The forest rustled, accompanied by heavy breathing.
The sounds were like the footsteps of the Grim Reaper, relentlessly driving the members of the Flame Mercenary Group toward Fire Wolf Town.
The Fire Wolf Pack's howls drew closer and closer.
In the forest, these Magical Beasts, who had always lived there, moved faster than humans.
"Ah!"
"No! Spare me!"
With a brief cry for mercy, the sounds behind them abruptly stopped.
The members of the Flame Mercenary Group all felt a chill run down their spines.
The tall man running at the front was a High-Star Dou Practitioner, one of the strongest members of the Flame Mercenary Group.
In fact, aside from their Regiment Commander, Huo Lie, only a few of them could match his strength.
But even with such strength, he didn't dare stop in the face of the Fire Wolf Pack, which was chasing them like a horde of mad demons.
He remembered Wang Wu volunteering to stay behind and buy Mu She a chance to escape.
But he didn't know what had happened. In the end, Mu She didn't seem to have gotten away.
Judging from the powerful surge of energy that had erupted moments ago, Mu She had likely fallen to the Fire Wolf Pack.
Under the circumstances, the pack had only grown even more relentless in its pursuit.
An ominous thought surfaced in the mercenary's mind.
Could Mu She, unable to escape, have killed the Fire Wolf King Cub?
That was the only explanation for why the Fire Wolf King was pursuing them so recklessly.
After all, their Regiment Commander still had another Fire Wolf King Cub.
If his guess was right,
then the one in the Regiment Commander's hands might be the only Fire Wolf King Cub left.
The Fire Wolf King was bound to reclaim its cub.
That was why it had ordered the pack to chase them at all costs.
As time passed, screams rose and fell behind them.
It was as if the Grim Reaper really was following them.
With slow, steady steps, it caught up to everyone who fell behind and briskly snuffed out their lives.
The feeling of waiting for death made the mercenary's heart pound violently.
It was as though an invisible hand were slowly squeezing his heart, making it throb wildly as it struggled to break free.
The fear of imminent death drove him to run even faster.
His nimble feet came down hard on a pile of fallen leaves. The next instant, it was as if the ground had vanished beneath him, and his body suddenly dropped.
Snap!
A toothed Beast Trap sprang open and clamped down hard on the mercenary's lower leg.
He let out a bloodcurdling scream.
"Damn it! Who set this trap?!"
Only then did he realize that some of the screams he'd heard behind him might not have come from people caught by the Fire Wolf Pack, but from those who had stepped into traps like this!
Before he could wrench his leg free of the Beast Trap,
a fiery-red shape appeared behind him like a ghost, its gaping jaws lunging for the back of his neck.
If it had only been the Fire Wolf Pack chasing them, the companions who kept slowing it down would have bought enough time for the faster mercenaries to reach Fire Wolf Town before the pack caught them.
But it wasn't just the pack on their heels. Death Soldiers, tireless and relentless, had laid all kinds of traps along the way.
Together, they formed a series of deadly snares.
The moment a Death Soldier's trap slowed a mercenary down, the pack would close in like a noose and strangle the life out of him!
Using the Death Soldiers' eyes, Lin Ze witnessed a thrilling, full-scale hunt.
His Death Soldier traps and the Fire Wolf Pack's assault had unexpectedly combined into a heart-pounding Combination Skill.
They had given these ruthless mercenaries a bitter lesson they wouldn't soon forget.
Unfortunately, the traps had little effect on Huo Lie. After all, he was a true Dou Master.
His strength far surpassed that of ordinary mercenaries.
Whether it was the Pit Trap paired with a Beast Trap or the Hanging Net Trap made from special materials, Huo Lie reacted in time and evaded them all.
Noticing this, Lin Ze scratched his head.
He decided to make one last attempt.
With Death Soldiers scattered throughout the area, Lin Ze effectively had multiple viewpoints.
He could anticipate everyone's movements and get ahead of them.
Lin Ze controlled a Death Soldier and had him wait along Huo Lie's inevitable route.
This was also the trap the Death Soldiers had spent the most time preparing.
The trap was simple: they had hollowed out the space beneath the ground.
They had left an arched section above, allowing people to walk across it normally.
But once the arched section was damaged, the layer of earth above would instantly crumble.
Below, a few ingenious tools awaited anyone who fell in.
Hearing the approaching footsteps, Lin Ze entered Proxy State.
The moment Huo Lie burst out of the dense forest, Lin Ze swung the cloth bag in his hand, scattering its contents.
Powder flew straight at Huo Lie's face.
Huo Lie was startled, but he reacted quickly. Dou Qi surged around him, scattering the powder before it could touch him.
However, Huo Lie was far more attentive than Mu She. He wrapped an arm around the Fire Wolf King Cub, shielding it against his chest.
"So you're the ones behind all this?!"
Huo Lie glared at Lin Ze and growled, both furious and shocked.
He had planned carefully and made thorough preparations for this mission.
He never expected that someone else had been watching them from the shadows.
Huo Lie could even guess that Wang Wu, the odd-job man who had deliberately stayed behind, was in league with the man before him.
Otherwise, given Mu She's strength, there was no way he could have died before those odd-job men.
And now these people were coming after him!
Lin Ze had no interest in answering Huo Lie.
After scattering the powder from the cloth bag, he summoned all his Dou Qi and punched the ground beneath him.
Boom Fist!
Through the cloud of powder, Huo Lie saw the Boom Fist. His pupils contracted.
He recognized that Dou Skill.
It was the same one A-Liu had used earlier, when he'd led the Flame Mercenary Group's target to the Wolf Head Mercenary Group.
Wang Wu, A-Liu, and now this man using the same Dou Skill as A-Liu!
All the clues seemed to fall into place.
They had been targeted ever since the Flame Mercenary Group first failed to capture a Fire Wolf King Cub.
Realizing this, Huo Lie felt a chill creep through him.
He had never imagined that the Flame Mercenary Group he led had fallen into an enemy's trap without even noticing.
It was like a little insect wandering blindly across a spiderweb.
Every move it made was clear to the spider sitting above.
And as the spider plucked at its threads, the insect became more and more entangled, until at last it met its end.
But!
He, Huo Lie, refused to accept it!
Convinced that he had figured it all out, Huo Lie suddenly lunged at Lin Ze.
But the instant he pushed off, the arched structure Lin Ze had damaged gave way, and the earth beneath him crumbled.
Crash!
Huo Lie's eyes widened in alarm. Without hesitation, he thrust a hand into the dirt wall beside him.
But what Huo Lie hadn't expected was that the man would jump down without the slightest fear.
He seemed fully prepared to drag Huo Lie down with him.
The Death Soldier's charge had come far too suddenly.
Huo Lie tried to dodge, but hanging on the wall of the trap left him nowhere to go. In the end, the Death Soldier dragged him down with him.
A flash of cold fury crossed Huo Lie's eyes. He grabbed the Death Soldier, twisted in midair, and shoved him underneath.
Against the strength of a Dou Master, the Death Soldier had no power to resist.
He crashed into the bottom of the trap with a thunderous impact!
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