floorboards like they had grown there. Not only was he not dragged down, he instead deeply inhaled and forcibly straightened the compressed spine.

“What kind of monstrous strength is this?!”

Feeling as though she had wrapped herself around a steel pillar filled with molten iron, Ayla could not help crying out in disbelief.

Lance did not give her any opportunity to continue exerting force.

He extended those large hands and grabbed both sides of Ayla’s wildly twisting hips, preparing to forcibly rip this octopus-like girl off through brute strength alone.

But unfortunately, due to the intense movements from earlier, the clothes around Ayla’s waist had already been soaked through with sweat.

The instant Lance exerted force, his palms slipped on the slick fabric.

Following gravity, his large hand directly slid toward the lower section of her back.

And grabbed the small area where the fluffy tail connected to the human spine.

As a man who had never studied werewolf physiology, how could Lance possibly know that for all canine demi-humans, the base of the tailbone was the most nerve-dense sensitive region on the entire body?

“Mmnh…”

A sweet nasal sound so soft and sticky it could give people goosebumps suddenly echoed throughout the living room.

Lance felt the thighs tightly constricting his neck first violently twitch as though electrocuted. Then, the explosive body instantly softened completely like it had lost all its bones.

She slid weakly down his back and landed sitting on the cold floor with a splat.

At that exact moment.

The system panel that had remained silent all this time suddenly displayed a flashing line of text.

【Through hands-on research, you discovered that stroking the sacral nerve cluster of demi-human species · Azure Moon Werewolves triggers intense pleasure reflexes in the target. Azure Moon Werewolf research progress +15】

“Azure Moon Werewolf?”

Looking at this entirely new term appearing on the panel.

Lance was secretly surprised inwardly.

“Is this some kind of special mutated sub-breed within the werewolf race?”

“So the system can establish separate codex research even for rare branch races within a broader species category?”

He suddenly understood.

No wonder the traits previously farmed from the Half-Elf Cecilia had later produced such overwhelming suppression effects against a pureblood Elven female mage.

Under the system’s classification, Half-Elves were probably crudely categorized as a branch of the Elf race.

But at this rate, touching once gave fifteen experience points. If he accidentally brushed against her a few more times, would the exclusive Azure Moon Werewolf trait practically unlock on the spot?

“You should stop now. If we keep fighting, you’ll really get hurt.”

Looking at Ayla collapsed on the floor, Lance kindly attempted to persuade her.

But to the proud wolf girl, those words sounded like direct mockery.

Being touched by a strange man in her most private sensitive area while simultaneously having her proud close combat abilities comprehensively crushed—this double blow completely transformed Ayla’s shame into rage.

“Go die, you shameless perverted Dragon-blooded!”

With a red face, Ayla screamed furiously and completely threw all tactics out the window before leaping from the ground and lunging again with bared fangs and claws.

Only this time, because her body still had not recovered from the earlier physiological stimulation, her legs were weak, her movements completely distorted, and openings existed all over her body.

Faced with this chaotic flailing attack, Lance could not even be bothered to dodge seriously.

He merely shifted slightly to the right, avoiding the utterly harmless claw swipe while hooking his thumb against his middle finger.

Smack!

An extremely crisp forehead flick landed squarely against the center of Ayla’s smooth forehead.

“Ow!”

The strike was not light. Ayla covered her forehead and staggered backward a large step.

Yet the stubbornness in her bones prevented her from swallowing this humiliation. Gritting her teeth with complete unwillingness in her eyes, she charged forward once more.

Smack!

Another extremely crisp echo rang out.

Over the next several minutes, no matter which angle Ayla attacked from, nor how fast her claws swung.

What greeted her every single time was that finger, stable, precise, and ruthless, striking directly at the exact center of her forehead.

Smack!

【Through training…… Azure Moon Werewolf research progress +1】

Smack!

【Through taming…… Azure Moon Werewolf research progress +1】

Smack!

【Through development…… Azure Moon Werewolf research progress +1】

The crisp sounds continuously echoed throughout the house one after another.

Several minutes later.

This farcical battle finally came completely to an end.

Ayla crouched pitifully in the corner like a little girl who had suffered immense grievances outside.

The large tail behind her that had been so arrogant earlier now hung limply against the floorboards, completely unable to wag anymore.

A large swollen red mark had risen directly in the center of her beautiful forehead.

She tightly covered the burning area while mist gathered in her eyes and tears trembled at the corners, yet through the final stubborn pride of royalty, she bit down on her lower lip and refused to cry aloud.

【……Biological Research Level increased: LV1 → LV2…… You obtained……】

At that moment.

Click.

The front door was pushed open from outside.

Ryan entered leaning on his cane while carrying a package.

The instant he stepped inside, he saw Ayla silently crying in the corner and Lance standing nearby with an innocent expression.

“What happened between you two this time?”

The veteran frowned and asked helplessly.

“Nothing much.”

Lance spread his hands naturally.

“We were bored earlier, and Ayla said she wanted to play a forehead-flicking game with me. Her luck was terrible, so she lost several rounds.”

Naturally, Lance had no intention of revealing the truth that they had fought over a bag of dog treats.

That sort of behavior—like three-year-old children tattling to parents after a fight—was something he absolutely could not do.

Ryan looked at Lance, then at the wronged-looking Ayla curled into a little ball.

Helplessly shaking his head, he did not continue questioning them.

Walking toward the dining table, he heavily placed the package filled with materials onto it.

“I’ve prepared everything needed for your ritual. How many more days do you need to prepare?”

“Three days.”

Lance quickly calculated the remaining progress inwardly.

Three days would be enough for him to fully grind out the remaining lacking skill proficiency and adjust his condition to its absolute peak.

“The sixth day after Midsummer, huh.”

Hearing that date, Ryan revealed a complicated smile filled with memories. “That’s quite an interesting day.”

The fifth day after Midsummer was the day the Church of Justice held the grand “Balance Festival,” when the eyes of the entire continent gathered beneath the radiance of the Orthodox Gods.

But very few ordinary people knew that the following sixth day was known as the “Day of Reversal.”

That was the commemoration day of Chaos’s ascension to godhood, and also the secret day when the elite young hounds of the Black Iron Dominion Bureau, after enduring brutal selection, collectively emerged and completed their class advancement rituals.

……

Three days passed in the blink of an eye.

The class advancement day Lance had long awaited finally arrived as scheduled.