Daily Rewards! Transmigrating into a novel as a side-character!-Chapter 202: Two Mid-Rank Transcendent

Behind me, I heard the sounds of the students engaging the Elite wolves—shouts, elemental techniques, the clash of weapons against claws. They'd have to handle that fight themselves while I dealt with the genuinely dangerous threats.

---

The two Transcendent wolves circled me with intelligence, their movements coordinated through years of hunting as a mated pair. I could feel their auras more clearly now—both were mid-Transcendent rank, significantly stronger than the low-tier Transcendents I'd been casually eliminating earlier.

This would actually require effort.

In a one-on-one fight, I'd kill either wolf instantly through overwhelming superiority. But facing two mid-Transcendent beasts simultaneously while they coordinated attacks created genuine challenge that demanded respect and focus.

They attacked from opposite sides with perfect timing, forcing me to defend multiple angles simultaneously. The left wolf's jaws snapped toward my throat while the right wolf's claws raked toward my exposed ribs.

I pivoted my legs, positioning my blade to intercept the jaw strike while Stone Echo activated to absorb the claw attack.

CLASH! CRACK! IMPACT!

My sword caught the wolf's bite, enhanced strength preventing those powerful jaws from closing despite the devastating force behind them. The second wolf's claws scraped against my stone armor, the Transcendent-rank attack strong enough to crack the defensive layer but not penetrate completely.

I immediately countered, using Blood Enhancement to amplify a kick toward the clawing wolf that connected with its ribs.

THUD! 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

The impact sent it flying backward several meters, ribs clearly fractured from the strike. But mid-Transcendent durability meant it recovered quickly, shaking off damage that would have killed weaker beasts.

The wolf whose bite I'd caught tried to wrench its head free, but I maintained my grip and drove my knee into its snout with bone-crushing force.

CRUNCH!

Blood sprayed as its nose shattered, but it still managed to tear free and retreat, growling with pain and renewed wariness.

Both wolves reassessed their approach, recognizing I was more dangerous than anticipated. They began using more sophisticated tactics—feints, coordinated rushes from blind spots, attempting to separate me from my defensive positioning.

This was taking too long. The students behind me were struggling with the Elite wolves, and I needed to end this quickly before someone got seriously injured or killed.

Time for a decisive technique.

I channelled significant mana into my Blood Control ability, extending my influence outward toward both wolves simultaneously. Rather than subtle manipulation, this would be overwhelming direct assault on their circulatory systems.

The technique required substantial energy expenditure—easily a quarter of my total mana reserves for this level of invasive control against mid-Transcendent resistance. But it would create the opening I needed.

My will forced itself into both wolves' bodies through ambient moisture and the blood they'd shed from our earlier exchanges. I seized control of circulation within their skulls, targeting the delicate blood vessels in their eyes and optical nerves.

The wolves howled in sudden agony as I caused catastrophic hemorrhaging.

POP!

Both sets of eyes exploded from internal pressure as blood vessels ruptured en masse, vitreous fluid and blood pouring down their faces as I destroyed their vision.

Blind and panicking, they became exponentially more vulnerable. But I wasn't done yet.

I focused on the closer wolf, the one I'd kicked earlier and extended Blood Manipulation deeper into its chest cavity. Finding its heart, I seized the organ with invasive control and stopped it completely.

Just for a split moment. Just long enough.

The wolf's eyes—already ruined—went wide with the shock of cardiac arrest. Its legs buckled as oxygen suddenly stopped flowing to its brain, consciousness beginning to fade.

I closed distance with Transcendent speed while it was helpless, my blade already positioned for the killing strike.

SLASH!

The sword severed its neck cleanly, enhanced strength driving through muscle, bone, and sinew with surgical precision.

The head dropped.

THUD!

The massive body collapsed a heartbeat later, blood fountaining from the catastrophic wound as the mid-Transcendent wolf died.

The second wolf, blind and hearing its mate's death, attempted desperate flight despite not being able to see where it was going.

I didn't allow escape.

CHASE! INTERCEPT! ELIMINATE!

Three strides carried me to the fleeing wolf. My sword found its spine at the base of its skull, severing the connection between brain and body.

It collapsed mid-stride, paralyzed instantly. A follow-up strike to its throat ended its suffering.

SLASH!

Two mid-Transcendent wolves eliminated, though the mana expenditure had been noticeable. That invasive Blood Manipulation technique was powerful but costly when used against multiple targets with significant resistance.

I turned immediately to assess the other students' fight.

They were struggling but surviving against the three Elite wolves, using the defensive tactics they'd developed earlier. Thomas's earth barriers were holding despite visible cracks, and the others were landing occasional strikes that accumulated damage slowly.

But they were tiring, mana reserves depleting, and the wolves were adapting to their patterns.

Time to clean up.

I moved through the combat zone with overwhelming speed and precision. The Elite wolves never saw me coming, they were focused entirely on the students, viewing me as occupied with the Transcendent threats.

My blade found the first wolf's throat in a single fluid motion.

SLASH!

It was dead before it registered the attack.

The second wolf wheeled around at its packmate's death but died just as quickly, my sword removing its head completely.

SLASH! THUD!

The third and final wolf tried to flee, finally recognizing the hopeless situation.

I threw my sword with Supernatural Physique-enhanced strength and perfect accuracy.

WHOOSH!

The blade impaled it through the spine, pinning it to the ground where it thrashed helplessly until I crossed the distance and finished it with a stomp to its skull.

CRACK!

Silence fell across the clearing, broken only by the students' heavy breathing and the sound of blood dripping from multiple corpses.

Five more wolves dead. Two mid-Transcendent and three Elite-rank eliminated.

The students stared at me with expressions mixing relief, awe, and lingering shock at the sudden shift from desperate combat to complete victory.

"Check yourselves for injuries," I commanded, retrieving my sword and cleaning the blade. "Then we do the same procedure—bury the dead students, gather their belongings, and move on."

Marcus stood frozen, staring at the slaughtered wolves and then at the bodies of his former teammates.

"They died here," he whispered. "Because I ran instead of fighting."

"Yes," I confirmed bluntly. "They died, and you lived. Now you get to choose whether that survival was cowardice or strategy. Make it mean something by helping us save others instead of wallowing in guilt."

He looked at me with conflicted expression but eventually nodded.

The grim work continued.