Thud!
The head of the Bloodthirsty Magic Wolf cub fell to the ground, making a dull thud.
Thud!
Immediately after, the body of the Bloodthirsty Magic Wolf cub collapsed to the ground, sending another dull sound echoing through the air.
Silence. A bizarre silence fell over the entire drill grounds.
All the chatter on the drill grounds died down. The reserves stared in utter disbelief at Tyr in the center of the field, and at the corpse of the Bloodthirsty Magic Wolf cub lying beside him.
Just moments ago, they had been discussing how even Tyr would struggle once the Bloodthirsty Magic Wolf cub went berserk.
But in the blink of an eye, the cub hadn't even been given the chance to enter its berserk state.
Even Instructor Tina was stunned by Tyr's clean, decisive strike. She had expected Tyr to deal with the Bloodthirsty Magic Wolf cub more easily than Silas, but she never imagined he would decapitate it in a single blow.
At the edge of the drill grounds, Silas stared with wide eyes, his gaze filled with sheer disbelief.
Among all the reserves present, no one knew the strength of that magical beast better than he, having just slain one himself.
The very same Bloodthirsty Magic Wolf cub that had left him battered and bruised had been dispatched by Tyr with such an effortless strike?
How... how was this possible?
Ever since he, Letitia, and Barry had teamed up and been defeated by Tyr, he had stopped looking for trouble with Tyr.
He knew very well that picking a fight when one lacked the strength to back it up was nothing but self-humiliation.
Even so, he had always believed his strength wasn't that far behind Tyr's. How could the gap be this vast?
Silas wasn't the only one who thought this way; Letitia and Barry felt the same.
They had both planned to train hard for a while, and once their strength improved, they would challenge Tyr again to reclaim their pride. This single strike was a harsh slap to their faces.
“Brother Tyr is so amazing,” Sevira murmured in the reserve lineup, her small mouth slightly agape.
“Next.”
After a brief silence, Tina finally gave the order.
Tyr twirled his sword to shake off the blood and turned to walk toward the edge of the drill grounds.
Seeing Tyr's effortless poise, Silas could only grit his teeth and walk reluctantly toward the wooden rack holding the recovery potions.
“I'll go.”
Once Tyr stepped off the field, Letitia stepped up with her iron sword in hand. Her eyes burned as she stared at the Bloodthirsty Magic Wolf cub locked inside the iron cage, her mind repeatedly replaying the scene of Tyr's decisive decapitation.
Refusing to believe she was inferior to Tyr, she felt that if Tyr could do it, she could too.
Silas had only ended up in such a pathetic state because he was the first to challenge it and had no reference to guide him.
“Alright.”
Tina nodded and opened the iron cage holding the Bloodthirsty Magic Wolf cub.
Meanwhile, Tyr walked over to the steps at the edge of the drill grounds and sat down, turning his gaze toward Letitia in the center of the field.
Seeing Letitia trying to copy him—crouching low and waiting for an opportunity instead of dodging or making any other moves as the Bloodthirsty Magic Wolf cub charged—Tyr couldn't help but shake his head.
His battle just now had looked simple, but it was not an easy technique to replicate.
For one, waiting until the Bloodthirsty Magic Wolf cub was right in front of you before finding the perfect moment to dodge required immense psychological fortitude.
Sure enough, in the center of the drill grounds, as the foul wind of the rushing Bloodthirsty Magic Wolf cub hit her face, Letitia couldn't maintain the same composure as Tyr. She instinctively tried to dodge.
But her timing was off. Because the Bloodthirsty Magic Wolf cub hadn't fully committed to its strike yet, dodging now wouldn't make the cub miss. Instead, her sluggish reaction only put her on the defensive.
As she dodged, the Bloodthirsty Magic Wolf cub shifted its trajectory at the exact same moment.
Furthermore, Letitia was now too close to the cub. When the wolf shifted its direction of attack, even though she strained with all her might to dodge again, it was already too late.
Rip!
Sharp wolf claws tore through Letitia's shoulder, ripping away a large chunk of flesh. Warm blood spurted out, quickly drenching her entire arm.
In the reserve lineup, many grimaced at Letitia's gruesome injury.
After witnessing Tyr decapitate the Bloodthirsty Magic Wolf cub in one strike, they had naturally all contemplated using his method to complete today's training.
But Letitia's current plight served as a harsh wake-up call.
The method was right there, but not everyone could pull it off.
Sitting in the distance, Tyr watched the scene calmly. He wasn't surprised by this outcome.
This counterattack, similar to a draw-slash, was not so easily imitated.
It had one major drawback: it only worked to devastating effect when the enemy was close enough.
Consequently, having the enemy close enough also meant entering the enemy's attack range.
This demanded incredibly strong mental fortitude, as seeking benefit and avoiding harm was a fundamental human instinct.
Tyr possessed this level of mental strength because it had been forged on the battlefields of his past life.
Letitia, who was only eight or nine years old and facing her first real battle, naturally lacked that kind of composure.
When the Bloodthirsty Magic Wolf cub lunged at her, she had instinctively dodged.
Thus, even though she knew how Tyr had handled it, she couldn't replicate it at all.
Standing by the iron cage, Tina wasn't particularly surprised by this outcome either. As the Sword Prison's swordsmanship instructor, she could naturally see the flaws in Tyr's move at a single glance.
Rather than Letitia's miserable state, she was far more curious about how Tyr had managed to pull it off.
He was so young; he shouldn't possess such extraordinary mental fortitude.
In the center of the drill grounds, after landing its first hit, the Bloodthirsty Magic Wolf cub immediately turned and launched another attack.
Having learned her lesson from the previous exchange, Letitia knew she couldn't handle the beast as effortlessly as Tyr. She retreated with rapid steps, trying to put some distance between herself and the Bloodthirsty Magic Wolf cub.
Facing the lunges of the Bloodthirsty Magic Wolf cub, she struggled to use her left arm, which had a large chunk of flesh torn away. Left with no choice, she could only fight with a single hand.
At this moment, Letitia was in an even more miserable state than Silas had been during his fight.
Fighting with only one hand, she could only adopt a hit-and-run strategy, dodging the Bloodthirsty Magic Wolf cub's attacks as best as she could while seizing any opening to strike back.
However, the Bloodthirsty Magic Wolf was naturally fast, so this was by no means an easy task.
Fortunately, Letitia had already used her magic power to stem the bleeding. Otherwise, she likely would have collapsed from blood loss long before the Bloodthirsty Magic Wolf cub fell.
By the time Letitia finally wore the Bloodthirsty Magic Wolf cub down and killed it, she collapsed onto the ground, gasping heavily for breath.
Rate on N.U.
