The Filthy Blood Demon Wolf's claws were like blades as it lunged fiercely at Feng Yin.
The next moment, Feng Yin swung the Canfeng Sword, Slashing heavily against the Demon Wolf's extending claws.
CLASH!
A teeth-aching sound of hard objects colliding rang out.
"ROAR!" The Demon Wolf executed a backflip, retreating several meters away, its roar laced with pain.
Clearly, even with this mad beast's formidable physique, trying to withstand the Canfeng Sword bare-clawed was a bit too much.
Feng Yin's Canfeng Sword rebounded from the reaction force. But he perfectly used the momentum to execute a Recovery back into a high guard stance.
Seeing the Demon Wolf retreat in fear, Feng Yin felt a mix of excitement and tension, though it did not affect his control over the Armor in the slightest. This was the superiority of a ruthless body of steel! Emotions were hardly such an inconvenient thing!
The pitch-black Armor raised its longsword high, stepping forward swiftly to deliver a downward slash.
The Demon Wolf reared up on its hind legs, swatting continuously with its forelimbs and swinging its claws at the Canfeng Sword.
SLASH! Blood splattered through the air, immediately followed by an earth-shattering howl of agony.
This time, a body of flesh and blood could not stop the sharp blade. A gaping wound was split open on the Demon Wolf's left foreleg, spraying blood frantically.
Pressing his advantage, Feng Yin took another step forward. He reversed the momentum of the falling Canfeng Sword into an upward slash. The blade swept across the wolf's head, tearing a hideous gash across its face. In the face of a Heavy Sword with a blade exceeding 1.2 meters, despite the Demon Wolf's massive size, its attack range was effectively sealed off by Feng Yin's weapon.
After all, between bare hands and weaponry stood an insurmountable high wall!
Feng Yin's strikes grew smoother and smoother. The twenty Sword Techniques of the Jiao Sword constantly surfaced in his mind, and he executed them in rapid succession through a continuously shifting series of stances. Soon, he left the Demon Wolf's forelegs covered in bloody gashes! However, he maintained his vigilance, having held back on using his Stealing Step the entire time.
After forcing a few more relentless exchanges, the Demon Wolf predictably unleashed a sudden, explosive roar. With a swiping strike of its claws, it forcibly batted the Canfeng Sword aside using purely its physical strength.
[Durability: 9/11 → 8/11]
To think that merely by attacking the weapon, the shockwave had knocked off a point of Durability from Feng Yin's Armor!
The next moment, the Demon Wolf's eyes shot out a crimson Light as it lunged ferociously at Feng Yin.
"Here it comes!" Feng Yin thought, his heart tightening. He immediately activated Stealing Step, swiftly retreating over five meters away and narrowly dodging the Demon Wolf's pounce.
As an Elite or, rather, a Leader, it naturally possessed some trump cards. He had fought this Demon Wolf many times in the game before. Every time its Blood Volume dropped to around a third, it would enter an "enraged" state. Not only would its attack power and Speed increase drastically, but it would also gain extremely high poise.
In this state, it felt no pain, and a situation that could originally be suppressed by a blade's edge would instantly reverse. If a player stubbornly tried to fight head-on, they would likely be sent packing in just three to five hits. Even if they were lucky enough to survive, they would lose a massive amount of Durability. It simply wasn't worth the cost.
And the best way to deal with it was... Feng Yin turned around and started sprinting wildly! That's right. The most cost-effective strategy was simply to stall out the Demon Wolf's enraged duration!
And so, Feng Yin ran, and the Demon Wolf chased. Two legs naturally couldn't outrun Four.
But whenever the Demon Wolf caught up to Feng Yin and launched a terrifying pounce, Feng Yin would use Stealing Step to instantly escape.
"This is my escape route!" he thought.
After this cycle repeated for about half a minute, the Demon Wolf stumbled and fell to the ground, struggling as it tried to get back up.
But Feng Yin, who had been keeping a close eye on its movements, abruptly turned back, raising the Canfeng Sword high!
He thought, "Sorry. If this were a game, I'd play around with you and put on a show dancing on the blade's edge. But this is for survival, so all you get to face is human despicability. Your enrage is over. It's time for you to die!"
SLASH!
The Canfeng Sword fell rapidly, Slashing heavily down onto the head of the Filthy Blood Demon Wolf as it tried to stand.
Not only did this strike split its head open to the bone, but it also completely unleashed the massive Kinetic Energy converted from the Armor's strength and the Heavy Sword's mass. In a single hit, it forcefully Punched the tall, gigantic Demon Wolf to the ground.
The Demon Wolf let out an unwilling howl. It slammed its paws against the ground, trying to force itself up, only to be met with another heavy slash from Feng Yin!
After going back and forth like this several times, the Demon Wolf's howls and struggles grew weaker and weaker. Finally, following Feng Yin's last heavy slash, its head was forcibly severed.
Amidst rising black mist, the corpse of the Filthy Blood Demon Wolf turned into ashes.
[Banished the Filthy Blood Demon Wolf. Gained 10 units of Spirituality.]
Slain!
If Feng Yin possessed a human body right now, the joy following this bitter battle would have undoubtedly made him shout out in excitement. However, now he was just a suit of Armor. A cold suit of Armor where, even if emotions welled up in his soul, they would not affect his metallic body in the slightest.
Thus, he merely sheathed his sword slowly, bringing it to his back and allowing the powerful weapon to automatically adhere to the Armor. He then walked briskly toward the bonfire, preparing to pull out the Life Wedge.
But just as he grabbed the Life Wedge and was about to exert force, the White Crow's voice rang out from behind him. "Hey, hey! You missed some loot! This big monster dropped top-tier gear!"
"What?!" Feng Yin thought, his heart jolting. He quickly turned around and saw the White Crow hovering with flapping wings above the spot where the Filthy Blood Demon Wolf's ashes lay.
"Good lord! The end-stage Elite actually dropped something? Time to take off!!!" he thought.
Feng Yin immediately let go of the Life Wedge, turning and running back toward it. It was no wonder he was so eager. According to the "game's" settings, the drop rate for these end-stage bosses was terrifyingly low. But while they usually dropped nothing, the moment they did, it was always top-tier gear!
As for exactly how top-tier it was... Feng Yin quickly recalled what this Filthy Blood Demon Wolf could drop, his excitement growing by the second. It was something capable of changing a game's entire build! Players generally referred to this level of drop as—a god-roll!
While thinking, he had already reached the Demon Wolf's ashes. He dropped to one knee and brushed aside the thick, wolf-shaped layer of ash, eventually finding an object emitting a strange Light within.
A Badge shaped like the silhouette of a wolf's head.
"Just as I thought!" he thought.
Wild with joy, Feng Yin immediately picked it up. A message subsequently appeared.
[Wolf's Badge (Armor Engraving): Alters Armor Form when equipped, and unlocks relevant Traits according to the Engraving Level.]
That's right, the item dropped by this Demon Wolf was an "Engraving."
The combat power of the Armor was mainly divided into several components—the Armor itself, primary and secondary Armed, Engravings, Skills, and Secret Techniques.
If the other components were entities that functioned independently, then Engravings were akin to accessories—an Enhancement that needed to be attached to another main body to take effect.
For example, the Continuous Fire Engraving seen at the very beginning as part of the "Newbie Three-piece Set" could be attached to the Simple Arm Crossbow, turning an Arm Crossbow capable only of single shots into a Repeating Crossbow.
And the most special kind among all Engravings were those that could be attached to the Armor itself. For no other reason than the fact that Engravings attached to the Armor often brought about a series of mechanical changes. In gaming terminology, it meant the entire "build" would change along with it.
As for the specific effects of this Engraving, he would have to wait until he was outside the stage and equipped it to check and confirm them.
Thinking of this, Feng Yin didn't want to delay any longer. He put away the Wolf's Badge, quickly stood up, walked toward the extinguished bonfire, and yanked out the Life Wedge.
CRACK!
The Life Wedge he pulled out instantly shattered and was then absorbed by the Armor.
"ROAR!!!"
An earth-shattering bellow of rage echoed from above. Feng Yin looked up, only to see a massive monster reared up on its hind legs on the mountain peak above the Gorge, roaring down at him.
Then, it suddenly turned around, quickly leapt far away, and completely disappeared from sight.
The White Crow quickly flew over. "A Mad Beastman, the guy who escaped from the prison! Let's go after it!"
The moment its voice faded, lines of information popped up before Feng Yin's eyes.
[Objective completed. Liberation Level increased by 1%.]
[Returning shortly.]
Endless gray mist covered his vision.