Chapter 154: Passion

Julius crashed his fist against the nimble wolf. He could practically see the surprise from the wolf as his knuckle covered in spikes obliterated the wolf’s jaw.

It was blasted away with a high-pitched whine and Julius was quickly swarmed by the rest of the wolves. There were too many to block each attack, so he focused on the ones within his reach while ignoring the rest.

He had [Barrier of Severance] active along with his armor which protected him from most of the damage that he took. It probably did more damage to the wolves than they were doing to him.

The vicious snarling of the wolves didn’t bother him, he had [Sage of Savagery] active and he was deadly calm. However, the skill also touched on some of the more primal aspects of himself. There was a hint of savagery behind his eyes and he felt a little more invigorated than he did under the influence of [Savage Dance].

He matched the wolves ferocity and more. He was a never-ending storm of offense, using liberal pulses of fire and kinetic energy to blast and burn the wolves around him. Whenever they tried to pin him down, he would direct the flying spikes he was still controlling to ram into the wolves.

It was very effective, the wolves who were so distracted by the close combat brawl didn’t notice the flying spikes of death until they were too late. While Julius got caught up in the explosion a little bit, his ability to control kinetic energy and fire helped him absorb much of the force and even reuse the mana to keep his armor fueled.

After a minute, he had injured many of the wolves, but the rest were in a frenzy and were even faster than before. Luckily, they had no technique. Their speed almost rivaled Edgar’s and would have been an issue if they knew how to actually fight. But they were just going off of pure animalistic instinct.

However, it was fun. He was having a blast. For the first time in a while, he felt the pressure of a real fight. It made him grin widely. Thankfully, nobody could see it underneath his helm. If they had, they would have suspected Julius of being mentally deranged for smiling as a pack of powerful wolves assaulted him.

Still, he allowed himself to enjoy this moment. Sparring was fun and all, but there wasn’t any danger to it, not for Julius. He knew that the person he was fighting didn’t want to hurt him.

But these wolves were very much set on killing Julius. He was pretty confident of that.

Every move he made resulted in him striking a wolf. It felt like there were endless amounts of wolves, although he knew that there were only around eighteen of them.

They didn’t care that his barrier was cutting apart their limbs and mouths. Either way, they just tried their best to maul his skin from his face.

He would rather avoid that if possible. He liked his face. It wasn’t the most handsome face, but it was his face and he would protect it.

That was also a good reason why any wolf that lunged toward his face got some special attention. He made sure to give whatever wolf was daring enough to try to bite off his face a strike with a little more care.

It was chaos and he loved every second of it.

He felt one of the wolves latch onto the joint around his knee with its jaw, using some sort of aura-based skill to crush his leg. The joint was a little more weak than the other sections of his armor. It was a concession he had to make if he wanted something that was flexible.

He did the first thing that came to mind. He exploded it.

He made sure to direct all of the energy outward so that the wolf that was latched on took an explosion that was on the same level as his spikes right down its throat.

Safe to say that their mouths had much less protection than their bodies. The wolf’s entire head popped like an overfed mosquito. It was simultaneously cool and disgusting.

He had made sure to create another thinner layer underneath before he exploded it, so when the dust cleared, the armor was replaced like nothing happened.

Then he continued tearing apart the wolves with his two hands and two feet.

While the wolves were still monsters, they had some intelligence. Eventually, there was an opening that Julius left open. It was unavoidable when it came to fighting.

The wolves’ instincts jumped on it the moment it showed itself. Three of their members sacrificed themselves to fully distract him. They knew that leaving themselves would mean their deaths, but to them, it was worth it if their pack survived. He felt their resolve echo outward with his Concept.

It would have been a touching emotion if not for them trying to eat him. He pushed down any pity he had for them out of the way. He wouldn’t get distracted by stuff like that anymore. He had a better understanding of his goals and what he would need to do to accomplish it.

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Julius sensed Declan off to the side looking on worriedly, he could practically feel the man’s feet twitching to run and save him from the suicide attack.

He appreciated the thought, but he wanted to show that Declan didn’t have anything to worry about. He heard himself subconsciously let loose a loud laugh in excitement and realized that he had been laughing the entire time.

He blushed in embarrassment under his helm. I probably sound like a crazed person, Julius thought to himself.

He didn’t let himself get too distracted though.

The wolves who had left themselves open got a spike right through their throat as a reprisal. And their friends who didn’t allow their sacrifice go in vain, crunched down on his armor. He felt his armor cut apart their mouths, but they didn’t care. All they cared about was tearing him into pieces.