"Sir Axel...!"

Nina cried in worry after seeing him fly off like a bullet, rolling on the ground.

She wanted to rush to his side, but the enemy didn't let her. Her shout seemed to catch the Fenrir's attention as it turned its head, chains clanking loudly, and glared at the witches.

"Oh no!" Nina gasped, realizing what was about to happen next.

She wasted no time casting a protective curse around them, hoping it would be enough.

"Weakening Barrier...!"

The next moment, the giant wolf disappeared.

With its speed, it should have been more than capable of circling around Nina and the others and hitting them from behind, where there was no protection. However, as if wanting to showcase its strength, it struck the barrier directly with its right claw.

"Guh!!!"

As if the barrier didn't even exist, its claw tore through Nina's body, ripping her armor.

She was lucky the claw struck across her breastplate, offering a little more protection. If it had been aimed higher or lower, then… she didn't even want to imagine it.

Despite surviving the hit, the impact still sent her flying.

"P-Princess!!"

The other witches snapped back to their senses as Nina crashed against them, blood dripping from the corner of her lips.

"I'm... fine...!" She growled, holding a hand over her bleeding chest. "It's a shallow wound!"

As the witches gathered, they raised their staves, preparing to attack. However, their curses seemed to have no effect at all.

"Curse of Weakening!"

"Curse of Blindness!"

"Curse of Death!!!"

None of the curses they released made the monster flinch. It was as if the Fenrir were immune to all their attacks!

Seeing the Fenrir preoccupied, Axel tried to turn his back and run.

It was a scummy move, but more than the lives of others, he still wanted to keep his own. However, just as he was halfway through turning, the Fenrir disappeared from before the girls.

Axel caught it at the corner of his eye and quickly raised his sword to block.

What did he block? He wasn't sure.

The next moment, sparks flew as he was launched like a cannonball, crashing back-first into a tall rock.

"GAH!"

The air was forced out of his lungs.

His sword broke, leaving only a short fragment above the hilt. His arms felt as if every bone in them had shattered.

He blocked the attack, but the damage he took was still beyond reason!

[Emergency Protocol! Administering potion!]

Even Navi was moving on its own now, desperately trying to keep Axel alive.

Using his privileges, it withdrew a Greater Recovery Potion Lv. Max and injected its contents directly into Axel's stomach—an instant recovery!

After confirming his injuries had healed, Navi cried out in panic. [Contractor! Please escape!]

"I'm... fucking trying...!"

Axel snapped in irritation.

He wasn't standing still—he was searching for an opening every second. But the moment he tried to move, the mutt turned its attention back to him and struck. He couldn't even turn around, much less run!

Pain assaulted his senses, his breathing heavy from exertion, as he stared at the Fenrir harassing the witches once more.

'A monster with thousands of points in its stats... there's no way we can compare!'

Axel thought—or at least, he should have.

"Huh?"

A curious thought crossed his mind.

When he increased his Speed by 60 points before, he could move at Mach 3—three times the speed of sound. Fast enough to burn his skin, muscles, and bones. If this monster truly had thousands of points in Speed, then…

'Just the shockwaves from it moving should be enough to kill us!'

The fact that they were still alive was an anomaly—and a clue.

Straining his vision, Axel focused on observing the wolf.

Fenrir moved as if teleporting rather than running. No shockwaves, no sonic booms—nothing. But more importantly, the golden chains tightly wrapped around its body rang constantly, clanking as it moved.

Loud enough that even the wolf seemed annoyed by them.

"That is...!"

Axel recalled the legend of Fenrir.

To be specific, he recalled the tool forged by dwarves to bind the wolf said to bring the end of the world—Gleipnir!

"I see! It's not fully released, but still partially sealed by the Gleipnir!"

He couldn't tell how much the seal restricted its power, but judging by the fact that it couldn't kill them in one hit, it likely wasn't even using 10% of its strength.

[Gleipnir?!]

Navi gasped, having heard Axel's muttering. Hope finally appeared on the little penguin's face, a faint smile forming on its beak.

[I see... So that's why it's working for the demons right now!] It said before turning to Axel.

[Contractor, this might be our only chance to survive! You need to remove the demon's control over the mutt through the Gleipnir!]

Axel raised a brow, unable to raise his voice through the pain.

"Yeah?! Sounds fucking easy!"

Even suppressed, the Fenrir's movements were beyond their cognition. It could cross the battlefield in a literal blink!

"How the fuck do you expect me to grab that wolf?!"

[True...] Navi deflated, glancing between the Fenrir, the witches, and Axel. [But it's not like there's no way out.] It added.

"...What?"

[Well, just thank me for it later, Contractor!]

Without waiting for confirmation, the little bugger moved.

It flew upward, closed its eyes as if concentrating, then opened them again. This time, its brown eyes glowed gold as its voice turned robotic and emotionless.

[Detecting danger to Axel Walker, the Contractor's life.]

[Analyzing severity... S-rank danger level.]

[Releasing lock... Success.]

[Activating Emergency Protocols... Success.]

[Increasing Contractor's stats by 10x by spending Mana and Colts...]

"N-Navi?"

As Axel began to worry, the penguin glanced at him, grinning widely.

[Seed chosen from another world... Prove your worth.]

The voice that followed no longer sounded like Navi.

It was familiar—yet distant. One Axel knew he'd heard before.

"You...! That gold-eyed boy...!"

Before he could say more, something happened.

Mana surged from his body, manifesting as violent gusts of wind. Even without checking, he could feel his stats skyrocketing.

"This..."

Then he remembered Navi's last words.

Panicked, he opened the System panel—and saw his remaining money plummeting at a rate of 100,000 Colts per second.

"...My fucking money!!!"

His face went pale.

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