The moment Shi Feng took a single step forward, the five Phantom Flame Twin-Headed Wolves did something that even caught him off guard.
All five wolves seemed to have reached an unspoken agreement. Without so much as a word, they scattered and fled in every direction, showing absolutely none of the self-awareness one would expect from a monster.
"Is their intelligence really this high?" Shi Feng frowned slightly as he watched the wolves' movements.
He had encountered monsters that fled before, but one that would bolt the moment it took serious damage was extremely rare.
If this were normal monster hunting in the wild, it wouldn't matter much. But with a time limit in place, the difficulty increased considerably. These Phantom Flame Twin-Headed Wolves weren't slow, and if they scattered and slipped into other wolf packs, the time and effort required to kill even a single one would skyrocket. He seriously doubted whether even half-step Perfection Realm experts could pass this trial.
But the wolves had barely taken a few steps when Shi Feng activated Void Step, appearing right beside one of them without the faintest awareness on its part.
"Is the boost from using a combat skill really this dramatic?" Shi Feng marveled inwardly as he watched the wolf — completely oblivious to his presence — while another head turned back and looked straight at him, seeing nothing.
Players weren't like the monsters in the Divine Realm. Players relied on their eyes to judge targets, whereas monsters primarily relied on perception. That was why it was so difficult to approach monsters using Void Step alone — it was like trying to get close to a Vacuum Realm expert. Such experts no longer perceived the world through their eyes alone.
Void Step, which worked by tricking the visual nerves, would be completely ineffective against them and might even backfire, giving the enemy an opening.
But now, with Void Step enhanced by Eternal Qi, he wasn't merely making his visual signature disappear. Enveloped in Eternal Qi, he seemed to merge with the environment itself, making him undetectable even to wild instinct for the time being.
Before the Phantom Flame Twin-Headed Wolf could react, Shi Feng's Holy Sword Thunder Slayer came crashing down once more.
In that instant, the Holy Sword in his hand seemed to vanish entirely. The next moment, streaks of bloody light erupted from the wolf's body as a web of sword scars appeared across its hide. Damage figures of over a hundred thousand points popped up in rapid succession — all of it happening in the span of a single heartbeat.
Secret Skill — Thunderflash!
Thunderflash was a Bronze Rank offensive combat skill that Shi Feng had worked painstakingly to obtain. But compared to ordinary Bronze Rank skills — or even his self-created Sword Wheel Reincarnation — it was far more demanding and complex to use. Even though Shi Feng had already reached the entry level of the Realm of Truth, wielding it was still incredibly difficult.
In his estimation, he would need to reach at least Third Class before he could properly use Thunderflash.
Yet with the aid of Eternal Qi, he had managed to squeeze out a bare minimum version of it.
A single strike, and the Phantom Flame Twin-Headed Wolf's health dropped by a massive chunk — nearly one-twelfth of its total. However, after executing Thunderflash, Shi Feng felt most of his vitality, energy, and spirit drain away in an instant, his condition plummeting.
"Still not quite enough, but using it at Second Class isn't impossible," he thought, sensing his mental state. His heart surged with excitement.
Thunderflash was nothing like a Bronze Rank skill such as Sword Wheel Reincarnation. Thunderflash was a purely offensive combat skill, whereas Sword Wheel Reincarnation, despite its powerful attack component, also incorporated defensive properties — it was an all-around Bronze Rank skill.
A purely offensive Bronze Rank combat skill was something that could allow a Vacuum Realm expert to completely dominate even a Domain Realm expert.
That said, the version of Thunderflash Shi Feng had just unleashed was far from its complete form. He had only barely managed to bring out a fraction of its true potential.
A perfect Thunderflash involved seventeen consecutive sword strikes, woven together in flawless coordination, granting the user the capital to fight an entire tier above their level in a single burst. That was precisely why Vacuum Realm experts could completely suppress Domain Realm experts.
What Shi Feng had achieved just now was thirteen strikes in a single instant — the absolute minimum threshold for Thunderflash to function at all. To be blunt, its current output was merely on par with a high-tier combat skill, not even reaching the level of a true Bronze Rank technique.