Wolf Pack

The swift and decisive actions of this group were somewhat beyond the man's expectations.

"You... you plan to go crusade against the Snow Wolf King right now?" the man's voice trembled with disbelief.

"Yeah, it's definitely better to resolve this as quickly as possible," Xia Lun said as a matter of course, his left hand resting on the hilt of the sword at his waist.

"But even if you truly have the strength to fight the wolf pack, I'm afraid it will be very difficult to take it down," the man couldn't help but continue. "That Snow Wolf King is very cunning. If it encounters a powerful opponent, it won't fight head-on... This guy rarely attacks openly during the day, but instead launches surprise attacks at night... That's why we've been tormented so miserably."

"Well, just remember to have our reward ready when we get back." Liyana waved casually at the man, acting as if she were the main force of the team.

The figures of the Wings of Dawn gradually faded into the wind and snow.

...

After trekking for who knows how long, the raging blizzard finally began to subside. The world before them was covered in a boundless expanse of pure white, as pristine as a maiden's unblemished, tender skin.

"Moke, go! Use Sing!" Liyana pointed at the vast, white snowfield ahead.

"Bastard..."

"Stop with the 'bastard'. 'Bastard' this, 'bastard' that all day long, don't you get tired of saying it? Can't you come up with something new?" Liyana suddenly interrupted Moke. "My ears are growing calluses from hearing it."

Moke: ...

Moke stepped forward, cursing under his breath, and began to sing.

Taking a deep breath of the piercingly cold air, he opened his mouth. A melody that absolutely did not belong in the mortal realm, carrying an eerie rhythm that twisted the soul, flowed out with difficulty from his throat.

However, his companions were now able to face Moke's singing directly without covering their ears.

"Moke has been singing for so long, yet he hasn't improved at all," Liyana sighed softly as she looked at Moke's back.

"Don't let Moke hear you, he'll be very sad," Musen's deep and rich voice sounded beside Liyana.

Well, Musen didn't refute Liyana's words; he thought the exact same thing.

"It would be terrible if he did improve. He might not be able to attract monsters anymore," Liyana said somewhat seriously.

Musen: "Not necessarily. The effect might be even better."

"Musen... I never thought you could say such hurtful things sometimes." Liyana cast a sidelong glance at Musen.

Aina silently raised her hand, her slender staff tracing an arcane trajectory in the air, forming a magic circle.

It was an amplification spell, like an invisible tide, pushing Moke's indescribable singing out in all directions across the snowfield.

This skill of Moke's... Xia Lun and the others had long since developed and put it to use.

"Range?" Aina asked Xia Lun.

"Expand it a bit more, we can handle it," Xia Lun replied.

His left hand had completely recovered. To be honest, Xia Lun was now itching for action, wanting to test whether his skills had regressed.

"Alright." Aina pointed her staff into the air, conjuring several more magic circles out of thin air to broadcast Moke's voice even further.

"What a grand spectacle." Liyana whistled. "Go, Moke! This is your stage!"

"I'll come beat you up after I'm done!"

The snowfield was vast, empty, and deathly silent; it took quite a bit of time for Moke's voice to travel out.

Liyana narrowed her eyes, locking her gaze tightly on the distant, blurry boundary where the pure white of the snowfield met the sky.

"Are my eyes playing tricks on me?" Liyana stared in that direction for a while, rubbed her eyes, and then muttered, "Why does it look like something is moving?"

"Be on guard."

Xia Lun slowly drew the longsword from his waist, pointing it at an angle toward the ground. The blade rippled with a cold gleam under the reflection of the snow.

Aina lowered her raised staff, and the magic circles gradually dissipated like phantoms.

Moke also immediately stopped singing and agilely retreated into the formation, standing together with his companions.

"Ah, there really is something." Liyana leisurely drew a long arrow from her quiver. From the moment Xia Lun took his stance, she felt no tension at all.

A pack of snow wolves slowly approached them, their pure white fur blending seamlessly with the snow. If not for the fine snow dust kicked up by their movements and the occasional flash of deep blue eyes, they would be almost indistinguishable.

Aina slightly raised her staff, a powerful halo of magic gathering at the tip, but Xia Lun reached out and gently pressed her arm down.

"We haven't spotted the target yet... Also, let me go first." Xia Lun revealed a warm smile.

Aina nodded silently, withdrawing the pent-up magic.

"Awooo—!"

A mournful and drawn-out wolf howl tore through the tranquility of the snowfield. As if hearing a bugle call to charge, the slowly approaching wolf pack instantly accelerated, sprinting toward the Wings of Dawn at an astonishing speed.

Well, a small team of only a few people—the wolf pack clearly took them for easy prey.

Xia Lun bent his knees slightly, lowering his center of gravity. Then, like an arrow released from the bowstring, he turned into a phantom and fearlessly charged into the surging wolf pack.

If one looked from above, they would see a striking white torrent rise up, followed by an exploding mist of blood.

The longsword in Xia Lun's hand seemed to meet no resistance whatsoever. Every swing carried a piercing shriek that tore through the air. His seemingly casual slashes unleashed sword qi that sliced through flesh and bone as easily as cutting tofu.

Sharp claws carrying a foul wind attacked from all directions, but Xia Lun's figure was like a swimming dragon, leaping, dodging, turning, and shifting. All the attacks merely brushed past the corners of his clothes.

"Holy Sword."

Dazzling holy light descended, coalescing on the longsword in Xia Lun's hand.

Hum—!

Amidst a soul-trembling hum, a giant sword over a dozen meters long formed in Xia Lun's hand.

The giant sword swept horizontally like divine punishment descending. A massive swath of snow wolves was obliterated into fine powder by its peerless might before they could even let out a whimper.

"Xia Lun is this fired up?"

Liyana was startled by the commotion ahead. A symbolically fired arrow pierced through a snow wolf's body. Then, thinking of something, she smiled somewhat mischievously, "Has he been holding it in for too long?"

"What did you say?" Aina's cold, clear voice sounded beside Liyana.

"N... nothing." Liyana's heart skipped a beat. Fortunately, the young lady mage didn't understand.

"Don't lose focus on the battlefield."

With Xia Lun away, Aina naturally took over the command. "Prepare to cover him."

"Yes! Vice-Captain Aina!" Liyana replied loudly.

Even though Xia Lun up ahead didn't look like he needed covering at all.

The number of snow wolves was still quite large. A few broke through Xia Lun's defensive line and lunged toward the team.

Before Liyana could even start aiming, the snow wolves were impaled by ice spikes bursting from the ground.

"Aina, aren't you best at fire magic?" Liyana asked curiously.

Aina looked at Liyana as if she were looking at an idiot.

"It's cold. Hard to ignite."