Alex saw a big red wolf break past the trees, heading straight for them.
At a glance, he could tell this was the Boss Monster he had been monitoring on his map. Right now, its merciless gaze was fixed on Bob, Grint, and Jorven.
Alex knew that the three teenagers couldn’t survive the wolf, one of the four monsters assigned to thin down the number of candidates by eliminating anyone unlucky enough to cross their paths. He quickly devised a plan to save them from a grim fate.
"Enchant Holy!" Alex said as he summoned a wooden sandal.
What appeared in his hand was none other than his legendary weapon, Grandma Agnes’ Sandal!
Without even a second thought, the young man launched the sandal like a railgun, sending it flying at the speed of sound.
For a brief moment, Bob and his companions thought Alex was attacking them. However, when they heard a pained roar behind them, they understood the situation was way worse. Their most dreaded fear had come to life.
"Don’t look back and just run!" Alex shouted as the wooden sandal reappeared in his hand.
He once again threw it at the approaching Boss Monster.
His plan wasn’t to kill it, but to hopefully inflict enough pain that it would stop its pursuit.
The Legendary Weapon could be thrown six times a day, and it would never miss its target.
It also dealt true damage, which would make the Boss Monster feel pain every time the sandal smacked its face to oblivion.
Alex threw the sandal a third and a fourth time.
The Wolf Monster staggered a bit every time a hit landed. The impact of Alex’s long-range attack was nothing to scoff at.
The Rank 4 Boss Monster was now very angry, but it had also become wary of the wooden sandal that had repeatedly targeted its nose, one of its very sensitive body parts.
When it saw Alex about to throw the sandal for the fourth time, the wolf decided that enough was enough and opened its mouth to unleash a Fireball in his direction.
"Svalinn!" Alex shouted, momentarily stuffing his wooden sandal back to his storage ring to equip the round black shield.
< The passive skill, Improved Fire Resistance, is now active! >
Alex planted his feet firmly on the ground and tanked the Fireball that slammed into him with fury.
A grunt escaped his lips as he skidded two meters away from where he had stood. However, he managed to tank the attack. This distracted the Boss Monster, which gave time for Bob and the others to reach him safely.
"Run to the meeting area!" Alex said. "I’ll follow you shortly."
Alex didn’t even wait for the three teenagers to reply as he once again summoned his wooden sandal.
He only had two enchant skills—Enchant Fire and Enchant Holy.
Since Enchant Fire was useless against the Two-Horned Blaze Wolf, he simply added Holy Element to his sandal, giving it a small damage boost, effective in smiting demons!
’Too bad, it’s not an insect,’ Alex thought as he threw his sandal for the fifth time.
As soon as the sandal left his hand, he ran after Bob and the others.
Simultaneously, he heard a notification sound and an angry roar behind him.
< Vulkarath, the Ember Howl Sovereign>
"Vulkarath plays with fire not like a beast, but like a butcher sharpening his blade."
Attribute: Fire / Demonic
Species: Two-Horned Blaze Wolf
Type: Wandering Boss Monster
Health: 8,887 / 9,500
Active Skills: Fireball, Blazing Pounce, Howl of the Ember Sovereign
Passive Skills: Scorch Fang Frenzy
Alex briefly glanced at the information of the Boss Monster and couldn’t help but grin after seeing that his attack had shaved off around six hundred points from the latter’s health bar.
However, he believed that the critical hit from Grandma Agnes’ Sandal was the true MVP.
But his grin didn’t last for long. When he looked behind, he saw Vulkarath charging in his direction with bloodshot eyes.
Knowing he couldn’t outrun the wolf, Alex glanced at his map before making a decision.
"Bob, we can’t outrun it!" Alex shouted. "Dim Dim and the others are on their way to us, so let’s just hold it off until then!"
"Are you crazy?!" Bob asked. "We’ve just become Rankers. We can’t defeat that thing!"
"I know!" Alex replied. "But what else can we do but fight?! I’ll tank everything, so you guys just do what you can to the best of your abilities!"
Alex stopped running and raised the sandal to throw it one last time.
When Vulkarath saw the wooden sandal, it hesitated. Its movement slowed a little.
Since the legendary weapon dealt true damage, it really hurt the Boss Monster whenever it hit, even though the damage to its health wasn’t that great.
That brief moment when Vulkarath slowed down was enough for Alex to launch his throwing weapon for the last time.
A sonic boom erupted as soon as the wooden sandal took flight, heading once more toward Vulkarath’s nose, which was already bleeding due to Alex’s consecutive strikes.
The Boss Monster grunted in pain as it staggered after getting smacked by the wooden sandal.
When it had encountered other trial takers, they had only been able to scream. None of them had been able to put up a resistance, and the Boss Monster had eliminated every single one of them without too much effort.
However, no matter how much it tried to dodge the wooden sandal, it always collided with its nose, bringing it grief beyond the pain it felt.
Its speed was useless against it because it was faster and moved at the speed of sound!
But just as the Ember Howl Sovereign was recovering from its latest injury, it saw a spinning golden shield flying towards it.
Due to the injury it had received just a while ago, its movements were a bit sluggish, so it wasn’t able to dodge right away.
The golden spinning shield imbued with the Holy Element hit its nose once more, making it curse the young man and his nine generations for playing dirty!
Unfortunately, Alex’s three-hit combo wasn’t over yet.
He first threw the wooden sandal to make the Boss Monster stagger.
He then threw Svalinn using his skill, Shield Boomerang, for a follow-up attack.
And as soon as the shield left his hand, he summoned Everguard and unleashed a Shield Charge.
These three attacks were done in rapid succession. Alex was betting everything he had to deal as much damage as possible to the Boss Monster while he still could.
When he was only a few meters away from the giant Two-Horned Blaze Wolf, he summoned three magical shields in front of him, forming a staircase, which he climbed before jumping toward the monster’s head.
"Shield Charge!" Alex roared as he slammed his shield imbued with the Holy Element on Vulakarath’s nose, dealing another critical damage and breaking the monster’s nose completely.
Bob, Grint, and Jorven looked at the crazy young man. His antics made them feel as if they were dreaming.
Someone who was the same age as them was actually trying to fight a Rank 4 Boss Monster. Even more shockingly, he actually managed to make it cry out in pain.
The Headmaster of the Academy, as well as the other Professors, looked at the projection and gazed at the brave Oathkeeper, and sighed in admiration.
What they didn’t know was that the "brave" Oathkeeper was actually screaming and crying for help internally.
Alex’s only wish was for his friends to come sooner to save his sorry bum from the Boss Monster, who now hated him down to its very core.