Chapter 95: Wolf Pack

Outside Saide Village, in the Savile Territory.

A pack of forest wolves with eyes reddened by hunger flickered in and out of sight amidst the wind and snow, yet they remained unwilling to leave; watching this pack with their obvious intentions, Dien felt deeply dissatisfied.

Aside from the inexplicable appearance of this wolf pack, the main issue was Sami and his group. It was fine that both parties had returned together, but a disagreement had arisen regarding how to handle the wolves.

Sami believed that since they had strength in numbers, the wolves might not dare to attack, and he wanted to return to town as quickly as possible; however, Dien hoped everyone would stay behind and use the village's geographical advantage to kill as many wolves as possible.

Just as the two sides were at a stalemate, Dien received a Sending from Xia Duo, but since he did not know 【Message】, he had to approach Sami again; Sami had also received a Sending from Xia Duo, and he was capable of replying.

"Xia Duo, if nothing goes wrong, the wolf pack in front of you should be the same one blocking our path."

Next, Sami explained the disagreement between him and Dien, but Xia Duo simply replied for them to wait a moment, then terminated the Sending.

"Aiwa, they are right ahead; the wolf pack has its eyes on them, and Dien wants to kill the wolves inside the village."

"Are there people in the village?" Aiwa immediately asked the crucial question.

"This—I didn't ask."

Xia Duo contacted Sami again; this time he inquired in detail about the situation there, then told Aiwa:

"There are people in the village, and they have also contacted the team, seeking help."

After an unexpected silence, Aiwa looked at Xia Duo with an expectant gaze and asked, "How do you think we should handle this?"

How to handle it? Even from a purely rational perspective, killing the wolves on the spot was better; starving wolves in a heavy snowstorm wouldn't refrain from attacking just because there were many people, and in fact, the chance of being followed and ambushed in the wind and snow was even greater.

"Since the wolf pack has already appeared, it surely won't easily let us, or even the people in the village, go. Rather than being ambushed on the road, it is better to use the village's terrain to kill a portion of them first."

Aiwa did not agree or disagree, but instead said, "Let's go over and rendezvous with them first!"

However, this reaction was equivalent to tacitly approving Xia Duo's decision; otherwise, they could have just returned the way they came.

Amidst the swirling wind and snow, the two advanced for another distance, and soon Xia Duo could clearly hear the low growls of the wolf pack ahead; although he did not understand beast language, he could still feel the irrepressible bloodthirsty impulse within them.

Xia Duo suddenly asked, "Aiwa, can you tell how many wolves there are?"

Only a professional could judge such a thing; Xia Duo himself could not, but Aiwa lived up to expectations: "I've heard at least twenty howling, and I'm not sure about the ones that haven't; several packs must have converged when they left the forest."

"Circle around from far away into the village."

"I know."

……

Outside Saide Village.

Sami notified everyone, "Xia Duo and a High-level Rogue are coming over; they estimate there are at least 20 forest wolves. Let's move closer to the village entrance."

As the forty people moved, the wolf pack became restless, and as Sami and the others entered the perimeter of the village's wooden fence, a forest wolf that appeared to be the alpha darted out, staring fixedly at the group.

Awoo—

After a long howl, the restlessness of the wolf pack subsided, and they began to slowly close in on the village.

While having people lift the wooden fence that had been knocked down by the heavy snow, Sami made preparations for battle.

But after the wolf pack approached within a certain distance of the village, they did not come any closer, and Sami and the others finally confirmed the number of wolves: a total of 26 wolves lined up in a row, staring at them with bloodthirsty eyes.

An invisible pressure welled up.

It was unknown how much time had passed; this oppressive atmosphere made Dien feel very uncomfortable, and he couldn't help but want to find some support. He looked at Captain Wuke, who was guarding his side the whole time, but did not feel much sense of security.

"Sami, how much longer until Xia Duo arrives?"

"No need to shout, we're here!"

At this moment, Xia Duo's voice suddenly came from behind, "There is a place in the village suitable for an ambush; Dewan, take a team and go with Aiwa."

"Alright."

Xia Duo arrived at the front and saw the forest wolves lined up outside the village, silently watching them; he also felt a bit daunted. He pulled Jibu over and asked: "Have you tried shooting?"

"The distance was too far before, and I shot a few arrows just after the wolf pack approached, but under the influence of the wind and snow, there was almost no accuracy. Those wolves could easily dodge them, and because it was too cold, two people's bowstrings just snapped."

"Do you know how to provoke forest wolves?"

"No need to provoke them; look at how their eyes are red with hunger—they could rush over at any moment."

Hearing this, Xia Duo felt much more relaxed. Hunger makes people crazy, and it can make wolves crazy too. If it were a pack of normal wolves, they might have known how to coordinate with each other, strike and retreat, and then seek a better opportunity!

"Sami, Dien, let's retreat slowly and defend carefully."

Knowing that the wolf pack was reaching its breaking point, Xia Duo did not intend to do any more provoking or luring; he only needed to defend strictly and wait for the opponent to lose patience and rush over.

As Xia Duo and the others retreated, the wolf pack also began to slowly approach, and soon they knocked over the wooden fence that had just been lifted, pouring in through the gap.

Xia Duo did not order an attack; he continued to defend strictly and retreat in an orderly fashion until they stopped in a narrow passage. Dewan was there, together with his men and the villagers.

But the wolf pack did not follow them in; instead, they sniffed around uneasily.

Some that were extremely hungry were already ignoring commands and running around the village, but the villagers and food in the village had long since been moved behind Xia Duo and his group, so where could they find anything to eat?

Only here, the scent of a crowd of living people attracted them.

Soon, a wolf could not help itself and tentatively walked a few steps into the passage, but then retreated back out. This happened several times, and none of them truly entered.

Just then, an alpha wolf let out a roar, and three or four forest wolves growled and walked out of the pack, charging into the passage.

"Prepare!"

For a team capable of fighting against Orcs, a wolf pack was not much; the only thing to worry about was the endless harassment and ambushes from the pack.

But now these starving wolves had finally reached their physiological and psychological limits and could not help but charge up, and this would be the beginning of their end.

Bang—

The starving wolves that were unable to leap over the front-row shield-bearers all crashed into the shields. One of the starving wolves was perhaps truly famished, as it collapsed and could not get up after just one collision with a shield.

The spearmen in the back row naturally could not let such a sitting duck go; one strike pierced its neck, and the wolf only let out a whimper before falling silent.

Soon, another batch of four wolves charged up, but their target was not Xia Duo and his group, but their own kind—the ones killed by Xia Duo and his group.

"Don't let them drag the corpses back!"

"Stab!"

Amidst the shouts, the team members soon dealt with this batch of four wolves as well.