<h4>95 Indebted</h4>


    Due to his stone skin spell, unexpected burst of speed and battle power of 24 (17), which roughly equated to three times the normal prowess of a warrior in terms of strength, speed and endurance, Emery received the upper hand in the bout against the fey creature, throwing it five paces away from him in the middle of the river. Although the wolf lost that round, it didn''t appear hurt at all as it quickly stood with its four limbs.


    It turned its ferocious gaze against Emery coupled with great snarling that reverberated inside the bones of the people listening. Somehow, it understood that if it wanted to aplish the order it was given, it had to defeat this one handed human first.


    Raising his sword, Emery dash toward to fight the giant wolf when Luna yelled, "Any other condition we will ept!"


    Emery looked at her then the old man. He noticed that the old man was looking at him.


    The old man answered, "Perhaps we cane to an agreement, Stone-dweller. I am interested in that person. If he wins, I''ll let the thief live."


    Emery stared at Luna who seemed to be in deep thought. Of course, anyone would find it difficult to believe that a human would be as strong as and be able to win against this terrible monster.


    Luna said, "Merlin, if you can win the fight, the Quintin family will be indebted to you."


    With a smile, Emery answered, "Okay, I''ll count on it."


    This time Emery took the initiative and proceeded to rush the giant wolf. He did a wide sh, making the wolf jump back a bit, and followed up with another swing. It was out of his expectation though that the wolf would jump to meet him and bite his sword. He pulled back his sword but it felt like it was stuck inside a rock. He tried once more with a stronger force only for the wolf to chomp harder, finally breaking the sword in half.


    Emery jumped back, but so did the wolf. He hastily called for the water element to execute whip ssh, which he barely made on time, narrowly avoiding the sharp w of the wolf. Once more he used the water to create a barrier between them.


    With his sword gone, Emery thought about what else he could use. He wasn''t about to fullymit to fighting this monster unarmed. Then, he spared a nce at the wolf, the expedition group, and the Chrutin warriors, wondering to himself if he should do that. Before he was able to make a decision though, the monster pounced on him again, he would''ve been able to dodge this, however, that moment of hesitation made him unable to dodge.


    [Moon knife - tier 3]


    Blood sshed on Emery''s face as the wolf issued a yelp. Hearing how it had yelped, Emery''s mind fell into disarray. He felt bad for having done so. He then stared at the ck dagger and stabbed the dagger on the ground.


    "What are you doing, Merlin?" shouted Luna from the back.


    The action really shocked Luna and everyone around him, even the wolf itself seems surprised. He then stood still on the spot as the ck and red giant wolf circled around him, seemingly waiting for the right moment to attack. The moment Emery slumped his shoulders, the wolf jumped, and he issued another spell.


    As ck smoke exited his palm, Emery jumped away. The dark cover though wasn''t able to escape from the wolf''s keen sense of smell, but no matter, that wasn''t Emery''s n in the first ce. He stopped debating whether to use it or not because it wasn''t the time to hesitate.


    Emery tapped into his legacy and underwent a magnificent transformation himself. His body becamerger, grew fur, wolf-like ears as well as circr, wavy ck markings on his body.


    [Fey bloodline activated]


    [Battle power increase 10 point]


    [Battle power 34 (24)]


    Emery now had the strength of five adults. He felt like he could crush a rock with just his bare hand.


    The ck smoke disappeared and everyone saw his transformation. Luna and her expedition group were shocked, but it couldn''tpare against the Chrutin warriors watching from the side.


    The old man''s eyes appeared to gleam as well as the giant wolf. He gave another nod to the wolf and the beast responded with greater viciousness. Its speed now, however, couldn''tpare to Emery who seemed to have disappeared and reappeared above it.


    Emerynded on the beast''s spine and proceeded to wrap his one arm around the giant wolf''s neck. It struggled to break free but Emery strengthened his arm and after a few moments of thrashing around, the wolf stopped moving around, finally passing out.


    Silence filled the atmosphere of the two opposing forces. Particrly the Chrutin warriors. Emery let go, when he was about to do a battle cry of victory however, he turned his gaze back at the wolf; the beast was no longer there. Instead, from where the wolfy was a naked, unconscious young girl who looked to be around his age.


    Emery removed his mantle and covered the girl''s body. A momentter, his form started to be that of a normal human. He carried the girl on his shoulder, walked toward the old man and then gentlyid her down.


    The old man said, "Thank you for not hurting her."


    The girl opened her eyes.


    "How do you feel about losing for the first time, Morgana?" the old man said.