Faust poured his full strength into the 【Sunlight Spear】, which was in no way inferior even to the full power of his 【Great Thunder】 divine authority.
When the wild, unruly arcs of lightning were constrained within a physical vessel, their power increased significantly, enough to inflict damage even on the 【Ancient Ones】, those gods of beasts.
Having lost his only weapon, the Prince was now effectively disarmed, and the already precarious battle seemed to have a foregone conclusion; he was likely to be captured soon.
Yet Faust did not hesitate in the slightest, as he had to take this gamble.
At worst, he would be dragged into a basement to execute Plan B, calling upon the 【Great Thunder】 to tame these thirsty female wolves.
The resting giant wolf didn't even intend to react, allowing the strike to pierce its surface.
The fleeting 【Sunlight Spear】 tore through the giant wolf's abdomen, leaving a bright scorch mark and spilling foul beast blood from the ruptured wound.
Sylvia's pupils dilated slightly as she looked at Faust and said, "Alkin has already been swallowed by Grandmother and will be devoured by the pack in an instant. What are you doing? Are you trying to provoke Grandmother just to get yourself torn to shreds? I cannot protect you from Grandmother's fury."
She could not understand Faust's actions at all.
However, Faust was not discouraged by the lack of immediate results; instead, he gazed at the distorted beast and said calmly, "Why the hurry? Just wait a little longer."
No matter what, Faust had absolute faith in the priority of the 【witches' feast】; this was a fact proven through practice.
【Little Red Riding Hood】 could never be killed; it was merely a question of how long she would be trapped.
And the 【Hunter】 would rescue 【Little Red Riding Hood】 from the wolf's belly.
Faust had initially thought the role of the 【Hunter】 was his own, but upon further reflection, it shouldn't be so simple; he was, after all, an interloper.
As a Prince, he fit his role perfectly, but the attributes of a 【Hunter】 were a bit of a stretch for him.
So, who exactly was the true, veteran 【Hunter】?
The Prince lowered his eyes and looked at the giant wolf, which was beginning to shake its head and wag its tail.
She was 【Little Red Riding Hood】, the 【Hunter】, and the wolf all at once.
...
Alkin had indeed been swallowed into the giant wolf's belly, vanishing into the darkness the moment that cavernous mouth emerged from the ground.
However, what greeted her was not corrosive stomach acid; the life stage of the 【Ancient Ones】 was entirely different from the mundane world.
Inside the giant wolf was a chaotic void of darkness, where countless dregs of souls drifted—the beast souls of those once devoured.
It was as if she were in a dark forest, and when Alkin the 【Hunter】 fell into it, she became the target of the surrounding beasts' greed.
"Fresh flesh, I smell the scent of fresh flesh!"
"Let me eat! Let me eat!"
"Crush her! Swallow her! It has been so long since we tasted flesh!"
The white wolf dodged the snapping jaws of the beast souls while focusing on the howls of these shattered fragments.
She recognized several of them; they were 【Ancient Ones】 that had supposedly been subjugated in the history of the 【Fog Moon Kingdom】.
Legend said that under the relentless assault of the pack, the wolf ancestors had killed these former kin.
Those gods of the wilderness, whom the hunters thought were long dead, were actually still alive inside the wolf ancestor's belly.
Alkin slashed at the gaping maws of the beast souls with her sword and hand axe, laughing loudly.
"Grandmother, no wonder you were driven mad like this. If I had these incessant voices in my head every day, I wouldn't even be able to sleep."
Despite being in such a perilous situation, the white wolf showed no sign of panic; instead, a passion she had never felt before ignited within her.
She took a deep breath and said fervently, "So this kingdom is rotten to the core, leaving me so constrained. It turns out the root of everything is right here. The 【Fog Moon Kingdom】 isn't rotting because of external enemies; it's rotting because of the pack and the family. Knowing that, I feel relieved."
Alkin reached out, and a flame that seemed like a mix of black and white gathered in her palm, igniting her blades.
She swung the flaming blades, and immediately, the black and white fire scorched the beast souls and illuminated the darkness within the giant wolf.
The beast souls died upon contact or were crippled by the touch, fleeing frantically from Alkin amidst a chorus of ghostly wails.
"You! Child... when did you obtain such power?"
The sharp, hoarse voice of Grandmother echoed, as she had seemingly never expected Alkin to offer such resistance... no, it was no longer resistance, but a threat.
The roles of hunter and prey were reversed in an instant.
"This power? I realized it a long time ago. I thought it was just the urge of a beast to kill, so I kept it suppressed, but now I finally understand."
"This is not the instinct to kill, but the fire that dispels the beast!"
Alkin was indeed very happy because her long-standing confusion and inner conflict finally vanished at this moment.
Since childhood, she had been different from the other 【wolf-kin】, yearning for change, hoping for joy, and extremely dissatisfied with the current state of the kingdom.
When she became a 【Hunter】 for the first time and had an audience with Grandmother, Alkin had only one thought—to kill her.
Kill her, kill her, kill her, kill her!
Kill the beast! Slaughter the pack!
This frantic thought had taken root in her mind, terrifying Alkin into believing her killing instinct had been awakened and that she would turn her blades against her own kind, so she never dared to look deeper.
For the longest time, Alkin had been tired of the dull, repetitive life and wanted to slay the 【Ancient Ones】 to end the isolation of the 【Fog Moon Kingdom】.
Unfortunately, she never had the chance; no matter how she searched, she could find no trace of those great enemies.
Now that she knew the 【Ancient Ones】 had all merged with the wolf ancestors, the situation was simple.
What is there to do? Only kill!
Alkin's handsome face broke into a wild smile. "The marrow of this filthy world will be mine to feast upon, down to the last drop!"
"So many vivid miracles... just thinking about it makes me tremble all over. What ecstasy, what a magnificent undertaking!"
Just then, Alkin noticed a bright light flickering at the boundary.
"It seems someone is knocking on the door. Why don't I go out and say hello first?"
Without waiting for Grandmother's answer, Alkin moved toward the boundary and struck with her blade, widening the gap and leaping out into the sunlight.
The wound she left caused the giant wolf to erupt in a geyser of blood that rained back down.
Under the drenching rain of blood, the hood Alkin wore was stained a deep, dark crimson.
The wolf-eared girl looked up at the pathetic, distorted giant wolf.
Then, with a slight upturn of her lips, she crossed her hand axe and sword in front of her chest.
"Now this... is a hunt that gets my blood pumping."
"Grandmother, I am coming to kill you now!"
Rate on N.U.
