After Wolf King Huozi announced the start of the selection challenges, the Cania warriors, who had been somewhat uneasy, immediately cast aside their worries and turned burning gazes toward the opponents they wished to challenge.
The veteran warriors who had been "called out" wore smiles of excitement, cruelty, or savagery. They tore off their fur-hide cloaks and strode toward the icefield beyond the war fortress.
As in previous years, no one dared challenge Huozi, the Wolf King. This left Huozi, seated upon his throne and sipping strong liquor, looking slightly disappointed and bored.
Under his gaze, battle after battle began—some tedious, some swift as lightning.
The facts proved that defeating these battle-hardened wolf guards across a rank gap was nearly impossible. Some fights could only be described as one-sided beatings. Worse still, as challengers grew numerous and the selected warriors kept provoking them, scenes of one warrior fighting ten—or even chaotic melees of a hundred—gradually emerged.
Yet the Sixth Wild Wolf Regiment's standards for selecting recruits were utterly unlike those of other warbands. They relied on their own eye for talent, seeking aptitude, combat instinct, composure in the heat of battle, and a whole series of qualities that determined one's "growth ceiling."
Huozi had originally held little hope for this batch of undisciplined recruits, but before long, a youth of extraordinary size, with a mane of silvery-white hair growing from his neck, caught his attention.
The Pit Fiend head instructor of Wolf Fang Fortress naturally noticed the Wolf King's gaze as well and immediately bowed his head. "Lord Huozi, his name is Fenris. He originally had no name. This name—or perhaps it is a nickname—was given to him by those Titans."
"Oh? Is there some story behind it?" Huozi's interest was piqued.
In the Titan tongue, Fenris meant giant wolf.