Meanwhile, on the other side of the deep forest, the twilight was rapidly swallowing the last rays of daylight.
Thick fog, carrying fine dustings of snow, slowly rolled through the trees. Visibility had dropped to less than twenty paces.
On the snow-covered ground, blood splatters and chaotic footprints formed a shocking scene.
The suffocating scent of blood and the musky stench unique to wild beasts hung heavy in the air.
In this forest clearing, four people stood with their backs against a massive, moss-covered boulder. Clutching their spears, they formed a precarious defensive formation, their heavy breathing condensing into white mist in the freezing air.
Their eyes were filled with anxiety and tension as they stared ahead—
Six Shadow Wolves crouched low, their eerie green eyes glinting in the twilight, low, raspy growls rumbling in their throats.
“Hang in there... Navarro has already escaped!”
The middle-aged man leading them raised his voice slightly, offering words of encouragement:
“Instructor Calm of Stone Mill Village is a friend of mine. Once he gets the news, he'll definitely bring people to rescue us... Just hold out a little longer!”
The other three were covered in injuries of varying severity.
Hearing this, they gritted their teeth and nodded. “Understood, Instructor Dawson.”
But the tension and fear in their eyes was hard to hide.
They knew the gap in combat strength all too well. Shadow Wolves were pack-dwelling magical beasts—vicious, bloodthirsty, and extremely powerful.
Of the four, only Instructor Dawson was a Black Iron Rank Class holder. The other three were merely slightly stronger than ordinary folk, far from possessing any extraordinary power.
Had they not been barely holding their ground against this giant boulder, they would have been torn to shreds by the wolf pack long ago.
“Conserve your strength. Don't initiate any attacks...”
Instructor Dawson gripped his spear tightly. Its tip trembled slightly—not out of fear, but from the prolonged standoff and blood loss.
He had a deep claw wound on his left shoulder that went down to the bone, and every breath he took brought a sharp, stinging pain.
Seeing that Instructor Dawson's injury was growing increasingly severe, a trace of guilt flickered in the young men's eyes.
They knew very well that this wound was the result of a sneak attack by a Shadow Wolf when Instructor Dawson had voluntarily stayed behind to cover their retreat.
Otherwise, with the instructor's Black Iron Rank skills, he would never have suffered such a grievous injury.
Meanwhile, Dawson kept his gaze locked onto the six Shadow Wolves ahead, cursing inwardly:
‘These beasts... are far more cunning than any I've encountered before.’
‘They aren't rushing to attack because they're waiting for night to fall completely, and for us to grow weaker from blood loss.’
The green eyes of the Shadow Wolves glinted eerily in the deepening twilight. Crouched low, they would occasionally take a tentative step forward before retreating, always maintaining a suffocating distance.
Dawson could feel his strength draining away with his blood, and the agonizing pain in his left shoulder was starting to affect the stability of his arms. But he could not fall, and he certainly could not show any signs of exhaustion.
‘I must hold out until Calm arrives... Only then will these boys have a chance to break through.’
He inhaled a deep breath of freezing air. The stinging pain flared up again, but it also cleared his mind for a brief moment.
‘Navarro is fast on his feet. If all went well... he should have already met with Calm.’
‘Still... it seems there might not be enough time...’
Right at that moment, two Shadow Wolves on the right suddenly lunged forward, poised to pounce!
“Steady! Calm will be here any second!” Dawson barked, thrusting his spear forward. Gritting his teeth against the tearing pain in his left shoulder, he took a step forward.
The cold gleam of his spear tip forced one of the lunging wolves on the right to veer aside, but the other had already leapt from a distance, heading straight for the most severely injured youth on the flank!
“York!”
Dawson wanted to turn back and help, but he was pinned down by the other two wolves glaring at him from the front.
The young York turned deathly pale. Gritting his teeth, he thrust his spear forward!
But paralyzed by fear and physical exhaustion, his reaction was a fraction of a second too slow.
Just as the fangs were about to sink in!
Whoosh—!
At that critical, hair-breadth moment, a sharp whistling sound suddenly tore through the air!
Thwack!
A sharp arrow pierced the Shadow Wolf's body with pinpoint accuracy, the immense force sending it flying sideways before it crashed heavily onto the snow.
This sudden turn of events instantly brought a hush over the clearing.
The three youths froze in shock before bursting into ecstatic cries of survival.
“We're... we're saved!”
Color rushed back into their faces, their eyes filled with excitement and hope, and their collapsing morale instantly surged.
As for the experienced Instructor Dawson, his shock far outweighed his joy.
His eyes locked onto the arrow embedded in the wolf's body. The shaft had almost completely penetrated the beast, leaving only the fletching quivering on the outside.
“Pierced through... with a single arrow?!”
Dawson knew all too well that a Shadow Wolf's constitution far exceeded that of ordinary beasts. Their hides were tough, and their muscles were dense; even a direct hit from a standard hunting bow would struggle to cause such a lethal, penetrating wound.
The power behind this single shot was simply terrifying!
However, though the arrow had almost completely buried itself in the Shadow Wolf's body, leaving only the fletching trembling, it did not take its life immediately.
“Yip... Awooo!!!”
The pierced Shadow Wolf shrieked in agony, letting out a pitiful howl. It struggled to stumble back to its feet from the snow, its blood-soaked body crouching slightly as it actually spun around, attempting to flee back into the forest!
Dawson immediately roared, “The beast is trying to run! Stop it!”
The rest of the pack moved the moment they heard the howl, seemingly acting to cover the wounded wolf's retreat.
Seeing this, the group felt unwilling to let it go, but they did not dare to rashly give chase.
But right then—
Two more sharp whistling sounds rang out, almost in unison!
“Swoosh! Swoosh!”
Two arrows fired in rapid succession, swift as lightning.
One arrow buried itself precisely into the side of its head as it tried to turn, while the other nailed itself deep into its soft underbelly, which had been exposed during its turn!
“Whimper...”
The second brief wail cut off abruptly.
The massive body of the formidable Shadow Wolf stiffened completely, then crashed to the ground. After its limbs twitched a couple of times, it went completely still.
【Basic Archery +1】
【Basic Archery +1】
【.....................】
Matthew released the bowstring, his gaze sweeping over the small black characters floating before his eyes as he thought to himself:
‘This bow is indeed handy. However, if I hadn't broken through to the Black Iron Rank, those two shots just now would never have been so seamless.’
‘Just the strength required to draw this bow is absolutely beyond the reach of an ordinary person. Old Joel really came up with a treasure. This gold coin was well spent!’
After a brief moment of thought, Matthew snapped back to reality and looked at the group by the massive boulder.
He did not know them and had never seen them before. There were two reasons why he chose to intervene:
First, the middle-aged man had mentioned 'Instructor Calm' and seemed to know him.
Second, this middle-aged man was protecting the three youths around him, indicating he wasn't a bad person.
Just then, Dawson shouted in the direction of Matthew's position:
“Brave warrior! Those Shadow Wolves are trying to drag their companion's corpse away!”
Rate on N.U.
