Chapter 136: Wolf Slaughter (Part II)

Hearing Pepero’s words, Vail grinned. All at once, he felt that this savage little girl had become a little more endearing in his heart.

She knew perfectly well that she was injured, and she understood that her opponent was far stronger than she was. Given her current condition, there was no way she could deal with such a formidable enemy. The outcome was obvious and entirely without suspense. Yet even so, the girl still refused to give up. Perhaps in her heart, so long as there was even the slightest glimmer of hope, she would charge forward and fight with everything she had.

She was adorably foolish!

Vail muttered this inwardly before turning his head and fixing his gaze completely on Pass. His mind raced as he continuously thought of ways to deal with him.

It was not that Vail enjoyed meddling in other people’s affairs, nor was he trying to show off in front of the pretty Pepero, flaunt his prowess, or deliberately provoke the girl. He simply would not naively assume that Pass would leave him alone merely because he was not a member of the Moonslaughter Mercenary Corps. On the contrary, precisely because he was not one of them—and, to Pass, was nothing more than an irrelevant outsider—Pass might very well eliminate him as a precaution, simply to avoid any unnecessary accidents or trouble.

He had already stuck one foot into this mess. He might as well let go completely and shove the other foot in too!

With that thought, Vail extended his perception to its absolute limit. Was it not impossible for his perception to penetrate within ten meters? Fine, then. He would lock down the entire area within twenty meters of Pass. The inner ten meters might indeed be a blind spot, but there were still ten meters beyond that which he could monitor.

He acted at once.

Vail immediately projected his perception outward, locking onto the entire twenty-meter radius surrounding Pass. Although doing so was extremely taxing, it was the only feasible method available to him.

Vail had already fought more than one Second-Rank Great Soulmaster—Easter, Galley, and Pepero, for instance—so he knew exactly what a Second-Rank Great Soulmaster was capable of. Their movements and speed were so fast that an ordinary person’s senses could never withstand them. Yet the Venomous Scorpion before him, Pass, was not a Second-Rank Great Soulmaster. He was a Third-Rank Great Soulmaster—an entire level stronger than any Great Soulmaster Vail had encountered before.

Given Vail and Pepero’s current condition, he had no choice but to be doubly cautious.

Before Pass made his move, Vail inconspicuously shifted behind Pepero. His action looked as though he had been frightened by the situation and was hiding behind her. Pass merely glanced at him before looking away, paying him no further attention.

After all, Vail was a mage. From his slender physique alone, one could tell that his body could not possess much explosive strength. More importantly, Pass could not sense the slightest trace of soul power from him. In other words, Vail was not a Soulmaster. He was merely an ordinary person.

That was precisely why Pass underestimated him. In Pass’s mind, Vail was nothing more than an ordinary man—an ordinary man who posed no threat whatsoever.

Vail was not angry at this assumption. On the contrary, he welcomed it. He wanted Pass to firmly believe that he was just an ordinary person, someone who did not need to be taken seriously, someone who could be crushed like an ant whenever Pass pleased.

Perhaps such a mindset was somewhat twisted, the result of being abused too often. Perhaps it could even be called mental aberration. But in truth, the logic was sound. Vail’s current situation was much like that of a weak party facing a strong one. When the difference in strength was enormous, any carelessness or negligence on the stronger side was undoubtedly advantageous to the weaker side.

One, two, three, four…

Vail rapidly calculated how many magic arrays he had left after dealing with Pepero. At some point, a faint golden light had appeared in his hand, and with extreme caution, he pressed it against Pepero’s back.

Pepero suddenly felt something touch her body. Her first reaction was to freeze in surprise. A flame had yet to ignite when Vail’s voice suddenly sounded beside her ear.

“Don’t move, and don’t speak. I’m treating you. Light counters darkness. Your body will soon recover its mobility. As for your injuries, I can only provide a rough treatment. I can’t restore you completely in such a short time, but at least they won’t hinder your actions for the time being.”

Pepero obediently remained silent. Vail withdrew his gaze from his surroundings and quietly whispered to her, “Using your current position as the starting point, I placed a few things around this area. Their locations are: two hundred steps to the left, thirty-two steps to the right, twelve steps straight ahead, thirty-six steps to the northwest…”

After Vail finished telling her all the locations where he had placed his magic arrays, the girl nodded lightly and asked in an almost inaudible voice, “Those are the traps you just used against me, aren’t they?”

“…”

Vail was slightly embarrassed. Pepero did not ask anything further. A mass of crimson flames suddenly burst from her legs. Then she leapt into the air and shot toward Pass at astonishing speed!

Just as Vail had said, light countered darkness. By using light magic to treat Pepero, he had not only dispelled all the side effects of the dark magic within her and restored movement to her limbs, but had also begun healing her wounds. Although she had not fully recovered in such a short time, her injuries had healed considerably compared with before.

“Oh?”

Pass let out a strange nasal hum. A flicker of surprise crossed his face, but it vanished in an instant, replaced by a mocking expression. The traps the Corrupted Wolves had laid for the Moonslaughter Mercenary Corps had been planned almost entirely by Pass himself. Although he did not yet know how things were progressing in the north, at least here, the remaining forces of Moonslaughter posed no threat to him whatsoever—not even Pepero, who was charging straight at him.

Hmph. Even at the height of her power, this woman had not been his equal. What could she possibly accomplish now?

A terrifying killing intent flashed through Pass’s eyes. A brilliant point of light suddenly erupted from his fingertip. Centered on that radiance, all the dark green light surrounding Pass began to gather and spin rapidly. In only a moment, his entire arm was wrapped in a long tail-spike formed from dark green energy. The spike alone was more than three meters long, yet it was remarkably pliable. In Pass’s hand, it resembled a soft whip.

Crack!

The crisp sound of the earth splitting shattered the forest’s stillness. Pass’s movement appeared to require little force, yet the blow carved a fissure more than three meters long and over half a meter deep into the ground. If such a strike were directed at a person’s body, it was easy to imagine the horrifying power contained within that seemingly ordinary lash.

And this very attack completely disrupted the route Pepero had chosen for her assault, forcing her to dodge to the side for the moment, select a new path, and launch her next attack.