At that very moment, Li Kainan's system panel suddenly popped up with a notification.
[Notice: With your mastery of strategies, you adopted the "hero saves the beauty" tactic. At the most appropriate moment, you crushed the werewolf with overwhelming force, greatly increasing your攻略 progress with the important plot character "Little Red Riding Hood" Branny.
Your heroic and invincible image will be deeply engraved in her heart, becoming the hero that astonishes Branny for a lifetime…]
[Notice: Defeated the werewolf. Reward obtained: Trait — Child of the Moon (You have gained the favor of the moon. You can draw upon lunar energy to increase your strength, restore your stamina, and heal your injuries…)]
[Notice: With your mastery of *****, you crushed the werewolf with overwhelming force at ********, greatly increasing the ****** progress.
Your heroic and invincible image *********, becoming **** Branny…]
[Notice: Defeated the werewolf. Reward obtained: Trait — Child of the Moon (You have gained the favor of the moon. You can draw upon lunar energy to increase your strength, restore your stamina, and heal your injuries…)]
Looking at the system prompt, it seemed that Branny's storyline quest had already been completed.
Next, as long as her favorability was high enough, he should be able to recruit her directly under his command!
Very good. At the very least, this run would guarantee him a growth-type NPC companion…
Besides that, he had also obtained a trait reward.
Child of the Moon?
Li Kainan slightly raised his eyes and glanced at the moon above his head.
High in the sky, a full moon hung in place, scattering silvery-white radiance.
As the moonlight shone upon him, Li Kainan could clearly feel threads of energy, strand after strand, flowing continuously into his body.
The stamina he had consumed while rushing back in haste along the way was now being fully restored.
At the same time, his five senses became sharper. The deep forest that had originally been shrouded in darkness now appeared in his eyes almost no different from how it looked during the day!
Good stuff. A night battle buff.
It seemed that in the future, when going to war, he could bring his troops to launch night raids more often!
Although the system had bugs, it had never been stingy when it came to rewards. This made Li Kainan feel quite pleased…
...
At this moment, the smile that appeared on Li Kainan's face because of the decent reward also fell into the eyes of the werewolf, who had been secretly observing him.
For an instant, the werewolf, which had originally been panicked and terrified, suddenly felt a surge of joy in its heart.
Human nobles were like this. As long as one was willing to surrender, they would show mercy, displaying their hypocritical kindness and ridiculous knightly spirit. Truly foolish…
However, the werewolf's secret delight did not last long before Li Kainan looked at it once again.
The smile on Li Kainan's face had already faded, but the icy killing intent in his eyes had not diminished in the slightest.
The cunning one-armed werewolf immediately snapped out of its momentary joy.
Fear surged back like a tide, making its entire body go weak. It hurriedly begged for mercy:
"I am willing to offer everything I have as compensation… Seeing that I haven't harmed anyone yet, brave, noble, and merciful lord, please spare me!"
The mission requirement was only to "defeat" it, and the reward had already been obtained. Li Kainan indeed could choose not to kill it.
But this werewolf was cunning and unpredictable. If he kept it around, he would probably have to sleep with one eye open in the future!
Spare it?
Impossible!
Facing the pleading one-armed werewolf, Li Kainan's expression remained indifferent.
Just because it hadn't harmed anyone, it didn't deserve to die?
Li Kainan swept his gaze around and soon noticed the hunting dog that had just been kicked to death by the werewolf for dutifully performing its task.
His eyes turned cold, and he immediately shouted:
"Dogs are clearly so cute. Why did you kill a dog?"
The werewolf froze for a moment, stunned, before finally reacting. It quickly swore:
"My lord, I didn't do it on purpose. It was just an accident… I am willing to give everything I have to compensate you!"
"Not only that, I am also willing to take its place and become your most loyal dog, master. Please believe me, I will be more useful than an ordinary dog!"
As it spoke, the werewolf stuck out its tongue like a dog, a fawning smile plastered across its face.
Heh. This werewolf, instead of escaping when it still had the strength, had actually chosen to surrender proactively. Now it was even calling him master…
It was definitely planning to pretend weakness first, then wait for his guard to drop before launching a sneak attack and turning the tables.
Such a vicious and calculating mind—this beast must not be spared!
"Dogs are indeed cute, but I don't like keeping dogs!"
Li Kainan was completely unmoved. His body leapt forward as he swung his sword down without expression.
Moonlight poured down, its brilliance rippling across the edge of the ornate knight's sword, spreading into fragments of cold gleam.
In an instant, an overwhelming killing intent descended like a storm, causing the werewolf's fur to stand on end as it truly felt the approach of death!
The fear of death and the desperate desire to live drove the werewolf to instinctively retreat, raising its only remaining right arm to block the incoming cold sword light.
The blade tore through flesh, severing bone with a sticky grinding sound that made one's scalp tingle.
A miserable howl erupted from the werewolf as its last remaining arm was cleanly cut off.
With the enhancement of the moon's power, the werewolf's overall attributes had indeed been greatly increased.
Even now, after losing both arms and suffering severe injuries, under the threat of death it still managed to scramble to its feet and flee, rolling and crawling away!
Seeing this, Li Kainan let out another cold snort.
At a time like this, instead of surrendering, it actually wanted to escape…
It must be planning to return, recover from its injuries, hide, and wait for a chance to take revenge.
Such a vicious and calculating mind—this beast must not be spared!
Activating the newly obtained trait, "Child of the Moon," the surrounding lunar energy began to surge wildly into Li Kainan's body.
The cold, clear lunar energy flowed throughout his body, not only restoring the stamina he had consumed, but also granting a comprehensive boost to his already formidable strength and agility!
In the next moment, his entire body exploded into motion. Empowered by the lunar energy, the terrifying strength he unleashed was far beyond what any ordinary being could possess.
Fierce, overbearing, and unstoppable—his momentum carried a monstrous killing intent that caused the surrounding air to freeze completely.
At that moment, the werewolf suddenly felt its body grow lighter, and even its speed of escape seemed to increase. A flicker of hope rose in its heart.
Perhaps… I can survive…
No, I can survive.
I will definitely survive!
In the next instant, only a dull "thud" of something hitting the ground was heard.
The werewolf's lower body collapsed to the ground.
As for its upper body, after flying forward a short distance due to inertia, it too slammed heavily onto the ground, filthy, foul-smelling blood and organs spilling everywhere.
Even though the werewolf possessed strong vitality and could draw power from the moon to recover its injuries—
Li Kainan had already cut its body in half with a single strike. As long as it was still flesh and blood, there was no possibility of survival!
The werewolf lying on the ground could only struggle and twitch a few more times at most.
Barely managing to turn its head, it glanced at its lower half that had been left behind. Despair filled its eyes as its head drooped, and it finally lost all signs of life…
...