Chapter 12: The Wolf Pack (Part 2)
At this moment, over twenty Windwolves surrounded Linley. More than a hundred deep-green wind blades filled nearly every inch of the cramped space around him.
There was no escape!
Linley’s body suddenly moved. With a powerful push of his foot, he shot forward like an arrow released from a bowstring, leaping toward a large tree ahead. But the wind blades were too dense—over a dozen still struck his body.
*Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!* ...
The wind blades hit him as if striking tough leather. The force of the impacts twisted Linley’s trajectory midair. He quickly grabbed a horizontal branch, flipped himself over, and scrambled up the tree. He climbed frantically to a height of twenty or thirty meters before stopping to look down.
“That was close.”
Linley breathed a sigh of relief. At this moment, a layer of armor resembling rock flowed across his skin. The surface of this armor shimmered with a faint, earthy yellow light, and a dense aura of earth elemental energy radiated from him.
Earth-Style Magic – Earthguard Armor!
Earthguard Armor could only be formed by a mage of at least the fifth rank. When a fifth- or sixth-rank mage conjured it, the armor took on a rocky form, condensed from earth elements. Its defensive power was formidable, capable of withstanding several attacks of equivalent rank. These wind blades were only at the third or fourth rank in power.
“Growl~~” A furious, low roar.
Linley looked down. The over twenty Windwolves below had wind swirling around their paws. Suddenly, they leaped—the two leading Windwolves jumped over ten meters high, landing directly on a thick branch. Their powerful claws gripped the wood, steadying them instantly.
Magical beasts like Windwolves had exceptional balance; climbing trees was no challenge for them.
“I’m not afraid of you climbing trees—I’m afraid of you *not* climbing them.” Linley felt his blood begin to boil. The more dangerous the situation, the more it pushed him to the brink of life and death, and the more it excited him deep down.
When it came to climbing, magical wolves were slightly inferior to humans. Linley quickly leaped between trees, and the pack of Windwolves chased after him with furious howls.
In the outer regions of the Magical Beast Mountain Range, a Windwolf pack was the most fearsome existence. Even a sixth-rank warrior would flee from such a group. After all, a sixth-rank warrior’s body wasn’t tough enough to withstand a single claw from these beasts.
Linley and the over twenty Windwolves began a chase twenty meters up in the trees. The two leading Windwolves were even faster than Linley. He could only change direction rapidly to evade them. One of the leading Windwolves suddenly shot several wind blades from its mouth, forcing Linley to swerve.
“Swish!” Several branches were severed by the wind blades and fell to the ground.
“Slash!”
The claw of one leading Windwolf raked across Linley’s back. The Earthguard Armor trembled several times, its earthy yellow light flickering.
“Shing! Shing! Shing!” ...
The Windwolf leader was terrifyingly fast and agile. Its claws struck Linley repeatedly—on his back, head, neck, and other spots. Fortunately, the Earthguard Armor, being formed from magical elements, could shift its shape and even flow to his head to form a helmet for protection. But under the relentless assault of the Windwolf leader, the armor’s earthy yellow light flickered continuously.
“This Windwolf leader is too fast—the Earthguard Armor won’t hold much longer.”
Gritting his teeth, Linley climbed higher and higher. Humans were lighter than Windwolves and better climbers. When he reached over eighty meters up, the Windwolves below could no longer follow. They could only spit wind blades at him. Linley dodged nimbly, only using the Earthguard Armor to block when he had no other choice.
“If you fall from this height, won’t you die?” Linley silently chanted a magic spell under his breath. Maintaining a calm mind in such danger was the result of his long-term training in stone carving, which required a peaceful state of mind.
“Bam!”
A wind blade struck the Earthguard Armor, which was already on the verge of collapse. It finally shattered, dissolving into earthy yellow light that faded into the air. Another wind blade came slicing toward him immediately, but Linley spotted it in time.
“An ordinary Windwolf’s wind blade is only as strong as a third-rank mage’s—it can’t kill me, a fourth-rank warrior.” Linley continued chanting his spell, letting the wind blade hit him. “Ssshh~~” The wound tore open, flesh curling back. A gruesome gash appeared on his chest, blood seeping out.
Linley just furrowed his brow slightly and kept chanting.
“Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!” ...
Over a hundred stones, each the size of a human head and glowing with earthy yellow light, rained down densely on the over twenty Windwolves behind him. In particular, over thirty stones slammed into the two Windwolf leaders, forcing them to fall. The stones were too numerous and too dense. A chorus of “Awoo~~” rang out as one Windwolf after another was knocked down, branches breaking and falling with them.
With this move, most of the Windwolves were knocked to the ground. But they reacted quickly, and their thick fur provided decent defense. As they fell, their claws grabbed at branches, and only a few suffered minor injuries. None died.
“The wound looks nasty, but it’s not deep. Still, I can’t keep bleeding like this.” A flame suddenly appeared on Linley’s right hand. He pressed the burning hand directly onto the wound. With a sizzling sound, Linley sucked in a sharp breath and furrowed his brow. The smell of roasted meat wafted from his chest as the wound was seared shut, leaving an ugly scar.
While doing this, Linley took the chance to dash away quickly, leaping between branches. He ran a long distance in one breath, then jumped straight down from the tree. Falling from over eighty meters, Linley dropped vertically, but a flow of air surrounded his body, slowing his descent. During the fall, he had already begun chanting another magic spell.
The Windwolf pack chased after him and caught up in no time.
The two Windwolf leaders landed first, growling as they stared at Linley. Their cold eyes held a hint of confusion. Why wasn’t Linley running? These highly intelligent magical beasts sensed he might have some trick up his sleeve.
“Growl~~” One of the Windwolf leaders let out a low roar. Immediately, a fourth-rank Windwolf obeyed the command and leaped straight at Linley.
Linley suddenly sprang up, pointed a finger at the gathered pack of Windwolves, and shouted in a low voice, “Gravity Spell!”
Earth-Style Magic – Gravity Spell!
This was a terrifying earth-style spell. It manipulated the flow of earth elements in a specific area to adjust the gravitational pull, drastically increasing the pressure on those within its range. The Gravity Spell could only be cast by a mage of at least the fifth rank. The stronger the mage, the greater the spell’s power.
“Hummm~~”
The air trembled. Within a hundred-meter radius centered on Linley, the ground glowed faintly earthy yellow. Every Windwolf within this range felt an immense pressure. The leaping Windwolf was forced down by the sudden increase in weight. The other Windwolves showed fear in their eyes. The two leaders roared and charged at Linley regardless, but their speed had dropped to less than half of what it was.
“Your speed is cut down, but I’m unaffected.” Linley’s body also glowed with earthy yellow light, as if resonating with the ground.
The earth elements of the Gravity Spell had a unique fluctuation. Different mages produced slightly different effects. By fully mastering the fluctuation of earth elements, one could use them to counteract the Gravity Spell’s influence.
With the enemy’s speed drastically reduced and his own unaffected, Linley dodged nimbly while quickly chanting another spell under his breath.
“Shlup! Shlup! Shlup! Shlup!” ...
Dozens of earth spikes suddenly erupted from the ground beneath the Windwolf pack. The sharp spikes pierced the bellies of seven Windwolves, spilling blood everywhere. Several other Windwolves were also severely wounded by the spikes.
“Growl~~”
The two Windwolf leaders grew frantic.
Within the gravity zone, their speed was less than half of normal, and they couldn’t catch the agile Linley. In a direct fight, a fifth-rank Windwolf could kill Linley, but they couldn’t get close to him! With his fifth-rank mage abilities, dealing with them wasn’t difficult.
“Growl~~” A low roar.
The two Windwolf leaders turned and fled without hesitation. The dozen or so surviving Windwolves followed suit. In the darkness, they vanished from Linley’s sight in the blink of an eye. Linley then shot forward like a gust of wind, closing in on three severely wounded Windwolves too slow to escape.
“Bam! Bam! Bam!”
Three consecutive kicks slammed into the heads of the three wounded Windwolves. With the sound of cracking skulls, they collapsed and stopped moving. Adding the seven Windwolves whose bellies had been ripped open by the earth spikes, a total of ten Windwolves lay dead. But due to his intense movement, the wound on Linley’s chest, which had been seared shut by fire, split open again, blood oozing out.