Chapter 42

Unexpectedly, this time, the now one-eyed Shadow Wolf was eager to attack her, yet abruptly sprang back a step, then raised its head and let out a summoning howl into the distance.

"Awooo..."

After that long howl, matching wolf howls echoed in the distance.

Seriously? Calling for backup because you can't win? Of all the things to learn, you copy ants? This is all you amount to as a mysterious Shadow Creature?

The new grudge (the Shadow Wolf) resembled the old hatred (the ants). The little insect flew into a rage, flashed aside, turned, and ran.

I'm not playing with a wolf that can't take a loss!

Chapter 42

Seeing the Shadow Wolf begin summoning its companions, Wen Jing decisively abandoned her half-finished hunt and turned to flee, despite how tempting the value of Shadow Creatures was.

Holding the enemy's unsporting conduct in contempt strategically did not mean disregarding it tactically.

She was confident she could defeat one Shadow Wolf, but she knew a pack was absolutely beyond her current ability to handle.

Both the habits of wolf-type creatures and the act of summoning companions showed that Shadow Wolves cooperated in combat.

Wen Jing feared Shadow Wolves in neither three dimensions nor two, but if they attacked as a pack, with some chasing her in physical form while others turned into shadows to attack hers, even her movement technique would not save her.

The same applied to her Energy-Shaping Weapon. To turn it into a giant weapon, she had to give up physical damage.

Wen Jing charged recklessly when the situation called for it, and never hesitated to back down when she needed to.

However, the Shadow Wolf summoning its companions reacted quickly too. The moment it saw her run, it gave chase again.

Wen Jing had only just managed to raise her speed to 7. In an insect marathon, she would absolutely have been a rocket-class athlete, but against a wolf-type creature five or six hundred times her length, even running her six legs hard enough to throw sparks could not match a casual leap from it.

After all, wolves were firmly in the top tier for running speed among animals their size.

The brutal comparison made her feel as though her nose were turning red.

Whoosh!

Once again, the little insect used Gravity Silk to dodge the Shadow Wolf's pounce from behind.

The advantage Wen Jing could exploit now was her tiny size. She moved in an unpredictable zigzag, left and right, up and down, sometimes even having to use the charging Shadow Wolf to carry her part of the way.

The Shadow Wolf could do nothing to her, but she could not shake it off either.

The situation had become one where she fled and it pursued... Pah, pah, pah! It's not like I can't escape even with wings. I'll kill it sooner or later!

Wen Jing thought bitterly. The next instant-

"Awooo!"

An unfamiliar wolf's howl rang out nearby, followed by several more from other directions.

The companions the Shadow Wolf had just summoned had arrived.

And through her body's sound radar, she sensed that the positions from which they howled vaguely formed an encirclement.

Come on... I'm just a bug. Do you really need an entire wolf pack?

I'll kill every last one of them sooner or later!

Wen Jing thought even more bitterly.

Of course, strategy was strategy, and tactics were tactics.

Taking advantage of the brief moment when the Shadow Wolf before her raised its head to answer its companions, she shot toward the only direction currently without any Shadow Wolves-the direction of the mysterious blue firelight.

The stronger the light, the fewer the shadows.

Under the circumstances, that place was her only solution.

That direction was also where she had vaguely sensed "super extra danger" when she first came here.

But this time was different. Perhaps because her spirit attribute had increased, her perception was clearer. Alongside the danger, she also sensed a subtle attraction.

Perhaps there was some powerful creature guarding treasure there, allowing her to divert the trouble onto someone else, just as she had when facing the ant army?

Being a tiny insect had its disadvantages, but it also had an advantage: she was easily overlooked.

The Shadow Wolf pack attacked, embarking on an exhilarating hunt in the darkness.

Their prey was a little black-and-red insect that looked like an ant.

Pouncing, biting, colliding...

One moment she barely brushed past black wolf fangs, and the next she faced a gaping maw, with corrosive breath blowing like a hurricane.

Between life and death, Wen Jing entered a flow state. Her potential erupted as she danced in the place closest to death.

[Mastered "Movement Technique - Advanced Movement Technique Lv4," Skill points +5]

[Mastered "Movement Technique - Advanced Movement Technique Lv5," Skill points +5]

[Mastered "Movement Technique - Advanced Movement Technique Lv6," Skill points +5]

What a rush!

Finally, as though scaling one moving mountain after another, Wen Jing broke through the layers of wolf silhouettes. Her movement technique advanced three levels in succession, and the view before her abruptly opened up.

There were none of the monsters or treasures she had initially imagined. She made out what lay ahead of her... an altar?

The altar was circular, ancient, and simple.

Its central feature was a mass of deep-blue flame burning quietly atop the altar at its center.

The firelight she had seen from afar came from here. The circle of ground surrounding the central altar was all part of a single stone structure connected to it, clean and level, without grass or loose stones, completely different from the surrounding wilderness.

So these are the traces of civilization in the Ancient Wilderness? Wen Jing could not help recalling the material from her Introduction to the Ancient Wilderness class.

For some unknown reason, all the Shadow Wolves pursuing her had stopped advancing. They did not enter, instead circling the edges of this trace of civilization.

But the next moment, Wen Jing learned why.

Whoom...

Her compound eyes blurred, and the world before her took on a layer of pale distortion.

Since there was no pain at all, Wen Jing did not immediately realize what had happened. Only after examining her antennae and six limbs did she discover that a layer of pale flame had inexplicably ignited over her body.

Does this happen just from entering the altar's range?

Wen Jing's heart tightened, and she prepared to manipulate her Gravity Silk to retreat-she had even been cautious enough not to set foot on the altar, instead using Gravity Silk to float above it, yet something had still gone wrong.

Bang!

The Shadow Wolf pack had remained locked onto her. The moment she moved to leave the altar, several wolf maws immediately snapped at her.

Wen Jing hurriedly dodged, then discovered that retreating had not extinguished the flames. They continued burning quietly over her body.

There's no water anywhere around here either!

So Wen Jing instead took the initiative to meet an attacking Shadow Wolf. She attached Gravity Silk to the top of its head and deliberately flailed and rolled, hoping to put out the flames. It would be even better if she could burn the Shadow Wolf in the process.

But it was useless.

The flames did not seem to burn in the air. They were entirely unaffected by physical factors and could not even spread to the Shadow Wolf.

Instead, her risky action nearly landed her in a wolf's mouth.

At the critical moment, Wen Jing had no choice but to charge back within the altar's range.

After all, although these flames were extremely ominous and bizarre, they seemed not to exist on a physical level. Her whole body appeared to be burning, but she did not actually feel any physical damage...

Just as she thought that, Wen Jing instinctively glanced at her panel.

The next instant, the violent shock to her mind made her neglect her control of the Gravity Silk, causing her body to sway in midair.

On the attribute panel, none of her basic attributes had changed.

But the skill point number at the very bottom had just ticked down-

From 34 to 33.

She had saved up through several occasions without evolving, and even with the three consecutive movement technique breakthroughs, she had only accumulated 35 skill points in total. In this brief time, she had unknowingly lost 2 skill points.

Wen Jing's mind buzzed. Her eyes nearly bulged out, and her heart ached as though it were bleeding.

So it wasn't burning my life away. It was burning my "life"!

It might as well burn my actual life instead!

The angrier and more anxious Wen Jing became, the calmer she was. She immediately issued an instruction to the panel.

"Evolve! Use all my skill points to evolve resistance to these flames!"

[Evolution direction determined...]

[Consuming points to evolve...]

[33 → 0]

The panel faded for a moment, then reappeared.

"..."

Yet, for the first time, neither the familiar evolution-complete notification nor a trait appeared.

Did the evolution fail?

The panel she had always relied upon had failed to work. Wen Jing was somewhat disappointed, but she did not feel the helplessness she had once imagined she would.

She immediately and calmly felt for changes occurring in her body, planning what she could do next.

Soon, she discovered the effect of this incomplete evolution, but it was not good news.

On the attribute panel, the previously unchanged attribute values began dropping across the board.

Health: 26, 25.98, 25.96...

Strength: 26, 25.98, 25.96...

Speed: 7, 6.98, 6.96...

Spirit: 16, 15.98, 15.96...

Wen Jing felt a gradual weakness descend upon her. She even analyzed it in her mind at the same time:

Before, I couldn't feel the flames at all. If I couldn't see them, it would have been as if they didn't exist. Now, this actually counts as being able to feel them.

A moment later, Wen Jing made her decision.

The situation was extremely bad, but she did not choose to turn back and break through the Shadow Wolves' encirclement.

Her skill points were all spent, and her attributes were still falling. Turning back now meant certain death, while the subtle attraction she felt from the blue flames suggested there might be a slim chance of survival at the altar.

If she gambled wrong, she would accept it.

Hovering in midair, the little insect attached her Gravity Silk to the blue flame on the altar ahead.

Whoom...

Instantly, Wen Jing felt pain.

The strand of Gravity Silk she had extended had clearly touched the stone altar below, yet a layer of invisible flame burned it, destroying it outright.