At first glance, it looked as though the wolf was simply hurling wind blades wildly, cutting down trees in every direction as collateral damage. But the more she watched, the more deliberate its actions seemed. Each arc of wind sliced through clusters of trees that obstructed its path, gradually clearing the surrounding area.
It wasn’t random destruction.
It was creating space.
With every fallen tree, the battlefield widened, giving the wolf more room to maneuver at high speed. The dense forest that once restricted its agility was slowly being turned into an open field where it could fully exploit its greatest advantage, speed and mobility.
In contrast, the mutated porcupine resembled a moving fortress. Its body was heavily armored and nearly immovable, its defense terrifyingly solid, but that same weight also made it sluggish. It barely repositioned itself, relying instead on rotating its massive body and locking onto the wolf’s movements.
Then it would unleash volleys of quills like arrows, precise and relentless.
The wolf, on the other hand, weaved through the expanding open space it had carved for itself, dodging and counterattacking with calculated efficiency. What seemed like reckless attacks were, in reality, tactical adjustments to the terrain, shaping the battlefield to suit its own strengths while limiting the porcupine’s ability to corner it.
"Why is it knocking down the trees instead of using them as cover?" Kisha murmured under her breath, eyes fixed on the battlefield. "If it hid within the forest and launched surprise attacks, its strikes would have a much higher chance of landing. Fast, yes... but not exactly clever."
Yet even as she said that, she quickly understood the reasoning behind the mutated black wolf’s behavior.
On the surface, using the dense forest as concealment for ambushes would seem like the smarter tactic. With its speed, it could easily weave through the trees, strike unexpectedly, and retreat before the porcupine could properly retaliate.
But that logic only applied if the wolf could perfectly control its own velocity.
And that was the problem.
The wolf’s speed had already reached a level where its movements were closer to bursts of wind than normal sprinting. In such a state, dense trees were no longer an advantage; they were hazards. A single miscalculation, a delayed turn, or a split-second loss of control could send its massive body crashing straight into a tree trunk at full speed.
At that velocity, even a hardened mutated animal would suffer serious injury from the impact.
Instead of becoming a hiding ground, the forest could easily turn into a cage of obstacles.
Worse, any moment of hesitation caused by maneuvering around trees would create an opening. The mutated porcupine, which relied on precision and area attacks, only needed a brief pause to lock onto its target. One well-timed volley of those steel-like quills aimed at a vital point, the eyes, throat, or joints, could be fatal.
For a creature whose combat style was heavily centered on agility and mobility, being forced to slow down or navigate tight terrain was a direct disadvantage.
Unlike the porcupine, whose metal-like body granted it overwhelming defense, the wolf did not possess the same durability. Its strengths lay in speed, evasion, and pressure through movement. A single mistake, a single collision, or even a brief loss of momentum could immediately shift the balance of the fight, and in a battle between high-level mutated animals, one misstep was more than enough to cost it its life.
"Hmm... but it’s not bad either. It’s not completely stupid," Kisha murmured thoughtfully, rubbing her chin as her sharp gaze remained fixed on the distant clash. "Both mutated animals have their own strengths and weaknesses. Choosing which one to pair with whom will be crucial once I bring them back..."
Her voice was low, almost like she was thinking out loud.
Ethan, who still couldn’t see the battle clearly from that distance, caught fragments of her murmurs and finally pieced together a rough idea of what was happening far ahead. In a way, Kisha’s quiet analysis had unintentionally turned into a live commentary of the fight for him.
Still, one part of her words made him pause.
"Partner with...? Bring them over...?"
A thought suddenly surfaced in his mind, and his expression stiffened slightly.
Was she... planning to capture those mutated animals as she said?
The idea alone made his brows knit together. Judging from the sheer scale of the commotion, the crashing trees, the violent shockwaves, and the continuous roars echoing through the forest, it was obvious that neither of those creatures was ordinary.
Both were extremely powerful, likely leaders or apex figures among mutated animals in this area. That alone made them far more dangerous than the average mutated animals.

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