E-Rank or SSS-Rank: I Awakened a Skill That Shouldn't Exist-Chapter 321: Against The Champion (2)

The wolfbull lord was having just another busy day.

Feeding its connection into the plane. Maintaining the fracture. Keeping the portal active, exactly as it had been commanded to do.

It was routine.

Tedious, even.

So when it felt something go wrong, its first reaction was irritation, not fear.

A flicker in the link.

A sudden absence.

Minions.

Gone.

Again.

The wolfbull lord snorted softly.

So the humans had entered the plane once more.

How annoying.

It did not shake. It did not tremble. Why should it?

Many humans had come before. They always did. Some came in groups. Some came alone. Some came screaming about saving their world.

And all of them ended the same way.

Dead.

Slaughtered by its hand, or torn apart by the countless beasts that ruled this plane.

This land was vast, stretching for miles upon miles. Its variants and minions filled every corner of it. Losing a few thousand meant nothing.

Barely a dent.

So at first, the wolfbull lord ignored it.

But the connection kept fading.

More links snapped.

More presences vanished.

The sensation crawled under its skin, slow and persistent, until it became impossible to dismiss.

Its expression darkened.

Ten thousand.

Over ten thousand of its minions were gone.

Erased.

That was no longer trivial.

It seemed the humans had sent a much larger force this time. And worse, they were skilled. Unusually so.

Still, the wolfbull lord did not rise from its throne.

Not yet.

Not until a single human finally walked into its palace.

White and black hair.

Calm steps.

Unrushed.

The wolfbull lord studied him with lazy eyes and reached a conclusion immediately.

This must be the last one.

The squad sent ahead had likely been wiped out in battle against its minions. That happened often. Humans were fragile like that.

This one must have survived longer than the rest. Perhaps he was stronger. Perhaps luckier.

Either way, it changed nothing.

He was alone now.

And alone meant dead.

If the wolfbull lord had been thinking clearly, it might have noticed how wrong the scene felt.

The human looked far too calm.

Too composed for someone who had supposedly lost his entire squad.

His black overcoat was pristine. Not a tear. Not a stain. His posture was relaxed, his gaze steady, confident.

That should have been a warning.

It even crossed the wolfbull lord's mind that something about this human felt off.

But it dismissed the thought.

Humans were weak.

That was a fact proven countless times.

Not once had it encountered a human capable of causing it real trouble. This one would not be any different.

With that certainty rooted firmly in its mind, the wolfbull lord decided there was no need to act personally.

Why bother?

Instead, it would let its champion handle things.

The second most powerful beast in the entire plane, surpassed only by the wolfbull lord itself.

The human would struggle.

Helpless.

Desperate.

He would feel dread crawl into his bones. Terror would break his will. He would beg. He would scream.

And then the champion would crush him beneath its claws.

The thought brought a grin to the wolfbull lord's face.

It could already imagine the sound.

With that pleasant image lingering in its mind, it decided to offer the human a game.

A chance.

Just as it always did.

And just as it expected, the human nodded.

A sharp, simple nod.

The wolfbull lord mistook it for desperation.

For hope.

It assumed the human was clinging to the possibility of escape after watching his entire squad perish in this dreadful plane.

There was no one to tell the wolfbull lord the truth.

That Han was simply indulging it.

That he was calm because he intended to crush not just its body, but its pride.

Its certainty.

Its will.

With renewed excitement, fueled by fantasies of agonized screams and pleas for mercy, the wolfbull lord unleashed its champion.

The strongest dark wolf in the plane.

It sent a single mental command.

Rip him apart slowly.

Make him scream.

The wolfbull lord's teeth gleamed as it grinned wider.

The champion nodded.

Orders were orders.

The moment the battle began, it lunged.

Not to kill.

Not yet.

It wanted the human to see his life flash before his eyes. To feel dread wrap around his chest and throat. To feel pain crush him until he broke.

Death would come later.

The screaming would come later.

That was how good torture began.

That was what the wolf champion believed as it closed in.

Close enough.

Just as its claws were about to tear him apart, the human calmly stepped aside.

A simple sidestep.

Effortless.

The champion did not even have time to process how.

Pain exploded.

Not from the chest.

Not from the limbs.

From the neck.

It burst outward in a way the wolf had never felt before. A clean, precise agony that shattered every sense it had. Then the pain multiplied. Once. Twice. A thousand times over in a single instant.

Its world ruptured.

Its thoughts collapsed.

The wolf's soul broke.

It hit the floor.

Dead.

Instantly.

The wolfbull lord blinked.

Once.

Twice.

Disbelief froze its expression.

It barely caught a glimpse of what had happened.

The champion.

Its champion.

Gone.

"My turn," Han said.

The wolfbull lord blinked again.

And reality twisted.

Han was no longer where he had been.

It stood beside the corpse of the fallen champion.

And the wolfbull lord was no longer on its throne.

The human was.

Sitting casually on it.

One leg crossed.

Expression calm.

Absolute.

Han's voice carried no effort as he spoke again, setting rules just like the wolfbull lord had done moments ago.

A game.

The wolfbull lord would never have agreed to such a thing.

Not if it had understood.

Not if it had felt the aura properly.

The pressure surrounding Han was overwhelming. Condensed. Crushing.

A killing intent so heavy it dwarfed the wolfbull lord's own by an obscene margin.

In that moment, realization struck.

Cold.

Devastating.

It had been wrong.

This human was not prey.

He was something far worse.

A monster.

Then the human spoke a single name.

"Thunderwrath."

At first, nothing happened.

Then the sky screamed.

A massive bolt of lightning slammed down in front of the wolfbull lord, violent and deep, shaking the palace to its core. The lightning did not disperse.

It condensed.

Compressed.

Coalesced.

Until a colossal form emerged.

A dragon.

Silver lightning crawled across its scales, tearing through the air in every direction. The palace cracked. Walls shattered. The floor buckled under its presence.

Its palace.

The dragon lifted its head slowly.

Looked around.

Then looked at Han on the throne.

Then it turned its gaze toward the wolfbull lord.

Instinct screamed.

Run.

Hide.

Escape.

The wolfbull lord's mind shattered with terror.

A dragon.

A real dragon.

One of the most magnificent races to ever exist.

And this human had it as a subordinate.

Just who in hell was this human.

Before the wolfbull lord could process how many things had gone wrong in a single day, the dragon suddenly burst into manic laughter.

"This is it," Thunderwrath roared. "Another glorious day is here."

It turned toward Han, flashing him a wide, feral grin.

"Thanks a lot, young master."

Han smiled faintly.

He could have summoned Ifrit.

Or Terragon.

But neither would fit the tone.

Ifrit was too prideful. He would have called the wolfbull lord a slightly grown dog and refused to fight it seriously.

Terragon was worse.

That one was lazy. Painfully so. He only moved when Han forced him.

Thunderwrath was different.

A battle maniac.

He lived for combat.

Just as Han had expected, Thunderwrath was overflowing with energy. His grin was wild, sharp, and utterly terrifying if one bothered to look closely.

Having received the details of the battle from Han, Thunderwrath burst into laughter once more.

And then he stepped forward.

The palace shook.

The wolfbull lord realized something far too late.

This was not a fight.

It was an execution.

To be continued…