Outside the forest.
The midday sun was somewhat glaring, spilling unfiltered over the sparsely wooded clearing. It stretched the thin silhouettes of the few people and the messy shadows of the trees across the ground.
It lent a touch of desolation to the scene.
A peculiar odor hung in the air, a mix of the fresh scent of vegetation, the dampness of the earth, and a thick, lingering stench of wolf blood.
Four or five wolf carcasses lay scattered haphazardly across the ground. Dark red blood welled from their torn wounds, quickly soaking into the soil beneath to form sticky puddles of gore.
The ground was in complete disarray. Upturned earth, flattened grass stems, and chaotic footprints left behind from the struggle collectively painted a picture of a ferocious battle.
Now, only four people remained in the clearing.
They stood in an arc with their backs against a thick old tree, barely forming a fragile defensive line.
Porter stood at the very front, his body slightly crouched, sweat sliding down his tense cheeks.
He gripped his weapon tightly, his gaze sweeping over the two unusual creatures ahead—
The Shadow Wolf King, its shoulder wounded but its ferocity undiminished, and the strange, squat, hideous kobold wielding a massive axe. One on the left and one on the right, they faintly formed a pincer movement.
Under normal circumstances, these two creatures from different species would never hunt together, let alone a Shadow Wolf King and a kobold, both of which clearly possessed considerable intelligence.
This is... absolute garbage luck!
Porter cursed inwardly. Facing such an absurd situation, he could only resign himself to his fate.
If it were just different species hunting together, it might have been barely acceptable—after all, in this forest, anything beyond common sense could happen.
What truly made him uneasy was the nature of these two creatures themselves.
He had originally thought that with his Silver Rank strength, even if he couldn't kill them, escaping unscathed would be more than easy.
Dealing with the Shadow Wolf King alone was well within his capabilities.
But with the addition of that strange kobold wielding a stone axe, the pressure suddenly doubled!
What was even harder to understand was that he wasn't alone.
Young Master Regg, the guard Thorne, and Chase were all Class holders with combat strength. Regg and Thorne were even Brass Rank!
Logically, with the four of them working together against these two magical beasts, they shouldn't have fallen into such a desperate situation.
However, that kobold was exceptionally ferocious—its strength was brute and its battle intent frenzied, pinning Porter down so completely that he couldn't spare any attention to support the others.
Though the Shadow Wolf King was wounded, the bodies of magical beasts were inherently tough, and the pain only triggered a more violent ferocity.
On the other hand, Regg, Thorne, and Chase were all wounded and their stamina was thoroughly depleted. Facing the wolf king's increasingly frenzied pounces, they gradually showed signs of being overwhelmed, their line on the verge of collapse.
Thinking of this,
Porter swept a glance at Regg and the others out of the corner of his eye. A trace of retreat surfaced in his gaze, immediately followed by a sudden flash of decisive, murderous light:
If I am to flee... I must make sure this Regg does not survive. Otherwise, once he makes it back alive, with the power of the Fiery Lion family, I will probably have no place left to hide within the kingdom.
As for himself, he would certainly no longer be able to operate in the open after this battle. However, he was a Silver Rank expert after all; hiding his identity to make a living would not be difficult, and he could still lead a life far superior to that of ordinary people.
As for Chase, in Porter's current calculations, there was not even a single thought spared for him.
Just as his murderous intent surged and his thoughts raced, the Shadow Wolf King lunged forward fiercely once again!
At the same time, the kobold on the flank kicked off the ground and charged, a bloody wind accompanied by a violent howl rushing straight at them!
Seeing this, a murderous light flashed in Porter's eyes. His intent to kill was fully aroused. Just as he prepared to strike in the chaos and kill Regg—
Swoosh!
A sharp, brief sound of tearing air suddenly ripped through the atmosphere!
An arrow shot forward like a streak of milky-white light, pinning itself precisely in the path of the Shadow Wolf King's pounce. It forced the fierce beast to twist its body mid-air to dodge, halting its offensive.
Before the wolf king could even land—
Swoosh!
A second arrow followed in rapid succession, as if it had long predicted where the beast would land, plunging firmly and ruthlessly into its soft underbelly!
“Awoo!”
The wolf king let out a painful wail, its body stumbling and rolling on the ground as dark red blood immediately gushed from the wound.
These two arrows, delivered in the blink of an eye, not only stopped the wolf king's fatal pounce but also heavily wounded the beast. It caused everyone present to contract their pupils in shock, their hearts trembling violently!
Regg and the guard were startled at first, but then a wave of relief washed over them at having escaped death. They hurriedly scanned their surroundings with vigilance, trying to locate the source of the arrows.
To the side, Chase looked at the milky-white streak of the arrow and the archery technique that had so precisely predicted the beast's movement. A strange sense of familiarity washed over his heart.
But the moment this thought surfaced, he forcefully suppressed it, unwilling to accept it.
Porter's emotions, however, fluctuated the most violently.
He had originally harbored murderous intent, planning to strike Regg in the chaos, but his plans were now completely derailed by these two sudden arrows.
In addition to his astonishment, he felt a wave of lingering fear...
He quickly suppressed his unusual expression, no longer thinking about fleeing or silencing witnesses.
“Roar, roar, roar...”
These few strange roars snapped everyone back to reality, and they all turned to look at the kobold.
The strange kobold, which had been roaring and preparing to pounce and kill, froze the moment it saw the milky-white streak of the arrow.
As if recalling some scene of extreme terror, its dark, hideous face suddenly stiffened, and a trace of human-like dread surfaced in its crimson eyes.
Its forward momentum ground to an involuntary halt, and it even shrunk back half a step, its body trembling slightly.
This scene shocked everyone present once again!
Chase knit his brows, unable to understand why this was happening.
The guard Thorne's palms, gripping his weapon tightly, broke into a light sweat. While he was glad that help had arrived, he instinctively grew more wary of this unknown archer and the power that could strike fear into such a fierce monster.
He pressed himself even closer to Young Master Regg.
And the one most deeply shocked was none other than Regg.
In just a brief moment, Regg's state of mind had undergone an earth-shattering transformation.
From the fear of being trapped in a desperate situation and the despair of impending death, to the wild joy and hope of escaping certain doom.
And now, to this moment.
Witnessing that fierce kobold shrink back in fear over just two arrows, an indescribably complex emotion surged violently into his heart.
Only Porter noticed something slightly amiss.
He still had strength to spare, after all, and could see that although the two arrows were sharp and precise, heavily wounding the Shadow Wolf King, the power and energy level they displayed were absolutely not enough to terrify the exceptionally fierce kobold to such an extent.
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