Appearing amidst the six mercenaries all of a sudden wasn't a big feat for Aegon. But the others didn't seem to think the same.
"Hey!" he spoke the moment he materialized in their midst. Three of them were positioned to the left, facing off against two of the beasts, while two others were on his right, engaged in battle with another. The sixth mercenary was providing support to whoever seemed to be in the most dangerous situation.
The moment they heard his voice, they froze. None of them had noticed his arrival - not the mercenaries, not the beasts. Everyone was oblivious to his sudden appearance.
On one hand, the mercenaries might not have noticed his arrival because they were under intense pressure, focused solely on the battle at hand. Their excuse could be that they expected to be the only ones present in the chaotic scene.
On the other hand, the beasts, wolf-like in every aspect except for their two-meter size, overly large fangs, and pitch-black fur, should have had heightened sensory abilities. Yet, they couldn't sense his presence either until he spoke up.
All six mercenaries were scared witless by the sudden appearance of another individual, but Aegon quickly cleared things up. "Those Dark Wolves won't defeat themselves," he said, pointing at the creatures who now saw him as the greatest threat around.
They weren't entirely dumb. If someone could evade their perception, it meant that person was of a high level—probably higher than them. So, they automatically viewed him as a higher priority on the kill list, all three of them attacking simultaneously.
"You guys are doing a good job keeping these beasts at bay. I'll be back after I take care of the one that ran off," Aegon said, but he vanished before his statement was completed.
The beasts, having lost their new target, turned back to the initial ones. With snarls and bared teeth, they pounced on the mercenaries who had been barking at them since their invasion, their howls echoing through the streets like the cries of wild animals.
Their howls produced a powerful sound wave that shook the bodies of the mercenaries, threatening to overwhelm them. However, the mercenaries were not ordinary. They quickly reinforced their bodies with mana, the same energy that filled their world, bolstering their defenses against the onslaught of sound.
Despite the ferocity of the Dark Wolves' attacks, the mercenaries stood their ground. With each clash, sparks flew as the mercenaries fought back against the beasts, their weapons flashing in the sunlight as they defended themselves against the relentless assault.
While the mercenaries did their best to keep the beasts from wreaking havoc in the town, Aegon went after the stray wolf, catching up to it as the seconds went by.
The wolf was furiously chasing after a mother who held a little baby wrapped in her arms. As it chased her, it destroyed everything in its path, drawing closer with each leap, which terrified the mother and led her to keep screaming for help.
From dozens of meters away, Aegon could hear the woman's scream echoing through the streets.
As he caught up to the wolf, perched on the roof of a building that miraculously remained standing, he emitted a burst of mana to signal his presence and divert the attention of the wolf, a tactic that proved effective.
The wolf's focus shifted to Aegon, giving the woman and her baby the opportunity to escape to safety.
"It's just you and me now," Aegon stated calmly as he stared into the eyes of the creature, which others would consider a threat to human lives.
The creature opened its mouth, preparing to howl and unleash sound waves at him at any moment.
Aegon moved his left hand forward and channeled mana through it, causing his hand to glow as a magic circle formed around his palm.
"Earthen Spears," Aegon muttered as the rune formed. In the next second, a dozen sharpened and compressed spikes rose from the ground around the wolf. With incredible speed, the spikes dug into the beast, lifting it off the ground. Some of the spikes even pierced through the other side of the creature, rendering it lifeless.
Aegon snapped his fingers, causing the spikes to disintegrate into sand.
Blood spurted out from all the holes left by the spikes, and the beast dropped to the ground with a soft thud.
Aegon sighed heavily as he leaped off the roof, his boots landing softly on the ground below. With lazy steps, he approached the carcass of the dead beast.
"It's just me now," he muttered to himself, reaching down to grab the creature by its tail. With a firm grip, he began to drag it back toward the others, but then he paused, remembering something crucial.
"Inventory," he murmured under his breath. Suddenly, a gray panel materialized in front of him, visible only to him.
He flexed his muscles slightly, exerting strength as he pulled, tossing the lifeless Dark Wolf into the panel. It vanished from sight, only to reappear in one of the small boxes on the panel.
Beneath the box was a label: {Dark Wolf x1}
With a satisfied nod, he dismissed the panel and received another notification.
"Ding!"
{You have acquired x1 mana crystal.}
Aegon stared at the message for a moment before dismissing it with a flick of his hand.
In the next instant, he vanished, only to reappear in the midst of the mercenaries again, startling them just as much as the first time.
"One puppy eliminated. Three more to go," Aegon announced calmly. The others didn't immediately grasp his meaning, but it became clear soon enough.
"Earthen Spears." This time, he simply cast the spell with a thought rather than voicing the words. A large brown magic circle appeared on the ground, and like before, spikes shot out, gruesomely impaling the beasts and sending them to the world of the dead immediately.
The other mercenaaries didn't even have time to react.
Ding!
{You have received x3 mana crystals.}
As Aegon dispersed the spikes and the beasts fell back to the ground lifeless, he received another notification, which he dismissed without reading.