Night Shadow Ghost Wolf

The Soul Hunting Forest at night was a completely different world from the one by day. Birds chirped during daylight, but at night, all that remained was the occasional crackle of the campfire and the low, lingering sob of wind passing through the treetops high above.

Occasionally, one or two short roars from unknown beasts carried over from far away, only to be swallowed by the night almost at once.

Su Lin sat on a flat rock beside the campfire and took a bite of the toasted dry rations handed to him. The crisp, browned surface mingled with the fragrance of wheat, and after a couple of chews, its warmth traveled all the way down to his stomach.

Xiao Wu sat beside Su Lin with her arms around her knees, swinging her feet as she watched the dancing flames for a while. Suddenly, she turned her head and quietly asked the question she had held in all afternoon. "Why didn't you kill those Soul Beasts we ran into today?"

From what she had seen along the way, apart from the Wind Wolf that had lunged at them first and received a somewhat heavier blow, most of the other Soul Beasts had merely been shocked into paralysis and unconsciousness. This was completely different from her impression of human Soul Masters slaughtering everything once they entered the forest.

"Kill them? Why would I kill them?" Su Lin widened his eyes and stared at her in shock, as though meeting Xiao Wu for the first time. His tone was particularly exaggerated. "Xiao Wu, you're so cruel!"

"Su Lin!" Black lines covered Xiao Wu's forehead. She thumped his arm irritably, her cheeks puffed out in embarrassment and annoyance. She had asked him a question out of goodwill, yet this guy was actually making fun of her.

"Hehe, just kidding." Su Lin chuckled twice, put away his playful grin, and grew a little more serious. "All things have spirits, and all living beings are equal. Besides, my Martial Soul is special. I don't need to hunt Soul Beasts for Soul Rings. Killing them would serve no purpose and only pile up needless sins of slaughter. Why bother?"

Xiao Wu blinked, a faint trace of surprise flashing through her large, watery eyes. As though still uncertain, she asked again, "Really?"

Since taking human form and coming to the human world, what she had heard most often was that Soul Beasts were resources that supplied Soul Masters with Soul Rings. Even the academy's textbooks said hunting Soul Beasts was only natural and right. She had never imagined that a human Soul Master would say all living beings were equal.

"Of course." Su Lin nodded, true to his heart.

That was not entirely nonsense. For one thing, the Soul Hunting Forest was simply too small, and there were not many Soul Beasts over six hundred years old to begin with. The twelve Soul Beasts they had fought today had been quite scattered, with long stretches between encounters.

If he gunned them all down just to grind levels, then once these nine months were over, Soul Masters around Nuoding City looking for high-quality Soul Rings over the following decades could only stare helplessly at an empty forest.

He was hardly some protagonist burdened with bitter grudges who killed without hesitation. Depleting an entire hunting ground's resources for the sake of his own experience bar was something that harmed others without benefiting himself, and he really could not bring himself to do it.

Of course, bridge-camping at Space City was an exception. In this thoroughly netherworld-like age, only the broad, upright Yang Qi accumulated through bridge-camping could suppress some of the gloom in the core area.

Besides, as a Trainer, he would naturally have plenty of dealings with Soul Beasts later on. Killing fewer Soul Beasts would let him accumulate a little more starting favorability.

After the campfire had burned for a while, its flames gradually settled, and the sound of burning wood became low and steady. Pikachu was already fast asleep, his little belly rising and falling, the tip of his tail twitching occasionally in his dreams.

Su Lin was just about to take the Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track manual out of his clothes and read another couple of pages by firelight when Xiao Wu suddenly sat upright beside him. Her head tilted slightly toward a particular direction in the forest, as though she had heard an extremely faint sound. Her relaxed body instantly tensed, and she hurriedly grabbed Su Lin's arm. "Su Lin, something's coming!"

Su Lin's back tightened. Without the slightest hesitation, he immediately stood and shouted toward the perimeter, "Uncle Sean!"

Sean had already been keeping watch at the edge of the campfire's light. At the shout, he immediately strode over, his hand already resting on his saber's hilt. "Young Master Little Lin?"

"Something's coming. Call everyone back." Su Lin spoke extremely quickly. Pikachu, awakened in his arms, pricked up his ears and looked toward the dense woods to the west, tiny golden sparks of lightning flickering around his body.

Without a shred of doubt, Sean put his thumb and forefinger in his mouth and blew a short, piercing whistle.

The whistle carried exceptionally well through the night. The guards scattered around the camp's perimeter on night watch swiftly converged at the sound. In mere moments, all twelve had gathered around the campfire at the center of the camp, forming a defensive circle back-to-back.

At the same time, Sean stepped forward to stand directly in front of Su Lin and Xiao Wu. A series of cracks rang from his bones as his body abruptly swelled, his back arching like a taut bowstring. Gray-brown fur covered his entire body, and a row of iron-gray bony ridges rose along his spine. His face lengthened, his mouth protruded slightly, and the nails on all ten fingers lengthened into sharp claw blades.

Martial Soul-Iron-Spined Cheetah, possession!

Two Soul Rings, one white and one yellow, slowly rose from beneath his feet, revolving upward around his ankles. A faint halo of Soul Power enveloped his entire body as he released the full presence of a rank twenty-five Soul Grandmaster without holding anything back.

"Awooo~"

A low wolf howl abruptly tore through the night. Ghostly green points of light lit up one after another among the shadows of the trees on every side, twenty-five or twenty-six of them densely packed together, like ghostly flames floating in the darkness.

Gray-black wolf shapes slowly emerged from the shadows, each powerfully built with exposed fangs, the patterns of their fur almost blending into the night.

Sean's feline pupils contracted into needle-thin vertical slits, and his voice grew somewhat grave. "Night Shadow Ghost Wolves!"

Although this kind of Soul Beast was not a top predator, it ranked among the most dangerous pack-dwelling Soul Beasts in the Soul Hunting Forest.

Their individual fighting strength was not particularly great, but at night, they received a certain boost to their dark attribute, improving their speed, agility, and concealment. Combined with their tactical awareness of pack cooperation, even solitary Soul Beasts considerably older than them were seldom willing to provoke them head-on.

Barring anything unexpected, they had already entered the wolves' hunting grounds. No other Soul Beast would likely dare approach within several li.

Among those ghostly green points that kept lighting up, two were clearly much brighter than the others around them. They were also slightly higher, roughly above a jutting rock ahead and to the right.

Su Lin followed those two particularly chilling gleams and could vaguely make out the outline of a wolf far larger than its fellows, sitting atop that rock. Its head was slightly bowed and its chin held low, as though surveying the prey beside the campfire from on high.

This wolf was more than a full size larger than an ordinary Night Shadow Ghost Wolf, its shoulders reaching roughly an adult's waist. A ring of darker mane markings around its neck and shoulders rose and fell slightly with its breathing. Simply sitting there motionless, it exuded an intense sense of pressure.

On the sloping rock about three paces below and beside it crouched another, slightly smaller Night Shadow Ghost Wolf. Its posture was clearly different from that of the wolf atop the rock. Its limbs were taut, its shoulder blades slightly raised, and its fangs half-bared. Its entire body was pressed low, its weight leaning forward. It had clearly already assumed an attacking stance, ready to pounce at any moment.

[Night Shadow Ghost Wolf]

[Base Stats: medium]

[Evaluation: a battle Pokémon exceptionally skilled at fighting]

[Night Shadow Ghost Wolf]

[Base Stats: low]

Barring anything unexpected, they were the wolf king and wolf queen of the Night Shadow Ghost Wolf pack before them.