Episode 48.3

Lecan reflexively drew <Comet Cutter> to guard against the attack.

The blue fireball collided with <Comet Cutter>, creating an explosion and changing its trajectory, flinging it right past Lecan.

It felt as if his face had been scooped out even though the fireball never hit him.

A direct hit from this attack would spell instant death.

Lecan leaped backward.

Argent Flame Wolf was making an inhaling gesture then it opened its mouth.

A bluish white flame swirled inside its mouth.

(Fireball spewing is likely this thing's forte.)

(Planning to finish me off with your favorite magic huh.)

With an admirable level of composure, Argent Flame Wolf shot out a blue fireball.

Lecan took that head-on.

With <Comet Cutter>.

He hit the fireball and sent it right back at its shooter.

An explosion occurred from the clash, and the returned fireball landed straight on Argent Flame Wolf's face.

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Gyaun!

Argent Flame Wolf yelped. Lecan heard that once before, but it's even louder this time. Must show how effective it was.

Argent Flame Wolf has stopped moving. Smoke rises out of its charred black face, a bizarre light wraps its golden eyes.

Then the wolf's mouth crooked.

It was laughing.

Lecan had no idea wolves could smile up until this very moment.

A savage ferocious smile.

Then the Argent Flame Wolf vanished just like that.

A serene silence came back to the night forest, the bone-chilling pressure dispersed away.

Lecan struggled to stay on his feet as he tried to catch up to his breath.

He breathed in and out roughly with his shoulders shaking heavily.

His palms are sticky with sweat.

He took a water flask from <Storage>, drank it and splashed it head down to wash his sweat.

As he regulated his breathing, Lecan recalled a conversation he once had with Shira.

"Oh dear. Well, no choice then. Be brave and <Sear it with the lit fire>."

"What the heck does that mean?"

"Oh it's a legend. A traveler once encountered a Flame Wolf (Banje) in the forest, a flame (Ban) spitting wolf (Je) see, he used the flame the wolf lit up to sear and devour it."

"So that kind of magic beasts exist."

"You're asking that? It's not a magic beast. It's a Divine Beast. The more correct name is Argent Flame Wolf (Surubanje). But no one has ever seen the being in reality. It is nothing more than a legend now."

Shira said legend, but this legend probably came to be based on an actual event.

There was once an adventurer who fought and drove back Argent Flame Wolf. Not sure how, but that adventurer managed to return the wolf's attack back at it.

Then does that mean that adventurer beat and ate Argent Flame Wolf's flesh?

(Devour here must be a metaphor.)

(It might mean in devouring its strength sense.)

(I'm also gonna devour that thing one day.)

(But how exactly did Argent Flame Wolf.)

(Track me down?)

To begin with, how come a dungeon boss showed up above ground.

He's never heard anything like that.

But seeing as the legend about a traveler encountering Argent Flame Wolf exists, the wolf must have been an above ground denizen.

(So does that mean.)

(The one that spawned in the dungeon back then a different individual?)

That would make the most sense.

However, Lecan's intuition tells him that's not true.

That was the same Argent Flame Wolf they encountered in Dungeon Palcimo.

But haven't they defeated that one?

So even if it did respawn, it should have been an entirely different wolf with no memory of the previous one.

At any rate, it's a fact that an Argent Flame Wolf suddenly showed itself before Lecan after he beat one in Dungeon Palcimo. This cannot be a coincidence. After all, this is a being so rare it's said no one has ever seen it in reality.

(Hang on.)

Lecan recalled the existence of Argent Flame Wolf's pelt in his <Storage>.

(Is that the cause?)

(That pelt?)

That Argent Flame Wolf earlier must have come here with that pelt as its guidepost. It dawned on him. Lecan has no ground to base that on, but the more he thinks about it the more he's convinced that guess is correct.

Obaba too handily gave the pelt up to Lecan.

He didn't second guess it at the time since he was really eager to get his hands on the pelt, but he did find it odd after thinking about it later on.

Argent Flame Wolf is a Divine Beast that holds a special meaning to Palcimo where Obaba lives. Pretty much its Guardian Deity. Even if that weren't the case, the pelt should have been something extremely fascinating to a researcher like Obaba. Yet she so easily gave it to Lecan.

Also, Obaba was surprised to see Argent Flame Wolf there, but she quickly accepted it as a fact. She even asked Arios if there was a condition for the dungeon boss to be replaced by Argent Flame Wolf.

The legend of Argent Flame Wolf must be passed down in Morfes Clan in some form. And the saying that holding onto the pelt would bring misfortune must be among them. Like say, getting marked by the revived Argent Flame Wolf kind of misfortune. Hence why she took advantage of the situation and handed it over to Lecan.

He knew that granny tends to take unconventional measures, but could it be that he has been set up here.

Gotta demand an answer the next time he's at Palcimo.

There's also another individual at Vouka he needs an answer from.