64 MONSTER WOLF

All of a sudden, things got murkier in the twelfth deck's hall. With the mist out and the wind at a low roar, and with the hotness of the neighborhood upping like never before, everyone gawked at the shadowy figures in the mist clump together into something stout and stalwart.

With breaths held, all men's eyes widened into the misty setting as they witnessed a staggering scenery unfold.

A growl akin to that of a monster cast parts of mist away and poured out into men's ears, also putting portions of a whaling fiend to view.

Black mist burst out of the beastly being that stood tall as a giraffe and had limbs the size of an elephant. All the veins and the outer muscles that showed out through the reddish-brown skin cast the onlookers' legs into boneless tails.

The whole hall went crag-still, not counting the thumping heartbeats of men and the scarce cry of the wind.

As if breaking the petrifying silence, the mysterious figure's foot stamped onward in a vibrant thud, and the mist spread further in every direction around the foot. As his towering build strode forth into sight, his eyes that declared devoutness to never again let the enemy escape out of sight were too much for the onlookers to take. Some men shook in their shoes, wrought from dread and dismay as their eyes lay on the big, bald beast of a man who seemed to lack an arm, the left one. There was nothing on him. No wig. No hair. No brows. No beard. No clothes. No underwear. Nothing. However, one couldn't see everything of him because of the mist that coiled around his body, including the slanted '8' symbol on the rear side of his leg at ankle-level that subtly glowed. Every part of him resembled that of a human; the difference in size, however, was too much to slight.

"W-Who are you?" the men standing relatively close to him backed away on trembling feet, but they go no response.

Gorka, who was watching the whole thing through smokecast, uttered two words with a beaming face. "A monster wolf… named as Hardy."

Back in the hall, disquiet danced through men's minds, and trepidation continued to tremble their feet.

"W-Who are you?" one man was taken aback, with fright written all over his face.

"W-What do you want?" Hesitancy filled another man's tone as he and most others grew as vigilant as ever.

With a wave of the hand, the beastly man, Hardy flung four men through the air, and their eyes whitened before they hit the ground. The four men had surely defended themselves with cross-blocking of their arms, but seeing how their defenses got utterly destroyed, none in the hall moved anymore as if a strange aura enshrouded every living soul in the test hall.

As Hardy's body hummed with hauteur, his eyes scanned across the hall and finally settled on a young boy with part black and part white hairs. His hands tightened into hard rocks, and a grievous, guttural voice followed, "What Hardy wants is right there."

He scuttled straight toward Lirzod, and the bursting mist around him rolled through the air and threw nearby men into a collapse without him even having to touch anyone. Like a monster wolf slaughtering sheep just for the sake of it, his fists also put many men to sleep before they even knew what happened. The moving mist around him confused many eyes, and some couldn't see him in entirety.

As horror hung heavily in the air, loud thuds of bounding feet gained in on Lirzod, accompanied by the mist which was ready to bind him for the nonce.

Lirzod turned back and ran into the cat home—the entrance of which wasn't big enough for an almost four-meter-tall man to fit through, but Hardy's barrage of fists battered the wooden walls, and the echoing vibrations shuddered men's souls, and especially, the cats inside the cat home were left scared shitless. Relentless meows came from every corner inside the room as cats looked for a way out and fought among each other to escape through the ventilation grills.

Against the vigorous punches, the wall eventually gave away. Hardy barged into the room, and with hundreds of cats still scrambling for freedom, there was an unruly atmosphere inside that not even he could tame. With every step he took toward Lirzod, he crushed a cat or two to death, causing Lirzod, who had his back against the wall on the opposite side of the room, to pick up Leggy back into his arms. Mikey, the assistant referee, cowered away into a corner, inwardly praying that Hardy wouldn't look in his direction.

Shrieking at the top of their lungs, most cats now escaped the room through the large opening in the wall that Hardy had made.

"Stop right there," Lirzod voiced aloud, "you don't want to do this. You are ending so many lives."

"Whatever you may be saying, it's too late," Hardy's hard look stayed the same. "You should have flexed your foolishness elsewhere." He popped his knuckles. "No one gets to humiliate Hardy and get away without experiencing worse." A squealing sound made him look down, and his foot was atop the lower half of a cat. He lifted his foot and stomped on it a whole before clearing off most of the mist between him and Lirzod.

Lirzod couldn't quite understand Hardy's throaty voice that got muffled by the mist, but his actions stirred Lirzod's stomach. "You bastard… How many of them are you going to kill?"

"As many as it takes to quench a bit of Hardy's thirst for blood," he ground his foot, cracking the bones of the dead cat, or at least what was left of it, "but looks like cat lives don't make a tad of difference."

Lirzod gnashed his teeth. "If it takes an apology for you to stop, then…" He tilted his head down, "I'm sorry—for everything."

"What kind of an apology is that?" Hardy felt insulted. "You are not even on your knees. You can shove such a sorry up your ass." He waved his hand in displeasure. "Hardy wants nothing but a fight, one with lives on the line."

"But, haven't we already fought enough? There's no need to—"

"All we did is talk," Hardy firmly clenched his fist. "And Hardy is sure anyone with balls knows this much—a fight is when you throw fists, not words."

Lirzod's eyes scanned across the room, and having understood that most cats already escaped cat home in the past few seconds, he took a slightly deep breath to calm himself down. "You seem to want a fight so badly."

"Yeah. Hardy cannot face his mother without wearing a necklace studded with all your teeth."

"And this fight would accomplish just that, huh…" Lirzod's eyes didn't blink in the past minute, yet they seemed a bit watery. "Got it. If you want a fight that badly, then I'll give it to you." He walked straight toward Hardy whose lips slowly but surely formed a grin.

Leggy, who hadn't moved much despite all the anxious look on his face, now panicked to get out of Lirzod's arms as they got closer and closer to the mountainous man.

Meanwhile, outside the cat home, men still held reservations as for what to do.

"What are you all dozing around for?" Jehez barked at the men, who were sweating all over. Especially after all the cats escaped the cat home, his mood had worsened like never before. "Don't just stand here like trees. Either save your skin or save my honor. But before anything, know that five gold is more than enough for a family to live a normal life for a few generations!"

Jehez's words couldn't have put it any more straightforward.

"I don't know how those brothers transformed into that monster," one man began to hurriedly walk away, trying to control the shivering of his hands, "but that thing walked through a dozen men as if they were nothing. I'm not going to fight a losing battle."

"Yeah, we should better get the hell out of here while we can. Who knows when his attention turns to us!"

"His sheer size alone is raising all my hairs. I don't want anything to do with him either."

As many men were on their way to exit the hall, Jehez said,"Forget about sharing the reward. Whoever sends that monster into sleep can have all of it."

His words made many men stop in their tracks.

A corner of Jehez's lips curled down a little before he ardently continued, "The last blow is all that matters."

Inside the cat home, tension filled the air.

Hardy slapped his chest twice and roared, "Come and give all you got."

"If I do that, you'd be a goner," Lirzod replied, changing from walking to scuttling.

"Heh, we'll see who will ruin who beyond recovery," Hardy pulled his fist all the way to the back of his head, "One punch is enough for punks like you. Take this…" As Lirzod came into his hitting zone, he unleashed his fist.

Hardy's fist tunneled through the wind, bringing about a ghastly screech as it sought the approaching youngling.

Just as his mighty fist closed in, Lirzod slid under the advancing fist and skid through the space between Hardy's legs. After getting past Hardy, Lirzod didn't stop and continued to run away.

"Ngh?" Hardy turned his head quite a bit to his right. "What are you doing? You promised you'll fight Hardy."

"I didn't promise. I only said I'll fight you," Lirzod replied with a turned-down mouth, " but I never said I'll fight you right away. Besides, fighting a naked man is not my bag of nuts, and it's awkward, to say the least."

A wave of rage washed over Hardy's face, and veins popped out even more and carved out blue pathways on his skin. "A lunatic's logic..." Hardy's jawline became all the more evident as he turned back toward Lirzod and outstretched his hands. "You were already forewarned not to flex your foolishness in Hardy's presence!"

A lot of swirling mist burst out of Hardy and covered the entire room before Lirzod even took two steps and pressured his body from every direction. The mist was much thicker and darker than the one the five brothers used back when in the ice dumpster.

"Miststorm!"

All the mist convoluted into a torpedo and ran through Lirzod and swallowed him up before running rampage in the room, destroying the wooden walls bit by bit. Though Mikey tried to run away, he got caught up, too.

Outside the hall, just as some men finished preparing themselves to dash into the cat home and take on Hardy, the walls of the cat home cracked open and got blown to bits, setting loose a rapidly rotating column of mist into the hall, which then devoured every entity—living or not—in its way and grew until it struck the ceiling. The walls of the test hall were made from different and much stronger wood than what was used to build cat home, so this time the walls withstood the attack without even a crack forming anywhere on the surface as the storm ran wild throughout the hall while sucking in dozens of entities along the way.

The storm was too rough and too rough for most men to handle; however, unlike most, a dark-brown-skinned man stood his ground with all the five fingers of a hand touching the ground while the other hand held a long spear. "It's getting too cold for my liking." He looked at Hardy, who had just walked out of the cat home, and focused his gaze. "This Murugan of the Desert Wind tribe shall be one to spill your guts!" He rushed over to Hardy and thrust his spear straight at his belly.

Hardy casually attempted to grab the spear handle with his hand, and he did succeed; however, the spear tip suddenly glowed red, and the redness quickly spread down the shaft. As heat transferred down the shaft, Hardy reflexively let go of the weapon.

"Ørken Spyd[Desert Spear]!"

The spear pierced through Hardy's belly and came out from the other side in the twinkling of an eye.

"Guk!" Blood rushed into Hardy's mouth, but he shut it quick. "Ghnn!" A swing of his arm pounded into Murugan's shoulder and sent him flying to the side. Hardy pulled out the spear and ran in Murugan's direction. "You little shit. Take this!" Soon as Murugan crashed on the ground, he got back to his feet quick, but he noticed that his right shoulder was dislocated, and before he could even frown from the pain, his spear came whistling through the wind. Though he dodged to his right, the spear chiseled a part of his ear. Murugan swiveled and grabbed hold of the spear. Taking advantage of the momentum, he shot the spear back at the incoming monster-esque man, Hardy.

Given Hardy's size, he was too easy of a target for Murugan to miss; however, the spear somewhat slowed down as it reached Hardy, and this time it couldn't pierce through his skin. Hardy swatted the spear away, for it was too hot for his hand to hold for longer times.

Bleeding a bit down a corner of the mouth, Murugan stared at Hardy while setting his dislocated shoulder back into its place with a painful effort. (This one's hard to hunt alone.)

"Stationary legs… I take it as you looking for aid," A voice came from Murugan's behind. When he turned his head, there was a familiar face. "You lack a complete set of clothing. So, this Muttia Rednor will assist you if you put on these pants." He showed a pair of pants that had weird designs.

"I've never asked for your help," Murugan blew air through the nose. "Mind your business, freak."

"Where there's gold, there's my business," Muttia said and smiled. "Let this western fellow help you. That hairless guy only has one hand. I'll take his left. You take his right." Saying that he dashed ahead. "Let's see how he'll fight us both at a time."

"Tch…" Upon frowning a bit, Murugan followed behind.

"I'll be taking seventy percent," Muttia voiced his mind.

"Whoever deals the final blow will get the lion's share," Murugan replied right away.

"Heh."

They both split in the opposite directions and attacked Hardy from two directions.

Meanwhile, the mist-torpedo somewhat shrunk in size, but it still carried a great force. Many people crashed into the walls and had their bones broken at places. Lirzod caught a hook fixed high to the wall and managed to escape out of the twisting air column. His face now had no traces of blood and looked clean. He couldn't even feel the itching from the scars Bruiser had given, for the coldness of the mist-storm surprisingly eased his pain; however, this wasn't the case for Leggy. It had long blacked out, and with all its fur gone, it not only looked like a different cat but also more miserable than ever.

Lirzod let go of the hook, which was situated three meters above the ground, and safely landed on his feet. After feeling Leggy's heartbeat, he felt a bit relieved, but at the same time, Leggy needed to be treated soon, or there was no guessing how serious his condition could get.

"All this... because of you," Someone came running at Lirzod from the front. "If I don't cripple you today, my name is not Jehez!"

As Jehez's closed in, Lirzod's feet didn't move an inch, but he lifted Leggy to his face level, forcing Jehez to stop.

"What's this?" Jehez angrily asked, though his mind was on the verge of snapping.

"You're the referee, right?" Lirzod said, "Take this cat to safety."

Irritation coiled up Jehez's intestines, and his chest visibly grew and shrank in size. "One cat and a shitty one like that is not even worth shit…" He jabbed at Lirzod's face, but Lirzod easily dodged it. "You really get on my nerves!"

"I can say the same about you," Lirzod countered Jehez's next punch and bruised his nose. "You chose to attack me when that skyclad dude is the one who's gone berserk."

"You!" Jehez's blood was up, "Just go down!" he rashly let his fists loose, but Lirzod blocked all the punches with relative ease using his forearm until Jehez stopped from overexertion. Breathing audibly, he looked at Lirzod in disbelief. "You gotta be kidding me. This…"

"I told you," Lirzod loosened his fist and walked past him. "You can't beat me. Fists of fools are not among those I fear."

"Bullshit!" Jehez roared and slammed his fist against the wall before attacking Lirzod from behind. "I'm not a fool."

Lirzod stepped to his right, thereby dodging the punch. Jehez fell forward from losing the balance, and as his body moved past Lirzod, a hard slap to the back of his head made his fall all the more hurtful.

Jehez tried to get back to his feet as Lirzod was walking away, but before he even took a step forward, the mist-storm came from behind and swept him away.

NUOOOHH~~!!

Though Lirzod could hear Jehez's cry, he didn't look back and only moved forward at a slow but steady pace, his eyes locked on Hardy.

Along the way, a man was lying wounded on the floor. It was Mikey. Seeing Lirzod heading straight toward Hardy, he was surprised. "Wait, don't go. Just leave. Without you around, he will stop his rampage soon."

However, Lirzod didn't reply and walked past him.

"Can't you hear? I'm telling you to stop," Mikey was still on the floor as his leg was bleeding. "That's an alpha wolf out there—a monstrous one at that. You can't fight much less defeat it."

Lirzod eyes brought Hardy into focus. "You don't have to be an alpha to defeat one."

The words that entered Mikey's ears froze his expression.

Lirzod mused to himself, "I do want to make a quick escape, but if I leave, who'll stop him?" he then looked at Leggy, "With that mist-thing moving around, no corner in this hall is a safe place. Don't forget that a wayfare awaits you, so hang on for a little more time. I will settle things with him quick."

Holding Leggy tightly in one arm, Lirzod's feet hastened toward Hardy without hesitation.