The elegant Wolf King leaped into the encirclement—a move so reckless that to the rest of the pack, it seemed suicidal. Charging into the Black Tide’s domain without understanding its power was tantamount to throwing away her life.
Of course, the Wolf King knew this. But when she saw Xue Ji’s gaze and felt the holy flames she wielded, she understood the change within herself. It was enough to face the twisted abomination before her.
Inside the ring of fire, [Scar-Eye], seeing no escape, assumed a combat stance. Compared to the Wolf King—whose body had grown smaller after two transformations—Scar-Eye now loomed like an elephant before a lion.
[Scar-Eye] struck first with a clumsy, almost amateurish pounce.
The Wolf King dodged effortlessly, the pathetic imitation almost laughable. This filthy thing is still using my brother’s body to play the fool.
Her counterattack was swift and precise. Seizing the moment as her opponent struggled to recover, she drove her hind legs into the ground and lunged at [Scar-Eye]’s flank. The stiff, unnatural movements were worse than those of a cub on its first hunt.
Holy flames ignited around the Wolf King’s forepaws—newly acquired power, wielded without hesitation. She slashed at [Scar-Eye], who tried the same hostage tactic again, briefly restoring the host’s consciousness.
But the Wolf King didn’t falter. Instead, she accelerated, her claws carving deep, bone-exposing gashes into Scar-Eye’s side. Blood and black ooze gushed from the wounds, but the dark sludge dominated, an ominous tide swallowing the crimson.
“Sis… it hurts…”
Scar-Eye’s body felt shattered, his bones no longer supporting him—replaced by squirming horrors beneath his skin. His muscles jerked under brutal control, joints twisting in unnatural ways. And his heart… it was silent. A dead thing in a living corpse.
The Wolf King looked at her trapped brother—and felt no mercy. Only killing intent. Part of her even wanted to end him, to preserve his honor. So before [Scar-Eye] could react, the golden markings on her body flared. Holy light enveloped her as she charged.
This time, the wound she left was even deeper. But instead of blood or ooze, black tendrils burst forth, lashing at her like blades.
The Wolf King, mid-recovery, couldn’t dodge in time. Despite her reflexes, one tendril pierced her foreleg. Golden light wasn’t strong against physical attacks—blood welled, tainted by wisps of black smoke.
Yet the injury only stoked her fury.
Outside the ring, Xue Ji studied [Scar-Eye], analyzing the abomination’s nature.
‘A parasitic fiend. Where’s its core?’
She noticed [Scar-Eye] still relied on original muscle movements, lacking the explosive power of the tendrils. So the host’s tissues hadn’t been fully replaced. And those veins had spewed black ooze earlier…
Xue Ji’s eyes sharpened. She had her answer. She just needed final confirmation.
The tendril that had wounded the Wolf King didn’t retract. Instead, it detached, rooting itself in the tainted soil. New appendages sprouted from [Scar-Eye]’s body—some even rupturing through flesh. Scar-Eye’s form now resembled a tattered rag, making survival seem impossible even if the parasite were purged.
The battle shifted. The tendrils attacked erratically—whipping, stabbing, entangling, even spraying corrosive fluid. More detached, reshaping the battlefield to [Scar-Eye]’s advantage. The Wolf King, forced to hold back, gradually faltered, accumulating wounds.
But her fighting spirit blazed undimmed. She inhaled deeply—then exhaled a stream of pale-gold fire onto the ground. Though weaker than Xue Ji’s flames, it suppressed the tendrils’ activity, disrupting their rhythm.
She didn’t waste the opening. In one leap, she carved six flaming arcs through the air, clearing the field. Then, channeling the same diving strike that had once caught Xue Ji off-guard, she amplified it with explosive flames—sending [Scar-Eye] cratering into the earth. Black ooze geysered from the wounds.
This time, the host’s injuries were too severe for quick recovery. Veins bulged and throbbed—yet the chest, which had faintly risen before, now lay still.
Xue Ji’s eyes snapped to the anomaly.
“The heart! That thing’s masquerading as Scar-Eye’s heart!” she shouted.
The Wolf King hesitated—then hardened her resolve. [Scar-Eye], realizing its core was exposed, abandoned all pretense. More tendrils erupted, not to attack, but to shield its lifeline.
A stalemate ensued. [Scar-Eye] deployed over a dozen tendrils of varying sizes—enough to entangle even the Wolf King’s relentless assault. And by exploiting her hesitation, it forced her into a deadlock, using Scar-Eye’s barely-alive body as both shield and shackle.
Xue Ji was stunned. This abomination fights like a trained warrior. Had she and the Wolf King not returned today, the entire Cloud Wolf pack might have been annihilated.
But the parasite’s power wasn’t infinite. As the holy flames tightened their encirclement, the tendrils weakened. Yet in its death throes, the monstrosity gathered its remaining strength—not to survive, but to burst Scar-Eye’s body from within.
“NO! STOP!”
The Wolf King lunged, desperate to intercept—but she was a single stride too late. In that split second, that stride might as well have been a chasm. And even if she reached him, extracting the core in time seemed impossible.
“DON’T LOOK AWAY!”
Xue Ji’s voice—usually so calm—was frantic as she materialized beside Scar-Eye. But her usual composure was gone.
“Stop, PLEASE stop!” Her words were a plea.
Yet pleas meant nothing against momentum.
The Wolf King crashed into Xue Ji full-force.
“Guh—!”
Blood sprayed from Xue Ji’s lips as the impact sent both her and the Wolf King tumbling into the nearby lake. Onshore, the bewildered pack could only watch as the waters erupted in a colossal splash.