CHAPTER 271: WORLD-SHADOW WOLF

"A snake?" Daniel gave the Corruption Beast in front of him a strange look.

He didn’t like snakes—more precisely, just seeing them made him feel sick, and now one was right in front of him.

To make things worse, this one was unnaturally massive, which only made his stomach churn even more.

"Better finish this one quickly." He had no intention of toying with this one like he had with the others.

He just wanted to kill it as fast as possible and move on to the next.

The Crystal Serpent slithered forward in a smooth, silent motion and activated [Prism of Death Light].

Its body shone like a massive prism, blinding light erupting from its crystals, searing Daniel’s eyes and drowning the arena in shades of blue and silver.

Daniel covered his eyes with one hand, but his ears tracked the chime-like sound of the serpent’s scales. Instinctively, he swung The Heavens Honor toward the sound, his blade clashing against the crystalline scales.

Blue sparks scattered in the air like stars, and the sound of shattering glass echoed across the arena. The serpent roared in fury and unleashed [Crystal Whip].

Its tail lashed out like a streak of blue light, splitting the stone floor and leaving fine cracks across the glass wall.

Daniel leaped back with agility, channeling Death Energy into The Heavens Honor. With a spinning slash, he struck at the crystalline tail. His blade, shrouded in black aura, smashed against the tail, shattering a fragment of crystal that rained down like shards of broken glass. The serpent screeched, its voice like the sound of shattered bells, and lunged with [Glass Coil].

Its crystalline body coiled around Daniel like a living rope, crushing his chest with immense pressure as if it were trying to break every bone in his body.

Daniel grit his teeth, pain shooting through him, but with a shout, he gathered Death Energy into his blade. With a powerful twist, he drove The Heavens Honor into the serpent’s body, the black aura tearing through its crystal like a dark wave.

Shards exploded, and as the serpent tried to launch another strike with its tail, Daniel freed himself with a high jump and charged at its head. Its ruby-red eyes glowed brightly, but Daniel’s precise strike drove The Heavens Honor straight into one of them.

Death Energy surged through the serpent like a devastating tide, and the creature collapsed with a sound like a giant crystal shattering. Its body dissolved into magical light, shards of crystal scattering across the stone floor like broken jewels.

Daniel stood there, panting, sweat dripping down his forehead. To kill this one quickly, he’d been forced to use more energy than usual.

"....."

Everyone stared at him, then at the remains of the serpent, shocked and awed. They had expected this one to at least put up some kind of challenge, but it didn’t.

The white-haired man had killed this serpent even easier than the previous ones.

"Does this guy even have a weakness?"

"He’s clearly just Rank B, so how did he take down a Peak Rank B so easily?"

"Look at his rank! It jumped to 39! He’s now in the top 40 of the rankings!" Everyone turned to the floating screen, disbelief written all over their faces.

Especially Simon. At this rate, he was definitely going to lose the bet—and losing meant his reputation and honor would be humiliated in front of Lana.

How could he let that happen? He pulled out a communication talisman and discreetly transmitted some instructions.

The system automatically generated simulated opponents based on the user’s power, but that didn’t mean things couldn’t be manually adjusted.

Even though this was the Everlight Moon Guild, Simon still had his connections here. A little tampering wouldn’t be an issue.

At that moment, the serpent’s body vanished, making Daniel let out a small sigh of relief. Even its corpse had been making him feel nauseous.

The holographic fragments reassembled once again, forming a new creature.

A colossal wolf emerged, its body appearing as if woven from darkness and ash. Its fur rippled like living shadows, and its eyes glowed like twin silver orbs in the darkness, like gateways to the underworld.

Its fangs were sleek and black like daggers, and with every movement, it released a suffocating aura of darkness and dread.

Standing at nearly eight meters tall, its growl rumbled like a storm from the underworld, shaking the glass walls.

Its movements were fast and phantom-like, as if it were part of the shadows themselves.

"A World-Shadow Wolf? Isn’t that a Half Step A Rank beast? What the hell is something like this doing here?"

"There’s no way a Rank B can even fight this thing! It’s completely beyond anything a Rank B can handle!"

"There must be some kind of error—Lady Lana, please verify!"

"There’s no error. The system selected this opponent," Lana answered the questions with a calm, detached tone.

However, inwardly, she was laughing at them in amusement. Just minutes ago, these people were mocking Daniel, and now they were worried for him.

’That boy will probably become extremely popular and well-known in the guild after this,’ she thought, focusing her attention back on the simulated battlefield.

Inside the arena, Daniel decided to use his newly obtained Sword Aura for this fight. Even though he wasn’t familiar with it and had no idea how to properly start, everything had to begin somewhere, right?

He raised his sword, which for a moment flickered with a white and black aura.

The World-Shadow Wolf lunged with terrifying speed, activating [Shadow Rush].

Its body vanished into the arena’s shadows as if it had become one with the darkness, and then suddenly it struck from Daniel’s left, its black dagger-like fangs aimed at his neck.

Daniel reacted quickly, swinging The Heavens Honor and trying to activate the white Sword Aura. A flash of white light flickered, but it trembled and dimmed, as if he still couldn’t control it.

"Damn it!" he growled under his breath, channeling Death Energy into his blade instead.

A black aura coiled around The Heavens Honor, deflecting the wolf’s strike. Black and silver sparks scattered in the air, and the sound of metal clashing against shadow echoed across the arena. The wolf pulled back but immediately attacked again with [Fangs of Darkness].

Its fangs glowed with a black aura, lunging toward Daniel’s shoulder as if they were trying to devour his soul. Daniel dodged with a sidestep, but one of the fangs grazed his right arm, and a burning pain shot through him, like venom seeping into his veins.

He tried again to activate the white Sword Aura on The Heavens Honor. The white glow ignited but flickered like a candle in the wind and went out.

He almost wanted to cry, but no tears came. He never thought using Sword Aura would be this hard—it had taken him two months to obtain, and now it was this difficult to wield?

What he didn’t know was that if the world found out he had obtained Sword Aura in just two months, everyone would lose their minds and start questioning their entire existence.

Even for the most talented sword prodigies, it took at least a year to acquire Sword Aura—and yet here he was, complaining it had taken him two months.

"Why is this aura so stubborn?" he said with a nervous laugh, striking at the wolf’s side with Death Energy instead. His blade slashed through the wolf’s shadowy body, but the creature scattered like smoke and reappeared behind him for another deadly strike.