Impossible! Wasn't the Vexfang Wolf a creature from Crystal Space? How could it appear here?
In high school, there was a subject called the Bestiary of Other Races, which recorded every discovered race since the beginning of the Gao Wu Calendar. Ethan Chen had studied this bestiary countless times, even able to recite it from memory. He was certain that the monsters in Crystal Space did not belong to Blue Star—at least, the seven waves he had encountered so far definitely didn't.
At that moment, Ethan suddenly recalled what Charles Zhou, Principal of Harbor City No. 1 High School, had said before he entered:
"Hundreds of years ago, when the nine major planets collided, a 'dimensional rift' was formed."
"We call this dimensional rift the Spirit Realm."
"Also, note that the Forest of Direwolves has its own native creatures."
Could it be that all the monsters in Crystal Space came from the Spirit Realm? In other words, these creatures were beings from other dimensions! No wonder there was no trace of them in the Bestiary of Other Races.
A roar from below suddenly interrupted Ethan's thoughts.
"Damn it!"
"What kind of monster is this?!"
"How did it suddenly get so strong?!"
The Vexfang Wolf, which had been at a disadvantage, suddenly surged. Its back claws, sharp like barbs, transformed into a spear. It blocked all three attackers' strikes and began counterattacking.
Ethan's eyes narrowed as he finally focused on the three individuals. Their protective suits bore the words Maze City Squad.
Maze City was even smaller than Liang City, merely a small urban area. Aside from the one with the mushroom-shaped head charging ahead, the other two had only intermediate Tier 1 martial skills.
Ethan had thought it was two squads clashing, considering whether he could benefit from their conflict like a fisherman watching a fight between shellfish. He hadn't expected them to be clashing with native creatures from the Spirit Realm.
Ethan didn't recognize any of these three, and their leader was surely nearby. There was no immediate danger, so he prepared to leave.
"Damn it! We're going to be eliminated if this continues!" the mushroom-headed man shouted anxiously, wielding a sword and shield.
"It's all that guy Takeshi Musashi's fault! If it weren't for him, we wouldn't have ended up in this mess!" a dreadlocked woman spat angrily, cracking her red whip.
"Emily, step back a bit!" a thick-browed man holding twin blades shouted, stepping half a pace in front of Emily to block the Vexfang Wolf's claws.
"Arrrgh!"
The Vexfang Wolf let out a chilling roar, and the Maze City Squad swayed like fragile branches in a storm, ready to break at any moment.
Swish!
The Vexfang Wolf lowered its body and suddenly accelerated, breaking through the mushroom-headed man's defense and lunging at the two behind.
"Oh no!"
The creature's form expanded, and a terrifying aura spread out. The enormous spikes on its back suddenly seemed enormous in Emily's eyes.
Plop!
A long sword sprouted from the Vexfang Wolf's forehead. Purple blood flowed from the center of its brow, sliding down the blade and dripping onto the ground.
"Teacher!?" the mushroom-headed man instinctively shouted. Normally, when a life-threatening situation arose, a squad leader would intervene, signaling the student's elimination.
Wait—no!
He had called out before realizing he had mistaken the person. This one was dressed like him, also a contestant. The mushroom-headed teacher was also a swordsman, which explained his immediate misjudgment.
"Liang City Squad?" Someone from a medium-sized city exclaimed, astonished. This person's martial skill was undoubtedly at Mastery Tier 1! Besides those three, there was another expert! The mushroom-headed man was amazed.
With technological advancement, geniuses relying purely on talent had almost vanished. Any strong martial artist required technological support. Resources were limited, naturally favoring the wealthy.
Over time, as the rules evolved, few could defy this hierarchy. Big cities outmatched small cities, Hongzhi Class outperformed regular classes, and wealthy families surpassed ordinary ones. These realities had become engraved in everyone's memory, unchanged from the old era. This was why the mushroom-headed man was astonished.
"Thank you," Ethan said.
He pulled the sword from the Vexfang Wolf's forehead and returned it to his back. As expected, this Vexfang Wolf was the same species as those in Crystal Space. The Maze City Squad had been overwhelmed because the mushroom-headed man had accidentally been scratched on the cheek during combat. Vexfang Wolves became frenzied when they saw blood.
"You're welcome. I heard you mention Takeshi Musashi just now?" Ethan asked.
"You've seen him?" Ethan had planned to retreat—after all, he only had thirteen hours. He needed to maximize his chance of encountering Musashi. But from their conversation, it seemed they had indeed seen him before. And because of Musashi, they had clashed with the Vexfang Wolf.
Ethan's original plan had been to ambush Musashi along the necessary route. Now that he had a lead, he needed to ask questions.
Moret and Liu Bo followed out, and after a brief exchange of courtesies between the two squads, Ethan understood the situation.
The mushroom-headed man was Shawn Zhang, leader of the Maze City Squad, with advanced Tier 1 martial skills as Ethan had suspected. The girl was Emily Xiao, and the thick-browed man was Rick Li; both had intermediate Tier 1 martial skills.
Shawn Zhang and the other two, like Ethan, headed straight toward the nearest star-marked point. With their abilities, most teams could not compete with them and thus could not steal others' badges. The only way was to continuously collect two badges from the star-marked points.
However, their luck was not as good as Ethan's. Their first badge turned out to be fake. They headed to the second star-marked point, only to encounter Takeshi Musashi along the way!
Musashi had ranked first in Ziyun District through virtual battles, famous across the region. Facing him, all school teachers instructed students: retreat if encountered! Ryan Ling had also mentioned this last night, which explained why Moret and Liu Bo were shocked at Ethan's plan. While others ran upon seeing him, Ethan actively sought him out.
At the time, Musashi was fighting ten Vexfang Wolves, and they were merely collateral damage.
"Where's their battle location?" Ethan asked eagerly. This was his top priority. Regardless of win or loss, even if Musashi was unscathed, he would expend significant energy. Strike him while weakened! Now was the perfect chance to eliminate Musashi.
Shawn Zhang pointed to a location: "Over there!"
"We didn't want to waste energy, so we fought while retreating, but this thing kept pursuing us relentlessly," he explained.
With a lead on Musashi, Ethan and his companions did not linger. After saying goodbye, they proceeded in the direction Shawn had indicated.
…
One minute after Ethan and his group left, Emily Xiao's tone changed from playful to teasing: "Captain, you're so mean, pointing him straight toward the wolf's den!"
"Not only mean, but your storytelling skills are top-notch too!" Rick Li chimed in.
Shawn Zhang waved helplessly: "I didn't want to. Who told them to be so flashy, hanging the 'Gao' badge on their waist?"
He then pulled a badge with the character 'Wu' from his pocket: "Wait and see. Eliminated contestants have to leave their badges behind."
"With his strength, he'll probably end up in a mutual-destruction fight. We'll come back in twenty minutes to pick up the scraps!"