CHAPTER 229: CHAPTER 192: BREAKING THE RITUAL_2

Straddling its back, he grabbed the fur on its nape and relentlessly smashed his fists into its head.

The white wolf struggled fiercely to break free, but how could Lance possibly let go? He lifted his hammer-like fists and smashed down with all his might.

At this moment, Lance’s eyes were bloodshot, his breathing rapid, and his ghastly face reflected his madness.

Compared to the white wolf, he seemed more like a wild beast.

After countless punches, the force in his hands weakened. Lance took a long, labored breath, his entire body already drained.

The white wolf beneath him had blood flowing from its eyes, ears, mouth, and nose, lying limp on the ground like a pile of mud. If it weren’t for the faint signs of breathing, one might mistake it for a corpse.

"Hahaha! Now do you know who’s the boss?" Lance laughed foolishly. It had to be said, letting it all out felt incredibly good. With no one around to watch, there was no need to control his emotions.

Lance got up and forcefully lifted the wolf’s head. He realized it couldn’t even open its eyes, and its tongue hung limply from its mouth. Raising his hand, he cast a spell.

[Flesh Reconstruction]

The white wolf’s severely injured body quickly began to heal. But as soon as it regained strength, it lashed out with a bite, the ferocity in its actions showing no sign of submission.

Who said it could act so arrogantly?

Lance’s reflexes were quick. He grabbed its neck, held it down, and beat it severely. His punches were far from light. Under the force of each blow, even beef would turn into meatballs.

"Do you submit... Do you submit..."

He knocked it down time and time again, pulled it back up, and when it still resisted, he continued the brutal beating.

But the more this went on, the more alarmed Lance became.

It wasn’t the Spiritual Essence he was worried about wasting; it was that this situation defied all logic.

Wolves are social animals, vying for the alpha position through brutal combat in the wild. Once defeated, they submit to the alpha—it’s an instinct ingrained in their bloodline.

Even according to the scrolls, it wasn’t usually this hard for tribe members to tame a white wolf.

This was the fourth attempt, and what was bizarre was that this fellow wouldn’t submit at all.

Madness had completely taken over its brain. Not even the threat of death could make it submit. It attacked frantically as soon as it recovered.

Is there something wrong with the feng shui of Hamlet?

Or has this wolf contracted rabies?

Looking at the nearly breathless white wolf, Lance couldn’t help but fall into deep thought.

But he soon realized it might have something to do with the restless Wolf Spirit he had encountered earlier.

He released his hand, and the spectral Wolf Spirit descended into his palm. Through the subtle connection between them, Lance could feel it being drawn to the white wolf, as if attracted by something.

The white wolf seemed to sense something as well. It had been lying on the ground like a dead dog, but suddenly its fur bristled. It ignored the human before it, its one functioning eye instantly locking onto the Wolf Spirit, radiating extreme hostility.

This reaction left Lance puzzled. There had to be some reason not mentioned in the scrolls.

Regardless, he was out of options, so Lance simply lifted the suppression on the Wolf Spirit completely.

The Wolf Spirit leaped from his hand, striding through the empty air, moving closer to the white wolf.

And at that very moment, the white wolf’s battered body seemed to conjure a Black Fiend Wolf Head. It let out a spectral roar towards the Wolf Spirit and then burst forth, engaging in a fierce battle with the Wolf Spirit.

"What the hell is this?"

This scene reminded Lance of the power that had erupted when the collector had tried to lay claim to the Head Wolf’s body.

This entity didn’t exist in reality; it appeared to be a projection of some sort of power from the Void.

Before he could ponder further, the battle in the Void changed course.

The Black Fiend Wolf Head, enormous in size, swallowed the Wolf Spirit in one bite. Lance could feel weakness and pain transmitted to his consciousness.

Is it trying to consume the Wolf Spirit?

To beat a dog, one must consider its master. Do you even know who backs it, you bastard?

Lance showed no mercy, bestowing Bless with Strengthening. Unlike the mere nibbles he had fed it before, he now emptied the whole bag of dog food into its bowl.

It wasn’t a matter of not having enough to eat; it was a question of whether it could stomach it.

An endless surge of power flowed into the Wolf Spirit. Encased and seemingly consumed, it suddenly exuded an intense spiritual radiance, erupting powerfully from within and tearing its way out.

Lance cut off the supply, but the momentum was unstoppable. Even as the Black Fiend Wolf Head tried to struggle, it was completely suppressed by the Wolf Spirit, torn apart, and devoured to the last bit.

The bizarre vision finally dissipated completely with the white wolf’s inaudible whimper, leaving only the Wolf Spirit—now several times larger and about the size of a human head—still lingering in the Void.

Lance stood there for a while, puzzled by the anticlimactic farce.

What was that thing?

But he couldn’t worry about that now. If he delayed any longer, the white wolf would be dead.

[Flesh Reconstruction]

The broken bones and mangled flesh regenerated under a power that could only be described as eerie. The white wolf, which had been on the brink of death, recovered in a breath’s time.

This miraculous state left it somewhat at a loss. When it finally opened its eyes, it found a person sitting in front of it. At this moment, it had no will to fight. The rage in its fading red, beastly pupils was replaced by fear, and it wanted nothing more than to keep its distance.

"Why are you running?" Lance grabbed its fur and dragged it in front of him with one hand.

"AWOOOO—!" The white wolf let out a pitiful howl.

"Damn it! Stop that damn howling!"

With a slap from Lance, the white wolf immediately calmed down.

Although it instinctively turned its head away from Lance’s eyes, it still carefully observed him with a sidelong glance. Its behavior displayed an overly smart, almost human-like cunning.

"You damn cur, look at me properly!" Lance forcefully turned its head to face him. The creature didn’t dare to resist, but its eyes still darted around restlessly.

"Do you want another beating?"

As soon as he raised his fist, the white wolf didn’t dare to move again. It lay submissively before him, turning to expose its neck and belly, emitting low WHIMPERS.

Exposing its most vulnerable parts—this was the gesture of submission from a wild beast.

"Finally submitted, huh?" Lance could tell from its current state that he had completed the first step.

Yet, the eerie scene from before still left him with an undefinable sense of strangeness.

The white wolf’s previous defiance was definitely related to that, but what was the exact reason?

Lance summoned the Wolf Spirit, but it couldn’t speak.

Right!

Lance repeatedly pondered the information on the scroll, realizing he had misunderstood.

The "Wolf God Bloodline" shouldn’t be interpreted as "Descendant Bloodline"; rather, it refers to a power that flows within the bloodline.

Thinking this way, Lance began to understand the situation.

All the white wolves of the Fang Wolf Tribe have the Wolf God’s power flowing within their bloodline. This legacy doesn’t require teaching and activates on its own when the time is right.

His previous Bless and Strengthening must have activated that power. That’s why, after developing a bit, they would fight and complete a ritual to further purify their bloodline—that is, the power itself.

But the problem is that they aren’t in the tribe. There are no Shamans or Wizards to conduct the ritual, nor is there any Wolf God. That’s why the ritual went awry and spun out of control.

His repeated beatings hadn’t calmed the creature because the issue wasn’t physical.

It was with the soul, or rather, the Spiritual Essence.

The Wolf Spirit likely extracted the Wolf God’s power rooted within its bloodline, directly breaking the ritual. That’s why it recovered.

Similarly, because the Wolf Spirit devoured the power belonging to the Wolf God, it also seems to have gained some benefits.

Lance was beginning to understand everything, including why he couldn’t use the Extraordinary Equipment he had taken from the Head Wolf—it was because he didn’t have that "bloodline."

But the scene just now confirmed his theory: the Wolf Spirit might be able to replace the Wolf God.

He couldn’t help but recall the incomplete experiment on the ship.

He took out the Head Wolf Pendant. This object housed the Wolf God’s power, but he couldn’t use it; it was as if sealed away.

The Wolf Spirit has no consciousness. The white wolf’s power manifested during its frenzy, attracting the Spirit’s instincts.

But the equipment’s Spiritual Essence is stable, so the Wolf Spirit had little reaction to it.

Until the Wolf Spirit, under Lance’s control, approached... and touched it.

Just as expected, in Lance’s eyes, the dormant power within the pendant began to stir under the influence of the Wolf Spirit...