The Rise of the Winter Wolf - Book 4 - Chapter 81 - Anthrovespid (Patreon)

                                                             Arcadian Live
                                                         A few days later

Shouts of excitement echo throughout the stadium as millions of people watch Wolf do a backflip on the screen before flapping his wings once, sending him flying straight towards the giant, five meter tall zombie with one of his clawed and gauntleted hands pointing towards it, its claws sprayed out. His momentum leads him to digging straight through the body of the zombie, all the way from its brain down and out its stomach with its roars cutting off the moment he passes through its throat. And the cheers only intensify when he calmly flaps his wings once more and floats down to the ground again in a stylish manner. All while freezing any and all of the blood and guts on his body, making it fall harmlessly to the ground in the process.

“And that’s another stylish victory for our resident reaper!!!!” Mikaela shouts so loudly that his voice echoes throughout more than just the main stadium and can be heard in the other stadiums as well, making the audience’s roar grow to even greater heights.

But out of nowhere, the screen at the center of the many stadiums changes to instead show the anthrovespid as he rushes forward to strike at an arctic lycanthrope. One of the few to have the pleasure of meeting The Winter Wolf in the flesh, outside of a conjunction.

“It looks like the anthrovespid’s next target for attack is the arctic lycanthrope, previously a dwarf, Karunn Kegale! Otherwise known as Kegale Smithing, the walking advertisement!!!” Mikaela shouts, breaking the slightly tense atmosphere that had popped up at the arrival of the anthrovespid on the livestream and making thousands of people laugh at his description of the smith. “Now, the last time Karunn made a big splash was when she went face to face with Alaric and won, only to have a temporary luck dropping curse put on her by that very same Competitor after her victory. One that lasted for over a week and set her back just as far as she had skipped ahead in winning the duel.”

On the screen, the two Competitors fight claw to claw, striking back and forth between each other. One of them in her hunter form, which is a significant amount smaller than Wolf’s hunter form, and the other using his very weak skill in magma manipulation and creation to coat his body in molten lava as the humanoid wasp fights off her strikes.

“Since the first Centurion floor, the anthrovespid has already attacked several other Competitors. But not a single one of them were killed in its assault, even if nearly half of them were defeated,” Mikaela explains for those who don’t keep up with the other Competitors outside of their favorites. “Although, being honest here, it’s been on a brutal rampage ever since it first entered the dungeon. So there isn’t much difference there, outside of the significant drop in the number of Competitors it can actually beat in a battle since the start.”

The viewers all watch the battle between the two, some of them with burning interest, others with hatred towards the anthrovespid, and many of them with apathy – those ones wishing that the screen would switch back to Wolf and Sapphire already.

But despite those viewer’s preferences, the screen continues to show the battle between the two. All the way till the point that the anthrovespid manages to push the arctic lycanthrope back thanks to her weakness to fire-based attacks.

“I guess this should’ve been expected,” Mikaela states while watching Karunn begin to sprint away from the humanoid wasp at incredible speeds. Speeds much faster than the creature can keep up with. “Its magma powers are too much for an arctic lycanthrope of the same level to defeat. But at the same time, the arctic lycanthropes are way too fast for it to keep up with as well. So it was bound to end in a draw, just like many of the creature’s other battles have been.”

Boos resound throughout the stadium at that, making the corner of Mikaela’s mouth twitch slightly in irritation.

‘Sorry, but there isn’t anything I can do about that,’ he thinks to himself, not daring to say it out loud to millions of people.

Then the screen changes again to show Wolf entering the 194th floor, and all of their boos immediately turn back into cheers again.

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                                                              Wolf
                                                   Half a day later

I can’t help but irritably tap my foot while sitting inside of my expanded system store during the Conjunction.

“What’s eating at you?” Crystal asks from the couch next to the one I’m sitting on with Sapphire leaning up against my shoulder as she sleeps.

I turn to look at her with a frown before answering, “I still can’t figure out what The Reaper meant when he mentioned a beta. Because what would the beta be for?”

Crystal frowns at that as well, but I continue speaking while glancing at Sapphire’s sleeping face, “The only things I could really think of was the changes made to this dungeon. Because I guess those could be considered a beta of sorts. But that doesn’t make much sense either, since they haven’t been too significant so far.”

“Well maybe it has something to do with future changes The Reaper will be making?” Norbert suggests from his place sitting on a leather chair while sharpening his sword that I’m pretty sure doesn’t need sharpening, considering all the System stuff going on with every high Tier weapon.

“Maybe,” I mutter, only to let out a groan and lean back on the couch. “Then there’s the stuff that the System itself said to me. Not The Reaper. Not a notification or anything. But the System, pure and simple.”

That was completely out of the ordinary.

Then there’s the fact that apparently my time in the Void was censored to the audience in a way that they didn’t even know that I was there in the first place. Instead the livestream simply showed footage of me entering the floor and then finding a secret exit and leaving the moment I entered the 191st floor.

And there’s also the crap that the abyssal demons are apparently going to be pulling on the 200thfloor.

Why’s there so much stuff going on right now?

I really don’t like it.

A murmur draws my attention to Sapphire, who is muttering in her sleep now.

“Papa… papa…” she mutters with a smile on her face. One that looks absolutely adorable on her, taking my attention away from the fact that she called me papa this time instead of dad.

Or rather, it would. If it weren’t for the next words she says.

“Please catch that chick for me, papa…”

I scowl at her while the other Competitors around us begin chuckling in amusement.

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