44: Chapter 44 Two Tigers Cannot Share One Mountain

Because the Thunder Wolf Leader was curled up, Zhang Mu could not accurately judge the specific size of its body.

However, judging from its wolf head, which was larger than his entire body, it should be quite substantial.

The good news was that the Thunder Wolf Leader's magical fluctuation was only at the third tier, and it was on the lower end of the third tier at that.

If it were truly a fourth-tier beast, they likely wouldn't have a chance of winning even if they fought for their lives.

However, the four of them were at most at the Trainee level, equivalent to a second-tier magical beast, so they still had to resort to an unprincipled sneak attack.

The four of them controlled their Mental Energy fluctuations and began to act according to the plan they had discussed on the way here.

Vag was an Elf Clan warrior, his physique was a cut above the other three, and he was proficient in Knight Techniques, so he was responsible for close-quarters skirmishing.

Of course, although he practiced breathing techniques, he did not usually call himself a knight, and Knight Techniques were not exclusive to knights.

According to the common knowledge from Avril's little classroom—all close-quarters non-magical combat skills were collectively referred to as "Knight Techniques."

Frederica was proficient in blessing magic and possessed an archery talent that stood out even within her clan, making her most suitable for long-range containment from the woods outside the clearing.

Zhang Mu and Avril would focus on outputting firepower, striving to blast the Thunder Wolf Leader to death with magic as quickly as possible.

Their movements were agile, yet quiet.

Especially Vag; this guy lifted his feet high and set them down heavily when walking, yet he landed without a sound—this must be an innate talent of the Elf Clan.

The three moved slowly toward the center of the clearing in a triangular formation; when they were about fifty meters away, the Thunder Wolf Leader's erect ears twitched.

This action seemed to be the horn for starting the battle; Vag abandoned his stealth, brandished his longsword, and charged toward the Thunder Wolf Leader at a speed that was almost impossible to see with the naked eye.

Trainee Knight Technique—Charge.

Avril and Zhang Mu simultaneously threw Ice Cones to distract the Thunder Wolf Leader, which had already leaped up, hoping that Vag's longsword could inflict enough damage.

As expected of a third-tier magical beast, the Thunder Wolf Leader showed no signs of panic, pushing off with its limbs to the side to dodge the trio's attacks, but there were more than three of them.

"Whoosh—"

The moment it jumped, an arrow shrouded in red light anticipated its landing spot, piercing through the dark night like a meteor.

"Awoo..." The arrow accurately struck its left forelimb.

With rich combat experience, she knew the Thunder Wolf's skull was hard and the arrow might not penetrate, so taking the opportunity to weaken its mobility first was the optimal choice.

Zhang Mu inwardly praised her, glanced at the tree behind which Frederica was hiding, and raised his staff; ten crimson fireballs, spaced about a meter apart, smashed toward the Thunder Wolf Leader like a string of pearls.

Despite missing a leg, it possessed agility that was still considered formidable compared to humans, and it hopped on three legs to dodge the fireballs.

However, Zhang Mu had anticipated this; it wasn't like he hadn't seen lively three-legged cats or three-legged dogs before, let alone a magical beast belonging to the "transcendent side."

The fireballs, intentionally linked in a string, saw the first three miss.

From its three jumping dodges, Zhang Mu had already gathered enough information.

The Thunder Wolf Leader crouched, preparing to jump to dodge the fourth fireball.

Before it could jump, Ice Cones appeared, and he reminded Avril: "Vag, force it to move right from the left flank; Senior Sister, aim twenty yards to the right."

Halfway through his sentence, her Ice Cones had already pierced out.

Reacting quickly, Zhang Mu followed up by firing his Ice Cones, muttering inwardly that she was indeed a genius magician of the new generation who had fought unrivaled across the country and its neighboring nations.

During the battle, Vag didn't care that he was being directed by a human.

Relying on his keen insight, he judged the landing spot of the Ice Cones behind him and circled to the right, forcing it to exert force a second time in mid-air and fall toward that spot.

"Whoosh—"

Another predicted arrow with red light, extremely fast, arrived before the others, piercing through the Thunder Wolf Leader's right forelimb after it landed.

Afterward, five Ice Cones struck in succession, completely crippling its two forelimbs.

Lying on the muddy ground, it let out a few miserable cries, whined as it failed twice to get up, then simply gave up and lifted its head: "Awoo—"

The high-pitched wolf howl resounded through the clearing.

"Not good! It's calling its pack, end this quickly!" Avril exclaimed, waving her staff, "Ice and Snow, condense!"

As the incantation ended, a spear condensed from Ice and Snow whistled out—a primary magic, Ice Spear.

It was a magic with extremely strong penetration, but its speed was relatively slow, generally used to attack enemies that had lost their mobility.

On a tall tree at the edge of the clearing, Frederica stood steadily on a thin branch at the treetop, glancing at Avril—a genius among humans, huh.

"With only five bytes of assistance, she can release magic one tier higher than her own level; a very impressive human."

From the quiver on her back, she pulled out a refined iron arrow, drew her bow, and began to chant: "Arrow, become sharp."

Primary blessing magic—Sharpness, which could increase the sharpness of weapons that relied on blades to inflict damage, and it carried a certain amount of magic damage.

"Whoosh—"

The arrow and the spear approached the Thunder Wolf Leader, which was lying on the ground and unable to move.

Zhang Mu looked at the two terrifying magical attacks and grinned; with outsiders present, he couldn't release his white fireballs.

But with those two attacks of theirs, he reckoned the battle would be over.

Thus, he casually threw a few red fireballs just for show.

Vag clearly thought the same; to avoid being caught in the aftermath, he retreated frantically before the magic and arrows even arrived.

However, the third-tier Thunder Wolf Leader clearly would not easily give up hope of survival; it opened its large mouth, capable of swallowing a calf whole, within which thunder roared and lightning flashed.

The next second, several silver-white lightning chains as thick as arms struck toward the three people in the clearing, arriving before them in the blink of an eye.

"Watch out!"

Zhang Mu blocked in front of Avril, intending to use his white fireballs to counter it.

"Don't." Avril softly reminded him, waving her staff as an ice shield appeared before her, blocking the incoming lightning chains.

Frederica was far away and not within the attack range; Vag was the closest and in a bit more trouble, but fortunately, his strength was not weak, so he jumped left and dodged right, finally managing to escape.

This move basically emptied the Thunder Wolf Leader's magical reserves, and coupled with the sneak attack and the successive magical bombardments, it finally couldn't hold on, and its huge head collapsed onto the ground.

The rise and fall of its abdomen gradually slowed down; it was clearly taking more breaths than it was letting out.

The four of them didn't dawdle; the magical beast tide would only disperse when the leader died, so they greeted it with arrows, magic, and longswords all at once.

Soon, the Thunder Wolf Leader stopped moving.

Zhang Mu and Avril had exhausted their magic and were both panting heavily as they walked to the side of the corpse.

In the distance, Frederica also jumped down from the tree and walked toward them, while Vag sheathed his longsword: "The leader is dead, the magical beast tide will automatically disperse soon, Your Highness, we..."

"Something's not right." Zhang Mu's mutter interrupted him, and the three looked over together.

"What's the problem?"

He stared at the abdomen of the corpse lying on its side, where there were six double-row nipples; this was a female wolf.

If it were just a female wolf, Zhang Mu naturally wouldn't care, but the number of magical beasts was so large that it exceeded common sense, plus the weak performance of this Thunder Wolf during the battle.

Even though it belonged to the weaker side of third-tier magical beasts, and they had crippled one of its legs with a preemptive sneak attack, it shouldn't have had so little combat power.

"Could there be another one?"

"Ignorant..." Vag curled his lips, "A magical beast tide will only have one leader."

"And since the pack members it called haven't appeared yet, it means the Thunder Wolf pack has already sensed the leader's death and migrated to other areas of the forest."

Avril was somewhat displeased with his tone and was about to speak.

"Awoo—" An ear-piercing wolf howl came from the forest behind them; they subconsciously turned their heads, and a Thunder Wolf, a size larger than the corpse, leaped out of the woods.

It wasn't calling its pack; it was calling its own man!

A pair of mate leaders; no wonder the number of gathered magical beasts was so high—empiricism kills!

Although the few of them hadn't been injured in the previous battle, they were all severely exhausted, with only Frederica being slightly better off.

But she alone couldn't be a match for this Thunder Wolf in front of them, whose magical fluctuation was clearly at the peak of the third tier.

"Run in separate directions!"

Zhang Mu pulled Avril's hand and rushed toward the woods at the edge of the clearing; Vag and Frederica reacted quickly as well, fleeing in the opposite direction from the two.

The true Thunder Wolf Leader had lightning faintly flowing through its fur, crackling and popping from time to time.

Watching the four people fleeing, it didn't immediately chase them; it first went to the corpse and sniffed with its nose, perhaps confirming that its wife was gone.

It opened its mouth and began to tear at the corpse, and within a few minutes, its wife was in its own stomach.

It lifted its head and looked around, let out a wolf howl, and the Thunder Wolf pack in the forest immediately responded with howls, surrounding the Elf Clan side.

It moved its own limbs and chased toward Zhang Mu and Avril like lightning.