Cutting

Guardian!

One of the most team-friendly specialized professions among the basic classes, its first Professional Core is inevitably condensed within the 'Qi and Blood' Inner Palace, followed by a choice of 'Endurance'. It is a profession with astonishing defensive power but mediocre offensive ability, specialized solely for absorbing damage.

His formidable defense allowed him to use his body as bait. Drenched in blood, he drew the attack of three wolves and still managed to hold them off alone! He even locked down and restrained one of them!

But, in exchange for such powerful defense, the Guardian's singularly poor offensive capability, combined with the physical traits of the human race, put him at a natural disadvantage against magical beasts of the same rank.

Even Luo Luoji, who had awakened his Bloodline Power, would likely be ground down to death if he faced a one-star Azure Wolf one-on-one!

Don't be fooled by Xuan Ye's chain of strikes, Dean's spell clearing, or Aitiya's Shield Flash burst taking down several Azure Wolves in succession—these were all achieved through surprise and the eruption of ultimate skills, relying on humanity's greatest advantage: intelligence!

From the moment Aitiya formally engaged and began her tangled battle with the last Alpha Wolf, it was clear that the actual combat ability of these naturally evolved surviving magical beasts far exceeded appearances! Remember, that golden-haired girl's talent was beyond doubt, and she wielded a special profession with numerous tricks, yet she still couldn't take it down!

Now, Luo Luoji's sudden outburst was purely a case of abandoning dodging and taking damage himself, absorbing the full firepower of the three Azure Wolves before him so his teammates could attack safely.

Otherwise, given the Azure Wolves' actual capabilities, even with the boost from the Blessing, the few Senior Knight Attendants behind him would be nothing more than a snack in one or two bites!

And Luo Luoji, simultaneously absorbing the attacks of three Azure Wolves and drenched in blood, certainly couldn't hold out like this for long. The situation had to change before he ran out of steam!

Fortunately, as a professional Guardian who had opened the 'Qi and Blood' Inner Palace, his ability to draw aggro was truly top-notch. Exposing his skin without armor was specifically meant to attract the attention of carnivorous magical beasts, and his blood, 'sweet' with a strong bloody scent, stimulated the Azure Wolves' nerves even more than an ordinary person's!

Plus, he had one firmly locked down, pushing his role to the absolute limit of what was possible!

"You wolf cubs! Come die for your master!"

Taking a brief moment to let Luo Luoji's aggro fully establish, Jack immediately unleashed his thousand-honed dismemberment blade technique, slashing at the Azure Wolf on Luo Luoji's back, whose head was hooked back by his arm!

The other two Senior Knight Attendants from the Scavenger Squad also moved in sync, attacking the same wolf!

Because this was the only one of the three Azure Wolves physically locked down by Luo Luoji, completely pinned. The other two, though one bit into Luo Luoji's waist and the other pounced on his thigh, could disengage at any moment.

If they were snapped out of their bloodlust, they could easily dodge and counterattack with their extraordinary speed!

Only this one would inevitably take the full brunt of the firepower!

As an eighth-rank Knight Attendant himself, with preparation and sufficient conditions to muster his full strength for a charged strike, relying on speed bonuses and the weight of his steel blade, even though Jack's own strength was just over eight hundred jin, boosted by the Blessing to barely break a thousand, the combination of speed and technique allowed him to instantly unleash a heavy blow exceeding three thousand jin!

The sandy ground beneath his feet cracked open into a massive crater, sand flying everywhere!

Clearly, the Azure Wolf biting Luo Luoji's neck but hooked by his head sensed the danger behind it. Its claws scrabbled frantically, carving several bloody gashes into Luo Luoji's already grayish back skin, but it couldn't break free from the grip of those knotted arms!

'Pfft~'

The blade met flesh, leaving a bloody gash on the smooth fur—but only a gash!

"Tch!"

Jack, who had spent years dismembering corpses, gritted his teeth so hard they nearly cracked. From the feedback of this strike, he clearly felt the wolf's body quivering, the oil-slick fur and muscle deflecting force—at least half the power was lost!

And this was an attack he'd aimed based on years of dissecting magical beast corpses, judging the muscle fibers! Sure enough, a Professional Rank was a Professional Rank. Compared to himself, a mere mortal, they were truly a different level of life.

Jack's strike had just landed when his two companions' attacks followed on the Azure Wolf, but their results were even worse! The three-man coordinated strike, prepared for so long, left several wounds on the wolf but failed to cripple it!

Even the two wolves that weren't pinned still showed no sign of letting go or paying them any attention. In a contest of speed, given their current attack frequency and damage output, Luo Luoji would definitely be killed by the three wolves first.

The bite on his back, though it had missed the artery, was still near his neck. With the Azure Wolf's terrifying bite force, only Luo Luoji, who had awakened Skin of Steel, could endure it. An ordinary one-star Guardian would already be suffocating by now!

"Again!"

Unfazed by the arm strain from the earlier recoil, Jack swung his second blade without a pause. To achieve the power needed to break the Azure Wolf's defense, they, as non-ranked fighters, couldn't strike quickly—they had to land heavy, deliberate blows!

And their aim instinctively targeted the same wounds from the first strikes. If they couldn't win by quality, they'd have to rely on quantity...

"Tsk... This won't work."

Xuan Ye, still clutching his right shoulder with his heavy bow slung across his body, stared intently at the battle around Luo Luoji, a troubled expression on his face.

Temporarily protected as an observer, he pushed his analytical ability to its limit. Even without using Eyes of Lawbreaking, he could already judge that at best, they'd half-kill the wolf on Luo Luoji's back before Luo Luoji himself kicked the bucket.

With the Azure Wolf's seemingly erratic struggles and muscle twitches, each strike had six or seven tenths of its force deflected. Magical beasts were naturally thick-skinned and tough, and this one was a Predator Rank Magical Beast comparable to a Professional Rank. The actual damage taken was far less than it appeared.

Thinking this, and feeling the still-burning pain in his right arm, Xuan Ye had no choice but to draw a fine steel short sword with his left hand. Because he'd been mistaken for a primary archer and was indeed practicing that skill, his only melee weapon was this half-meter-long short sword for self-defense.

But now was not the time to rest and recover. Once Luo Luoji fell, the remaining Scavenger Squad members, including himself, would be torn apart like chickens and dogs.

His only chance now was that the three wolves still had Luo Luoji locked as their primary target, eager to kill him first, ignoring the rest of them, giving him enough time to analyze and exploit!

"Jack! Strike again, three centimeters to the left of your last cut! Now!"

Drawing his short sword and jogging toward the front line while staring intently, Xuan Ye's eyes suddenly lit up as he shouted.

Hearing Xuan Ye's sudden reminder, Jack didn't hesitate or get distracted. He didn't ask why or why Xuan Ye was charging forward—he simply swung his blade again at the approximate position Xuan Ye had indicated.

Because the strike was rushed, it was even weaker than the previous ones. But this single blow made the Azure Wolf, whose head was still pinned, suddenly go rigid all over. Its hind legs stiffened as if hit on a nerve, leaving it unable to deflect the following two attacks from the Senior Attendants, taking them full-on!

Flesh and blood flew from the wound, and the damage from those two strikes exceeded the total of all previous attacks combined!

After all, even with its fine fur, the Azure Wolf's body wasn't known for defense. It had only relied on its beastly physique relative to humans and its extreme agility to constantly deflect force!

"Prepare for the other two to counterattack!"

At the same time, Xuan Ye himself shot forward like an arrow, lunging straight at the wounded Azure Wolf. In its stunned state, he drove his short sword into its body through the opening left by the first two cuts!

The immense resistance, like stabbing into rock, didn't stop Xuan Ye's momentum! Once the blade was halfway in, he let out a roar and slashed sideways, the ordinary short sword cutting smoothly through the rock-like beast muscle as if there were no resistance at all!

Even though the Azure Wolf wasn't a defense-specialized magical beast, a beast was still a beast! Even without deflecting force, two strikes had only cut a few inches into the flesh. Yet Xuan Ye, relying on his grasp of the muscle-twitch patterns, forcibly carved through it!

Like slicing raw beef with a small knife—without understanding the grain of the tendons, you can't cut through!

Jack's killing power was greater than the other two's simply because of the experience he had gained from dismembering bodies in his daily work.

But clearly, compared to Xuan Ye's ability to directly read the opponent's grain, the gap in this kind of experiential mastery was far too great!

Stab, then slice!

A smooth series of motions instantly severed most of the muscles and ligaments on the right side of this Azure Wolf, nearly crippling its mobility!

It even released its wolf jaws clamped around Luo Luoji's neck, letting out a mournful howl, leaving the other two wolves completely unable to react!

First recommendation slot, and the results are absolutely miserable. Others with the same slot break ten thousand clicks—I break a thousand. Weekly clicks break a thousand—I break a hundred. Don't talk to me, let me be alone.

Begging for any clicks, collections, recommendations.