Demonization

As more and more black smoke drifted from its wounds, Death's Howl let out a pained howl, its massive body trembling violently.

"Aka, Batila, let's go together and finish it."

Although Wells didn't quite understand what had happened to the giant white wolf before him, this was a rare opportunity for them. If they could defeat the giant wolf now, the leaderless wolf pack would naturally scatter, and the caravan's crisis would be resolved.

The three exchanged glances and began to gather their battle qi to charge. With a few shouts, several thick sword qi streaks flew towards the giant wolf. The remaining low-level mercenaries, unable to project their battle qi into sword qi, gathered their strength and attacked the giant wolf with all their might.

The attacks landed on the giant wolf, erupting in a large cloud of blood mist. Its massive body swayed a few times but still didn't fall.

As Death's Howl let out another pained howl, an unexpected change occurred. Rolling black smoke began to pour out of the wounds on its body, quickly enveloping its entire form.

The mercenaries surrounding Death's Howl watched the scene in confusion. As the smoke drifted over and they accidentally inhaled it, they began to cough violently.

"Fall back, everyone fall back, spread out, this smoke is poisonous!"

Seeing the mercenaries on the ground clutching their necks and writhing, Batila quickly shouted a warning.

However, the smoke only drifted a few meters before stopping its spread, leaving everyone staring at the scene in shock.

"What happened? What should we do now?"

Aka, holding his greatsword defensively in front of his chest, asked the other two nervously.

Wells shook his head. In his decades as a mercenary, he had never seen anything like this. To be honest, he didn't know what to do now.

"Let's watch for a bit longer. We need to figure out what's happening."

At the Gale Mercenary Group's defensive line, after Havent had made several probing attacks against the Wind Wolves, everyone finally managed to take down the remaining two Wind Wolves.

Baki, who was at the very front, was pale-faced. The chainmail armor he wore on his upper body had been torn with a large hole by a Wind Wolf. Fortunately, there were no major wounds. Exhausted, Baki leaned against a wooden crate, gasping for air, filled with relief.

Thank goodness the captain recruited this kid. I just witnessed him kill a Wind Wolf single-handedly. He's really skilled.

"Captain Baki, how are you? Are you alright? Are you injured?"

Baki leaned against the wooden crate for a while, recovering his breath. He gave Havent a thumbs-up.

"Well done, Will. We really have you to thank just now."

Havent smiled and nodded, not being modest. He looked at Baki's condition and reached into his waist pouch, pulling out a bottle of potion and tossing it over.

"Captain Baki, you should rest for a bit and drink this. I'll go hold the front line."

Baki caught the potion bottle and looked at it in his palm.

"Will, Will, there's no need. I'll recover slowly. This is too expensive."

Havent ignored Captain Baki's plea and walked towards the defense line with his longsword.

Baki watched Havent's retreating back and sighed, then uncorked the bottle, took a small sip, and carefully put it back into his small waist pouch.

The captain was right. He's so generous. He gave away a Marigold Potion worth 10 silver Grol just like that. He must be a rich young master out for experience, but he's a really good person.

Arriving at the defense line, Havent surveyed the battlefield. They had started with about a hundred wolves attacking, and he estimated less than half remained. The defense should not be a major problem.

"Brothers, maintain your current formation! We're almost done with these wolves!"

Hearing Havent's words, the dozen or so people holding the defense line were immediately energized. Their previously tired arms felt renewed strength. After encouraging everyone, Havent once again climbed onto the top of a cargo cart with his long yew bow, defending against Wind Wolves jumping onto the cart while also shooting arrows to suppress the wolf pack from a distance.

Just as Havent was standing on the cart, leisurely shooting the stray wolves, and thought this wolf attack would end like this, screams erupted from the central command tent dozens of meters away. Havent quickly turned to look, only to see that more than a dozen wolves had already broken into the center of the command tent.

In the flickering firelight, he could vaguely see that the wolves that had broken into the command tent seemed to be emitting black smoke. Before Havent could observe further, a shrill scream came from behind him.

When Havent turned back again, he saw that two Wind Wolves emitting black smoke had, at some unknown time, broken through to the center of their own defense line and were directly attacking the mercenaries who were rotating for rest. Just as he was about to draw an arrow to support them, he felt a strong gust of wind from beside him.

Havent instinctively blocked with his long yew bow. With a 'crack,' the bow in his hand snapped into two pieces. Using the momentum, he jumped onto another cart roof, and only then did Havent have a chance to see what had attacked him.

Looking at the Wind Wolf a few meters away, emitting black smoke and baring its teeth at him, Havent frowned and slowly drew the longsword at his waist, pointing the tip at the Wind Wolf. He could smell danger from this black-smoke-emitting Wind Wolf.

In the camp below, Baki, who was sitting on the ground recovering, was startled by the sudden appearance of the two black-smoke Wind Wolves and quickly grabbed his double-headed axe to meet them.

"Be careful, everyone! Come with me! Don't let these two beasts attack our defense line from behind!"

The mercenaries on rotation picked up their weapons and rushed forward, but these two black-smoke Wind Wolves were much harder to deal with than the previous Wind Wolves. In just one exchange, two careless mercenaries had their throats bitten, and the mercenaries held in their mouths struggled for a few moments before their eyes lost their luster.

"Paimon! Don't!"

Baki hadn't finished shouting when Paimon had already charged forward. There was nothing he could do. Baki gritted his teeth and charged forward with his double-headed axe. He knew exactly how capable Paimon was.

As expected, facing the fierce Paimon, the black-smoke Wind Wolf didn't dodge at all. It opened its wolfish maw and lunged.

Paimon struck the black-smoke Wind Wolf's head with a powerful hammer blow, but it caused no damage. Instinctively, he brought his small round shield on his left hand forward. With a teeth-grinding sound of metal friction, Paimon was knocked to the ground.

Just as the black-smoke Wind Wolf was about to continue its attack on the downed Paimon, Baki arrived in time, wielding his double-headed axe, and forcefully chopped it onto the Wind Wolf's back.

The pained Wind Wolf let go of Paimon, swiftly twisted its body, and turned to bite Baki. Baki, unable to draw his axe in time, was powerless to resist. As the Wind Wolf's bloody maw grew closer and closer, Baki's eyes widened as he stared directly at his own death.

"Little Jamie, I probably won't be able to give you the toy you wanted, Dad."