Chapter 50: Steelback Blue Wolf

It was universally known that “fear” worked differently on different people. Sometimes, it rendered the afflicted senseless and wet in their own urine, or it could help somebody stay overly focused despite the situation they were in.

Fortunately, Su Nongying was clearly the latter.

But as soon as she finished off the wolf in front of her, another one appeared in the air and pounced right at her with teeth bared while ignoring everyone else, probably because the one Su Nongying had killed was its mate or child.

Su Nongying screamed and stumbled away. Her previous action was a brief result of her sudden surge of courage. The reckless move had drained her stamina so she no longer had what it took to raise her blade again.

She felt her brain going blank when the wolf’s bloody teeth were almost upon her.

An arrow hit the wolf in the neck. But this didn’t prevent the creature from going for Su Nongying.

A heavy bronze bolt arrived in time and was lodged inside the wolf’s head this time. The deadly force knocked its charging body away.

[Killed Blue Wolf (Ordinary Rank-5). EXP gained: 15.]

“As expected, what the scout said wasn’t accurate,” Ji Ye muttered. “Their bigger male members are one rank higher than we had expected.”

Still, this didn’t help the wolves surpass their human attackers who could use weapons and tools.

After saving Su Nongying, Ji Ye quickly took aim at another wolf which was going to kill an incapacitated settler. When fighting at a short distance, his bolts worked wonders, surpassing large-caliber bullets. Each hit would both kill a wolf and send it away.

He did plan to train their new soldiers in a harsh way, but this didn’t mean he’d send them to their deaths. By watching from nearby, he meant to leave the fighting to them while preventing bitter results from a distance. Apart from occasionally dealing with targets that went too far, neither he nor Lu Zhishen provided help.

Furthermore, they had to keep an eye out for more danger because the wolf pack clearly had more tricks up their furs.

As soon as the fight began, Ji Ye noticed several even bigger shadows lurking on a high platform nearby; they almost looked like small bulls.

Following their leader’s command, four larger wolves with deep blue fur emerged from the woods and charged at the place where Ji Ye and Lu Zhishen were hiding.

Ji Ye kept his attention on the main battlefield and killed another small wolf that had almost clamped Li Qing’s neck. It was Lu Zhishen who retaliated against one of the ambushing wolves that tried to attack Ji Ye from behind. Using a glowing fist, he punched a wolf in its back and sent it flying, smashing against a tree a few meters away.

Unfortunately, it seemed the wolf’s thick fur had dampened the force of the fist. The injured wolf soon recovered from the shock and began moving together with its brothers again.

Since his fists didn’t work so well against those creatures, Lu Zhishen soon found himself struggling.

While Lu Zhishen was kept busy, another wolf slowly walked onto the high platform and quietly observed the field like a general. This one had black fur on its back, seemingly the biggest wolf that had shown up that day. As soon as it appeared, all the other wolves began to move faster and more recklessly, as if they had been encouraged, exerting more pressure on the settlers and the new players.

“Finally.”

Both Ji Ye and Lu Zhishen looked glad rather than surprised.

That big one was the “suspected Extraordinary target” they were planning to kill. In order to lure it out into the open, both Ji Ye and Lu Zhishen had intentionally put up an act, as if they had been pinned down by the lesser wolves; that way the “alpha wolf” would lower its guard and stop hiding behind its kin.

Even if they wiped out the wolf pack, letting their leader escape meant keeping a loose end that would pose a threat to the settlers. It would be problematic if such a smart creature chose to play stealth and gank random settlers who were out to work while avoiding capable hunters.

But, since it had chosen to show itself…

Ji Ye turned 180 degrees and unleashed a bolt instantly, knocking an ambushing wolf back to where it had come from.

Lu Zhishen shot a fist into another wolf and snapped its spine in the process. When he no longer needed to act, he could freely use his supernatural force that allowed him to punch through iron. There was no way the bodies of general-rank beasts could survive.

After killing a bigger wolf, Ji Ye just discovered that they were dealing with rank-6 elite monsters. Although such creatures weren’t a threat to him at all.

He had already achieved what he wanted—to draw the alpha wolf out by pretending that he was losing.