Return of the Fallen Nobleman With an SSS-Rank Talent-Chapter 45: Alive

He watched the great silver wolf as its fur began to turn dark red, as if blood were emerging from inside its body.

Adam’s smile widened beneath his stained helmet.

His mind inevitably drifted back.

When the Great War broke out, he had joined the ranks of the Crown Prince amid utter chaos. The air smelled of iron and death as well. The pressure, the constant danger, the feeling that every second could be his last...

It was the same.

It had been a long time since he had felt this way.

Alive.

And standing before him was not just any enemy.

It was the beast that had nearly killed him.

The same silver wolf... now transformed into a crimson mass of fury.

A worthy opponent.

"Let’s end this."

Above his head, Mana’s Dharma wheel began to spin faster, absorbing the mana from the environment with an almost desperate voracity. The murderous intent emanating from Adam became tangible, heavy, making the air around him vibrate.

The wolf roared.

A bolt of lightning descended from the sky.

And the beast disappeared in a flash of red.

Adam reacted purely on instinct. He spun around, grabbed the sword with both hands, and slashed brutally behind him.

CLANG!

The crash shook the surroundings. The ground fractured beneath their feet, and the rain evaporated in an explosion of boiling steam.

The impact opened a crater.

And in the center, amid smoke, red sparks, and pulverized earth, two figures stood facing each other.

A wounded beast.

A bleeding knight.

Neither is willing to back down.

Adam rested the tip of Repentance on the ground and slowly straightened up.

"Well..."

He spat blood inside his helmet.

"This already feels like a real battle."

The wolf roared.

And the sky responded.

The storm split in two.

And in that instant, they both disappeared from the scene.

Only the sound of a new thunderclap remained.

Adam deflected a claw with the edge of his sword and slipped between the legs of the Rank III monster. The beast reacted immediately, leaping forward with such force that the ground shook.

Adam looked up and ran toward one of the half-collapsed houses. He crossed the interior in an instant and exited through the back just as the wolf descended with fury.

But the great crimson wolf was faster.

A powerful kick struck him squarely in the side.

Adam was sent flying, crashing through several ruined structures before slamming into the remains of a wall.

The world had not yet stabilized when the beast was already upon him.

A claw descended.

At the last second, Adam interposed his sword.

CLANG!

The impact ran through his arms like an electric shock. He felt the world spinning inside his helmet as blood clouded his vision.

When he managed to get up, the wolf’s enormous jaws were inches from his face.

He could smell its foul breath.

He could see the blood pooling in its wounded eye.

Adam gritted his teeth.

He lunged to the side and, in the same motion, gathered mana in his legs. He climbed violently up the beast’s side, using its own bloodied fur for support, and propelled himself into the air.

In mid-air, he concentrated mana into the blade of Repentance.

The sword vibrated.

The cut descended, slicing through the raindrops in a perfect line...

And it sank straight into the eye of the great crimson wolf of rank III.

The great silver wolf, now with crimson fur, let out a loud cry of pain and attacked with such force that Adam was thrown into a house.

Boom!

Embedded in the wreckage of a destroyed house, Adam slowly got up.

The armor was shattered. Denting. Cracking. But what lay beneath was worse.

From the beginning, he knew that defeating a rank III monster was practically impossible.

Not at his current level. Not alone.

...But he had never been one to back down from the impossible.

He spat blood.

The great crimson wolf, wounded and furious, watched him from the rain with an almost human hatred. His only functioning eye burned like an ember in the storm.

Adam took a deep breath.

"It’s time to use this..."

He took off his helmet.

The rain fell on his face, washing away the blood and revealing an expression that was not fear.

It was determination.

He gripped the sword with both hands and raised it in front of him.

The blade of Repentance began to vibrate slightly, as if anticipating what was about to happen.

Adam closed his eyes for a moment.

And then he began.

"Let my blood feed the battle. Let my bones hold the front line. If my arms break, I will bite. If my legs give way, I will drag my sword."

The moment he spoke, something descended upon him.

An invisible weight.

It wasn’t physical... but it crushed him.

Adam felt every muscle tense beyond its limit. His bones creaked. His veins burned as if mana were tearing him apart from within.

He knew the price.

It was a technique reserved for knights of high rank—a vow of war that forced the body to continue even when it should collapse.

And he wasn’t ready to sustain it yet.

Blood began to trickle from his nose.

Then from the corner of his lips.

But he did not retreat.

"I am the wall. I am the storm. And until the last heartbeat fades... War will walk with me."

The mana Dharma wheel spun violently, as if it were about to fracture at any moment. The air around it vibrated, distorted by the pressure.

Then, small golden dots began to light up on his armor.

One.

Two.

Dozens.

They spread across the sword, running along the steel like luminous veins.

Adam took a step forward.

The ground creaked under his weight.

Blood dripped from his nose and mixed with the rain, forming small reddish rivers with every step he took.

The great crimson wolf took half a step back.

The beast sensed it.

The mana no longer flowed with uncontrolled violence.

Now it was compressed.

The raindrops stopped in the air around the blade.

The wheel above his head emitted a high-pitched sound.

At that moment, Adam remembered Asterin’s teaching when he taught him fencing.

He raised his sword, and his hand moved first.

Then his body.

Finally, his foot followed with barely half a step.

The sword descended in a clean, direct line from his right shoulder downwards.

The golden light grew more intense.

The wolf roared and lunged at him in a burst of red.

Adam smiled as the sword came down with a golden glow.

And then...