noveltune Chapter 13: Bloodbath Against the Wolf Pack
Chapter 13: Bloodbath Against the Wolf Pack
"Awooo—!!"
The mournful, drawn-out howls of wolves, filled with naked greed and savagery, tore through the oppressive air after dawn, like a death knell, instantly igniting the silence of the wasteland!
Then came the second sound, the third sound...
Dozens, even hundreds, of wolf howls erupted one after another from the rocky high ground behind them, from the shadows of the withered bushes, merging into a terrifying sound wave that made one's scalp tingle and heart tremble!
Amidst the howls, massive, gray-black figures surged forth like a tide emerging from a rift in hell!
They were a group of monsters, as big and strong as calves!
Their fur was dirty and mottled, falling off in large patches to reveal the rotting, pus-filled, and foul-smelling dark red flesh underneath, and in some places even the stark white bones could be seen!
Crimson, utterly irrational, brutal eyes gleamed with pure hunger and a destructive desire in the dim light, fixed intently on the chaotic crowd.
Within its gaping maw, ghastly white fangs, like daggers, clashed together, and thick, foul-smelling saliva dripped like spider silk onto the dry earth, making a soft, sizzling sound as it corroded.
Rotten wolf!
Notorious scavengers and predators in the wilderness!
They feed on carrion, but have absolutely no resistance to fresh, warm, and terrifying flesh and blood!
They are especially skilled at hunting in groups, and are cunning, cruel, and incredibly patient!
Clearly, these beasts had been lurking nearby, like the most patient venomous snakes, waiting for this large, chaotic, and poorly defended refugee group to pass through this open area, the perfect place for them to launch a deadly attack!
"A wolf! A rotten wolf!!"
"My God! There are so many! They're everywhere!"
"Run! Don't block the way!"
Panic, like a powder keg that had been lit, exploded in the crowd!
Desperate cries, hysterical screams, dying curses... all the sounds mingled and intertwined, instantly drowning out the shouts of the patrol soldiers trying to maintain order.
The crowd completely lost their minds, like an ant colony whose nest has been destroyed, or like a frog that has fallen into boiling water, pushing, running, and trampling wildly and aimlessly!
The fragile formation crumbled in an instant, with people squeezing and colliding with each other. The elderly and children were easily knocked down and submerged, and screams and muffled thuds of breaking bones filled the air.
At that moment, the gray tide of death crashed fiercely down!
"Enemy attack! Pack of rotting wolves! All hands on alert! Form ranks! Stop them!"
A patrol squad leader in charge of the rearguard, his eyes bloodshot, roared hoarsely as he tried to organize the dozens of soldiers around him who were also being swept away by the chaotic crowd.
But faced with the surging pack of wolves and the completely out-of-control crowd, this effort seemed so pale and powerless.
"Sizzle!"
"Snap!"
"ah--!"
A rotten wolf pounces on a crowd, just as a tiger enters a flock of sheep!
Sharp claws easily tore through thin clothing and flesh, bringing up sprays of warm blood; when the fangs bit down hard, tendons and bones were broken, and internal organs were exposed!
The scene instantly transformed into a bloody slaughterhouse!
Women and children who couldn't dodge in time were tackled and disemboweled amidst a short, piercing scream; young men who tried to resist were surrounded by several rotting wolves and torn to pieces in an instant!
The pungent smell of blood filled the air, further fueling the ferocity of the rotting wolves and completely crushing the refugees' last shred of courage to resist.
The moment the wolf howled, Xuan Tianyi's heart felt as if it had been gripped tightly by an invisible hand, and it stopped beating for a moment.
But unexpectedly, the overwhelming fear that was expected did not materialize.
Yesterday's life-or-death struggle with the corpse hound, the nighttime harassment by the shadow cat, and the "Eight Scenes Mystic Fate Lamp" that quietly floated in his sea of consciousness, scattering warm and clear light, seemed to have tempered his nerves into something cold and resilient.
A strange, complex feeling, a mixture of extreme danger warning and eerie calm, dominated his mind and body.
"We can't afford to panic! Panic means death!"
He inhaled sharply, the icy air mixed with the pungent smell of blood filling his lungs, bringing a stinging pain, but also a real, tangible feeling of being alive.
His right hand tightened instantly, gripping the shaft of the black armor-piercing spear given to him by Liu Ruyan on his back.
The rough and cool touch of the wood acted like a stabilizing force, instantly calming his turbulent mind.
His gaze was like lightning, sharply sweeping across the chaotic battlefield.
The attack didn't just come from the rear!
In the middle and front sections, varying numbers of gray shadows emerged from behind the rocks and dead trees, rushing towards the crowd!
Those beasts have cleverly split up their forces!
Their goal is clear—to create maximum chaos and damage, and to tie down the entire force!
Looking into the distance, at the very front of the group, where Captain Yan, Liu Ruyan, and other powerful figures were located, they were being held back by several exceptionally burly and ferocious rotting wolf leaders, who led more than thirty elite rotting wolves!
The swords flashed, blood surged, and roars and howls of wolves mingled, clearly indicating that they were engaged in a fierce battle and were unable to return to the middle and rear to provide support!
"We have to do something! We can't just sit here and wait to die!"
A fierce glint flashed in Xuan Tianyi's eyes, and he no longer hesitated.
He forcefully suppressed his slightly disordered aura caused by tension and the faint thunderous power continuously circulating within his body, and pushed the "Eight Scenes Mystic Life Lamp Visualization Method" to its limit!
In the sea of consciousness, the illusory octagonal palace lantern shone brightly, its clear, glassy light spilling like mercury onto the ground, illuminating every corner of consciousness, dispelling all fear and distracting thoughts, leaving only the purest fighting instincts and calm calculations.
At the same time, his mental power spread out with unprecedented intensity, like an invisible radar wave, instantly covering an area of dozens of steps around him!
His dynamic vision was enhanced to its limit! The pounce trajectories of those rotting wolves, which were as fast as ghosts, seemed to be slowed down in his eyes. The exertion of muscles, the angle of the claws, the prelude to the fangs biting down... all the details became clearer than ever before!
"Damn it! Let's fight these beasts! Anyone with cultivation or a manhood, follow me! Stop them! Otherwise, we'll all die!"
In the chaos, a few strong young men with some basic physical training were driven to ferocity by the bloodshed and desperate situation. With bloodshot eyes, they brandished crude sticks, machetes, and even stones they had picked up, roaring like wild beasts as they tried to organize a sporadic resistance.
Uncle Lin and Ali were among them.
The two men leaned against a section of collapsed stone wall. Uncle Lin held a nicked machete, while Ali gripped a thick wooden stick with a sharpened tip. Their eyes were fierce as they fiercely protected the elderly, women, and children who were paralyzed with fear behind them.
"Old Lin, watch out on your left!"
Ali caught a glimpse of a gray figure out of the corner of his eye and shouted urgently.
Just then, a large and exceptionally fierce rotting wolf, seemingly convinced that Uncle Lin was the breakthrough point, leaped into the air, bringing with it a nauseating stench, and pounced straight at Uncle Lin, who was blocking the way!
The gaping maw was aimed directly at Uncle Lin's throat!
Uncle Lin's eyes narrowed suddenly, a resolute intent to die flashing across them.
He knew his old injury hadn't healed, and he might not be able to completely avoid it with this lunge, but there were people behind him who needed protection!
He let out a low growl, neither dodging nor avoiding, gripping the machete tightly with both hands, and with all his might, slashed fiercely at the wolf's head that was lunging at him!
This is a suicidal fighting style!
"kill--!!!"
A suppressed roar, yet seemingly containing the fury of thunder, exploded nearby like a thunderclap from a clear sky!
It's Xuan Tianyi!
In the split second between the wolf's attack and Uncle Lin's desperate struggle, he moved!
With a sudden stomp of his foot, a faint, almost invisible burst of pale purple electricity erupted the moment the sole of his boot touched the damp ground, producing a soft "crackling" sound!
An explosive force rose from the soles of the feet, passed through the slightly trembling leg bones and waist and hips, and finally exploded in the shoulders and arms!
The high concentration of mental energy brought about by the "Eight Views Mysterious Life Lamp Visualization Method" allowed him to achieve a level of subtle control over every muscle in his body!
The "Zhen Gua Jade Token" contains the meaning of thunder and lightning, which not only brings power, but also an extraordinary speed and explosiveness!
He was like a powerful arrow shot from a crossbow, or a puppet with springs installed, suddenly and bizarrely launched at a speed and angle far exceeding his usual speed!
The target was the side of the rotting wolf that pounced from mid-air!
At the same time, the flame of the "Eight Scenery Mystic Fate Lamp" in his sea of consciousness suddenly leaped!
An invisible and intangible yet condensed and pure spiritual power, like ripples stirred up by a stone thrown into a calm lake, or like cold moonlight piercing through the mist, suddenly spread out from Xuan Tianyi as the center, and crashed into the depths of the rotten wolf's scarlet and brutal beast eyes!
The wolf's lunging motion froze for an extremely brief but potentially fatal moment!
Those ferocious green eyes reflected not only the fearful face of the prey, but also a pair of cold, calm, and strange eyes that seemed to reflect thunder and light!
A subtle suppression and interference originating from the level of life and the essence of the soul caused a momentary blank and confusion in its killing instinct.
In that very instant!
Xuan Tianyi had already arrived!
Step forward, twist your waist, lower your shoulders, and swing your arms!
All the movements were so fluid, as if they had been practiced a thousand times. He poured all the remaining strength in his body, the explosive power brought by the thunderous shock, and his indomitable will to die into the tip of the straight black iron spear in his hand!
"Crackling sound—!!"
A clear, audible, soft crackling sound, like static electricity exploding!
A wisp of purple electricity, as thin as a hair yet dazzlingly concentrated, shot out from between Xuan Tianyi's fingers as he gripped the gun, like a living serpent, instantly coiling around the cold, dark tip of the armor-piercing spear!
The entire spear seemed to be instantly infused with a violent soul, and the spear body emitted a barely audible yet bone-chilling hum!
The air at the tip of the spear twisted and scorched slightly, emanating a chilling aura of destruction and divine might that made even the nearby rotten wolves instinctively uneasy!
"Pfft—!!!"
The narrow spearhead, wrapped in a fine yet deadly arc of electricity, pierced the relatively soft side of the wolf's throat, exposed by its pounce, with unparalleled precision, like a hot knife cutting into solidified butter!
The scorching power of lightning surged wildly into the tip of the spear and exploded within his body!
You can even faintly hear the slight hissing sound of flesh being instantly carbonized and tendons being burned off, and a pungent, burnt stench suddenly wafts out!
"Ouch—!!"
The rotten wolf only had time to let out a short, agonizing howl, a mixture of excruciating pain, horror, and disbelief, before its massive body, like a tattered sack stripped of all its bones, froze in mid-air for a moment before crashing heavily to the ground with tremendous momentum, kicking up a cloud of dust.
His limbs twitched twice, then he fell completely silent. Only the charred hole in his throat continued to gush black blood mixed with the smell of burning flesh.
[Slayed a Tier 1 Rotting Wolf, gaining 58 Life Points]
A cold system notification sounded in my mind, with a rhythm that was either reassuring or stimulating.
Xuan Tianyi didn't even have time to savor the thrill of the kill or check his points.
The moment the resistance from the gun tip disappeared, he twisted his wrist sharply and pulled the gun away, bringing out a trail of dirty blood and charred tissue fragments.
Without pausing, he used the momentum of drawing his spear to twist his waist, and the spear transformed into a heavy black shadow, like a steel whip, whistling with a dull gust of wind and thunder, and swung fiercely from bottom to top, striking the most vulnerable part of the back of another rotten wolf that was trying to pounce on Ali's lower back from the side blind spot!
"Snap—!!"
The teeth-grinding, clear sound of bones cracking was still jarring even amidst the chaos of the battlefield!
A head of bronze, bones of iron, and a waist as soft as tofu!
The lumbar region is always the absolute weak point in the defense of wolves!
This powerful blow, infused with all its strength and rotational momentum, struck its lumbar region squarely, instantly destroying its spinal core!
"Whoa—!!"
The rotting wolf let out a shrill, distorted howl, its hindquarters slumped down like mud, and it was sent flying several meters away. It lay sprawled on the ground, its forelimbs still futilely pawing at the ground. But several refugees nearby, their courage roused and their eyes bloodshot, rushed up and beat and stabbed it to death with stones, sticks, and even their teeth!
Although these rotten wolves are ferocious, most of them are only first-tier low-level alien beasts. Their individual strength is roughly equivalent to the fourth or fifth level of the Body Tempering Realm in humans. They rely mainly on their group size, their ferocious nature, and their cunning teamwork in battle.
If we remove the fear of their beastly aura, ordinary people, mustering their courage, could swarm them and, at some cost, might be able to kill them with a flurry of punches.
But this kind of courage is often the most luxurious thing when facing life and death.
Xuan Tianyi's two attacks, executed in the blink of an eye, were clean, efficient, and ruthless to the extreme. In particular, the eerie electric light at the tip of the spear and the strange effect of mental interference instantly intimidated several restless wolves nearby.
It was like a shot in the arm, injecting a powerful dose of energy into the hearts of Uncle Lin, Ali, and the surrounding refugees who were on the verge of collapse!
Uncle Lin and Ali, having survived the ordeal, breathed a sigh of relief. When they looked at the thin boy who had been on the verge of death and needed their protection not long ago, their eyes were filled with indescribable shock, gratitude, and a trace of... inexplicable awe.
Who exactly is this young man?!
Xuan Tianyi seemed oblivious to the gaze directed at him.
At this moment, he was completely immersed in this strange "battle state".
The ultimate calmness and insight brought by the "Eight Views Mysterious Destiny Lamp Visualization Method" is like a bright mirror hanging high, reflecting every subtle change on the battlefield.
The faint thunderous stimulation continuously provided by the "Zhen Gua Jade Token" not only gave his attacks extra paralysis and destructive power, but also kept his muscles in a high-frequency, explosive tremor. The original sluggishness in the flow of power quickly melted away in the life-or-death battle, becoming smooth and seamless.
Each successful kill, accompanied by the system notification of "Life Points +XX", was like the sweetest poison, stimulating his nerves.
In the depths of that cold consciousness illuminated by the "lamp of the heart," a burning desire for plunder and to become stronger was born.
Two diametrically opposed qualities—extreme combat composure and a boiling desire for plunder—are paradoxically and harmoniously unified in him.
This makes his fighting style seem extremely bizarre to outsiders!
His movements were sometimes swift and explosive, like a cheetah pouncing on its prey, his gun flashing like a dragon, with an indomitable determination; at other times they were twisted and sluggish, like a puppet on a string, with bizarre postures, as if he would fall down on his own at any moment.
His eyes remained indifferent and cold, like ancient, unyielding ice, reflecting blood, death, and... leaping arcs of electricity.
His marksmanship is completely unorthodox, based entirely on the most direct and effective killing techniques derived from the "Heart Lamp"—throat stabs, eye gouges, joint sweeps, and waist strikes!
Wherever there is danger, wherever there is vulnerability, that's where the gun will be!
Never expend a single extra ounce of effort, and never give your opponent any unnecessary opportunities.
The fine purple lightning swirling around the spear tip was like a persistent affliction, not only increasing its penetrating power but also having a strong paralyzing and disruptive effect, causing the hit rotten wolf to instantly become deformed and slowed down.
What terrifies the Rot Wolf even more is that invisible mental interference!
Whenever they seize an opening to pounce, my consciousness inexplicably experiences a moment of disorientation and confusion, as if I am being dragged into a cold darkness. When I come to my senses, the cold spear tip or heavy gun barrel is already upon me!
[Life Points +56]
[Life Points +63]
[Life Points +49]
The system's notification sounds, like a rousing war drum, accompanied the dying howls of the decaying wolves, playing incessantly. Xuan Tianyi's figure moved and darted between the wolf pack and the chaotic crowd, like a ghost carrying the lightning of death.
Wherever it goes, a rotting wolf will be either dead or maimed!
"Good job, lad!"
"Hey bro, over here! Give me a hand!"
"Cooperate with him! Hold this breach! Gather everyone together!"
Several patrol soldiers who had been struggling and were covered in wounds quickly noticed the boy with his amazing performance and strange fighting style, and their eyes lit up with surprise.
They quickly adjusted their positions, intentionally or unintentionally moving closer to Xuan Tianyi, supporting each other. With their spears and shields complementing Xuan Tianyi's cunning and ruthless spear techniques, they managed to stabilize a small area of territory amidst the chaotic tide, protecting dozens of terrified elderly, women, and children in the middle.
"That kid... his gun really has electricity!"
"He looks weird, but he's fucking ruthless when it comes to killing wolves!"
"They must be an awakened-type martial artist! A lightning-type one! We're saved!"
Hope, like a torch lit in the darkness, began to burn faintly in this small area.
People looked at the blood-soaked, strangely moving yet incredibly determined young man, and the flame of survival was rekindled in their eyes.
The battle raged on, the air thick with the stench of blood.
The ferocity of the rotten wolves was fully unleashed, but casualties and fear also began to appear.
With the combined efforts of the soldiers and the courageous young men, the small defensive circle with Xuan Tianyi as its spearhead stood firm like a reef, unmoved by the wolf pack's onslaught.
That black iron spear, crackling with ominous purple lightning, seemed to be an invitation from the Grim Reaper; with each flash, it precisely took the life of a rotting wolf.
Only when the last rotting wolf in front of him was shot through the eye socket and collapsed convulsing, and the surrounding air was no longer filled with the stench of blood, did Xuan Tianyi suddenly stop. He leaned on his gun, his chest heaving violently like a broken bellows, gasping for breath. Each breath was filled with burning pain and a strong smell of blood.
Sweat, blood, and dust mingled together, turning his entire body a dark red.
He felt a wave of weakness, as if his body had been hollowed out, and a sharp, needle-like pain from overstimulating his lightning power. His mind was also exhausted from the high-frequency use of visualization techniques, and his temples throbbed.
His face was as pale as paper, yet it was flushed with an abnormal redness due to the intense surging of his blood and the excitement of battle.
But his eyes, piercing through the blood and reflecting the embers of the campfire not far away, shone with an astonishing brightness, like tempered stars, gleaming with a sharpness, weariness, and deep-seated satisfaction that came from having experienced the baptism of blood and fire and having personally taken control of part of his destiny.
The way the refugees and soldiers around him looked at him completely changed.
The initial strangeness, alienation, and pity had long since vanished, replaced by a mixture of heartfelt gratitude, deep awe, and an indescribable dependence.
This "strange person" who used to walk crookedly suddenly unleashed such terrifying power in the face of adversity and became their protector!
And at that very moment—
"Awooo—!!!"
At the very front of the procession came a particularly shrill wolf howl, filled with pain and resentment, which then abruptly stopped!
Immediately afterwards, the intense and chaotic sounds of fighting and howling wolves in that area receded rapidly like the tide, becoming sporadic, and finally giving way to a silence tinged with the lingering stench of bloodshed.
The pack of rotten wolves has retreated.
Clearly, the chaos and fierce resistance in the rear, as well as the death of their leader, made these cunning beasts realize that this bone was harder than they had imagined, and the price to pay was too high.
On the desolate plains, thick with the stench of blood and burnt flesh, the setting sun, like blood, illuminated the wolf carcasses and human remains scattered everywhere, and also the figure of a boy who stood upright like a javelin, leaning on his gun, breathing slightly.