1000x Random Returns: Investing in My Crippled Demon Wives!

Chapter 31: Chapter 31: Our First Battle as a Family!

The barrier hummed steadily, five wolves circling just beyond it.

Lucien activated Blood Pulse Sense along with his perception ability, and five heartbeats bloomed into his awareness, all beating steadily and strong but not overwhelming.

He frowned. ”They’re weaker than I expected.”

Aurelia glanced at him. ”What?”

”It seems they are Peak C-Rank atmost,” Lucien said, studying the pulses more carefully. ”Not B Rank like I expected them to be.”

Everyone paused.

”The stronger ones must have been intercepted near the dungeon,” Aurelia said slowly, working through it. ”These probably slipped past while the guild adventurers were busy with the bigger threats.”

Relief rippled through the room as Evelisse heaved a sigh and Serephina calming down a little.

Not because C-Rank is easy, Lucien thought. Because fighting actual B-Rank monsters as a D-Rank party would’ve been a very short and very bad night.

───

He studied the barrier a moment longer, then smiled as idea came to him.

”Why should you guys leave the barrier? When you can just attack them from inside it.”

The girls blinked at him.

He pointed and tapped at the shimmering dome. ”They can’t get through this, so let’s make them come to us and attack them from inside since attacks can go through from inside, quite a nice barrier.”

Aurelia’s mouth curved, slow and approving. ”I like that, but what about you?”

”Don’t worry about me, I am plenty strong myself and if it gets too much I can just run inside the barrier.” Lucien said.

”Yeah and it keeps everyone safer, but make sure to be careful. ” Seraphina agreed.

Evelisse grinned. ”So basically, we’re cheating, I like it”

”No, we are not cheating, it’s called using our brains. ” Lucien said.

───

He opened a narrow gap in the barrier just wide enough for him to step through, sealing it behind him.

The Alpha noticed immediately, head snapping toward him, lips curling back and its muscles tightening as it prepared to launch itself towards him.

The other four stayed near the barrier, testing it, while the Alpha broke into a full charge.

’Alright, let’s see what a week of sword comprehension actually bought me.’ He thought getting ready to rumble.

Sanguine Perception lit up the wolf’s body in his mind it’s blood flow, muscle tension coiling before each stride, the telltale surge of power gathering in its hindquarters before it leapt.

He didn’t panic and just watched.

The wolf lunged, jaws wide.

Lucien sidestepped, blade angled to catch a glancing slash along its shoulder rather than trying to block outright and let its claws catch his forearm in return leaving a shallow but deliberate wound.

’Perfect.’ He thought.

Blood spilled from his own wound, mixed faintly with the wolf’s from their contact as he seized control of it instantly, weaving crimson threads too fine to see, looping them around the wolf’s foreleg mid-recovery.

It stumbled, thrown off balance for half a second.

Half a second was exactly enough.

Lucien closed the distance and drove his blade deep into its shoulder with precision, not a killing blow, but close enough to make the wolf howl and stagger back, favoring the injured leg.

’Better but not perfect, still it’s better than before.’ He thought comparing his sword moves from before to his sword moves now after using the comprehension.

The Alpha skidded across the grass, claws digging deep furrows into the earth as it caught itself before crashing into the garden wall.

Its crimson eyes never left Lucien as blood dripped steadily from the deep wound in its shoulder, but instead of retreating, the wolf lowered its body even further.

Its muscles tightened as mana gathered at its legs.

Lucien instinctively shifted his stance.

”Come on beast, let’s dance.”

The Alpha vanished in one heartbeat and it suddenly appeared in front of him.

”Damn, it’s fast!”

Scarlet Perception screamed before his eyes could react, every muscle in the beast’s body lighting up a fraction of a second before it moved.

Lucien twisted.

The wolf’s claws still caught his shoulder, shredding cloth and drawing another line of blood before he managed to slip past.

He retaliated instantly, his sword carved across the beast’s ribs.The strike landed but it was nowhere near deep enough.

The Alpha barely flinched.

’Right, C-Rank monsters aren’t Goblins.’ He thought recalling how he decimated the goblins before and even then he got hit a few times.

The wolf spun with surprising agility, its tail whipping toward his legs. Lucien jumped back just in time, the heavy tail smashing into the garden path hard enough to crack the newly laid stone.

”Ouch, that would’ve hurt.”

The Alpha growled low in its throat. Then circled, so did Lucien with beither one rushing.

For several long seconds they simply watched each other, predator facing predator.

’It’s learning, no, more like it’s studying me.’Lucien smiled despite himself.

”Guess we’re both doing the same thing.”

───

Behind the barrier, Aurelia watched with folded arms, calling out clipped instructions to the others.

”Left. Dodge. Now.”

Seraphina darted between positions, keeping potions ready, healing a shallow scratch on Evelisse’s arm the moment it appeared, mana restoratives passed hand to hand without anyone needing to ask.

One wolf slammed repeatedly against the barrier near Evelisse’s position, testing the same spot over and over.

Evelisse’s eyes flared faint gold.

Eyes of Judgment.

She studied the wolf for half a second, then activated Heavenly Verdict, marking it and the creature’s movements immediately slowed to a sluggish pace, weighed down by something it couldn’t see.

Chains of Judgment.

Golden-black chains burst up from the ground beneath the barrier’s edge, wrapping tight around the wolf’s legs, binding it in place mid-lunge as Aurelia stepped towards it, sword in hand.

Lucien, mid-fight, still managed to whistle. ”That’s terrifying.”

”I know,” Evelisse said, delighted, not even looking away from her target.

───

Lucien turned back to the Alpha, who’d recovered its footing, blood streaming from its shoulder, eyes burning with something closer to actual fury than instinct now.

The Alpha’s body suddenly twisted, its injured leg buckled then it launched itself anyway.

’Still fighting?’Lucien barely managed to raise his sword.

CLANG!

The impact drove him backward several meters, his boots carved trenches through the grass.

’Okay, definitely C-Rank strength. Time to test something.’ He thought.

He ignited Crucible Overdrive, just enough to sharpen his reflexes and give him a little boost without draining too much of his blood.

The Alpha lunged again, faster this time and more desperate.

Lucien wasn’t where it expected him to be.

He’d already moved, appearing at its flank in the space of a single breath, blade rising in one smooth, unhurried arc.

The strike landed clean across its throat.

The Alpha collapsed, blood pooling dark against the grass, and went still.

───

The instant it fell, the remaining wolves coordination shattered, no more Alpha to follow, no more pack structure holding them together, just three confused, panicking beasts suddenly aware that they were surrounded.

”They’re panicking,” Aurelia said, already moving.

”Finish them!” Lucien called.

One wolf abandoned caution entirely and lunged toward the barrier, desperate to reach the other wolves, and to it’s regret it never made it.

Aurelia stepped forward once and with no wasted movement, no dramatic shout her sword left its sheath in one impossibly smooth motion.

Silver light flashed.

The wolf landed several meters behind her, still running and still very much alive, well for exactly one second then a perfectly straight crimson line appeared across its neck.

Then the head slid cleanly from its shoulders with the body collapsed a heartbeat later.

Lucien blinked.

’Damn! I didn’t even see the swing.’

Aurelia calmly flicked the blood from her blade before returning it to its guard.

”Don’t admire me,” she said without looking back.

”Keep fighting.”

Lucien immediately snapped back to reality. ’Right, no wonder she became the strongest genius of her generation.’

Everyone converged at once with Aurelia’s blade finding an opening the moment one wolf hesitated near the barrier’s edge.

Lucien cut down the fourth as it tried to flee, and Seraphina, potion still in hand, guided the others through the final moments without a single serious injury among them.

Silence settled over the garden.

Everyone stood there, breathing hard, Lucien soaked in blood that was mostly not his own.

As the barrier slowly faded from view as no one was striking it.

Clapping suddenly sounded from behind them, catching all of them by surprise.

They all turned around towards the clapping, with guards up as they raised their weapons.

As they prepared to face what was coming, a few figures appeared from the bushes behind the treeline with one of them clapping their hands and the others following behind them.

***************

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