With a single slash, Liens once again dodged the Wind Wolf's returning sharp claws, and with the momentum, left a wound on its claws.

"Owooo—"

The Wind Wolf let out an angry roar, both out of fury at the pain Liens had inflicted and to intimidate Liens with its roar.

In fact, Liens was indeed slightly startled.

Mainly, being too close, the Wind Wolf's roar was exceptionally loud, and his senses, honed by training, were very strong, so he was inevitably somewhat deafened by the roar.

However, it was not a big problem and did not prevent him from continuing to attack the Wind Wolf.

Liens took advantage of the Wind Wolf's roar to adjust his body posture and stance, simultaneously exerting force with all four limbs and his waist.

His longsword was held flat, thrusting straight forward.

That sword thrust forward at an extremely fast speed towards the Wind Wolf, and in an instant, more than half of the blade plunged into its body.

Immediately after, Liens swiftly pulled out his sword, and bright red blood spurted out from the wound, spraying onto him, staining his already blood-spattered simple clothes with new red.

The previous attack was a direct thrust where Liens utilized his own burst of power.

That was why he could thrust forward towards the Wind Wolf at a speed it couldn't react to, directly breaking through its "leather armor" defense and piercing its body.

After achieving his goal, Liens quickly retreated a few steps to avoid the Wind Wolf's wild claw swings caused by pain.

"Owooo—"

This time, the Wind Wolf's roar was even louder.

But was there more anger or more wailing within it? Liens didn't know.

So, what's the use of shouting so loudly?

You should know that biting dogs don't bark.

If it weren't for Liens's concern about taking damage from a direct frontal assault with that previous sword strike...

He could have directly tested how hard the Wind Wolf's head was, instead of targeting its abdomen.

On the other side.

The examiners sitting on the high platform couldn't help but light up when they saw Liens's sword strike.

"This person's strength is quite good; he caused so much damage to the Wind Wolf in just a few exchanges, very impressive!"

"Although the Wind Wolf hasn't used Wind Blade yet, its own reaction speed is very fast, and this person actually dodged several rounds of its attacks."

"Sir Leinajin, if the subsequent assessments can all reach this level, then this year should be considered a 'bountiful harvest'."

A man pointed at Liens on the arena with a satisfied expression.

This person was the same man who had previously examined Marvin's charred corpse, and it was also he who had reminded the instructor to start the assessment earlier to avoid wasting time.

"I also didn't expect his performance to be so good; in my impression, he usually only performs in the middle ranks."

The instructor was also somewhat surprised by Liens's performance.

"Is that so? It seems he's someone who likes to hide his strength… Let's keep watching; I hope he can continue to surprise us."

The man responded with a smile, then continued to watch the "beast fight" below.

Liens could also predict that his performance would attract the attention of those people above.

Although he still preferred to hide his strength, ideally making himself seem unremarkable among the crowd, the current situation did not allow him to hold back too much.

Which is more important, life or hidden strength? Liens could still tell the difference.

Before the Wind Wolf released its elemental abilities, he truly didn't dare to play the trick of trading injury for life, as he did yesterday afternoon.

Otherwise, if he messed up, it would be too ridiculous.

The guy who went before him had already used his death to remind them not to be careless, so how could he dare not be serious?

...

Perhaps the severe injury just now woke up the Wind Wolf, making it a little more sober.

So, when it saw Liens retreat a few steps away from it, it did not directly pursue but stayed put.

"Is it coming?"

Liens secretly became vigilant in his heart.

Seeing the Wind Wolf's unusual behavior, he guessed that it might be about to release its ability—Wind Blade.

Regarding Wind Blade, Liens only knew from Marvin's teachings that Wind Wolves had this magical ability, but Marvin didn't describe what it specifically looked like.

He didn't know if Marvin himself wasn't clear, or didn't have time to tell them, or simply didn't want to tell them.

So, although he was somewhat vigilant, Liens's heart couldn't help but be curious.

"Come on, let me see what 'magic' is? What is 'Wind Blade'?" Liens excitedly shouted in his heart.

Perhaps it was an idea the Wind Wolf already had, or perhaps it truly heard Liens's inner voice.

So it responded to Liens's expectation.

The Wind Wolf stayed in place for a while, and then, one by one, azure light clusters began to appear beside it.

The light clusters looked only about the size of a clenched fist, and their number gradually increased from one or two at first to dozens.

They were densely packed, as if to completely surround the Wind Wolf.

They seemed to have existed long ago and were then summoned by the Wind Wolf; he couldn't see at all how they formed.

"This is Wind Blade? It's different from what I imagined."

"Since it's a 'blade,' shouldn't it be in the shape of a sharp blade… How are these just clusters?"

Liens looked at the azure light clusters floating beside the Wind Wolf, feeling a bit confused, but very quickly, the Wind Wolf gave him an answer.

Those azure light clusters swiftly flew towards Liens, then disappeared midway…

"Hmm?" Liens frowned slightly in confusion.

But in an instant, as if he sensed something, his expression changed slightly, and he quickly swung his longsword continuously in front of him, while simultaneously shifting his body left and right to dodge.

"Clang, clang…"

The longsword in Liens's hand seemed to hit something, and the sound of metal colliding continuously echoed in front of him.

At the same time, small wounds appeared one after another on his body, some deep, some shallow.

Blood gradually seeped from the wounds, and Liens quickly became a blood-stained person in tattered clothes.

"Is that all?"

Liens muttered to himself in his heart, somewhat disappointed.

After a brief exchange, he had already understood the truth of this so-called "Wind Blade." Although he didn't know what those azure light clusters actually were...

But their function, Liens had already figured out.

Simply put, it was compressed air, forming the air into the shape of a "blade," and then rapidly launching it along a fixed trajectory.

Although it appeared "invisible," when the "Wind Blade" approached, Liens could still clearly see the unnatural distortion of the air in front of him.

So he could easily block the "Wind Blade" attacks with his longsword, or dodge them.

However, that wasn't the reason for his disappointment.

Actually, the "Wind Blade" mechanism was quite excellent; after all, if you didn't pay close attention, it was very difficult to detect that 'invisibility'.

What truly disappointed Liens was the damage of the "Wind Blade".

It was too light.

Although he looked like he had turned into a bloodied mess, the actual damage he sustained was not significant.

In fact, his current injuries were similar to the act he and Alger performed yesterday afternoon.

Those wounds were caused by the diffused compressed air after he dispersed the "Wind Blade", similar to shrapnel from a broken blade.

And some deeper wounds even appeared because he intentionally used non-fatal body parts to withstand the full damage of a "Wind Blade".

His final conclusion was—

As long as he wasn't hit by a full "Wind Blade", he wouldn't suffer much damage.

Even if he was hit by a full "Wind Blade", it was equivalent to the damage of a normal sword strike; if it wasn't a fatal part, the problem wasn't big.

Therefore, aside from the seemingly good mechanism, the "Wind Blade's" other performances seemed rather ordinary to Liens, completely failing to live up to his expectations for magic.

Even the 'invisibility' mechanism seemed less useful due to the Wind Wolf's simple and direct attack pattern.

If that Wind Wolf could control those "Wind Blades" to attack him from various directions and angles, instead of launching them all in one direction.

Then his response would not be as easy as it was now.

This was like the difference between "facing a group of people in an open field" and "facing a group of people in a narrow alleyway."

In the former, one is surrounded; in the latter, one only needs to deal with one or two people at a time.

Although there was some disappointment in his heart, Liens did not show it on his face.

He continued to seriously counter the "Wind Blades" constantly launched by the Wind Wolf, while simultaneously moving towards its position.

That Wind Wolf had been standing still since the beginning, launching "Wind Blades"; it seemed to be treating itself as a turret.

Liens didn't know how much longer it could shoot, but he didn't want to wait anymore.

He was ready to rush over and directly cut down that guy who wanted to be a 'turret', ending this 'meaningless' beast fight.

Dodging the transparent "Wind Blade", and after confirming that his position was at a suitable distance from the Wind Wolf, Liens exerted force with his legs, bursting out with a speed faster than usual, and charged towards the Wind Wolf's direction.

His charging speed was very fast; the impact of his feet on the ground even stirred up large clouds of dust, temporarily blurring the line of sight between him and the Wind Wolf.

Just as Liens was very close to that Wind Wolf and was about to give it a sword strike.

"Danger!"

Liens's sixth sense suddenly gave a warning of danger.

Forcing him to stop his attack, he hastily used his longsword to block in front of him and tried to dodge.

And in the interval while Liens's body was performing the dodge.

An 'invisible' attack suddenly cut through the dust ahead, aiming at Liens's body and flying towards him.

"Clang"

The attack collided with Liens's longsword, then left huge, bone-deep wounds on his right chest and left thigh.

Liens gritted his teeth, enduring the intense pain, not allowing himself to cry out.

Fresh blood spurted out along the torn flesh, forming a brilliant 'red ribbon' in the air, then falling to the ground to gather into small pools of blood.

Liens knew that the previous attack should also have been a "Wind Blade", but he didn't expect that the attack power of a "Wind Blade" could be so great.

So, were those previous 'small Wind Blades' just meant to lower his guard?

Liens didn't know if the 'small Wind Blades' released by the Wind Wolf earlier were a feint or a trap.

But he knew, the attack wasn't over… To support our work, please read on *.

The moment Liens was hit by the powerful "Wind Blade", the Wind Wolf, which had been staying in place, suddenly burst through the dust and pounced towards the injured Liens.

Liens endured the pain of his wounds tearing open, moved his feet to the right, and dodged the Wind Wolf's pounce.

And then, taking the opportunity, he fiercely struck it again in its previously pierced abdomen with a sword, performing a 'cesarean section' on it to declare the anger in his heart.

"Awooo—"

The Wind Wolf in mid-air let out a miserable howl, then rolled onto the ground.

A large amount of warm blood formed a vast dark red pool on the ground where the Wind Wolf fell.

It struggled to slowly crawl up from the ground, staring at Liens with fierce eyes; its ferocious appearance was no different from when it first saw Liens.

Only this time, it no longer launched a direct attack but stared intently at Liens, slowly moving its position.

After suffering severe injuries, Liens also cautiously did not directly rush up to attack the Wind Wolf.

Both sides stood not far from each other, staring at one another.

This was also the first time since the fight began that both sides ceased fire and entered a standoff.

Feeling the pain on his body, Liens's heart, besides anger, also held self-reproach.

"I was careless!"

"I didn't expect to be taught a lesson by a wolf today."

Liens couldn't help but smile bitterly in his heart.

Against unfamiliar opponents, one should not be reckless or careless; one needs to be constantly vigilant for any potential hidden moves the opponent might have.

A normal person's body is relatively fragile compared to a monster's and cannot withstand any accidents.

The countless fake deaths in the instance had made him somewhat forget that he was also just a normal person, forgetting basic vigilance.

Liens took a deep breath, then exhaled, his eyes returning to calmness, no longer dwelling on his previous mistake.

Having experienced more, he had also learned how to calm his inner self.

Although he rarely experienced the recent unexpected event in reality.

However, in early instances, he had experienced being counter-killed due to misjudging an opponent.

Since he wasn't dead yet, he would just make up for his mistake.

Liens calmly gazed at the Wind Wolf, the expression on his face also becoming serene, as if he had let go of everything, even the pain in his body was ignored by him.

At this moment, 'reality' and the 'instance' began to merge; he was going to get thoroughly serious.