Axel was literally losing money with every passing moment.

Seeing this, he couldn't help but want to curse the little penguin who caused this phenomenon… until the next instant, when a shadow loomed over him.

"...!"

Axel moved fast, raising his broken sword and swinging it toward the shadow.

As he did, a powerful clang echoed, followed by a rain of sparks.

What he just blocked… was the Fenrir's claws!

"No way...!"

Even Axel himself couldn't believe he succeeded in fending off the attack.

However, he didn't dare waste the opportunity.

With the wolf flabbergasted that its attack wasn't just blocked, but pushed back, Axel took advantage and swung his broken blade, slashing the wolf's right foreleg.

"AWOOO!"

A shallow wound, but enough to make it bleed.

It was the second wound inflicted on it in their short exchange!

'This buff is amazing!' Axel thought. 'I became powerful enough to match the weakened wolf! However...!'

He glanced at the menu once more, noticing that the "expenses" were compounding. Earlier, it was roughly 100,000 every second, but now it had reached 200,000!

"If I don't finish this fast, I'll go bankrupt!" he cried.

Since he had no time to waste, he threw the broken sword toward the wolf's eye while pulling a new one from his inventory.

Of course, such a blatant attack was dodged by it; however, the slash that came after connected successfully. A third wound, this time across its neck!

"Guh!"

But the wolf didn't go down without a fight.

The moment Axel's sword connected, the wolf sent a claw scratching toward where he was. But being airborne after jumping up, Axel had no way to dodge. He could only brace himself and meet the claw with his slash!

The sound of metal scratching another metal.

But rather than sparks, fresh blood spewed.

"...!"

The wolf skillfully bypassed the blade, sliding through, and pierced Axel's body!

"You... damned mutt...!" Of course, Axel didn't just accept a one-sided beating.

He took advantage of the leg before him, loading his attack with all his anger and chagrin, and slashing it off in one go.

The wolf whined for the first time, backing off as it lost one of its paws!

Axel also landed, coughing blood, with a hole in his stomach. However, with a single potion, his injuries vanished like a lie.

"Damn... reminds me of the good old MMO boss raid days!" He grinned, wiping the blood off his lips. "You mutt, I still have tons of pots left! You can't beat me...!"

"GRRR!"

Fenrir didn't seem to understand his words, but it knew he was looking down on it. With one side receiving damage and the other able to heal, it was obviously becoming a one-sided battle.

Fear and wariness crossed the wolf's expression as it growled endlessly, keeping Axel at bay.

But the man himself was in a rush, with no time to sit still.

Right now, his money was draining at 500k per second already!

"Fucking die!" he growled.

But the moment he reached the Fenrir, the mutt suddenly disappeared. Instead, its figure could be seen beyond the collapsed witches, claw raised up as if holding them hostage.

"Hah!?"

It was a smart move for a monster… but a bad move against someone like Axel.

"Kill them if you want! I'll avenge them soon!" he growled.

He didn't stop. Didn't even hesitate.

Running toward the wolf, sword raised high, the wolf was the one who got intimidated instead. It quickly blinked away, moving a few hundred meters. It was so scared it was keeping as much distance from Axel as possible!

'Weird...'

But while crazed, the cold and calculating part of Axel's mind analyzed what was happening.

'If it's scared of me, couldn't it just run away? Why does it insist on staying?'

It could move a few hundred meters in a flash. If it used that in succession, it could escape before Axel even had time to chase it. However, it didn't. That fact made Axel doubt what was going on.

'Could it be...'

Right then, he recalled Navi's words before his eyes glowed golden.

Something about Gleipnir and control...

Axel was confused, however. In the legends, Gleipnir was simply used to bind the wolf until Ragnarok, when it would break its constraints and kill Odin.

However, it was also true that right now, it was fighting for the demons… as if controlled by someone. Enough that it couldn't leave this place due to its "orders" from that certain someone.

'Could it be... Gleipnir could actually exert control over Fenrir?!'

It was a far-fetched idea when based in reality, but in games, it wasn't that uncommon. Given their stalemate situation, it was also the only viable option he could take to "catch" the wolf.

Axel grinned and quickly re-equipped himself.

He removed all accessories that increased Strength and Vitality, and instead focused on speed once more. This way, he could gain a "chance" to catch Fenrir.

However, he only had one chance.

If Fenrir noticed his increased speed, then it would definitely escape as soon as it lost sight of Axel. If he failed to catch it in one go, then it would become a stalemate—no, it'd be a loss for Axel, as he would lose his buff when he ran out of either money or mana!

As such, he wanted to raise his chances to the limit.

"Nina! Use Blackout!" he shouted.

"...!"

Hearing his voice, Nina, who was lying as still as a corpse, began to move.

The witches weren't dead yet, of course! They had survived the attacks of Fenrir earlier by a small margin and were still barely able to move!

With great effort, she raised her staff.

"Black... out...!"

Mustering her last bit of strength, Nina cast another spell.

It wasn't a curse, but a normal spell—one that Axel made her learn just in case, buying an expensive scroll to do so.

As the spell was cast, a black sphere flew out of Nina's staff, heading straight up.

Then, after reaching a certain height, it began to spread outward, forming a dome.

But that wasn't all. Everything within the dome was veiled in eternal darkness—darkness that limited not only vision or hearing, but all five senses!

Still, this spell had a drawback.

It only lasted for a few seconds at most.

However, a few seconds were enough.

'Good!' Axel thought.

Even if it was pitch darkness for the wolf, to Axel, it wasn't.

The golden outline of the wolf could still be seen clearly, after all. Using that as his marker, Axel rushed in a straight line.

His speed was beyond his control, fast enough that it felt as if he was teleporting.

Thankfully, his injuries weren't as severe as before—maybe due to his increased Vitality from the buff, or something else.

"Got you!"

With great difficulty, he managed to grab onto the chains around the wolf's neck.

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