The Battle with the Werewolf Ken

As Cheng Ya had said, Ken the Werewolf posed no real threat to Ran Jiu’yi. Even in his “Mad Wolf” state, dealing with him would be nothing more than an extra punch for her.

However, for Meng Shan and the others, who currently lacked high-burst damage, this was the worst possible scenario.

In the preceding battle, Meng Shan had exhausted most of the heavy artillery he had deployed in the area. What remained were either light firearms or fixed-point trap bombs, neither of which offered much help in this situation.

As for the “Little Trio,” Jiang Yunshu’s mana was nearly depleted due to maintaining the wide-scale Butterfly Realm and utilizing the mana-heavy light orb attack. To preserve what little energy she had for the ensuing struggle, she was forced to cease her assault on Ken.

Yi Ziling, possessing no offensive capabilities, could only stand by and silently cheer for her comrades.

While Bai He’an still had a fair amount of mana left, she could not breach Ken’s defense alone.

Consequently, after a period of futile attacking, Meng Shan and the others realized they were merely wasting energy. They could only watch helplessly as Ken the Werewolf’s fatal head wound closed with staggering speed.

As Ken’s frame continued to grow, the steam billowing from his body intensified. Once he reached a height of roughly six meters, the steam abruptly stopped, and his head was fully restored.

Ken opened his eyes, stared at his enlarged claws, and felt the surging power within him. He burst into a wild laugh.

“Hahahaha… I see! So this is the power that freak woman Cheng Ya gave me! It’s incredible! Fine, I’ll grant her a quick death when the time comes.”

Ken turned his gaze toward Meng Shan and the trio. “As for you lot—as the price for hurting me, I will make your deaths agonizingly slow.”

Ignoring the taunts, Meng Shan raised his left arm and fired three mini-missiles at Ken.

Ken looked on with disdain; how could such toys hurt him now? With a single swipe of his claws, the missiles were reduced to scrap metal. However, they released a thick smoke screen, obscuring his vision.

“Yun, quick! The illusion!”

At Meng Shan’s command through the comms, Jiang Yunshu hurriedly reactivated the Butterfly Realm, pulling Bai He’an and Yi Ziling into the safety of the illusion. Meng Shan seized the moment to re-engage his armor’s stealth mode and vanished into the floral mist as well.

When the smoke cleared, his targets were gone.

However, looking at the scattered petals, Ken wasn’t worried. He knew that maintaining such a massive illusion drained an immense amount of magic. That girl wouldn’t last long. Based on his current mana consumption, his Mad Wolf mode had another thirty minutes—more than enough time to wait for his prey to crawl out.

But then again, why should he just wait?

Indeed, as Ken suspected, Jiang Yunshu’s mana was failing; she could only hold the field for five more minutes.

Inside the illusion, Meng Shan mused grimly, “Five minutes… we need to find a way to retreat and engage him another day.”

The girls knew it too—Ken was no longer an enemy they could handle. The priority had shifted from combat to survival.

But it was easier said than done. Ken’s speed far surpassed theirs; they were only buying time in the illusion. The moment it faded, they would be lambs to the slaughter—unless there was a way to hinder him…

After a moment of silence, Meng Shan made a decision. “We…”

Before he could lay out the new plan, Ken the Werewolf lunged into the illusion, roaring: “I’ll give you ten seconds! If you don’t show yourselves, I’m going back into the city to start killing again!”

“You know you can’t stop me. Come out now, and maybe I’ll be merciful enough to spare those low-life humans after I’m done with you.”

“Listen close… 10… 9…”

As the countdown progressed and the situation grew dire, Meng Shan became paradoxically calmer.

(What a mess. The girls are tapped out, and my automated weapons are spent.)

(The only useful things left are the hidden bombs and one last armor-piercing round.)

(What now? Run? No, these girls won’t run. They’ll stay and fight to the end.)

As he was thinking, Bai He’an’s voice came through: “Brother Dashan, Yunshu, Xiao Yi… you guys go. I’ll hold him back. I’ve run away once before; I won’t do it a second time.”

Jiang Yunshu immediately snapped back: “I’m not leaving! I’m staying to fight too!”

Yi Ziling choked back tears but spoke firmly: “…I-I’m not going either. I won’t abandon everyone. So Brother Dashan, you should leave!”

(See? Just as I thought. I could have bought them time to escape, but they’re all going to rush out and fight once the timer hits zero.)

(In the end, all four of us are staying.)

“I really can’t deal with you lot,” Meng Shan shook his head. “If I leave, you’ll all die. Fortunately, we can gamble one last time.”

“No more plan. I’ll go out first to draw his fire. You wait for an opening to join in.”

Before the girls could process his words, Meng Shan switched his armor to Flight Mode and rocketed out of the illusion.

Seeing the sniper who had dealt him a near-fatal blow reappear, Ken grinned cruelly. “Excellent. I’ll start with you.”

Before Meng Shan could even react, Ken was already in his face.

Meng Shan had assumed the previous transformation must have drained Ken significantly and that his enhancement wouldn’t be that extreme. He was wrong. In Mad Wolf mode, Ken’s speed had nearly doubled.

Meng Shan had no time to dodge. He could only watch as a massive paw swatted him like a fly, sending him crashing into a nearby abandoned factory. Amidst the screech of metal and the roar of collapsing concrete, the building crumbled, burying Meng Shan under tons of debris.

“Brother Dashan!”

Bai He’an, who had followed him out of the illusion, screamed in despair at the sight of the wreckage. She turned her weapons on Ken. “You bastard! I’ll kill you!”

Ken laughed. “Oops, maybe I used a bit too much force. Oh well, he deserved it. Hahahaha!”

“You monster!”

With Jiang Yunshu’s roar, a torrent of firepower rained down on Ken. But if those attacks couldn’t even interrupt his transformation earlier, how could they hurt him now?

Without even flinching, Ken charged through the fire and thrust a claw clean through Bai He’an’s abdomen.

Blood sprayed from her mouth. Ken pulled her close to his face. “Don’t worry, I won’t kill you yet. I want you to watch the others die first.”

A beam of light hit the back of Ken’s head, but it only singed his fur. He tossed Bai He’an aside like a ragdoll and turned to see Jiang Yunshu and Yi Ziling.

“Ah, you came out on your own. How convenient.”

Ken lunged. Although Yi Ziling managed to encase herself and Jiang Yunshu in a thick shell of solidified gel, it was paper-thin to the current Ken. In moments, both girls lay powerless on the ground, suffering from gruesome lacerations across their chests.

“There. All the lowly humans dealt with… Hm?”

Ken sensed something and turned toward the collapsed factory. A moment later, amidst an explosion of dust, Meng Shan crawled out from the ruins.

Fortunately, he had switched to Defense Mode the moment he left the illusion; that was the only reason he was still alive. However, his exoskeleton was shattered in several places, sparks dancing across the frame. He was in terrible shape.

Ken barked a laugh. “Still kicking? I guess I didn’t hit you hard enough.”

“System self-check: 68% damage. Stealth Mode offline. Defense Mode offline. Energy remaining: 45%.”

Without a word, Meng Shan switched to Flight Mode and flew toward a nearby five-story building. As he flew, he deployed his remaining smoke grenades, trying to slow Ken down.

It was useless. By the time he reached the building, Ken was already standing in front of him. Meng Shan realized Ken was faster than this—he was holding back on purpose to toy with him.

“Run, little mouse. It changes nothing.”

(He didn’t kill me instantly. That’s my chance.)

Meng Shan ignored him and flew out of the building, commanding his armor: “Detonate.”

Every bomb planted in the building exploded simultaneously. Each had been meticulously placed by Meng Shan to ensure the entire structure would vanish into rubble in an instant. Ken was caught off guard and buried.

A moment later, Ken burst from the debris, unscathed. “That’s it? You think this can hurt me?”

Ken looked at Meng Shan, who had his electromagnetic sniper rifle leveled at him. A massive surge of energy was pouring from the suit into the weapon.

“Ah, you think that toy works. But pointing it at me so openly… isn’t that a bit stupid?”

In a flash, Ken was in front of him, launching a kick at Meng Shan’s head.

However, Ken’s foot passed straight through Meng Shan’s body.

A projection!

Seeing the image flicker and seeing the cigarette-sized projector on the ground, Ken realized he had been played.

Two massive explosions followed. One came from the towering cooling tower beside him, and the other from beneath his feet.

The ground collapsed. Losing his footing, Ken fell into a deep pit along with the crumbling earth. Simultaneously, the collapsing cooling tower fell perfectly into the hole, burying him deep.

“Energy remaining: 21%.”

“CUNNING HUMAN! I WILL KILL YOU!!”

Ken roared from the depths of the pit. He couldn’t believe a mere human had tricked him so many times. But he remained arrogant; he could break out of this in seconds.

That arrogance made him overlook one detail: the faint, pungent smell filling the pit.

The smell of methane.

Meng Shan detonated the charges at the bottom of the pit. Combined with the methane, a pillar of fire erupted into the sky.

Meng Shan’s brow remained furrowed. He knew this wouldn’t finish him. He had one round left. One chance.

“Energy remaining: 11%.”

The sniper rifle sparked under the heat. Meng Shan knew that firing in Overload Mode again so soon might cause the gun to explode in his hands.

After the blast, Ken opened his eyes in the smoke. His fur was charred black. A humiliation beyond words! To be scarred like this by a human!

Next time I see him, I’ll kill him instantly!

But as Ken crawled out of the hole, all he saw was the black muzzle of the rifle.

“Energy remaining: 1%.”

Meng Shan took a deep breath. It just needs to last until the bullet leaves the barrel. Then, let it blow.

He pulled the trigger. The sniper rifle exploded the moment the round was fired, the shockwave throwing Meng Shan back a dozen meters.

But it worked. At point-blank range, with both hands occupied climbing the pit wall, Ken couldn’t dodge. The final armor-piercing round bored straight through his skull.

“Self-check complete. 92% damage. Overload Mode offline. Energy remaining: 1%.”

Knowing his final strike had hit, Meng Shan ignored the agonizing pain and forced himself to stand. The girls were hurt; he couldn’t fall yet.

However, a thunderous boom echoed from the pit. Meng Shan saw a sight of pure despair.

Ken the Werewolf jumped out of the hole and landed right in front of him. The hole in his forehead was healing even faster than before. His body was swelling further, reaching nearly seven meters.

Ken walked over slowly, savoring his new, even more, colossal power. “You cunning, lowly human… look at me now. What other tricks do you have left?”

“I do.”

A woman’s voice rang out from behind Ken. Before he could even turn around, Ran Jiu’yi, in her Ascension Form, drove her fist straight through his chest.