Chapter 372: The Long Sword Blooms — The Sun Wheel Rises from the Earth

The Northland Wolf lunged over in a rush, and Jier stood his ground, bracing his shield.

Thud!

A powerful impact traveled from the shield into his body, but this was all within Jier's expectations. His feet slid back over ten centimeters due to the accumulated snow, but his overall posture did not change in the slightest.

After the Northland Wolf landed with a hiss, Jier smashed his Long Spear downward, first knocking it into a stagger, and then, Jier pressed the spearhead against the wolf's body, exerting force with his legs, channeling the strength of his entire body into the spear shaft.

The sharp iron spear shaft pierced through the long fur on the Northland Wolf, drilling into its flesh. It was forced back two steps by Jier's push, until its four furry feet gripped the ground, the long wolf claws making a rustling grinding sound against the earth and stone beneath the snow.

The two held their ground for a moment.

Immediately after, the Northland Wolf ignored the wound on its body and the spear tip digging into it, directly raising its upper body to tear at Jier with its two front paws.

However, this was also within Jier's expectations.

He had figured it out: these wild wolves only had these few tricks—lunging, biting, scratching, the three-axe routine of Cheng Yaojin.

"Hmph!" Jier's left-hand shield parried left and right, blocking the wolf's repeated rapid attacks. The opponent's strength was not low, but compared to the weapon-wielding of a Human, it was still far behind.

He could even block Humans wielding heavy weapons with both hands, let alone this trick from a Northland Wolf.

As the Northland Wolf's offensive slowed, Jier lowered the tail end of the Long Spear in his right hand and braced it with his foot. He gripped the spear shaft tightly with his right hand and lifted it backward, hoisting the Northland Wolf into the air.

The wolf, hoisted by the Long Spear, had its four feet off the ground, and the entire wolf became panicked.

Immediately after, the strike Jier had anticipated arrived as expected.

Whoosh, whoosh! Whoosh!

Three Arrows tore through the cold air, striking the struggling Northland Wolf in the air directly from behind.

Pfft, pfft—the wolf's head was struck by two arrows. Pfft—the wolf's belly was struck by another.

The Northland Wolf, which had been struggling in a panic, lost the luster in its eyes, and its movements came to a halt.

Jier moved his right foot away, then flicked the Long Spear, throwing the dying wolf to the ground.

On the other side, seven or eight Northland Wolves that had suddenly burst out from the snow, seeing no Humans where they had expected, ran over following the sounds from the side of the hill.

Seeing their companion who had been directing them shot dead, they howled in anger and charged aggressively along the ruts left by the carriage in the snow.

Jier was not afraid at all; he thrust his Long Spear forward and ran, leveling the spear to stab directly at the leading Northland Wolf!

At the same time, the old Hunter by the carriage called out the young Hunter guarding the back of the carriage, and then the six of them, relying on the carriage, fired two consecutive volleys of Bow and Arrow before Jier engaged the enemy.

The whooshing sound of the Bow and Arrow flying across the battlefield was clearly audible to Jier, even with his Helmet on.

The six Hunters each had different targets, and the timing of their shots varied. Generally speaking, the two old Hunters shot at the same target at the same time, while the other Hunters each chose the Northland Wolf they deemed the greatest threat as their target.

In an instant, the running Wolf Pack changed from angry howls to continuous wails. Jier then joined in; his leveled Long Spear stabbed diagonally into the side of the fastest Northland Wolf, piercing through its entire body and exiting the other side.

Jier knew that while this dealt a heavy blow to this Northland Wolf, it would be difficult to pull his Long Spear out again, at least not until the battle was over.

So he immediately released the spear shaft, pulled with his right hand at his left waist, and with a *clang*, instantly drew his reforged Hunting Sword.

A Northland Wolf lunged at Jier while running; Jier dared not take it head-on, shifting his steps to dodge the wolf's fierce lunge.

Immediately after, Jier slashed his sword across the wolf running past him, tearing a long wound on its back. The fur parted smoothly, the wolf skin slicing like paper. This caused blood to spray from the wolf's back.

But the biggest difference between Northland Wolves and other wolf packs was their tenacious vitality; Jier had already learned this from his companions, so he did not think this attack would cause much trouble for the wolf.

But that was not his goal; he was a Warrior, and his important goal right now was to let as many wolves as possible attack him, so fewer Northland Wolves would attack the Hunters directly.

He wore thick armor, and that Elven Metal Shield was not something these beasts could deal with.

Jier moved quickly, not entangling himself with the Northland Wolves trying to attack him, instead darting left and right, using his Long Sword to provoke as many of the charging Northland Wolves as possible.

Within just a few breaths, including the wolf he had pierced with his Long Spear, a total of five Northland Wolves were attacking Jier.

On the other side, the three Northland Wolves that had bypassed Jier quickened their pace, charging straight at the carriage while braving the arrows released by the Hunters.

"Get on the carriage, everyone get on! Fight them from inside the carriage!" an old Hunter shouted.

The two young Hunters on either side of the carriage stepped directly onto the wheel spokes and climbed onto the carriage roof. The Hunter on top pulled one up and said to the other, "Two is enough, it can't hold any more people! You climb into the carriage from the back, quick! I'll support you."

The other Hunter heard this, jumped down from the wheel, and waded through the snow to the back of the carriage; sure enough, the thick Linen Cloth here had been untied by the previous Hunter.

He threw his bow inside, then braced his hands and flipped in.

The three Northland Wolves charged straight at the carriage; they were not low in intelligence and knew that the horses raised by Humans were not the threats; those holding branches with hard tips in their claws to attack them were the true enemies of the Wolf Pack.

They bypassed the horses, using the horses' bodies to conceal their movements, and then suddenly bit at the old Hunter. The old Hunter standing on the driver's seat fell backward, tumbling into the carriage in an ungraceful but effective manner. The other person leaped, jumping onto the back of the horse pulling the carriage.

Two wolves bit at empty air and were subsequently shot in the body by the two young Hunters standing on the carriage roof.

The third Northland Wolf suddenly darted out, its four paws stepping on its companion's body, and it lunged into the carriage in a few quick movements.

"It's inside! Kill it!" someone roared.

The old Hunter who had fallen into the carriage retorted, "Pin it down! Pin it down! Those on top, go support Jier!"

Inside the carriage, the young Hunter heard the old Hunter's words, dropped his bow and arrows, drew a Dagger from his waist, and threw himself onto the furry, smelly Northland Wolf.

Ignoring the creature's scratching, he stabbed at the Northland Wolf's face with the Dagger.

The other two young Hunters in the carriage also drew their own melee weapons, hacking at the Northland Wolf with hunting knives and small axes.

Outside, the old Hunter jumped left and right on the backs of the two neighing horses. One Northland Wolf tried to raise its upper body to bite him, but was dodged repeatedly by this old Hunter who had often danced with the girls in the Cunzi when he was young.

This scene left the two young Hunters on the carriage roof stunned, unsure for a moment whether they should provide support fire for the old man.

Meanwhile, the other Northland Wolf insidiously lowered its body, its cunning eyes narrowing, enduring the pain and weakness from being shot by arrows, and quietly arrived at the back of the carriage.

On Jier's side, although five Northland Wolves were attacking him, the situation was the opposite.

The wolf he had pierced with his Long Spear could still fight, but the massive internal blood loss caused blood to flow continuously from its wolf mouth.

It could neither run nor walk, and could only pace staggeringly, following the other Northland Wolves with threatening hisses.

The other four Northland Wolves were not unscathed either; they had all been hit to varying degrees by the first two volleys of the Hunters' arrows, and now all had arrows stuck in them, which swayed with their movements, bringing them pain.

Jier no longer held his ground in one place; he moved flexibly, trying his best to move through the shallow snow of the carriage ruts, while the Northland Wolves surrounding him had to wade through nearly a meter of snow to encircle Jier and attempt to pounce on him from behind.

Yes, after their frontal lunges were blocked by Jier's shield and they were then heavily wounded by the glowing Long Sword stabbing out along the edge of the shield, these wild wolves dared not launch attacks from Jier's front anymore.

Jier chuckled, muttering something under his breath, as he kept rotating his body in small increments, not allowing his back to be exposed to the Northland Wolves' attack positions for long.

He glanced at the carriage and found the situation there was not looking good, but he was powerless to help, as there were more Northland Wolves here with him.

The white light on the blade of the Long Sword in his hand flickered unsteadily; Jier did not know if this was the right moment to test the Blessing Ability of the Sun God Church. Jier did not understand its power very well either.

As he rotated his body again, he used the Long Sword to slash the forelimb of a Northland Wolf. Without further hesitation, he made up his mind.

Holding the Long Sword in reverse and supporting it with his right hand against the edge of the Shield in his left, Jier charged straight ahead with his shield raised.

Two Northland Wolves, one on each side, lunged at him; after colliding with Jier, they emitted the heavy sound of flesh and metal striking, but they only hindered Jier slightly before he broke through the Northland Wolves' encirclement.

But Jier did not intend to run away or go to assist the Hunters; not leading these Northland Wolves over there was his greatest contribution. If he went over there himself, it would only add to the chaos.

After breaking out of the encirclement, Jier stopped, turned around to protect the front of his body with the Shield, and then extended the Long Sword straight out, the blade facing the Northland Wolves that were staring at him with ferocious eyes.

"A surprise for you all!!!" Jier shouted, narrowing his eyes.

At the same time, following the method he had obtained from the instructions written by the Church, he poured his intense fighting spirit and killing intent—this surge of emotion—all at once through his palm into the weapon in his hand.

My weapon, unleash the power you have newly acquired all at once! Do not hold back, release! Release! Release!

On the blade of the Long Sword, the power that had been flickering with white light instantly retracted into the blade, revealing the deep, grayish Magic Material of the sword body.

The tiny characters on the spine of the sword were revealed clearly and legibly from beginning to end in an instant.

A moment later, the blade emitted an intense white light, as if the entire blade were burning like a raging fire—a torch, a bonfire, a flame, or perhaps, like the sun appearing.

The white, snow-covered ground reflected the intense light, but it could not reflect much, because this light was too intense, illuminating them until they were translucent.

The Northland Wolves wailed, prostrating themselves on the ground, attempting to close their eyes and then cover their heads and faces with their furry forepaws so as not to be blinded by this intense light.

However, no matter how they covered themselves, that increasingly intense white light still penetrated their fur and animal bones; it seemed as if even their Spirits were being intensely irradiated.

They were blind.

On the other side, the Hunters who had been entangled with the Northland Wolves were suddenly enveloped by an intense white light; the white light covered everything, but it was bright without being blinding.

Just keeping one's eyes tightly closed was enough.

The horses pulling the carriage were startled; after the white light enveloped them, they each jumped in place, shaking off the old Hunter who had been jumping around on their backs, causing him to land squarely on a horse's rump.

"Ouch, my old back!"

The Northland Wolf that had been trying to bite him wailed and rolled on the ground, only to be stepped on several times by the hooves of the panicked horses.

And inside the carriage cabin, the Northland Wolf that had been in a melee with the Hunters was also magically blinded, even inside the cabin.

Although the Hunters could not see anything either, and everything around them was a vast whiteness, it did not hurt once they closed their eyes. Listening to the wails of the wolves in their ears, they felt for the furry bodies of the wild wolves and continued to attack with their weapons, only being a bit more careful.

The Northland Wolf that had been feeling its way behind the carriage was also blinded, but it wailed and poked its body into the cabin, bit the arm of a young Hunter, and then dragged the person along as it ran unsteadily into the snow nearby.

The bright daylight lasted for less than ten seconds in total; since there was no harm, Jier opened his eyes wide to look at this power that was like a God's Miracle before him.

He gripped his right hand tightly, his heart filled with trepidation and anxiety; he had not expected this power to be so great.

The bright white light vanished suddenly, and the white light that would normally follow Jier's mental fluctuations during battle also disappeared, revealing the body of the re-forged hunting blade.

The sudden change in light made his eyes quite uncomfortable, so he quickly narrowed his eyes and blinked them tightly several times.

Opening them again, what he saw was the Northland Wolves, which had been cunning and ferocious, now only prostrating on the ground and using their claws to hold their heads and faces.

Jier suddenly came to his senses and charged forward boldly, knowing this was a good opportunity; by taking advantage of the moment before they could get up, it would be best to finish off a Northland Wolf to reduce the pressure for the subsequent battle.

Jier swung the Long Sword around and brought it down onto the skull of a Northland Wolf as he stepped forward.

Although there is a saying about "copper heads, iron tails, and tofu waists," Jier felt that in an actual battle, it was not very easy to slash the side of a wild wolf that was always attacking you head-on.

Although the wolf's head was relatively hard, a single sword strike to the head would still deliver a heavy blow.

Sure enough, after Jier's Long Sword was re-forged, its weight had increased significantly, and it had become more solid and resilient; at least the current Jier could not cause the slightest change in the curvature of the Long Sword's blade during use.

As for the resilience, that Pastor Craftsman said Red Copper could provide more resilience, but he could not test it, so he could only assume it had increased.

The front of the blade collided with the skull of the Northland Wolf prostrate on the ground; in the end, bone was not as hard as metal, and this sword strike, delivered with full force, slashed deeply into the Northland Wolf's skull.

After Jier slashed this Northland Wolf to death, he originally wanted to pull out the Long Sword, but he tugged and tugged, and it would not budge. Time was urgent, so he could not bother with pulling out the weapon; he directly reached out and grabbed the head of the axe on his back, pulled upward, and the dozen-kilogram Two-handed Axe was pulled out in one go.

Without even looking, Jier grabbed the axe handle in mid-air and turned his palm to face the sharp edge of the axe toward the Northland Wolf.

He took a large step forward, then gripped the end of the axe handle with one hand, and using the inertia of the downward swing and the leverage, he chopped off the head of a Northland Wolf with one axe stroke.

Jier felt that using the axe with one hand would not work, so he unhooked the Shield from his left hand and hung it on the Sword Sheath at his left waist. Then, holding the axe handle with both hands, he chopped off the heads of the Northland Wolves, one per axe stroke.

After these Northland Wolves recovered from the white light, their behavior was strange, as if they were blind; they could only perform rough dodges and counterattacks based on the sounds Jier made.

But they were not Jier's match when they were intact, and they were even less likely to be his match after being blinded.

The so-called dodging was as ridiculous as a drunken man, and the counterattacks mostly hit empty air; the occasional one or two that scratched the armor on Jier's lower legs only left a few shallow scratches on the hard cowhide with their claws.

Jier finished off these five Northland Wolves in a few moves; before he could care about the wolf blood splattered all over him, he heard an exclamation coming from the carriage.

He hurried over.

The Northland Wolves by the carriage and inside the cabin had already been killed by the Hunters, but when they came to their senses, they discovered that one person was missing!

"Damn it, there are footprints and signs of a struggle behind! They went to the side!" A young Hunter on top of the carriage discovered the trail first and shouted to remind the others.

"Then what are you standing there for! Go save him! Ouch, my back." The old Hunter, still sitting on the horse's rump, rubbed his old back and hurriedly instructed the young Hunters not to stand there and to take action immediately.

The young men picked up their weapons one after another, jumped off the carriage, landed in the snow by the road, or climbed out from the front and back of the carriage cabin, following the tracks left by the Northland Wolf one after another.

Jier ran over with long strides, and the two old Hunters who remained at the carriage said to Jier: "What a remarkable weapon, but Bolu was ambushed by a Northland Wolf and seems to have been dragged away; go save him quickly!"

"Alright! You two old gentlemen, be careful!" After Jier reminded them, he strode away, following the messy footprints.

Jier had plenty of stamina; the Divine Power of the God of Agriculture within his body could always provide him with continuous replenishment of stamina. Moreover, after the intense battle just now, he was currently in a state of boiling blood and burning fighting spirit; regardless of any snow blocking his path, he waded through the thick snow with long strides, like a war chariot, and quickly caught up with the Hunters tracking ahead.

That Northland Wolf carrying the young Hunter Bolu had not gone far, just behind a few low pine trees covered with a large amount of snow on the side of the carriage.

After the Hunters aimed and fired arrows continuously, one Arrow after another hit the Northland Wolf that was already blind, but this wild wolf also knew it was doomed, so it became vicious and would not let go, and it kept shaking its head, causing the Hunter Bolu to cry out in pain.

He had been bitten on his left arm, and most of his arm was between the teeth of the Northland Wolf.

As the wolf's head shook, flesh and blood splattered.

After Jier arrived, he charged up directly, locked his eyes on the Northland Wolf's form, raised his axe, and slashed down from the wolf's neck, chopping the wolf's head off and cutting it in two with one axe stroke.