"Use spears! Use spears! Get some shields over here!"
Havent drove his sword into a Wind Wolf's neck, successfully rescuing the mercenary clamped in its jaws. The pained Wind Wolf staggered, then turned its ferocious gaze on Havent again.
Grabbing the badly injured mercenary by the shoulder, he flung him behind himself and faced the Wind Wolf with his sword held in both hands. In the end, the Wind Wolf lost patience first, raising its head as a mass of green energy rapidly gathered in its jaws.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Three wind blades shot toward Havent. Already prepared, Havent rolled with the attack to evade the blades, then quickly scrambled back to his feet.
After firing three consecutive wind blades, the Wind Wolf was visibly listless. Seeing this, Havent gripped his sword in reverse in his left hand, braced himself against the ground with his right, and rapidly gathered strength in his legs.
"Forward Stomp Slash!"
A figure flashed past. The Wind Wolf only had time for a mournful howl before collapsing to the ground, its front and hind legs on the right side severed by Havent's strike.
Havent rose and panted heavily. He still found it difficult to use a fully developed intermediate Battle Skill.
Looking around, he saw that the other two Wind Wolves had also been surrounded. Seeing the situation under control, he breathed a sigh of relief, then walked over with his longsword to the Wind Wolf lying on the ground and screaming nonstop. Raising his sword, he viciously drove it into the wolf's eye.
"Captain, the carriages are ready. We've reinforced them all around with shields."
Wells nodded at his subordinate's report. Two hours had passed since the wolf pack's attack began. The good news was that they had killed nearly half the wild wolves, but it did nothing to cheer him. Everyone within Wells's sight was wounded.
"Aka, Batila, we're setting off. We can't delay any longer."
Wells cast a worried glance toward the Gale Mercenary Group's defensive line. The sounds of fighting still came from that direction, which reassured him slightly.
The two captains soon arrived. Batila was doing all right. As a Shield Warrior, he had strong defensive abilities, and no serious injuries were visible on him. Aka, beside him, looked far more miserable. As a berserker who wielded a two-handed sword, he attacked fiercely but inevitably took injuries. Whether from a wind blade or a bite, a wound roughly ten centimeters long on his chest was continuously seeping blood.
"Aka, can you still fight?"
Wells asked the captain of the Blood Wolf Mercenary Group worriedly. Since Death's Howl could command such a large wolf pack, its level had to be high. Without Aka, the berserker, Wells and Batila would likely find it difficult to harm Death's Howl.
Aka wiped the blood from his face and cursed as he spoke.
"Old Wells, I'm fucking fine. Don't worry about me!"
With that, he pulled a black bottle from the pouch at his waist, uncorked it, and poured the ointment inside onto his wound.
"Let's go. I bought this quick-hemostatic ointment from old Bigg. It's fucking expensive, but it really works."
Seeing that Aka was still in decent shape, Wells nodded and climbed onto a carriage.
"Let's go. I've got a few Fire Essence Canisters I picked up. We'll throw them into the wolf pack, then charge through while the explosions create an opening."
Fourteen people climbed into two carriages, staring at Death's Howl ahead with expressions of grim resolve.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
As the Fire Essence Canisters exploded among the wolves, the shaken wolf pack immediately descended into chaos. The two carriages charged straight toward Death's Howl at the center of the pack.
The white giant wolf, which had been staying in the rear and unleashing Furious Howl, revealed an almost human expression when it saw the carriages rushing toward it. Its scarlet eyes watched them draw closer as it raised its head and let out a long howl.
The wolves that had surrounded the white giant wolf seemed to receive an order. They quickly scattered and ran toward the camp.
Seeing the wolf pack bypass the carriages to attack the camp, urgency flashed across Wells's face. He then forced himself to calm down and fixed a fierce gaze on Death's Howl several dozen meters away, silently muttering to himself.
Baki, you have to hold on.
In the blink of an eye, they had arrived before Death's Howl. Everyone jumped from the carriages. Looking at the giant wolf, three meters tall, Aka roared, pale red battle aura flaring around his body. After a short run-up, he leaped high into the air and chopped down at the giant wolf's head.
Death's Howl watched the human leap high into the air, opened its jaws, and rapidly condensed a wind blade before firing it at Aka.
Having activated Berserker's Blood, Aka neither dodged nor retreated before the incoming wind blade. His two-handed sword slashed directly at it.
The collision created an enormous burst of energy. With no point of leverage in midair, Aka was sent flying backward.
Wells, rushing in from behind, caught the flying Aka.
"Don't rush in alone. We'll attack together. Finish it quickly—the camp can't hold out much longer."
Aka nodded. Once steady on his feet, he raised his two-handed sword again and looked at the white giant wolf. The group exchanged glances.
"Together!"
Moonlight was shredded by sword aura. Death's Howl swung its massive claw and shattered Aka's incoming Cross Slash. Batila raised his tower shield reinforced with black iron to block the flying wind blade, while Wells circled to the side, gathered battle aura in the small shield on his left arm, and slammed it into Death's Howl's hind leg.
The giant wolf howled in pain, turned, and bit at Wells. Unable to evade in time, Wells could only protect his chest with his small shield before being knocked flying. On the other side, a spear-wielding mercenary saw this and thrust his spear toward the white giant wolf's chest.
However, he had underestimated the toughness of Death's Howl's fur. The spearhead barely pierced halfway in before he could apply more force. The white giant wolf swiftly turned its head and bit into the mercenary's upper body. His head burst like a watermelon, and a torrent of blood streamed from Death's Howl's mouth.
Seeing his subordinate's gruesome death, Batila roared. Stimulated by battle aura, his arms swelled by a full size as he raised his shield and charged the giant wolf.
With a thunderous bang, the unprepared Death's Howl was knocked to the ground by Batila's shield charge. Batila, struck by the same force, was sent flying seven or eight meters away.
"Aka!"
At Wells's roar, the Blood Wolf captain understood immediately. After several running steps, he once again leaped and slashed down at Death's Howl. At the same time, the mercenaries surrounding the giant wolf all raised their weapons and attacked.
"Awooooo!"
After suffering a series of heavy blows, Death's Howl opened its jaws and wildly fired wind blades in every direction. Two mercenaries who failed to dodge in time burst into clouds of blood and collapsed to the ground.
Seeing the giant wolf about to rise, Wells, who had viciously stabbed Death's Howl several times in the rear, hurriedly retreated.
The group spread out again, surrounding the giant wolf as they prepared their next attack.
The white giant wolf, now stained red with blood, glared viciously at them. A wound nearly a meter long stretched across its shoulder, inflicted by Aka's leaping slash.
"Awooooo!"
As Death's Howl raised its head and howled at the sky, large amounts of something resembling black smoke drifted from the giant wolf's wounds.
Before you continue