Chapter 54: Rendering Aid

CH54 Rendering Aid

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The Crimsonspine-Frostback wolves and the Ironspine Ravager wolves served different Overlords.

Which meant only one thing—

An attack of this scale wasn’t random.

It was war.

The Ironspine Ravager wolves assaulting the Crimsonspine-Frostback pack was not just aggression—it was a strategic move. Whether the war had already begun, or this was the catalyst didn’t matter. The result would be the same: conflict between the Overlords these wolves answered to.

Despite being beasts, magical creatures possessed far greater intelligence than their mundane, wild cousins. They understood hierarchy. They followed order. And above all—they didn’t provoke conflict lightly.

For the Ironspines to initiate such a blatant and large-scale assault, their Overlord must have given the order.

This was no mere skirmish.

It was a declaration of war—a pre-emptive strike meant to eliminate one of the rival Overlord’s key military forces.

Unfortunately for Alex, it meant that the inner rim of the forest was about to plunge into chaos.

The battle royale already brewing in the valley had stirred the pot. If two Overlords went to go to war, there was no telling how many others might be drawn in.

And when the beasts of the inner rim went to war... leaving the rim would become infinitely harder.

’That damned SkyTiger,’ Alex cursed silently. ’If it hadn’t chased me, I wouldn’t have led it to the Viper’s Den. Maybe all of this could’ve been avoided... At the very least, I’d be halfway to the portal by now.’

He knew it wasn’t fair. He was just venting.

The truth was, if not for the SkyTiger chasing him into the valley, he wouldn’t have seen that golden energy signature—and with it, the rare opportunities that followed.

As the old saying went: danger and opportunity go hand in hand.

Suddenly, Alex froze.

Two small, familiar bodies lay ahead.

’The cubs...’

He exhaled sharply.

They were two of the five cubs he had seen earlier. Their lifeless forms bore deep slashes at the neck—wounds inflicted by dagger-like claws. The signature wounds of Ironspine Ravager wolves.

Fleetfoot!

Alex surged forward, no longer cautious.

The further he went, the more carnage he saw—bodies from both sides littering the ground. The Crimsonspine-Frostback side had taken the heavier losses.

Then, finally, the sounds of combat echoed from deeper within the lava cave.

At the end of the tunnel, Mama Wolf stood her ground against two remaining Ironspine Ravager wolves. Nearby, two more cubs lay dead at her feet.

She was fighting valiantly.

But she was clearly nearing her limit.

Though stronger than either of her foes, the numbers—and the hostile environment—were against her.

A Frostback wolf fighting near lava?

That was practically a death sentence.

Had it been Papa Wolf here instead—a Crimsonspine variant—the outcome might have been different.

"Fireball!"

Alex conjured and loosed a small, controlled burst of flame.

The spell wasn’t powerful—only strong enough to blast the Ravager wolves away, not kill them.

But that was enough.

The eruption knocked the wolves off their feet—and into the lava below.

The molten rock didn’t discriminate.

It did what the spell couldn’t.

Alex rushed to Mama Wolf.

The Frostback growled at first, but quickly relaxed once she recognised the newcomer.

He knelt beside her, channelling Light-element energy through his palms. It wasn’t much—just basic elemental output. No healing spells. No techniques.

Because he never learned any.

’Dammit,’ he cursed himself. ’I’ve had a Light affinity this whole time and never bothered to learn proper healing magic.’

His Light-element worked well enough inside his own body, which was why he had dismissed bothering to learn healing spells as inefficient.

Now, that short-sightedness had come back to bite him.

His mana stabilised Mama Wolf’s injuries, but that was it. It couldn’t heal her.

Sensing this, the wolf nudged his hand away with her paw. With a strained growl, she forced herself to her feet and limped toward a small crevice hidden from the main chamber.

Alex followed.

The moment he stepped inside, he felt a strange clash—heat and cold at once. The warmth came from the lava beyond the walls. But the chill? That came from something deeper within the hollow.

There, resting in a small, hollowed-out rock...

Was a cub.

The last of the five.

The largest.

It lay unconscious beside a radiant orchid blooming atop a dark blue slab of stone.

’A Blazefrost Orchid?’ Alex’s eyes widened.

[Blazefrost Orchid]

[Description: A rare, naturally blooming orchid found only where Fire and Ice mana converge. The orchid contains balanced, interwoven threads of both elements, which paradoxically stabilise one another through internal tension.

[Core Trait: Elemental Duality

[Effect: Grants or enhances attunement to both Fire and Ice elements. Reduces internal mana conflict, allowing mages to wield dual-element magic without backlash.

[Usage: Nectar must be diluted in a mana-rich liquid for consumption.]

Words from the OmniRune Core materialised in his mind.

Mama Wolf watched him closely.

She could tell—this two-legged creature with the aura of a transcendent wolf recognised the flower’s value. And more importantly, its purpose.

She glanced between the orchid and her cub.

Then back at Alex.

The meaning was clear.

She was offering her pack’s treasured orchid in exchange for saving her child.

Alex’s expression softened.

It was obvious how much care the pack had invested in nurturing the plant. A resource this rare and temperamental would’ve been nearly impossible to grow artificially—even human mages struggled with it.

And yet, here it bloomed.

’Smart wolves. Smarter than some humans I know...’

Alex shook his head and raised a hand.

He wasn’t going to accept the orchid as a gift.

Not yet.

Instead, he turned and rushed out of the cave.

He stopped at the nearest Ironspine Ravager wolf corpse, drew his wristblade, and with precise mana control, broke off a flat stone to fashion a crude bowl.

Then he collected blood from the Ravager’s body.

Returning to the cave entrance, he summoned a flicker of flame in his hand to refine and purify the blood.

But then, something stirred.

A familiar hitch in his mana flow.

The Dragon Flame in his Mana Heart awakened.

It surged into his hand, riding the stream of his Fire and Light-element mana. The fire transformed—brighter, hotter, more refined. No longer just fire, but a sacred flame.

The blood sizzled and separated.

Blood cells burned away.

What remained—a pale, golden liquid—was purified plasma infused with elemental mana.

A crude, improvised mana liquid.

Alex exhaled, extinguishing the flame.

Then he returned to the hollow, bowl in hand.

Mama Wolf watched him warily, confused and uncertain.

Alex approached the orchid, plucked it with great care, and squeezed its nectar into the purified liquid.

Then, gently, he brought the bowl to the cub’s mouth.

Mama Wolf growled low, startled, and nearly intervened.

But Alex met her gaze, calm and confident.

"Trust me," he said softly. "I will save your child."

***