Hellhounds – The Rise of a New Elixir

A Perilous Battle: Void-Cleaving Blade and Lunar Shadow MagicThe Clash Begins

Having trekked deep into the mountainous lair of the hellhound pack, Li Ran and the Darkmoon Dragon Princess found themselves in a fight unlike any they had faced before. Drawing on her fusion of shadow and lunar magic, the Dragon Princess cast a "Moonshadow Barrier" around their position. This dark-and-silver haze dulled the hellhounds' senses, giving Li Ran the element of surprise. At the same time, she launched "Shadow Claws" to disrupt the frontmost hellhounds, preventing them from retaliating too quickly.

Li Ran then unleashed his ultimate skill: the Void-Cleaving Blade. In a single devastating swing, it seemed to rend the very fabric of space, carrying with it a surge of destructive force. Though the hellhounds each possessed different elemental defenses—fire, toxic mist, and frost—the slicing shockwave tore through their front lines, forcing them to scatter.

Yet these beasts were no mere fodder. Each hellhound coordinated seamlessly with its packmates, sometimes launching a concentrated assault to corner Li Ran or the Dragon Princess. One beast spewed poison gas from behind, another tried to freeze Li Ran's legs with frost breath, and a third blasted columns of flame from the front in a well-orchestrated, triple-element assault.

Coordinated Chaos

In that dire moment, the Darkmoon Dragon Princess conjured a shadowy shield to block the poison and fire, while Li Ran rolled aside, narrowly dodging the freezing attack. Regaining his footing, he swung the Void-Cleaving Blade once more, invoking a special "Spatial Slash" that cleaved straight through one of the raging hellhounds.

Slaying their first target should have granted some breathing room—but the remaining pack members flew into a frenzy, tightening their encirclement in rage over their fallen comrade. One after another, they lunged at Li Ran. Only his swift reflexes—and the Princess's protective dragon scales—kept him from being overwhelmed by bursts of flame and poison. Taking advantage of an opening, he unleashed more spatial-based slashes, each strike rending the air itself and felling multiple foes in the blink of an eye.

Still, the pack fought back with unnerving discipline. Some emitted poisonous clouds from the rear; others flanked from the sides with icy blasts designed to pin Li Ran in place. Hellhounds from the front spit waves of fire to ensure Li Ran and the Dragon Princess remained trapped in a pincer attack.

Throughout the chaos, the Darkmoon Dragon Princess continued to assail the front line with Shadow Claws, each swipe forming jagged black talons that tore into the beasts or forced them to retreat in pain. Li Ran's incredible spatial swordsmanship brought down many foes, but the older, fully matured hellhounds—the deadliest of the bunch—still proved difficult to handle. Their steel-like hides shrugged off many attacks, and their ever-shifting elemental tactics pressed the pair to their limits.

Even so, teamwork prevailed. Whenever the beasts unleashed a two-pronged assault of fire and poison, the Princess erected her dark lunar shield. Whenever the hellhounds tried to freeze them in place, Li Ran's lightning-quick footwork and Void-Cleaving Blade carved a path through. Slowly but surely, their combined efforts whittled down the pack's core defenders.

In the end, after a brutal and bloody engagement, the hellhounds' main fighting force lay in ruin. Li Ran hesitated when he found a handful of young pups cowering nearby; they were not yet a threat, but left to grow, they could endanger countless lives. With a heavy heart, Li Ran steeled himself and dispatched the remaining pack. While a few pups scattered into the wilderness, the threat of the organized hellhound pack was neutralized—for now.

Shocking the Guild: A Breakthrough Healing Potion

Victorious yet exhausted, Li Ran and the Darkmoon Dragon Princess returned to the Adventurers' Guild. Their success in handling an S-rank quest—and surviving—stunned the entire establishment. In recognition of their prowess, the guild's upper ranks immediately elevated Li Ran's adventurer rating to S-class and presented him with a lavish reward.

But the surprises weren't over. Along with slaying the hellhounds, Li Ran had quietly tested an advanced healing potion he'd concocted using his "life skills." Capable of rapidly closing wounds and restoring stamina—while also granting some resistance to poisons and curses—the potion's performance dazzled the guild's team of professional healers. Everyone clamored for details on its creation.

Li Ran answered only with a faint smile, claiming it was derived from a "family recipe" and special materials. He had no intention of fully disclosing the formula just yet. Instead, he planned to release it sparingly to build up his finances and forge key connections.

This development sparked intense interest among the guild's ranks and local merchants, skyrocketing Li Ran's reputation overnight. Even though the hellhound menace had been quelled, a deeper, more insidious shadow was brewing in the background—one that promised fresh challenges and peril just over the horizon.

"That was only the beginning," Li Ran murmured, feeling the weight of new responsibilities. "The real battle has just begun."