Chapter 37: The Unyielding Hunt

Elara downed a bottle of mana recovery potion.

Immediately, she grabbed another blade and charged forward once more.

By then, the Wind Wolf King had already been deeply wounded in the abdomen, its heart pierced by the blade.

The ‘Shadow Blade’ enchantment burned it, inflicting agony both inside and out.

Seeing Elara rush towards it, the wolf had no choice but to endure the pain and meet her charge.

“Master! Get back!”

Elara leaped into the air.

Behind her, ‘Wind Spears’ materialized, several of them striking the Wind Wolf King.

Yet, they merely made it shift its stance slightly, achieving little effect.

The Wind Wolf King possessed excellent resistance to wind magic.

Witnessing this, Hilvyn had no choice but to abandon her continued use of wind spells.

Its wolf eyes flashed with a cold light as it conjured a wind blade, aiming it squarely at Hilvyn, poised to attack.

“Look over here!”

Elara dropped from the air onto the Wind Wolf King’s neck, swinging her blade wildly at its head.

Within moments, the blue fur atop its head was stained with blood.

Under excruciating pain, its wind blade went astray.

‘Damn, this head is hard.’

The wolf bucked and jumped erratically, trying to dislodge the stubborn pest clinging to its neck.

However, Elara clung desperately to the mane on either side of its neck, refusing to be shaken off.

The foolish wolf grew frantic, but Elara felt no urgency whatsoever.

With a blade still lodged in its abdomen, the longer the fight dragged on, the more it favored her.

Hilvyn watched the entangled duo from the side, unable to intervene.

She dared not use magic rashly, clutching the pendant at her chest in anxious frustration.

“Go, Master!”

When the Wind Wolf King paused briefly to catch its breath, Elara relentlessly stabbed its neck with her blade.

This cycle of gripping tightly while the wolf ran, then swinging her blade when it rested, continued.

The Wind Wolf King endured four rounds before collapsing onto the ground, unable to rise again.

Elara dismounted from the wolf’s back, her palms crimson from gripping so tightly.

One wolf, one person; their gazes met.

‘Die.’

Elara stepped forward and delivered the final, decisive blow.

Victory was hers.

Hilvyn scurried over with her lamp, her blue eyes sparkling. “Hooray, Master!”

“Yay!” (High-five)

The next moment, Elara’s expression turned to one of terror, her face paling as she collapsed to the ground.

“Master!” Hilvyn’s face instantly drained of color, and she repeatedly asked what was wrong.

“Ugh… Resi…”

Hilvyn had been too happy, too relaxed.

Without realizing it, she had severed the link to ‘Resilient Wind.’

To use magic again…

“Master, I’m so sorry, so sorry, so sorry…”

Her eyes were bloodshot, tears brimming in them as she looked utterly pitiful.

“It’s fine,” Elara said, her face still somewhat pale.

She certainly didn’t want to experience that level of pain a second, no, a third time, heh heh heh…

Elara was about to retrieve a High-Grade Life Recovery Potion when she realized her spatial ring was missing.

Her expression froze.

“Master, what’s wrong?”

Elara’s eyes darted around. “My spatial ring is gone.”

Her spatial ring was always kept in an ordinary leather pouch.

It must have been flung out during her struggle with the Wind Wolf King.

After a minute of searching, she found it.

“Found it.”

Elara picked up the ring.

Fortunately, there were no weeds or debris in the cave, making it relatively easy to spot.

“Master, why don’t you just wear it on your hand?

No outsiders have seen the dungeon yet, so you can put it back in the pouch once we’re outside.”

“Alright, that works.”

Elara then slipped the ring onto her hand.

She uncorked a recovery potion—’Healing Wind’ would be somewhat inadequate for an injury of this severity.

With the potion consumed and ‘Healing Wind’ applied, her injuries quickly healed by seventy to eighty percent.

This potion was not cheap, but its price of 100 gold was well worth its miraculous efficacy.

Elara stretched her body. “You can deactivate Resilient Wind now.”

“Mm.”

Aside from some lingering fatigue, she was largely fine.

Next, the two collected monster materials.

Their greatest prize this time, of course, was…

Identification.

[Name: Complete Wind Wolf King Hide]

[Effect: An excellent choice for crafting top-tier defensive magic items.]

The hide’s value lay in its completeness.

All of Elara’s wounds from the battle were on the wolf’s head and neck, and a complete hide did not require those parts.

Elara wasn’t sure of the hide’s exact price, but its high value was beyond doubt.

“Gurgle~”

Hilvyn’s stomach rumbled at just the right moment, exceptionally clear in the silent cave.

“Let’s eat.”

Since they had just been running back from the chase, they were quite close to the 52nd floor.

It was perfect to return to the Luminous Lake to wash up—Elara was covered in wolf blood.

A campfire was lit, and wolf meat was roasted over the flames.

The two sat back against the rock wall, resting.

“I’ve never tasted wolf meat before, slurp~”

Hilvyn gazed at the gradually fragrant wolf meat, unable to resist drooling.

Elara had eaten demon wolf meat before.

Most of it was tough, sour, and gamey, with only a few select parts being palatable.

This was a perfect opportunity to showcase her excellent seasoning skills to Hilvyn.

Elara spread butter over the half-cooked wolf meat, sprinkling various seasonings.

As the flames licked at it, the aroma instantly intensified.

Hilvyn’s eyes widened, and she clapped her hands. “It smells so good, Master!”

“Add more wood.”

“Master, you’re a genius!”

“…I meant, add more firewood.”

“Oh, hehe…”

Hilvyn obediently gathered a few pieces of wood, which Elara added to the fire.

After a while, the meat was cooked.

Elara handed a skewer of meat to the drooling little glutton.

Hilvyn took it, eagerly taking a bite, only to recoil from the heat.

Her tongue tasted a hint of the grilled flavor.

“It’s so hot~”

“Be careful.”

Elara reminded her with a smile, taking a skewer for herself and blowing on it to cool it down.

Hilvyn, however, had an easier method, simply blowing a freezing wind to rapidly cool her portion.

“Awoo—”

Taking a bite, the exterior was crispy, and the meat burst with succulent juices in her mouth.

The fragrant blend of seasonings shot straight to her head.

“So delicious!” Hilvyn’s eyes sparkled, and she stared expectantly at Elara, pointing at the pile of carcasses. “Master, let’s take all these wolves with us.”

After swallowing the meat in her mouth, Elara replied, “Silly girl, only a few parts of these wolves are actually tasty.

Other parts would make you sick to your stomach if you took a bite.”

She had only taken the oily meat from the shoulders and ribs.

She would only consider gnawing on the other parts if she were in a truly desperate situation.

“Eh… So that’s (chew chew chew) how it is~”

“Don’t talk with food in your mouth.”

Elara pointed her meat skewer at Hilvyn’s puffed-out cheeks.

“Hehe…” Hilvyn swallowed the mouthful of meat. “I forgot, it’s all because this is too delicious.”

“Hmph, is it really that good?” Elara said, then stuffed a bite into her own mouth.

Hilvyn watched Elara’s chewing cheeks, a triumphant smile gracing her lips.

She silently made a mental note.

After extinguishing the fire, Elara took some more wolf meat, then continued their journey.

The path ahead was unobstructed.

They encountered over twenty monsters, but all were easily dealt with.

“What a barren cave.”

So far, they hadn’t even seen a blade of grass in the cave; it was nothing but rocks.

“Only monsters, huh?” Hilvyn also looked around, hoping to find something other than stones.

“The records said it was rich in monsters,” Elara recalled the text. “I wondered how it was ‘rich,’ turns out it just means there are *only* monsters.”

“Hahaha.” Hilvyn giggled.

The two continued forward, sweeping through the path.

Their luck held, as they didn’t encounter a second elite monster.

Suddenly, a void appeared within the range of Elara’s spatial perception.

A fork in the road?

Elara shone her lamp towards the direction her spatial sense detected.

It was a rock wall.

“What’s wrong, Master?”

Hilvyn also shone her lamp there—only an unremarkable rock wall, seamlessly integrated with the cave.

“There’s a path behind this wall.”

The records clearly stated that the 53rd floor consisted of numerous independent routes, with no prior instances of crossroads.

This, instead, piqued Elara’s curiosity.

“Hilvyn, let’s smash it open.”