Episode 52.1

Lecan slowly stood up.

Argent Flame Wolf had its gaze fixed at Lecan with its eyes glistening in the forest darkness.

Chubby disappeared into the darkness, as if he was never there.

Argent Flame Wolf kept staring at Lecan without caring about Chubby.

Lecan put away <Sword of Rusk> in <Storage>, took <Shield of Wolkan> and equipped it on his left hand. Then he took <Sword of Toron> out. And a deep breath.

The skewered meat grilled over the campfire wafted a nice smell in the air.

Lecan suddenly turned around and made a mad dash.

The Argent Flame Wolf immediately shot out magic attack from its mouth. A huge blue fireball.

Already anticipating that, Lecan dodged. However, it wasn't a perfect evasion as <Necklace of Intuador> put up a barrier and stopped the magic attack.

Lecan kept running.

Argent Flame Wolf shot another fireball while running after Lecan.

The fireball blew away the trees behind Lecan, and got stopped by <Necklace of Intuador>'s barrier once again.

Running.

Running.

Running in the night forest.

Lecan kept on running.

However, his path wasn't straight ahead for the sake of fleeing.

He's zigzagging around all over the place to limit Argent Flame Wolf's targeting.

Suddenly, Lecan sensed an activation of magic unlike anything before.

(Here comes Warp!)

There's this peculiar sign of mana emitted whenever Argent Flame Wolf warps.

And sure enough, the wolf emerged in front of Lecan.

Lecan neither reversed his course or stopped moving, he picked up speed instead and turned slightly to the right. And kept running as he went right past Argent Flame Wolf.

The wolf opened its mouth to shot out magic. However that magic tore through an empty space where Lecan was a moment before, blowing away trees behind him.

Lecan himself was already behind the wolf.

Argent Flame Wolf swiftly turned around in a maneuver impossible for human and shot magic at Lecan's back.

The magic missed Lecan as he had already changed course to the left, it went past Lecan's right side, blocked by <Necklace of Intuador>.

Lecan sensed the sign of a swelling mana behind him as he zigzagged in the forest.

(Here it comes!)

<TLN: Catch the latest updates and edits at Sousetsuka.com >

There are two types of blue fireballs the Argent Flame Wolf shoot out.

Fireballs it shot through motions instead of open mouth can be shot while it's running.

While the fireballs where it stops moving to converge mana before casting hold a tremendous amount of mana and create a mana blast at impact point that severely damages its foes.

Every one of the later fireballs holds a power rivaling a <Gailvey> Lecan cast with all his might. Getting hit by one will consume <Necklace of Intuador> mana supply in a flash.

Lecan turned around, held <Sword of Toron> ahead and recited a spell loudly.

"<Zoruas Kurt Vendar>."

A terrifyingly powerful magic attack got shot out of Argent Flame Wolf's mouth.

The magic mowed, blew and burned down trees, but not Lecan.

Lecan had disappeared just before that tremendous magic hit him, and emerged behind Argent Flame Wolf.

Lecan resumed zigzagging between trees.

Argent Flame Wolf turned around and shot a barrage of magic at Lecan.

The attacks rarely hit him. <Necklace of Intuador> would block it anytime it did.

Even when it grazed Lecan, the necklace would protect him.

The necklace's mana didn't get consumed when the attack missed.

(Muu.)

He could feel the wolf converging a massive amount of mana once again. It must be attempting to shoot another powerful one.

Lecan stopped moving, turned around and recited a spell loudly with <Sword of Toron> thrust ahead.

"<Zoruas Tork Vendar>!"

Argent Flame Wolf spun around with its mana still converging. It must think Lecan was going to warp behind it.

However, the wrong spell won't activate <Leg Bands of White Devil>. Argent Flame Wolf had exposed its back to Lecan.

"<Flame Spear>!"

The magic shot out of Lecan's left hand landed on the ground below the wolf's hind legs and exploded.

The wolf got blown into the air along with the blown soil. It skillfully regained its balance mid-air but its converged mana dissipated.

Lecan who bought precious time with this tactic hid behind a giant tree and took Stamina Restoratives and Mana Restoratives.

Argent Flame Wolf's magic flew at him.

Lecan dashed forward. The magic landed and blew the giant tree, but it never reached Lecan.

Lecan ran toward a huge concentration of trees.

Ahead of him, the Argent Flame Wolf warped in, converged its mana and opened its mouth.

Lecan thrust <Sword of Toron> ahead while running, and recited a dummy spell for his Grace Gear.

"<Zoruas Turk Vendar>!"

Argent Flame Wolf didn't turn around.

Yet neither did it shoot the powerful magic.

Once it confirmed that Lecan didn't teleport away an instance later, it unleashed the magic.

An attack that filled his entire field of vision with light assaulted Lecan.

But most of this magic attack got dispersed away by <Sword of Toron> while <Necklace of Intuador>'s barrier manifested, an explosion occurred in the dazzling light.

Lecan ran across this explosion as he shot magic to his left while relying on <3D Perceptions>.

"<Fire Arrow>!"

The point blank shot of five <Fire Arrows> hit the Argent Flame Wolf's face.

Lecan ran past Argent Flame Wolf's side.

The wolf immediately shot magic that hit Lecan directly. <Necklace of Intuador> blocked that dazzling magic attack.

(Tch.)

(Knew it this wolf also got powerful detection capability.)

If Argent Flame Wolf relied only on its vision to chase Lecan, it should lose track of him during that moment. And yet it cast an immensely precise magic even after getting hit by the <Fire Arrows> right in the face. The only possible explanation to this is that it's got an ability to track Lecan.

It's probably similar or even an advanced version of Lecan's <3D Perceptions>.

In their last encounter, the wolf managed to warp back to him after he was 2000 to 3000 steps away from the thing. Which means it's an ability akin to <Life Detection> or even better.

What a troublesome foe.

But the plan is going well for now.