MMORPG: Ascension of the Strongest Spirit Master
Chapter 51: The Battle Begin’s.

Chapter 51: The Battle Begin’s.

Vlad took the core from the Frostspine Centipede’s cold body and, without another word, sprinted through the snow-laden expanse.

It took him four minutes to reach the dead woods. The tall and bare trees loomed like skeletons, and the branches were twisted in frozen agony. He reached the treeline quickly, and as he slowed, his sharp eyes spotted the group ahead.

Elisha, Jade, and Fritz were already there but were not alone. A second group of seven players stood with them, armored and armed, their expressions ranging from curiosity to veiled irritation.

’It looks like they have company,’ Vlad thought, eyes narrowing slightly.

’Well... I expected that much.’

Elisha spotted him immediately and stepped forward.

"Sir," she said quickly, glancing back toward the other group, "They refuse to sell me the Wolf’s king core, so I..." Before she could finish, a tall man in dark steel armor, massive and broad-shouldered, tossed something toward Vlad.

A frost-blue crystal, raw and humming faintly.

"Here," the man said, his voice deep and rough. "So, Mr. Mysterious..."

He folded his arms. "Why do you need the core, both cores by the look of it, when the dungeon’s resetting in twenty minutes?"

Vlad caught the core easily and sent a silent message into the party chat.

’Elisha, start a live stream and name it the true master of Frostveil Expanse Dungeon.’ Then, out loud and perfectly calm, he replied, "You will see it in a few minutes."

Without another word, Vlad turned and began sprinting through the forest. The two groups exchanged glances, then started moving, trailing after him through the trees.

The wind died as they neared the center of the woods, and then they saw it. A clearing opened within the Deadwoods, quiet, serene, untouched.

A smooth, perfectly circular body of water, its surface clear as glass and shaped like a flawless full moon. The lake shimmered with a faint, lunar glow, and though it looked peaceful, it radiated unnatural stillness.

There were no monsters here, only the faint sound of water lapping at the shore. The Moon Lake was known only for one thing.

Its beauty.

No loot, No secret, just a break between spawn zones where only low-level Frost Wolves sometimes wandered.

At least, that’s what everyone thought, but it did hide a secret, the biggest secret of the dungeon.

Vlad stepped forward and turned to face the gathered crowd, who watched in silent anticipation.

"Now, everyone," Vlad said, his voice calm but cutting through the stillness, "Please stay back and watch as I summon the true prize of this dungeon."

He turned and approached the lake. The crowd spread out in a loose arc, forming a wide semicircle around the lake’s edge, watching with a mix of curiosity and doubt.

Vlad walked closer to the edge and counted as he stepped back, taking exactly seven measured steps. He then glanced around as if confirming everything was in order.

He took a deep breath and reached into his inventory, first throwing the wolf’s king core and then began tossing random items into the lake, making it seem very important.

An alpha wolf skull, Mana cores, six of them, tossed two at a time in two-second intervals.

"What’s he doing?"

"Idiot, start recording, focus on the exact location where he is throwing things."

"Is this a prank video? Trying to go viral or something?"

"And who exactly is he pranking? You? You are not that important." They murmured among themselves, uncertain.

Vlad was throwing junk to deceive them, but it was not that he planned to hide the lake’s secret. He was throwing random stuff to buy time so he would be the only one who entered the barrier that would isolate the lake when the Moon Wolf was summoned.

Vlad needed to fight the Moon wolf alone, not because of the first reward or because he feared not getting the material he needed, but because if the player present joined the battle, it would be a guaranteed defeat.

The Moon wolf, while a first Rank Beast lord, was far more deadly than any first-rank creature, even the Eclipseborn, who was an entire grade higher in its strength.

Because The Moon wolf had a summon skill that allowed him to summon two Spectral wolves for every enemy it faced. Each of those wolves was peak First Rank, Greater Beast grade, making them as strong as any mini-boss.

Each one was capable of overwhelming most players on their own, so if even three or four others entered the zone, it would become impossible to manage.

But alone? Vlad was confident.

Vlad tossed in more things, every little thing that could be found in the dungeon, and after nearly thirty seconds, he dropped the second spirit core.

After a few seconds, the lake began to change, and the cold wind died completely. The surface of the water shimmered, then slowly began to freeze, not from the edges inward but from the center out.

Perfect concentric rings of frost spread across the glassy surface, creeping outward like ancient runes blooming into formation. Within seconds, the entire lake had solidified into a shimmering white disc, still and silent.

The onlookers grew quiet. Some stepped back, feeling the creeping cold, while the others leaned in, eyes wide, breath caught.

"... It’s freezing," someone whispered.

"No... it’s not just freezing. Look at the mist."

Mist curled up from the lake’s edges, first like smoke, then like rising breath. It swirled and then suddenly snapped outward, forming a wall around the entire lake, tall and thick like a barrier of still fog.

Vlad chose this moment to step through the barrier, and a second later, a single, piercing howl, long, deep, and inhuman, a sound that rolled through everyone’s bones and made their hearts skip.

The mist suspended in the air was pushed back, clearing the lake’s center and revealing the beast standing there.

A monstrosity of grace and death.

The great beast was tall, nearly three meters in height. Its fur was pure white, almost silver, reflecting the frozen light like a mirror.

Its body was lean, its frame strong and fluid. Eyes like molten silver locked onto Vlad, unblinking and full of icy killing intent. Its fangs were like polished swords, gleaming even in stillness.

[Beast Lord - Hidden Boss]

Name: Moon Wolf

Titles: [Ghost Howler] [Lunar-Blessed]

Race: Lunar Wolf

Rank: First Rank

Level: 99

Health: 58,800

Mana: 26,200

Skills: Lunar Fang, Silver Howl, Phase Step, Moonlit Rend, Summon Spectral Pack, Gleamhide, Moon’s Grace

Description:

A rare predator of ancient lineage. Lean, silent, and unnaturally fast, the Moon Wolf moves like smoke over snow. When endangered, spectral wolves rise from nothing to run at its side, following no command but the pull of its blood.

The mist beside it twisted, and two spectral wolves began to take form. They were smaller than the main beast but no less terrifying. They had ghostly white forms with glowing blue eyes and claws clicking over ice.

The Moon Wolf began to walk forward, slowly, step by step, toward Vlad, and finally, the players outside broke free of their shock and rushed forth to take a piece of this hidden boss monster they never knew existed.

From behind the barrier, the players rushed forward, only to slam into the wall of mist.

"What—?"

"Why can’t we get in?"

"The mist, it’s solid."

"Hey V, How do we get inside,"

Vlad focused on the battle at hand, staring right back at the massive wolf inching closer to him.

The spectral wolves fanned out like phantoms on snow, their forms flickering at the edges as if they existed only partially in this world. They moved low, fast, their white fur curling at the edges with smoke-like mist, claws carving shallow lines into the frozen lake as they closed in from both flanks.

Vlad summoned his spirit weapon, and Vel, without a word, shimmered into a cloud of emerald light. The glow surged around his arms, then condensed.

Two ethereal handles formed in his grip, pulsing with faint green veins. In the same breath, a chain uncoiled from the base of both handles, connecting them as one.

The chained sickle completed a second later, its blades curved like a scythe’s and oozed a virulent toxin, courtesy of Plaguebearer’s Touch skill.

Vlad’s eyes scanned the approaching enemies and then threw his sickle, seemingly as nothing but empty air.

But a heartbeat later, his inhuman instincts screamed, informing him of the approaching wolves that closed in, their ghostly bodies tearing through the thin mist in the air.

Vlad stepped forward and pulled at his chain. The sickle, still airborne, jerked sideways in a vicious arc. It vanished into a blur of verdant light, and then it met its mark.

A flash of impact. The blade’s curved tip buried itself into the flank of the spectral wolf, rushing him at full speed.

The beast showed no pain, but the hit ate through its health bar while poison painted his figure green. The impact also destroyed its balance, making it skid across the ice, legs scraping for balance as green toxin seeped deeper.

But the other wolf was already on him, its jaws opened, fangs flashing toward the side of his neck like daggers. Vlad’s body dropped instantly and turned. The ice cracked under his pivot, his boots finding grip as he spun and droved the tip of the second sickle up.

The sickle sliced into the spectral wolf, cutting up through its jaw into its skull, shutting its open maw.

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