When Rowan slammed the shield on the ground, the spikes penetrated the earth, giving the shield extra stability, and he set his feet and braced himself, just as he called on his Berserker Skill—Bash. The shield glowed with a golden red light, and then the blur impacted on the shield.
"BOOM!!!"
The sound was like a gong, and the middle of the shield caved in a little. The force from the impact pushed Rowan back and his leg left skid marks on the ground as the ground where they had slammed together caved in and a visible wave of force spread out from the impact site.
A large figure was thrown back more than forty feet, and it landed with a loud bang inside a half destroyed building and collapsed the entire structure.
Every technique he had seemed to be supercharged by Aether, and in battle he did not have to struggle for control over it, he could just let loose and let his foes use their bodies to soak up the impacts, while he learned on how to dole out death effectively to his enemies.
Rowan considered it a win-win.
Holding the shield with one hand, he brought out a massive Mace on the other and banged his shield twice—A sign of challenge to the golden wolf.
The rubble stirred, and a ghastly figure pushed itself out from the ruin. Flesh Light had stayed true to its name, it had melted every single bit of flesh from the golden wolf, leaving nothing but gleaming golden bones.
Rowan could see stubborn patches of the red flames on the joints of the wolf that burned away any hopes for this creature to regenerate its flesh for the moment.
What was left was a massive golden skeleton that had a slightly cracked empty eye socket as a result of their clash. The bones resembled a highly advanced robot as it prowled towards him.
Inside the empty eye socket that was bleeding red flames, as a result of the Flesh Light constantly burning the flesh inside the skull of the golden wolf, he could detect a crazed will.
This creature was born from his body, and he understood more than anyone else the tyrannical nature of his flesh, although it would appear that the nature of his flesh had been watered down and spread across all the monsters spawned from his body, it was still not something that could be easily overlooked.
From the Attribute it had displayed, the golden wolf should be at the peak of Incarnation, and he knew it was not among the most powerful of the monsters he had glimpsed when he was falling into the planet.
The real problem was that he was sure these beasts were growing stronger, and if drastic measures were not taken, an unknown disaster with far-reaching consequences might have started up on this planet.
The wolf gave a silent cry that appeared incredibly haunting and charged, its speed was still fast despite not having any muscles or flesh to back its motions.
This was the same reason Rowan was able to move despite having his Spine severed when he was fighting the General, it was the same reason the golden wolf could still function without any many impediments to its actions.
His unique Constitution made it possible for him to still function with injuries that would otherwise impede anyone else, and even a diluted version of his body had those traits, coupled with his insane vitality and endurance, it was no wonder that this world was falling to pieces in the hands of these creatures.
Rowan knew this battle would not be easy with his current condition, but this might just be precisely what he needed to refine his abilities further.
He was too powerful for the enemies that he should safely challenge in order to grow. No, if he should rephrase that, the enemies in his power bracket were too weak to hurt him effectively, and if he attacked those far stronger than him, the risk for unknown mishaps happening was very high, since he did not know their full capabilities.
This wolf presented the best opportunity for him to learn to control Aether during battle, and it would serve as his whetstone.
His Berserker skills would be his gateway for him to properly learn to control Aether, and his eyes focused on the prowling wolf, who was smart and had learned it lesson and did not charge mindlessly at him.
As it circled him, Rowan also turned with it, making sure the shield was between the wolf and his body. He also began moving backward, so he could shift this battle away from the people as much as possible.
Even though they had moved quite some distance away, Rowan knew that with their capabilities, they would be able to cross that distance in a blink of an eye.
It would be very careless to ignore those that were vulnerable when he could save their lives by making small changes to the battle.
The wolf may have gotten impatient, as its wounds were not healing, and it was not seeing any opening from Rowan, and then it attacked, but instead of charging with the pedal to the metal as it previously did, it came close to him with a single bound that rapidly cut the distance between them to nothing and opened its massive jaws attempting to bite him in half.
Rowan used the Berserker Skill—Smash, the wolf quickly shifted its head backward and Rowan misjudged the proper angle and the amount of force that the skill would exert on his movement and the mace slammed into the ground.
The jaws of the wolf snapped forward and Rowan pressed his body lower behind the shield, seeing its prey behind a barrier, the wolf snarled and closed its jaws around the shield and dragged it back, Rowan released it as he could not compete with the strength of the wolf.
The wolf stepped back, and brought its head up and snapped the shield in two. The bite force was so strong, the top half of the shield was sent flying hundreds of feet into the air. It was clearly trying to disarm him.
Should Rowan take the time to tell the wolf that he had a hundred other shields like that?
Rowan did not waste the opening, and used his Berserker skill—Combo Attack. Fueled by Aether, the mace became a blur in his hands, knocking the head of the wolf backwards in a series of loud blows that sounded like gunshots.
Rowan noticed that with Combo Attack, each successful successive blow increased the might of the upcoming blow, and its peculiar ability to leech Spirit from the body of the opponent was overkill.
The last blow from the Combo Attack twisted the head of the wolf to the side and sent dozens of its dagger length teeth flying.
Rowan was never one to give up opportunities, and all the battles inside the Nexus has given him a keen eye for openings and taking advantage of the flow of battle.
Seeing the wolf had been knocked back, Rowan used the Berserker Skill—Dash, and he turned to a red blur as his speed increased to eight times his current max speed, and he also used Bash with the Mace, striking the lower jaw of the wolf, with the added force from his intense acceleration he tore off the jaw of the wolf.
The wolf made a weird hissing sound from the remnants of its throat and leaped backward, Rowan wanted to follow and sensed a weird movement of Aether around the wolf and he paused. Instinct made him bring out another massive Tower Shield and set it up in front of him.
Massive amounts of Aether began funneling into the wolf, causing a large commotion, as it caused a mini tornado to form around the wolf. The amount of Aether entering the body of the wolf was staggering, far more than it would need for any imaginable technique.
