The area around them was a mess of scattered flesh and blood. In the center of it all was the weird creature, still eating and changing shape every few seconds.
*Whoosh!*
Suddenly a strong gust of wind appeared.
At first it was gentle, barely moving the grass. Then the next second it became much stronger.
The wind picked up all the pieces of gore scattered on the ground and carried them high into the sky, spinning them around before throwing them far away, hundreds of meters in every direction.
"That should slow down this weird rat thing," Zhang Wei thought seriously.
He had fought this strange creature for several minutes already, and at first he thought it would be easy to defeat.
But every time he cut off one of its parts, the rat would quickly eat some of the wolf's remains and regenerate, becoming even stronger and faster than before.
Now Zhang Wei could barely keep up with the creature's weird movements, even using his intermediate swordsmanship skills combined with wind magic to make himself faster.
In front of him was what used to look like a rat, but now it had two heads and six legs like a spider. It was still the size of a big dog, but much more terrifying.
Both heads were staring at him with twisted, violent expressions that promised pain and death.
*Shriek!!*
Zhang Wei smirked, feeling a sense of satisfaction in his heart. How did it feel to make a strong enemy frustrated and angry?
It felt amazing.
Of course, feeling good was one thing, but the reality of the situation wouldn't change just because he was enjoying himself.
The rat opened both of its massive heads at the same time, revealing mouths that seemed to be made entirely of sharp, gleaming teeth.
*Swoosh!*
Time seemed to slow down around Zhang Wei.
He could see individual streams of air flowing like invisible rivers through the space between him and the monster. Each stream of wind had its own personality - some wild and chaotic, others steady and reliable like old friends.
But now he understood something new about his magic. The wind wasn't just a tool to be ordered around.
It was a partner waiting to dance with him.
"Azure Wind: Gale Step!"
---
The moment Zhang Wei spoke those words, everything changed.
*SWOOSH!*
Wind gathered behind him like an invisible giant's hand, pushing him forward with incredible force. But instead of feeling out of control, Zhang Wei felt like he was surfing on the perfect wave.
His feet barely touched the ground as he shot forward, his movements smooth and natural. The rat creature's massive heads snapped toward where he had been standing just a split second before, but found nothing except empty air.
Zhang Wei appeared at the creature's left side, his sword already cutting through the air in a perfect arc.
"Azure Wind: Cutting Gale!"
The blade moved faster than his eyes could track. Streams of wind wrapped around the steel, making it sharper and more deadly. The air itself seemed to split apart before his strike, creating a vacuum that pulled the sword forward with even more speed and precision.
*SLASH!*
---
The rat's left head flew through the air, spraying black blood in a wide arc across the grass. But Zhang Wei was already gone, carried away by the wind before the creature's remaining head could react.
*SHRIEEEEK!*
The rat spun around wildly, its remaining head searching frantically for its attacker. Black blood poured from the stump of its severed neck like a fountain, but instead of making the creature weaker, it seemed to make it even more furious and dangerous.
The remaining head grew even larger, its jaw unhinging until it could have easily swallowed a horse whole. Row after row of glass-sharp teeth gleamed with toxic saliva that dripped and burned the ground.
"I don't believe you can regenerate without food," Zhang Wei said, landing gracefully about ten feet away. He refused to believe that this creature could break the laws of physics and create energy out of nothing.
There had to be a limit to its regeneration ability.
Of course, he could always just run away. With his new wind-enhanced speed, this creature surely couldn't catch up to him.
But he didn't want to run.
It wasn't just because he felt like a hero, or because he felt responsible for protecting the area.
It was also because of the excitement he felt while fighting something unknown and dangerous. It made him feel truly alive for the first time in years.
He shook his head and focused his attention back on the fight.
He could feel streams of wind flowing around him like loyal servants, ready to carry him wherever he needed to go. His breathing wasn't even slightly heavy - the Azure Wind technique seemed to boost his stamina as much as his speed.
But as he watched, something horrifying began to happen.
Where the severed head had been, the bloody stump started to bubble and move. New flesh began to grow with disgusting wet sounds, forming not one, but three new heads.
"Oh, come on! That's just cheating!"
Zhang Wei frowned, but didn't panic. He still didn't believe it! How could something regenerate and grow stronger without having energy to fuel the process?
There had to be something that this rat was relying on for power.
He narrowed his eyes and carefully observed the area around them, looking for anything unusual... but found nothing.
"Okay, just two more tries! Or maybe just one more! If this thing still regenerates after that, I'm definitely running away."
"Azure Wind: Hurricane Dash!"
This time, Zhang Wei didn't just move fast - he moved like a controlled tornado.
*WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH!*
Wind exploded from all around him, creating a miniature cyclone with Zhang Wei spinning at its center. He spiraled through the air in complex patterns, his sword extended, becoming a living blade made of wind and steel.
The rat creature tried to track him with its four heads, but they couldn't coordinate properly. One head would snap at where Zhang Wei had been a second ago, while another would aim at where it thought he was going, only to miss completely as he changed direction mid-air using the wind currents.
*SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!*
Zhang Wei's enhanced strikes came from every angle - above, below, from the left and right sides. Each cut was deeper and cleaner than anything he could have achieved before his upgrade. The wind didn't just make him faster; it made every movement more precise, every strike more deadly and accurate.
Suddenly, the rat's six legs tensed up and it jumped high into the air.
"What?!"
"Wind Wall!"
Zhang Wei quickly created a wall of wind in front of himself and let the air currents carry him backward to safety.
He hadn't thought about this possibility. The rat could still jump even with its strange body shape?
As he felt the distance between them growing larger, Zhang Wei started to feel safe again.
Until something impossible happened.
The rat's neck suddenly stretched out like rubber, extending several meters through the air and carrying its huge, hideous mouth directly toward him.
"What the hell?!"
Even though the situation looked hopeless, Zhang Wei still had a few tricks up his sleeve.
As someone who had spent years practicing Azure Wind magic, he had learned quite a few techniques for emergencies.
He checked his mana levels. About half remained. If this had been the old him, before his upgrade, he would already be out of mana and completely helpless.
Fortunately, he had reached the Stable Flow realm, giving him plenty of mana for situations like this.
Zhang Wei used half of his remaining mana and activated "Gale Step" at maximum power.
Suddenly his movement became incredibly fast, and he quickly escaped from the creature's mouth range.
*Crunch!*
Looking back, he saw that the surface of the ground where he had just been standing was completely devoured by the huge rat head, leaving a deep crater.
"What a terrifying rat."
Zhang Wei thought grimly, then quickly picked up his sword and started running away at full speed.
This rat was too weird and dangerous. Instead of getting weaker as they fought, it kept getting stronger. He suspected this might be some kind of temporary powered-up state, but even so, he wasn't willing to risk his life on that guess anymore.
He liked excitement and danger, but that didn't include actually wanting to die. Fighting was only fun when he had a good chance of winning.
If not, then the smart thing to do was run away.
Without any hesitation, he gave up his desire to defeat this rat and headed back toward home.
There were many strong people in this world. A creature like this wouldn't be able to cause too much trouble. Maybe some powerful warrior would pass by here and easily destroy it.
It wasn't his job to worry about it anymore!
As Zhang Wei ran through the grass with wind boosting his speed, he could hear the rat's angry screeches echoing behind him. But the sound was getting fainter and fainter, which meant his escape plan was working.
"Next time I'll be more careful about strange creatures," he promised himself. "But at least I learned some new techniques today."
Despite the scary ending, Zhang Wei couldn't help but smile a little. His first real fight using Adept-level magic had been quite an adventure.
Now he just needed to get home safely and figure out what to do next.