Whoosh!
In the darkness, a three-foot-long blade of blue-green wind suddenly appeared, hurtling toward Zeng Tian at tremendous speed.
Ember!
The instant he sensed the attack, over a dozen flames shot out again, colliding with the wind blade.
Boom!
Blue-green and orange energy clashed, the explosion ringing out for hundreds of meters. The powerful impact halted Zeng Tian's run and forced him several steps back.
As the explosion faded, a huge blue-green wolf appeared in the moonlight a dozen meters ahead. Nearly two meters tall at the shoulder and roughly three meters long, the wolf looked down at the orange, fire-breathing lizard before it with eerie green eyes.
Without a doubt, this was the leader of the wolf pack that had surrounded Zeng Tian earlier-a Gale Demon Wolf over two hundred years old.
Unlike those earlier Gale Wolves, the Gale Demon Wolf ranked among the mid-to-high-tier Soul Beasts. It had very few natural predators and counted among the stronger beasts of its kind.
As Zeng Tian stared at the Gale Demon Wolf that had suddenly appeared before him, his expression inevitably grew grave.
One glance was enough to tell that this Gale Demon Wolf was no easy opponent. The dozens of Gale Wolves had already been difficult to handle; with this Gale Demon Wolf added to the mix, his situation had undoubtedly become even more dire.
"Awooo!"
Meanwhile, dozens of Gale Wolves caught up from behind.
Dozens of gleaming green eyes fixed on Zeng Tian. The wolves lowered their forequarters, ready to attack. At a single command from the Gale Demon Wolf, they would rush forward and tear their prey to pieces.
Ahead of Zeng Tian, the Gale Demon Wolf, two meters tall at the shoulder, approached slowly.
Behind him, a pack of Gale Wolves, each a meter tall at the shoulder, watched him like tigers eyeing their prey.
Charmander stood barely half a meter tall. Trapped among these ferocious Soul Beasts, even the smallest of which stood a meter at the shoulder, Zeng Tian looked utterly incapable of winning to anyone who might have witnessed the scene.
Zeng Tian tore a length of vine from a nearby branch, wound it several times around his wound, and pulled it tight with his mouth. He glanced from the Gale Demon Wolf to the pack.
Judging from their exchange just now, the pack leader's Razor Wind was no weaker than his Ember. Its physical strength and speed also surpassed his current capabilities, even without accounting for any hidden abilities it might possess. Trying to break through in its direction would undoubtedly be a fool's dream.
By comparison, although those dozens of Gale Wolves were also difficult to deal with, breaking through them offered a much higher chance of success than facing the Gale Demon Wolf head-on.
With that thought, Zeng Tian immediately made up his mind. He drove forward with his legs, unleashing Ember as he sprinted, and charged into the Gale Wolf pack alongside a dozen streaks of flame.
Within a breath, Zeng Tian reached the nearest Gale Wolf.
Several white streaks slashed through the darkness. Zeng Tian passed through the foremost Gale Wolf's body and charged toward the next without pausing.
Every burst of Ember, every white streak that flashed into existence and vanished, marked the death of one or more Gale Wolves.
In no time at all, the number of Gale Wolves around Zeng Tian fell by half.
But that killing efficiency came at a terrible price.
During the close-quarters fighting, Zeng Tian suffered another seven or eight wounds. One of his hands was also broken in a clash with two Gale Wolves, leaving it unusable.
Without the aid of that hand, Zeng Tian's "Scratch" could no longer kill a Gale Wolf instantly. Surrounded by the pack's attacks, his situation grew even more desperate.
Are these wolves sick in the head? So many of their companions have died, and they still dare to charge!
Zeng Tian lashed his tail against a lunging Gale Wolf, driving it back. Feeling his injuries worsen and the energy inside him drain rapidly, he grew increasingly agitated.
His original plan had been to charge toward the Gale Wolf pack and kill a few of the first birds to stick their heads out. Fear would naturally make the rest clear a path.
After all, every living creature feared death. Faced with the threat of dying, letting a single target escape was hardly worth worrying about.
Yet these Gale Wolves stubbornly refused to follow the usual script. Zeng Tian even wondered whether the Gale Demon Wolf had used Mind Control on them, or whether they, too, had no sense of pain!
[Level 5 → Level 6]
After barely managing to kill another Gale Wolf, Zeng Tian finally leveled up. His injuries healed somewhat, and even his nearly depleted energy reserves recovered a little.
Before Zeng Tian could rejoice, however, a four-foot-long blue-green wind blade shot out of the shadows, reaching him in the blink of an eye.
The Gale Demon Wolf's charged attack was not to be underestimated. With his current physical toughness, Zeng Tian could never withstand a direct hit. It might even cleave him in two at the waist.
His Pokémon battle instincts screamed a warning. Zeng Tian summoned the last of his energy and unleashed Ember against the blue-green wind blade already upon him.
This time, Zeng Tian fired fifteen flames-more than he ever had before.
On the brink of life and death, Zeng Tian's Ember broke through once again, reaching lv4.
Boom!
The flames clashed with the blue-green wind blade. After a brief deadlock, they erupted with a thunderous blast.
With the explosion right in front of Zeng Tian, the shock wave hurled him more than a dozen meters through the air and slammed him into a nearby tree.
The Gale Wolves surrounding Zeng Tian fared no better. Those closest to him died on the spot, while the rest were caught in the blast's aftermath, suffering severe injuries that left them unable to fight.
Now, the only one still standing was the Gale Demon Wolf.
"Ugh..."
Zeng Tian spat out a mouthful of blood, his body slumping. The once-bright flame on his tail had dimmed, flickering precariously like a candle in the wind.
Watching the completely unscathed Gale Demon Wolf slowly approach, Zeng Tian sank into despair.
He was so severely injured that even standing was a struggle. The clash just now had exhausted every last scrap of his energy, leaving him utterly unable to resist.
Am I really going to die here? Killed by a Gale Demon Wolf no more than a hundred years old-how ridiculous.
After both his level and Ember had improved, Zeng Tian had actually gained the ability to fight the Gale Demon Wolf. At his peak, even with his speed and physical capabilities still falling short of its own, he would have been confident of driving it back.
But as things stood, he was gravely wounded and utterly drained of energy. He could not even flee.
"Awooo!"
The Gale Demon Wolf approached Zeng Tian cautiously. Although this orange, fire-breathing lizard seemed to have burned through its last drop of oil, this was the first time it had encountered such a Soul Beast. Better to be careful.
When it came within thirty meters of Zeng Tian, the Gale Demon Wolf abruptly stopped. Its jaws opened wide, blue-green energy gathering and gradually forming a blue-green wind blade.
Heh. So cautious.
Watching the Razor Wind attack rapidly take shape, Zeng Tian felt helpless. It seemed he really was going to die, without even a chance to drag his killer down with him.
Just as Zeng Tian was almost ready to accept his fate, the wavering flame on Charmander's tail suddenly blazed fiercely.
At the same time, the pain in his body vanished. Energy reappeared within him where his reserves had already run dry-even more than he had possessed at his peak, and of higher quality.