I grow stronger by making my wife happy. Chapter 68:Tunnel

The tunnel air felt noticeably cooler the mont they stepped in. Their footsteps echoed softly on the slightly cracked road.

Their flashlights illuminated the darkness revealing the damage inside. Old maintenance pathways lined the walls, cracked cables hung from ceilings and water dripped sowhere in the distance.

Silver kept one hand near his pistol, and the other near his sword. Every sense remained alert. The confined environnt amplified every sound, movent, and breath.

The deeper they walked, the more oppressive the tunnel beca. Suddenly Ravenna stopped.

Silver did the sa, turning to her.

"What?" He whispered unconsciously.

She raised a hand to her ear, listening. Silver remained silent. Several seconds passed in the suffocating silence then he heard it too.

A low distant growl ca from the darkness. The sound echoed through the tunnel right after. The two remained silent as they watched the tunnel before them.

The growl ca again, closer than before. This ti accompanied by sothing else, a faint orange glow.

Silver narrowed his eyes.

The light was moving, slowly approaching them at an incredible speed. The tunnel temperature suddenly felt warr. Ravenna’s grip tightened on her sword. Silver drew his pistol.

The glow grew brighter as it drew closer, until the creature stepped into view.

Both of them froze.

The beast looked nothing like they had expected; it resembled a wolf, yet was unlike one at the sa ti. Its body resembled blackened charcoal; burnt and cracked, as though it had crawled from a furnace. Glowing orange fissures spread across its entire body.

But the weird part was that the fixtures weren’t stable, they kept on moving around their bodies as though they had a mind of their own. Smoke drifted from its fur. The most disturbing were the protrusions, jagged spikes that erupted from its shoulders, spine, and limbs.

The beast stood nearly as tall as Ravenna’s chest. It wasn’t large but still looked sohow intimidating. Its eyes burned like literal flas.

Silver had already identified it the mont it ca into view.

An elental beast.

An actual creature. Silver couldn’t believe it, and the fact that they had found the infamous Fire Wolf was sothing else.

If his assumption was correct, then this was the rumoured elental beast that had been causing turmoil in the green sectors, the one contractors had been desperately searching for.

Judging by its size, it was still young. Silver could feel its Tier, it was a Tier One, yet unmistakably elental.

Ravenna whispered.

"...No freaking way."

Silver felt the sa. Every contractor dread of finding an elental beast, most never did. Yet here one stood, alone, exactly as the rumors described.

The wolf lowered its body while growling, its burning eyes fixed on them.

Silver slowly exhaled.

"Well."

Ravenna swallowed.

"Yeah."

Like a living fla launching through the darkness, the Fire Wolf instantly attacked. It moved like an explosion, one second it stood twenty ters away, the next it was already upon them.

The tunnel erupted into bright orange light as it suddenly got closer to him. Silver barely had ti to react.

"Move!"

Ravenna had already moved. The wolf slamd into the spot she’d occupied a fraction of a second earlier. The concrete shattered and cracks spread across the tunnel floor.

The sheer force made Silver’s eyes widen. He knew elentals were strong, but this was on a different level. That thing felt stronger than most Tier two, almost at Tier 3.

Elental beasts weren’t asured solely by tier. Their abilities made them monsters among monsters.

The Fire Wolf landed gracefully, its burning eyes shifted between them, calculating who to attack first.

Monts later it attacked again. This ti Silver t it head-on.

[Phantom Draw Lv3 Activated]

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Three shots rang through the tunnel. The bullets struck perfectly; its shoulders, ribs, and necks. Sparks exploded the mont the bullet hit its body.

The wolf staggered but kept coming, unfazed by the bullets. Silver’s heart sank. The creature’s body was covered in those charcoal-like protrusions which was almost like a natural armor. The bullets had penetrated but not deeply enough.

The wolf crossed the distance anyway. Silver switched weapons instantly.

[Beginner Swordsmanship Active]

The wolf jumped, slashing down with its claws. Steel t claws and the impact rattled his arm. The beast wasn’t particularly large, but its physical power was absurd.

The wolf landed, smoothly turned, and attacked again. A blur of black and orange moved towards him at a speed no Teir one beast would have had.

Silver narrowly ducked. It opened its mouth and a load of flas erupted. The tunnel wall exploded as the heat broke the already breaking structure.

Burning heat washed over him.

"Damn!"

The thing wasn’t simply strong, it was fast. Fast enough to threaten even experienced contractors.

Ravenna entered the fight from the side. She slashed using all her strength, and the blade struck the wolf’s flank. A deep wound opened.

The beast snarled and spun instantly. Its claws swept toward her. Ravenna blocked it but the force threw her backwards. She slid several ters across the floor narrowly missing the fallen slab of concrete.

Silver saw it, the difference between them. Skill-wise she wasn’t inferior, the problem was physical power. The Fire Wolf possessed both elental enhancent and beast strength.

They both knew that neither of them could afford mistakes.

The battle dragged on as the three opponents tried to gain an advantage over each other. Minutes passed of just continuous fighting.

The tunnel beca a battlefield; fire scorched walls, sword strikes echoed through it and gunshots thundered.

Everyone was bleeding but nobody gained a decisive advantage. The beast simply refused to die.

Unfortunately for them, it had everything. Defense, attack power, and speed, it was a combination no contractor would want to et. There was no decisive weakness in its body.

Silver understood why elental beasts beca famous, this thing wasn’t fighting like an animal, it was fighting like a predator born specifically to kill contractors.

As if to answer his desperate hope, an opportunity appeared the wolf lunged for him.

His muscles swelled and veins stood out beneath his skin as he clenched his fist. The ape tattoo burned underneath his skin.

[Primal Strength Lv1]

His fist crashed hard into the creature’s ribs.

CRACK!

For the first ti, the wolf actually left the ground. The beast smashed into a concrete pillar and cracks spread from the impact point.

The entire tunnel shook. Ravenna’s eyes widened. Silver didn’t stop he couldn’t afford to. He rushed forward, sword descending.

The wolf recovered almost imdiately. Their weapons collided again. Claw and steel sparked as they slid against each other. The wolf tried to bite him but missed by only a few inches. The battle beca increasingly desperate for both sides.

Then Silver made a small mistake, that would have probably gone unnoticed but luck wasn’t on his side.