Chapter 10: So… So It Was You…
"Just a few darts—what can these do!" Shuka, the guild master of Smiling Coffin, felt insulted. After talking big, the other side even attacked first, yet didn't use any magic at all—just threw a few throwing knives.
Shuka reacted fast and sidestepped, catching the Flying Thunder God kunai aimed at him. "A filthy legal-guild rat using this kind of cheap trick. I'll personally—"
"If I were you, I wouldn't…" A flash of golden light. Ren vanished from where he stood and appeared right in front of Shuka. A monstrous-strength punch with no charge smashed straight into Shuka's nose, sending him flying. The second half of Ren's sentence followed Shuka's scream into everyone's ears.
"…casually catch a flying weapon thrown by an enemy wizard!"
With that strike, the battle officially began.
The Smiling Coffin members snapped out of it and swarmed in, unleashing magic at Ren's position.
"Shadow Horn Spear!"
"Lightning Strike!"
"Fireball!"
"Shatter!"
As spell names rang out, multiple attacks slammed into where Ren had been.
Boom! Smoke billowed.
"Did we get him?"
"Talking big with just one man—now he'll learn!"
"Ever heard of 'smoke but no damage'?" Ren's voice came calmly. Everyone looked over and saw Ren had somehow appeared in front of the Wolf King. He used the kunai in his hand to cut the ropes binding the wolf pups, then tossed the pups toward the Wolf King.
"Alright. Watch your kids yourself. I already know it's them trying to control the packs to attack the town, and you're the one restraining the wolves. That means you and I aren't enemies. So how about it—want to help me wipe out these trash?"
The Wolf King didn't answer. It lowered its head, picked up the pups, flung them onto its back, stayed wary of everyone, and slowly retreated.
"Tch, not interested? Fine. No pressure." Ren didn't push it. He turned to the crowd and grinned. "Then this is between us."
He pulled out several more kunai and hurled them toward Shuka, who had just climbed up from the ground.
"Catch the leader first. Go on—try catching another one!"
As the kunai flew, pale-golden magic power gathered in Ren's hand, rapidly condensing and spinning into a glowing golden sphere, humming with danger.
Shuka had learned his lesson. Seeing the kunai coming, he rolled and scrambled aside. Before he could even breathe—
Whoosh.
He looked up and saw Ren already beside him, raising that ominous magic sphere to slam it down. Shuka's hair stood on end as a massive sense of danger stabbed into his brain. Without time to think, he activated his strongest defense.
"Earth Wall, arise!"
Shuka truly was a guild master—his casting speed was solid. An earthen wall shot up, blocking the Spiral Sphere just before it hit him.
"So that's your big move? A dirt wall? Break!" Ren didn't hesitate. He poured in more power and pressed the Spiral Sphere harder. The moment it touched, the wall began to disintegrate from the contact point, bored through without pause, like a red-hot iron ball melting straight through foam.
In Shuka's disbelieving eyes, the Spiral Sphere slammed into his chest. Under Ren's burst, the sphere expanded from the size of a tennis ball into a massive magic sphere nearly two meters wide. The force sent Shuka spinning as he flew back into the woods, crashing through four or five trees before slamming to the ground. When you looked again, he was barely breathing.
"Alright. Next is you lot." Ren looked around. More than a dozen dark wizards stared at him like they'd been turned to stone.
"The boss got beaten like that… he couldn't even fight back!"
"What kind of magic was that?!"
"No way! No way! This has to be an illusion! How can a kid barely in his teens be this strong?!"
They couldn't accept it.
Ren didn't waste time. He activated Flying Thunder God again, mixing in monstrous strength and the Spiral Sphere, and quickly cleaned up the remaining grunts.
After taking them all down, Ren dragged them into a pile and tightly bound them with rope.
"That should be it. Pretty easy."
He was about to leave with them when he heard rustling behind him. He turned and saw the Wolf King returning alone. It looked surprised at the scene.
"Human… you defeated your own kind this quickly."
Ren understood. The Wolf King had gone to settle its pups, not to refuse fighting.
"I told you—I'm strong." Ren smiled. "And you're the Wolf King, right? Thanks to you restraining the pack, this town lasted long enough for me to arrive. You helped them a lot. Also, just call me Ren."
"Understood. Human… no, Ren." The Wolf King's voice was steady. "You helped me, which means you helped the pack. If you ever have need, the pack will repay you. In the name of Andrius, the Wolf King of the North Wind, I swear it. The pack will remember you."
"S-so you're the Wolf King of the North Wind…" Ren looked at the ice crystals and breeze circling Andrius and couldn't help feeling a little jealous. This effect is so cool.
"You misunderstand. I am not a pure wind wolf. I was born with both wind and ice magic. My true pack is not from this forest. When I was young, a group of humans captured me. While passing this town, the humans here rescued me and released me into these woods. The wind wolves of this forest accepted me, hunted with me, and raised me to adulthood. To repay that kindness, I became their king—protecting them from harm and restraining the pack from attacking the town."
"So that's how it is. Repaying kindness—I like that." Ren patted Andrius on the foreleg. "Then I'll see you again. I've taken these people down. Next I just bring them back and hand them to the Council, and the job's done."
Ren was about to say goodbye when he noticed Shuka had somehow regained consciousness and was trying to wriggle out of the ropes.
"Buddy, can you give me some respect? Trying to run right in front of me is a bit much. And your vitality is disgusting—you're like a cockroach. I beat you into that state and you're already awake." Ren kicked him impatiently.
Shuka rolled over, gasping hard. "Hah… you think… you think you've already won?"
Ren didn't understand. "Then explain to me how you plan to turn this around."
Shuka glanced at the sky, judged the time, fell silent for a moment, then curled his lips into a vicious grin at Ren.
"You heard our plan, right? Then did you notice something? Not a single wizard here can control magical beasts to fight."
"You mean the one who can control the wolf packs—Fusa? Wait… where is he right now?" Ren's mind snapped to the missing piece.
"Why don't you guess?" Shuka looked oddly confident, even still trying to provoke him.
"Not talking, huh? Then I'll—"
In the distance, a red firework suddenly exploded across the night sky.