62: Chapter 60 Death Crisis

Besides Xia Tao, among the dozen or so figures fleeing at top speed, a few were members of the Xuanbing Team that Fang Yu had seen before, though he did not know their names; Fan Xing was not among them.

The bodies of the several Xuanbing Team members were stained with varying degrees of blood, and at this moment, they all looked extremely disheveled.

There were another seven or eight people rushing ahead of them, both men and women, whose faces looked to be in their thirties or forties; they did not look like students of Huguang Martial Arts University, but were most likely societal Martial Artists, their faces filled with shock and anger.

"These societal Martial Artists are clearly slower than Xia Tao, yet they are rushing further ahead at this moment—were they caught in the fallout?" Fang Yu instantly made a judgment: "Could this Wolf Tide have been drawn by the Xuanbing Team?"

"Or rather, was the Xuanbing Team hit by the Wolf Tide first?"

"Where is Fan Xing?" Just in the split second he looked back, the thought unconsciously surfaced in Fang Yu's mind—an instinct of a powerhouse.

However, the overwhelming thought in Fang Yu's mind was—run!

"Hurry, drop everything and run!" Fang Yu let out a low roar!

"It's a Wolf Tide, let's go quickly."

"So many Wind Wolves." The expressions of Bai Chen, Qin Yang, and the others also changed drastically; even with their vision, they could clearly see those silver-gray Wind Wolves, each exceeding a height of 1.5 meters.

The Wind Wolves covered the sky and earth.

As far as the eye could see, there were probably hundreds of them, and even more Wind Wolves were rushing out from the mountain forests behind. The ground was trembling, and it was unknown how many more Wind Wolves were still hidden.

It was like a surging tide.

This was no longer a simple beast pack, but could be called a 'small beast tide'.

Vicious Beasts in the Wilderness Area also belonged to different races and were each a link in the food chain. Coupled with intelligence factors, most of them were merely prey hunted down by human Martial Artists.

Under normal circumstances, human Martial Artists would not be attacked as long as they did not set foot in the territories of the Vicious Beasts.

But there were also some beast groups that were exceptions.

Such as canines, rodents, pigs, and so on, along with a few other special groups... Their reproduction rate was incomparably astonishing, allowing them to form unimaginably huge populations numbering in the hundreds, thousands, or even a terrifying million-level scale.

Once such a massive population revolted, swarming everywhere like a tide, they would submerge and devour every Vicious Beast and human Martial Artist encountered along the way, thus forming a beast tide.

Wind Wolves were also known as 'gray wind wolves'.

They were one of the fastest-reproducing branches among wolf-type Vicious Beasts.

Facing such an astonishingly numerous herd of Wind Wolves, whether it was Fang Yu, Bai Chen, or the others, their thoughts were completely identical—throw away everything, lighten their load, and run quickly.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

Although they felt heartbroken over their spoils of war, under the crisis of death, Xia Yao, Xiong Meng, and the others immediately discarded the things on their backs and fled for their lives frantically behind Fang Yu.

"Hoo!" Fang Yu ran the fastest, and the speeds of Bai Chen and Qin Yang were not slow either.

But the speeds of Xia Yao and Xiong Meng were much slower.

Especially Xia Yao.

Sprinting through the mountain forests, because of obstacles, it did not just depend on the life level; it also heavily tested skill standards... In both aspects, Xia Yao was the weakest in the team.

In just an instant, Xia Yao was about to be left behind.

"Not good, my speed is too slow; I'll be caught up to in at most a dozen seconds, I'm dead for sure." Xia Yao's face turned pale white, though she did not blame her teammates. If one fell into the encirclement of such a beast herd, even a level 30 Senior Martial Artist would perish.

Under the pressure of death, everyone was struggling to save themselves.

Who else could look after her?

"Xia Yao! Hold on tight!" A sudden, explosive roar caused a trace of astonishment to flash through Xia Yao's heart. She saw that Fang Yu, who had originally been the fastest and had already rushed to the very front, suddenly turned back.

With a flash, he had already rushed right in front of her.

A pair of large hands reached out, and like an eagle catching a chick, instantly clamped onto her shoulders. Following that, with a burst of strength, Fang Yu tossed Xia Yao directly onto his back.

"Boom!"

Fang Yu's muscles were tense all over, his legs exerted force, and his entire body rushed forward once again like a rolling thunder.

"Me?"

"Fang Yu is carrying me on his back?" Xia Yao was a bit dazed. She had already fallen into complete despair, never expecting that at such a life-and-death moment, Fang Yu would actually turn back and take her along to escape.

A wave of immense gratitude welled up in her heart.

Such an action required taking a massive risk.

Xia Yao gritted her teeth and closed her mouth, trying her best to grip Fang Yu's clothes tightly, pressing closely against him while adjusting her posture to minimize any impact on Fang Yu's physical exertion.

She didn't hypocritically shout things like 'Put me down'.

If there was still hope, who wouldn't want to live?

Swish! Like a cheetah, even with Xia Yao on his back, Fang Yu's speed far exceeded that of Xiong Meng and Qin Yang, and he quickly caught up with them.

Furthermore, Fang Yu even had extra energy to continue observing the situation, and he quickly discovered that these Wind Wolves, though looking frantic, were actually all charging directly at the members of the Xuanbing Team.

"Captain!"

"Those Wind Wolves are heading for the Xuanbing Team, let's skirt around them." Fang Yu shouted explosively: "Don't get dragged down by them."

Swish! Fang Yu suddenly leaped, his body angle shifting slightly to one side.

"Quick, keep up with Fang Yu."

"Let's go." Bai Chen and the others immediately followed the direction, trying to flee toward the flank.

"Run quickly."

"Keep up with that group of Martial Artists ahead." That group of affected societal Martial Artists had also discovered this point and frantically rushed toward the direction where Fang Yu was.

They attempted to avoid the Xuanbing Team.

"Follow them."

"Surpass them."

"Make them block the tide for us." How could the members of the Xuanbing Team let them get their wish? They similarly disguisedly followed them and rushed to one side.

Or rather, the Xuanbing Team was deliberately dragging them down into the water to buy themselves a chance to escape.

Boom!

Xia Tao's steps were bold and unrestrained. Like a fierce tiger, he swiftly caught up to that group of societal Martial Artists who were also running for their lives, a ferocious and angry smile flashing across his face.

"A bunch of inferior Martial Artists, telling them to stop and help yet they dare not to stop, courting death!" Xia Tao suddenly lunged forward, his body lowering like a fierce tiger pouncing on its prey, and the battle saber in his hand slashed fiercely toward the thigh of a societal Martial Artist.

"Puff~"

"Crack~" As thousands of kilograms of force suddenly erupted, the sharp battle saber instantly sliced open the tough trousers, cutting a huge wound. A large amount of blood instantly gushed from the thigh of that societal Martial Artist who looked to be around forty years old. Although it didn't hurt the bone, excruciating pain assaulted his mind, causing him to stagger and his speed to plummet drastically.

"You!" This societal Martial Artist revealed a look of despair, staring angrily at Xia Tao.

"Big brother."

"Old Yu." The other societal Martial Artists in the same team unconsciously slowed down by half a beat, looking with extreme anger toward the approaching Xia Tao.

They hadn't expected the other party to be so shameless.

"All of you stay behind and block this group of beasts." Xia Tao smiled ferociously, swaying his body once more to continue charging toward the societal Martial Artists ahead of him.

"Run away."

"Let's go."

"This bastard!!" These societal Martial Artists were both shocked and angry. They all saw through Xia Tao's intentions—he actually wanted to wound them, both forcing them to fight and using the scent of blood to stimulate the Wind Wolves so as to attract them.

They wanted to step aside.

However, Xia Tao's speed was too astonishing, and his strength far exceeded theirs. Any casual flash of blade light he chopped out was something they couldn't withstand, causing them to get hit one after another, their speeds plunging sharply.

Most of Xia Tao's attacks injured their legs without damaging the bones, which wouldn't cause a huge impact on their overall strength, but the impact on their speed was massive.

"Damn it! Ah!" Roaring, a societal Martial Artist tried to wave his weapon to counterattack.

"Hahaha..." Xia Tao, however, revealed a smug smile and mocked: "A bunch of inferior Martial Artists, actually still wanting to hurt me? Do you deserve to? All of you go feed the wolves for me."

"With their help, the hope of my Xuanbing Team escaping can increase by a few more points." Xia Tao looked back at his teammates and rebuked sternly: "Quick!"

Swish! Swish! Swish! The members of the Xuanbing Team finally caught up to that group of injured societal Martial Artists.

In an instant, they overtook them.

In reality, Xia Tao wasn't truly that kind-hearted to help his teammates, but this operation was led by him. Belonging to the same team, and since he was the captain, once the casualties of his teammates were too heavy... a large amount of his primal points would be deducted, and he might even be demoted in rank.

As for these societal Martial Artists... in Xia Tao's view, he had only wounded them, and even if they were torn apart by the Wolf Tide, the impact on him would not be large.

"Rumble~~ Howl~ Howl~"

The overwhelming Wind Wolves impacted forward. Most of them still exerted all their strength to pursue the Xuanbing Team, but a large number of Wind Wolves were still stimulated by the bloody scent diffusing in the air, charging toward those societal Martial Artists.

"Puff!"

"Swish~~"

"Damn it! We've been framed by that bastard." This group of societal Martial Artists were filled with such hatred that their eyes split open, and they had no choice but to quickly form a circular defense formation, fighting desperately against these Wind Wolves.

"Ah!"

A Martial Artist's shoulder was bitten off in one gulp by a Wind Wolf, his broken arm flying away.

"Howl~" Stimulated by the scent of blood, a large batch of Wind Wolves became even more frantic.

...

After the Xuanbing Team rushed past this group of societal Martial Artists, they still closely followed the Chiyan Team, and the distance between both sides was getting closer and closer. After all, the strength of the Xuanbing Team members was generally stronger.

"So shameless."

"Too shameless." Bai Chen's eyes turned red as he gritted his teeth and said: "This Xia Tao is clearly trying to use us as human shields. Fang Yu, let's all scatter and run."

"Scatter and run." Qin Yang's gaze was also cold: "The target of the Wolf Tide is not us."

Gathering together made the target too big, and with the Xuanbing Team members biting onto them relentlessly, it meant certain death... Scattering to escape, coupled with not being the main target of the Wolf Tide, would instead give them a glimmer of survival.

But right at this moment.

"Rumble~" The mountain forest ahead of the crowd violently trembled, followed by the sound of trees being snapped. Several black afterimages leaped out from a side cliff, landing heavily on the ground.

They were three giant wolves covered in pitch-black fur all over, extraordinarily beautiful. Their heights all exceeded two meters, and their body lengths reached a staggering four to five meters.

Two of the giant wolves were slightly smaller in size, with a little gray mixed into their fur.

But the leading giant wolf's fur was shiny black without a shred of Impurities. The most eye-catching feature was its blood-red eyes, resembling two raging flames.

Its eyes were very bright, carrying a trace of intelligence and containing endless fury.

"Humans who stole the treasure!" Its eyes swept past Fang Yu, Bai Chen, and the others at the very front, firmly locking onto Xia Tao.