(42) First trial [2]

A sudden whip-like object slashed toward Mangrel, splitting the air in two, and aiming for his head. 

Not letting go of the dead body of the person he killed, Mangrel positioned it before him, using it like a shield.

Three spiky roots whipped at the corpse held by Mangrel, creating a couple of cut marks. Blood flowed profusely, the cut had almost reached the bones, showing the terrifying amount of power behind it. 

The speed at which the whip moved was extraordinary too, Mangrel could easily react only because he had always kept an eye on the actions of the wolf. And thanks to another advantage. 

'These roots can only extend around two meters from their body. I am at an ideal distance right now, hence it can't manipulate the roots and attack me from the sides.' 

Mangrel began moving immediately after the roots came in contact with the corpse in his hand. He threw the corpse at the wolf with all his might, the body of a kid was not heavy with his current power.

Not to lower his speed, Mangrel had no choice but to let go of the meat shield. He could dodge somewhat with his reaction speed too.

Instead of moving forward, Mangrel moved a few steps back, making some distance from the wolf.

As if not noticing the existence of the corpse, it manipulated the roots to assault Mangrel while leaping forward, only to miss. 

Thud!

Growl!

The corpse came in direct contact with the providence plant wolf. 

Losing its balance, the providence plant wolf assaulting Mangrel, lost its balance and fell sideways. 

The providence had different eyes compared to humans, they could only see the life essence of other living beings. This was normally very beneficial to them, allowing them to kill even hidden prey.

They could sense the usage of the origin essence through their skin and ears. This gave them the ability to dodge long-range easily, however, in return, they can't hear anything.

Both these perks could be taken advantage of, like right now. 

The corpse of course had no life essence, so the providence plant wolf couldn't even sense it.

Mangrel appeared beside the wolf swiftly and lifted both of his hands wide, to the side at shoulder level.

Flinch! Swish!

Feeling the origin essence in Mangrel's ghost claw, the wolf whipped the root at him instantly. 

Bang!

It completely missed, and the root landed on the ground, creating a small crater. 

'Senses are easy to trick, its eyes are the only threat to me.' 

The counter-attack Mangrel came up against the providence plant wolf's sense, was very simple — to use the ghost claws as bait. 

Mangrel's stance of spreading his arms to the side might appear comical, but it was surprisingly effective against the blind wolf. He just had to carefully watch the pattern of the attack. 

Crouch if horizontal, take down the arm if vertical. 

Well, if multiple spiky roots attacked him at once, Mangrel would have no choice but to roll into the ground to dodge. 

Mangrel's action gathered some attention, seeing his effortless dodge, they felt like their eyes were playing tricks on them. Others were all moving around frantically to dodge, on the contrary, appearing like a joke compared to him.

"....is that guy for real?"

"How is he dodging it standing in one place?!" 

The young cultivator, who understood the ingenuity behind Mangrel's move, gasped in enlightened. They didn't have the guts to try something so dangerous.

Mangrel was far from the area, where the providence plant wolf initially began the assault, so there were only a handful of wolves here, attacking the other young cultivator. 

'They are all dying so fast...They won't be able to delay the wolf's reach for long. I have to finish it quickly.' Knowing that a group of providence plant wolves would arrive here soon, Mangrel moved faster. 

Mangrel's eyes were sharp, he moved a step, reaching right before the wolf.

Swish~

Crouching down, he dodged another root attack. The wolf had stood up by this time too. 

At that moment, the black claw, which was like a thin layer of fog, changed. The claw shrunk, becoming dense and dark, it didn't appear transparent at all, looking like the real claw of the demon covered in black flame.

Thrust!

A strange scene played out.

Without any sound or blood, Mangrel's claw entered the wolf's body, like the claw of a true ghost. 

Finding the prey nearby, the providence plant wolf tried to bite into him. However, the moment its sharp teeth reached the prey's neck, a sharp pain ran through its body. 

Howl!

Pulling out his hand, which had re-materialized, Mangrel loosened his palm.

Thump! Thump! 

A beating heart became visible. 

The ghost claw could enter an ethereal mode for three seconds. That was its main ability, it had the drawback of needing more origin essence to activate the ethereal mode again though. 

Mangrel began eating the heart in his palm with no hesitation. Within three bites, which didn't even take two seconds, he ate it all. Vigorous energy traveled into his body, making him feel refreshed and energetic. 

'These providence plant wolves tend to stay still when using their roots to attack, so killing them after approaching close is easy. It's a habitual action, so they must be trained that way.' Mangrel had watched their action carefully, so he noticed a lot of their behavior.

'Sending these zero-rank upper-grade beasts to kill some bottom-feeding cultivator is overkill, but I see the reason now. A trial to gauge everyone's observation skill.' 

Mangrel breathed in deeply, and the sensation of fullness hit him. 

All the origin essence he had used to cast the ghost claw had recovered!

The quantity of origin essence in the atmosphere here was very high. If it were compared to the alleyway, it was like comparing a lake to a pond. 

The eight rings of death were still absorbing the origin essence greedily, showing no sign of stopping. 

The wolves around the Mangrel finished off their prey at the same time too. Three of them moved toward him, seeing him unmoving in place.

Mangrel saw their action, revealing a mocking smile. They were even moving in groups, making it easy for him. He activated the spell he had been preparing for three minutes, by gathering spiritual energy continuously. 

Normally, this was impossible, as the spell would just disperse but in this place, with an excellent cultivation atmosphere, it was possible with Mangrel's superior ability.

Rank zero spell — Rock burst.

Mangrel kicked the ground, making dozens of small boulders float in the air from the ground. Of course, he was not stupid enough to aim for the wolves directly, they would dodge it easily if he did. 

All the boulders launched themselves into the ceiling, right above the three wolves. 

The three providence plant wolves tensed up their body, sensing the origin essence moving. However, seeing it was not aimed at them, none moved. 

Bam! 

At once, huge debris fell after coming into contact with Mangrel's attack. 

Bang! 

With no idea what happened, all three of them were buried in the debris. Unfortunately, a young cultivator nearby was buried in it too. 

The commotion attracted a lot of attention, everybody couldn't help but take a glance, even while fighting. Their mouths opened wide from shock at once, they were not able to kill even a single wolf, but Mangrel killed three at once!

Making sure they were dead, by ripping off their heart, Mangrel began stuffing his mouth with three hearts again. Looking around, he could only see half the amount of the original cultivator alive. 

Cleaning the blood coming from his nose, Mangrel endured the pain in his head, making him feel slightly dizzy.

'I pushed myself to the limit spiritually. I will most likely faint if I try to cast a spell again. I was only able to complete the spell while replenishing it with spiritual energy continuously so that it doesn't disperse.' 

To conjure spells, complicated runes must be created using spiritual energy in the soul. If it wasn't done quickly, the rune vanishes quickly, so it shows how much effort Mangrel put into it. 

These runes were called — spell modules. 

It was an act Mangrel did with an indifferent face, however, it was a feat that could put the rank one cultivator, hiding in the shadows, in shame. 

Everyone was fighting desperately to live, in between them, Mangrel searched for an appropriate prey with hawk-like eyes.