Chapter 80 - 75

For some unknown reason, the Gigarillon wore an amused smile on his face. This was despite the fact that the Flame Wolf was showering him with a barrage of fire-based attacks. And from what I could tell, it seemed as if the ape was just testing the strength of his opponent.

'This guy…' At first, I felt annoyed at the ape and sympathetic towards the Flame Wolf. But upon sweeping my gaze towards the wolf, I realized that the said alpha was also wearing the same look on his face. It was as if he didn’t really mind even though his attacks didn’t seem to affect his foe. 'What’s this? Is this their way of playing around? If so, then this isn’t funny…'

“Agreed…” The Lightning Wolf interrupted. Only then that I once again realized that I was still close enough to the Lightning Wolf that he could hear my surface thoughts.

Upon coming to that realization, I immediately adjusted my thought process in order to hide my important secrets. And just to be safe, I conditioned my mind to avoid thinking about anything that was related to it. More than that, I tried to act as normal as possible in order to prevent the Lightning Wolf from noticing my blunder.

'So, what now?' I asked in response.

“Stop them… I guess…?” Without taking his eyes off that battle, the Lightning Wolf gave such an uncertain reply.

Hearing that, I couldn’t help but lampoon. 'That’s easier said than done…'

Looking at the battle that was happening up front, I couldn’t stop myself from being a little bit pessimistic about the premise of interfering and putting an end to their fight. After all, it was clear to see from the two monsters’ behavior that they couldn’t be stopped just by words alone. In fact, if by chance we made the mistake of charging in without any plan, I had no doubt that we would instead be forced to join that battle thus further escalating the situation.

'If we’re doing this, then we should do it right. And to do so, we need to wait for the perfect timing and opportunity to interfere.' I explained whilst observing the fight.

“I know…”

'And since it seems like you personally know that Flame Wolf, I will leave that one to you.' I suggested while sneaking a glance to the side. But without showing any change in his expression, the Lightning Wolf just nodded in response.

From what I had observed, I was certain that the Lightning Wolf had some deeper connection with Flame Wolf than what I initially imagined. This was because back when the Lightning Wolf agreed to my surface thoughts, I had sensed something different from his tone. If I wasn’t mistaken, there was a hint of exasperation in the Lightning Wolf’s words at that time. And as far as I could tell, there wasn’t even a hint of hostility in that. It was as if he was looking past the fact that the Flame Wolf was the leader of an enemy pack. Furthermore, it was the first time since I came here that the Lightning Wolf showed some signs of fluctuating emotions. Clearly, there was something going on with that to the point that it even affected the stoic Lightning Wolf.

Despite being confused by the Lightning Wolf’s behavior, I decided to put all my questions and speculations at the back of my mind. Instead, I focused my awareness on the fight in an attempt to find any possible opening to exploit. But during my observation, I noticed the presence of another monster nearby.

'?!'

When I turned my head to look in the direction wherein the presence was coming from, I saw these three wolves watching the battle just like us. But what caught my attention the most was the one is standing in the middle whilst being guarded by the other two. And though the three of them were hiding in the shadows, I still could see that the one in the middle has this familiar black and white fur.

In that instant, I heard the Lightning Wolf mutter to himself, “Tempest…”

It was then that a flood of emotions burst within my mind. Fear, despair, regret, and rage. All of it rampaged within me as if trying to gobble me up. And truth be told, if not for the good condition of both my body and mind, I would have probably lost control by now.

Another thing that I was thankful about was the placating effect of my skill—Presence of Mind. Because through this effect, I was able to maintain my calm facade outside. As a result, I managed to keep my cover as an ignorant outsider, despite the fact that the mere presence of the Tempest Wolf had shaken me to my core.

Though of course, I knew for a fact that some slight reaction had slipped out the moment that I laid my eyes on the Tempest Wolf. Luckily, such a reaction could also be interpreted as the result of curiosity or caution. And since this was my supposed first meeting with Tempest Wolf, it would in fact be more suspicious if I didn’t show interest at all.

'Another alpha?' I asked in a casual tone.

Before I knew it, the Flame Wolf and Gigarillon had already stopped. The most curious thing was that the Flame Wolf was staring at the Tempest Wolf with a palpable hostility in his eyes. It was even more strange because he didn’t even show any signs of that when he fighting against the Gigarillon. Furthermore, despite noticing our presence, his malice was directed to the Tempest Wolf alone. To be honest, his reaction was probably comparable to what I was feeling right now.

'Looks like those two have some delicate history.' I probingly asked.

“Something like… that…” The Lightning Wolf replied before plowing through the burning battleground. Following that example, I approached the Gigarillon on the other side just as we had agreed earlier.

Whilst all of these were happening, the Tempest Wolf didn’t move from his spot and simply watched us from afar. And instead of paying attention to the Flame Wolf’s “warm welcome,” the Tempest Wolf set his curious gaze towards me and the Gigarillon.

Of course, being the gentleman—I mean "gentlewolf" I was, I returned the favor and stared straight into the Tempest Wolf’s eyes. Furthermore, I also took that chance to check the level of my target using Assess. But upon doing so, something unexpected happened.

[Name: (Unnamed)

Race: Tempest Wolf

Level: 43

St—]

'What?!' Seeing that, I became so overcome by shock to the point that my eyes almost popped out. 'That’s possible?!'

Then, as if he had sensed what I was trying to do, the Tempest Wolf narrowed his eyes. 'He noticed?!' I thought as I prepared to be attacked. But to my surprise, the Tempest Wolf didn’t make any move against me. Furthermore, it also seemed like he was giving the Gigarillon the same look.

Noticing that, I turned my head to the side. And just like what happened when I used Assess on the Tempest Wolf, I saw the same notification in front of my eyes.

[Assess blocked]

'You’ve got to be kidding me…' As far as I could remember, I was sure that I had already used Assess on the Gigarillon before. More than that, the result was also different at that time. Why isn’t it working?!

In essence, it could be said that it was probable the Gigarillon had deliberately let me use my skill on him before. And thinking about it, the ape was in the middle of a desperate battle when I used this improved version of Assess on him. In other words, it may just be that the Gigarillon was too busy dealing with the ants at that time. As a result, he wasn’t able to block my skill in time even though he had noticed that I was using it on him.

It took a couple of seconds before the Tempest Wolf retracted his gaze. During that time, I saw the Lightning Wolf blocking the path of the Flame Wolf as if he was preventing the two alphas to clash. But much to his efforts, the Lightning Wolf still couldn’t convince the Flame Wolf to back down. Amidst all of that, the Tempest Wolf was about to leave when the Flame Wolf let out an ear-piercing howl.

“AWOOOOOOOOO!!”

A moment after the howl erupted, I sensed multiple presences nearby. And before the Tempest Wolf and his minions could leave the area, a bunch of Great Wolves surrounded them and blocked their path. But as if in response to that, another group of wolves appeared behind the first batch. Because of that, the first batch of wolves was sandwiched between Tempest Wolf and his minions on their back.