Chapter 604: War

It was chaos.

The two armies clashed among roars, growls, howls, and battle cries. The azure and scarlet tide fused as the ground shattered under their feet, disappearing into a dense cloud that almost filled the plain.

Plans, tasks, and roles vanished. The plain became the center of a war that required a single winner, and neither side backed away from it. Even the monsters began to focus on the Thilku instead of trying to cross them.

The initial clash destroyed the surface, creating a hole that stretched far past both frontlines. Thilku and monsters fell inside, either focusing on safe landings or trying to use the opportunity to deliver killing blows.

Khan used his speed to take the wolf in front of him by surprise, stabbing his knife into its head. The ground crumbled right afterward, but the symphony had warned him about that development, and he was ready to exploit it.

A good chunk of both armies fell for a few meters, creating a long gorge of fur, bodies, blood, and sweat, but Khan remained above it. The air was the only surface he needed while he let the symphony guide his actions.

The two armies were going at each other with all they had, but only the frontlines had begun to mix. The fall had helped, but the fights remained limited to the central areas of the battlefield.

Many Thilku and wolves were still trying to find openings that could bring them before opponents. Some jumped on top of their companions to get a piece of the action, with the monsters being messier about it.

Khan listened to anything reaching his senses before sprinting ahead. He knew where his power shone brighter, so he crossed the battlefield to reach the areas occupied solely by monsters before diving at them.

The mess and Khan's speed hid his movements, allowing him to stomp on an unaware wolf's head. The creature was as strong as a third-level warrior, so the attack only pushed it downward, slamming it deeper into the monster it had climbed on.

The monster failed to realize what had happened due to the chaos of the battlefield. It couldn't even lift its head due to the force pressing it down, and the chance to remove it never arrived.

The spherical version of the Wave spell expanded from Khan's figure, destroying and pushing away anything in its path. The lack of allies in his surroundings allowed him to attack freely, which was exactly what he did.

The Wave spell cleared Khan's surroundings, leaving only patches of blood and flesh around him. The enemy army noticed him, and angry howls flew in his direction.

The wolves waited for the purple-red mana to vanish before charging ahead. However, Khan had already disappeared, and a bright spear had replaced him.

The spear exploded, releasing a pillar that burned or killed the wolves in its immediate surroundings. As for Khan, he dived into the azure figures, swinging his knife and delivering kicks to open a path and defeat opponents.

When Khan left the pillar's range, a monster appeared in his path. The explosion had blinded the creature, so Khan ducked to his right and kept advancing, swinging his knife in the meantime.

The wolf lost its head while Khan crossed it, but two more monsters appeared before him. Mana flowed toward his legs, flinging him forward to slam his knees on one of the oddly shaped heads.

The monster's skull shattered, and its body bounced back due to the power carried by the impact. Its companion noticed the event and instinctively threw its mouth at the foreign figure standing on its left, but a glowing knife welcomed it.

Khan split the wolf's mouth in half before kicking the air to fly past his latest kill. More monsters had noticed him by then, and two leaped in his direction, but needles appeared in their path.

Pain spread from Khan's right arm when he brought it to his side. The needles exploded, destroying a head and a leg. His aim had been off, but no regret reached his brain.

More and more wolves noticed Khan after the needles' explosions. He was the only human in that mass of fur, and his flight highlighted his figure. Many monsters growled and jumped over their companions to reach him, but he disappeared before any attack could land.

Khan's feet touched the brittle ground without shattering it. Long legs also surrounded him. He had landed among the wolves, but his eyes failed to record clear images since he promptly sprinted again.

The glowing knife flashed in Khan's eyes as he swung it left and right while striding forward. His shoulders slammed on the monsters' legs, which fell at the lightest impact since they weren't attached to the rest of their bodies anymore.

A trail of blood and fur spread behind Khan, but bodies soon covered it. All the wolves maimed by Khan lost their balance and tripped, adding dust to the cloud that had engulfed the battlefield.

Heads eventually peeked into the array of long legs. A wolf bent forward to check what was happening, but a foot slammed on its mouth, breaking its upper part.

The kick pushed the wolf back, slamming it on the monsters behind and making some space in that chaotic environment. Khan ran into it, and the spherical version of the Wave spell expanded from his figure.

The spell cleared Khan's surroundings during its expansion, but a powerful force suddenly slammed into it, partially stopping it. A similar ability had clashed with Khan's technique, but the event didn't bring any surprise.

Khan stood straight in the middle of his spell as he glanced to his left. Six meters separated him from a humanoid wolf who had unleashed a similar version of his attack. The two techniques seemed equally matched as they clashed in the middle of the army, and no one dared to interfere.

Sizzling noises and azure sparks shot from where the two attacks clashed. Raw mana escaped the two spells, but no winner arrived. Khan and the humanoid wolf released their energy freely without ever hinting at stopping.

Khan stared deep into the wolf's calm eyes. Thoughts slowly returned to his brain as his mana began to boil. That mere beast was matching his power. That wasn't something his energy liked to see.

A clicking growl resounded in Khan's mind, and he opened his mouth to shout it. Mana flared out of his body, expanding inside the Wave spell and stretching past its edges. He vented, adding more power to his attack and pushing back the wolf's technique.

The wolf calmly watched its spell retreat, but its eyes suddenly lit up, sending beams at it. The attack destabilized its mana, causing a chain reaction that echoed through Khan's energy, making it explode outward.

Both Wave spells and flares transformed into unstable energy that shot in every direction. Most of it flew toward the sky, but a good chunk dived into the surrounding pack, hitting a couple of monsters and burning their fur.

The humanoid wolf had retracted its beams during the explosion, but its arms promptly shot upward, waving their sharp claws toward the incoming threat.

Khan appeared above the creature, spinning on himself with a stretched leg. He looked about to deliver one of his strongest kicks, but the claws were ready to intercept him.

Usually, that would be a guaranteed hit. The humanoid monster had noticed Khan's arrival and had reacted accordingly. Khan was also going too fast to dodge.

However, Khan's spinning motion suddenly slowed down, and he flexed his stretched leg to make his foot land on the longest claw of the monster's right paw. Strangely enough, the wolf didn't feel any pressure on its limb but couldn't lift it any further.

Time slowed down in the humanoid wolf's eyes until it basically stopped. Khan had landed on its claw, and a purple-red flash followed. Only darkness waited for the creature afterward.

Khan landed on the ground behind the humanoid wolf but didn't turn. He straightened his back while the earthquake continued to rage.

Those tremors affected the humanoid wolf, which fell into the space previously cleared by the Wave spells. The impact on the ground made its head roll forward for a few meters. That body part had lost any connection with its neck.

Howls invaded the scene. The death of the humanoid wolf changed the leadership in that chunk of the pack. A frenzy began to affect the monsters, bringing out their instinctive hunger.

Khan was the closest prey, so the monster immediately focused on him. Still, the same instincts behind their hunger warned them about a potential threat. A dense aura surrounded Khan. The air had become an extension of his mind.

That reaction wasn't intentional. An overbearing feeling had invaded Khan after his recent victory. His mana felt that he had proven something by defeating the humanoid wolf, which filled him with urges that stretched into the environment.

Khan was no stranger to that event. He had spent the last period training to enhance those effects. The theory behind the Niqols' spells was manifesting itself on his own as if it was a natural extension of his feelings.

The howls and growls didn't let Khan focus on what was happening to the air. His mood transformed his expression into a glare that he moved across the monsters. He had almost reached the other side of the enemy army but was still surrounded. Still, the wolves hesitated to attack him.

That hesitation was short-lived. The hunger quickly overcame any trace of order those monsters still had, making them leap forward. Khan also emptied his mind, ready to flow through the battlefield again.