Ferocious Horned Wolf

Night. Silence.

On the outskirts of Goat Horn Mountain, wolves prowled in groups, cutting off anything unusual. After one bloody lesson after another, no creature dared to move about here anymore.

At one moment, a faint rustling sounded, as if something were crawling through the darkness. Catching the sound, a pair of gleaming green eyes silently opened in the shadows. They belonged to a ferocious wolf.

The next instant, the ferocious wolf pounced, accurately seizing a figure in the darkness. It was a rat.

Crunch, crunch. Without the slightest hesitation, the ferocious wolf swallowed the rat whole. Afterward, it surveyed its surroundings, and once it confirmed that nothing was amiss, it crawled back into its little den and dozed with its eyes closed.

To it, the rat's appearance was merely a minor interlude. As for the rat being exceptionally plump, that was not cause for suspicion but a pleasant surprise. Compared with other food, a fat rat made for quite a fine midnight snack.

Similar scenes continued to unfold in the darkness. Rats kept moving forward, trying to enter the interior of Goat Horn Mountain. Yet though their tracks were concealed, they still found it difficult to escape the ferocious wolves' eyes and ears. Not only did the wolves possess excellent night vision, they also had an exceptionally keen sense of smell. Breaking through their defensive line was no easy task.

Meanwhile, in a cave not far from Goat Horn Mountain, Rat Prodigy frowned as it listened to its subordinates relay message after message, pacing back and forth through the cave.

After entering the forest, it had led the rat colony in constant exploration. Following a net-casting search, they had finally made a significant discovery. By now, they had basically confirmed that Goat Horn Mountain was the wolves' current base.

"Squeak, squeak, squeak. The wolves' base is Goat Horn Mountain, but these wolves are highly organized and quite formidable themselves. The little rats simply cannot break through their blockade and enter Goat Horn Mountain, much less pry into the wolves' core secrets."

"Most importantly, there are too many wolves there, and with all the rocks and mountains, even digging tunnels won't work."

Walking out of the cave, Rat Prodigy gazed at Goat Horn Mountain beneath the moonlight and fell silent.

With its own strength, if it went in person, there was indeed a good chance that it could break through the wolves' defenses, enter Goat Horn Mountain, and uncover its secrets. But the risk was considerable.

"Master once said that there is most likely a demon among this wolf pack, perhaps even stronger than I am. Infiltrating alone would be truly unwise."

"Since I can't get in, I'll make the wolves inside come out on their own. Draw the wolf out of its den."

After pondering it repeatedly and weighing the pros and cons, Rat Prodigy formed a plan.

Over the following days, the rat colony no longer tried to infiltrate Goat Horn Mountain. Instead, they began gathering in groups and, under Rat Prodigy's command, systematically hunted the ferocious wolves.

Certainly, a rat was no match for a ferocious wolf one-on-one. But winning through numbers was the rat colony's defining trait, and with Rat Prodigy directing them, they pushed that trait to its utmost limit. They hunted patiently, carefully gathered information, and specifically targeted wolves that had strayed from the pack.

During this process, the wolf pack also took countermeasures. However, using their ability to dig tunnels, the rat colony had prepared escape routes for themselves in advance and directly played tunnel warfare with the wolves, leaving the wolf pack scrambling to cope for a time.

After this happened several times, the abnormality finally drew the attention of the wolf pack's upper ranks.

With a low growl, a giant wolf two meters long descended Goat Horn Mountain. It was covered in long blue-green mane-like fur, with a small horn growing from the center of its brow. It was a Ferocious Horned Wolf, a true demon beast that had gained intelligence and absorbed spiritual essence.

The instant it appeared, every ferocious wolf nearby voluntarily lowered its head in submission.

Awooo! After a moment, accompanied by a chorus of wolf howls, a squad of ferocious wolves marched straight out of Goat Horn Mountain under the Ferocious Horned Wolf's lead.

With the Ferocious Horned Wolf joining them, the ferocious wolves immediately became far more at ease in dealing with the rat colony. It cultivated the Tracking Art, and no matter how the rats hid, they found it difficult to escape its pursuit. Furthermore, its physique was powerful; ordinary rat tunnels could not stop it at all.

Under such circumstances, the ferocious wolves sounded the horn of their counterattack and began slaughtering the rat colony in earnest. For a time, the rat colony showed signs of total collapse, unable to organize an effective counterattack and left with no choice but to flee. Yet none of the ferocious wolves noticed that they were becoming increasingly scattered and moving farther and farther away from Goat Horn Mountain. Victory before their eyes and the bloodlust in their nature had blinded them.

In the shadows, Rat Prodigy sensed everything unfolding, its face brimming with self-satisfaction. It truly was too clever. Reading more books and listening to more stories really did have their uses.

"Squeak, squeak, squeak. When I return, I should have those servants at Mouse Garden tell me more stories."

With the corners of its mouth curling upward, Rat Prodigy entertained the thought. It was mainly for learning, certainly not simply because the stories were enjoyable and interesting.

Just then, the sound of dry leaves being stepped on quietly rang out. Rat Prodigy's ears twitched at the sound, and in the next instant, a ferocious wolf suddenly pounced from the darkness.

"Squeak, squeak, squeak!" It cried out in alarm, rolled over, and narrowly dodged the ferocious wolf's pounce. Then it pushed off with all four limbs and ran into the distance as though fleeing in blind panic.

Watching its little snack escape right before its eyes, the ferocious wolf was naturally unwilling to let it go and hurried after it.

For a time, one fled while the other pursued, rat and wolf darting swiftly through the forest. But Rat Prodigy soon came to a stop, for a sheer cliff stood before it. At that moment, the ferocious wolf caught up as well.

It looked at Rat Prodigy, backed against the cliff face, its face full of terror and with nowhere left to run. The wolf's eyes brimmed with greed and bloodlust, and saliva could not help but drip from the corners of its mouth.

Just as it was about to bite down on Rat Prodigy, something unexpected happened. An enormous shadow enveloped it.

"Here, I shouldn't disturb the other wolves."

Its body enlarged as it rose onto its hind legs. Looking at the ferocious wolf before it, Rat Prodigy's eyes were full of mockery.

Faced with this sudden change, the ferocious wolf was utterly bewildered. Its little brain could not understand how its tiny snack had suddenly turned into a giant beast. In that instant, it almost instinctively wanted to flee.

The moment it turned around, a whip lashed out, binding it directly and dragging it back into the darkness.

A moment later, Rat Prodigy returned to its original size and emerged from the darkness once more, as though nothing had happened. The only difference between it and before was that its belly was slightly more swollen.

"The fish has entered the net. Wait a little longer, and it will be time to draw in the net."

Looking into the distance, anticipation flashed through Rat Prodigy's eyes. As long as it could successfully capture that Ferocious Horned Wolf, its mission this time would be perfectly completed. And there was only one chance—if it missed this one, the next would be much harder.

With that thought, Rat Prodigy immediately burrowed into the dense forest.