Our Family Has Fallen

To make matters worse, the monster swung its left arm toward Lance.

The Giant Slayer sword was 1.6 meters long. Even though the monster was over two meters tall, its normal arm length would have made it difficult to reach Lance. However, its mutated left arm, which hung down to its knees and featured a protruding Bone Blade, could easily outrange the sword.

Lance now had only one choice: let go of the sword, unless he wanted to…

Unfortunately, Lance had no interest in that option. Instead of letting go, he leaped up, using the sword hilt as a support to flip himself into an inverted, suspended position, causing the Bone Blade to slash through empty air.

Even a monster couldn’t attack while shaking its head, so Lance seized this opening.

He twisted his body, using his weight to swing to the side, directly disrupting the monster’s balance. As Lance landed, the wolf head biting his sword was forced into an unnatural angle.

But the monster clearly had no intention of letting go. It bit down hard, causing the Sword Blade to emit a grating, metallic screech.

It was obviously bracing for a contest of strength.

And he… never backed down!

”You want to wrestle with me? Then taste my strength!”

As soon as the words left his mouth, Lance stomped forward to steady himself. He then gripped the sword hilt tightly and exerted his power. His bare upper-body muscles bulged as if they had swelled a size larger, and his belt grew so taut it looked like it would snap at any second.

The monster, which had initially seemed to have the upper hand with its grip on the greatsword, was now forced to yield to the sword’s momentum. Once it began to waver, its collapse was only a moment away.

If he had only wanted to throw the monster off, he probably would have succeeded by now, but Lance’s rage was irrepressible.

”GRRAAAH!!!”

The Strengthening from the Bless surged through him, a seemingly endless torrent of power that felt capable of shattering the heavens! With a roar, he actually lifted both the greatsword and the monster clinging to it.

It was like a hegemon king lifting a massive cauldron!

The monster suddenly found itself airborne, its limbs flailing in panic. Any creature would react with alarm if suddenly suspended in mid-air, and this one was no exception. But before it could react further, Lance swung the greatsword, smashing the monster headfirst onto the ground.

Its wolf head was still biting the greatsword, and the impact sent a jarring shock through its teeth and bones into its brain. The severe dizziness forced it to loosen its grip.

Lance prepared for a second swing but found the creature had let go. Exaggerated tooth marks, deep enough to have almost pierced through, scarred the Sword Blade.

That didn’t matter. Seizing the opportunity while it was dazed, he brought the raised greatsword down with all his might. The blade, though dulled and pitted from intense combat, was still devastating when driven by Lance’s power. It struck true.

The moment it landed, a loud BOOM echoed, mingled with the crisp sound of shattering bone.

The creature was forced half-kneeling to the ground, its knee creating a dent in the earth.

At the last moment, it managed to shake off the dizziness and cross its arms defensively overhead. However, its right arm was crushed—no, pulverized. The muscle turned to mush, bones shattered, leaving the limb hanging by mere skin and Flesh. But in the end, its thick, Flesh-mutated left arm managed to block the descending blade; otherwise, its body would have been split in half.

Yet Lance’s assault was relentless. Hitting an enemy when it was down was his principle; he wouldn’t dawdle like Grendel and give the monster a chance to turn things around.

With no fancy fighting techniques, Lance’s repetitive overhead strikes—like an old farmer swinging a hoe—came down faster and fiercer as he spewed curses.

”That’s for causing trouble!”

”For waking me up!”

”Die, damn you!!!”

The continuous surge of power sent him into a frenzy. His eyes were bloodshot, his face ferocious and terrifying, and he roared wildly. Eventually, his rage was such that his words devolved into unintelligible shouts.

”AAAH!”

His frenzied aura erupted, forming a palpable pressure that even caused the nearby weeds to flatten. Even Grendel, standing far away, seemed frightened. She retreated instinctively, fearing that in his bloodlust, he might turn and slash her as well. Only after creating some distance did her trembling heart begin to calm a little.

This was merely the overflow of his aura; the monster directly facing this oppressive force had no ability to resist. The pit it had kneeled into deepened further. If not for its left arm, transformed by the power of the Old One, and its own potent regenerative abilities, it would likely already be dead. But it was utterly powerless against the increasingly heavy greatsword. Even though it had lost the ability to think clearly, it couldn’t help but instinctively feel fear.

Only another monster could make a monster feel such fear.

But soon, it would no longer need to be afraid.

The force of the Sword Blade pressed down its left arm and chopped directly into the shoulder blade. The left arm, used as a shield, lost its support and collapsed. Without giving it time to recover, the next strike landed squarely on the gigantic wolf’s head. Surprisingly, it didn’t explode but instead rang out with a sound like striking iron. Nevertheless, the full force of the blow slammed into its brain. Even with its incredible constitution and regenerative ability, it was instantly plunged into severe dizziness.

Another sword strike landed true, but it still failed to cleave open the wolf’s head. Instead, a powerful tremor traveled back through the blade to Lance.

It still hasn’t sliced through?

”DAMN IT!!!”

Lance couldn’t believe it. With a monstrous yell, the muscles in his arms tensed like rising mountains. His skin flushed crimson as if his blood were about to burst through, glowing like red-hot iron. He raised the greatsword high and brought it down fiercely—a strike meant to annihilate heaven and earth! The third... the fourth... the fifth blow landed.

Then, two vastly different sounds rang out almost simultaneously.

One was the sound of the greatsword finally cleaving into the wolf’s head—steel had at last triumphed over bone.

The other was the crisp SNAP of the Giant Slayer breaking.

It broke... Lance’s frenzied emotions froze for a moment. He looked at the short hilt remaining in his hand. Accustomed to the weapon’s heavy feel, his grip now felt strangely empty. The other half of the blade was embedded in the wolf’s head.

At that moment, the monster collapsed as if its spine had been ripped out. Its bulging, beastly eyes glazed over, lost focus, and gradually dimmed.

Lance dared not delay. He immediately lunged forward and pressed his hand down on the corpse.

He initiated the Sacrifice.

The power of the Void emerged, showing great interest in the monster. The devouring speed seemed much slower, as if it were savoring the taste. A shadowy visage of a wolf’s head roared, attempting to challenge the Void’s mighty power, but was instantly erased. Even though the Warwolf was dead, the Flesh on its body still writhed unwillingly, as if resisting. Sadly, this was merely a futile gesture.

Lance had only witnessed such phenomena when the Butler was sacrificed. Neither the Collector nor the Alpha Wolf had shown so many anomalies, which spoke volumes about the Warwolf’s strength.

Fortunately, no mishaps occurred; the power of the Sacrifice smoothed over all potential complications.

However, there was no immediate return of a gift. That meant it dropped equipment!

Lance couldn’t suppress an excited expression. Spiritual Essence could be found anywhere, but equipment from the Panel was always top-tier.

The ritual soon ended. The Void responded, returning a uniquely shaped weapon.

It wasn’t metal but a bone weapon with a dark grey surface, curved like a wolf’s fang.

Lance grabbed the hilt and pulled the weapon from the Void. Information about this blade instantly became clear to him.

[Wolf Fang]. It possessed two inherent properties: Sharpness and Armor Penetration. One caused bleeding on attack, and the other, naturally, pierced armor.

Isn’t this the power that lingered around the Warwolf’s claws and fangs? It actually dropped!

Seeing the spiritual radiance surrounding it, Lance was sure this was a piece of Legendary equipment, surpassing even Epic (red) tier.

Wow! A golden Legendary!

But it wasn’t over. Immediately after, two orbs of light drifted from the Void and merged into his body.

Lance could feel a very familiar power: the Old One’s Power of Flesh and Blood.

And the other...