Chapter 388: Fierce Battle! Scorching Air and Equally Scorching Yongqi

Time returns to the present.

Knight Lanisha rides her warhorse, leaning her body out from the horse's back, her Metal Spear extended far out, aiming at the strange Northern Wolf at the very front.

In response to this, the strange Northern Wolf stands firmly with confidence, and then its fur moves without wind; a heat far more intense than the scorching sun of midsummer quickly emerges, centered on that Northern Wolf.

In an instant, the fur all over its body spreads out and waves in the air. The surrounding air seems to expand slightly for a moment, then twists.

The other wolves of the Northern Wolf Pack behind that Northern Wolf are far away and do not intervene in this battle, which they were unable to interfere with in the first place.

Positioned at the center of the twisting air, the strange Northern Wolf's eyes radiate intense light, and it begins to run quickly to meet Knight Lanisha.

On Knight Lanisha's side, she is greatly alarmed, but even so, she keeps all her surprise and doubt locked tight beneath her sturdy Metal Helmet. She grips her Long Spear tightly, and as the Northern Wolf rushes toward her, she tracks the rise and fall of its body, aiming steadily at the vital point of its head.

Before the two collide head-on, Knight Lanisha grips her Metal Spear tightly and holds her breath.

She and her warhorse charge in an instant into the range of the twisting air that follows the strange Northern Wolf's body; in just a moment, she feels a scorching heat through the gaps in her armor. The high-temperature air pours into the eye observation holes of her Helmet first; her eyes snap shut, a stinging pain spreads across her eyelids, and the eyebrows closest to her eyes instantly turn withered, yellow, and brittle.

She had seen methods for dealing with enemies that can release flames or high heat in books.

The most important first step is: do not breathe.

Although she cannot open her eyes for a moment, the range of the Northern Wolf capable of releasing high heat is not large, so just as Knight Lanisha charges into the range of the high-temperature air on horseback, her Long Spear stabs directly at the wolf's head.

With a sharp, violent friction sound, the tip of Lanisha's Long Spear strikes the skull of the wolf's head; a large amount of fiery red fur is knocked away, and at the same time, the wolf's scalp is sliced open by the spearhead, but when the spearhead hits the bone, it emits the high-pitched sound of two hard objects colliding.

The vibration and resistance of the spearhead travel along the sturdy spear shaft to her hands; her tightly gripped palms fully absorb the force brought by the impact and then transmit it to her arms.

The force travels through her arms to her torso; the armor and her body itself absorb much of the force and provide sufficient support, with most of the force carried through her waist to her hips, then half is transferred to the Muan, borne by the horse's back and barding, while the other half is transmitted through her hips to her legs; accompanying the movement of the impact, Knight Lanisha clamps her legs tightly against the horse's belly, bearing this part of the force as well.

The result of this transmission and absorption of force is that the powerful support gives Knight Lanisha a great advantage in the collision.

On the other side, although the Northern Wolf, radiating high heat, tries its best to lower its limbs and stand firmly on the ground at the moment of impact, once the collision with the knight occurs, it is instantly knocked flying by the opponent's force.

After the impact, Knight Lanisha immediately spurs her horse through the range of scorching air; she opens her eyes and turns to look, seeing her opponent sent flying far away by the single strike from her and her horse.

A thirty-centimeter-long gash, piercing through fur and skin from the front of the wolf's forehead, remains on the strange Northern Wolf's head and back. No blood flows from the wound; there is only a clean cut.

The Northern Wolf is knocked into the air and crashes heavily into a tree not far away; the entire tree shakes violently several times, and the snow on the trunk and branches falls off, but before it hits the ground, it is turned into water droplets by the high heat around the Northern Wolf, then instantly evaporated into water vapor.

White Mist-like high-temperature steam spreads from the Northern Wolf's body, and the snow on the ground is melted by a whole layer upon being hit by the steam.

After the collision, Knight Lanisha immediately spurs her horse to charge into the adult Northern Wolf Pack that was originally behind the strange Northern Wolf. Her warhorse strikes and tramples, and the tip and butt of the Long Spear in her hand thrust and collide, wounding and knocking away several Northern Wolves that brush past her.

The knight then slows down to turn, and just as she looks back, she sees the strange Northern Wolf, which she had knocked away and severely injured, recover its senses and charge straight at her Hunter subordinates.

"You dare!" she roars, pulling on her warhorse to make it rear up, her arms dancing with the Long Spear, one arm throwing and the other pushing from behind, launching the all-metal Long Spear through the air straight at that Northern Wolf.

A terrifying whistling sound of "woo-woo-woo-woo" erupts from the tip of the Long Spear and spreads; the terrifying sound, like the hissing roar of a Dragon, makes all nearby life stare at the object rapidly breaking through the air.

The strange Northern Wolf naturally hears it too; it turns its head in terror to look far behind, and in just a split second, the spear emitting the loud noise arrives before its eyes.

Its fur stands on end, and the power bestowed by the Wolf King drives it with full force; in an instant, it heats a thin layer of air on the surface of its body to an extremely high temperature, which spreads out in an instant like an explosion.

Boom!

In that instant, a glowing, wolf-shaped shield appears from its body surface, then instantly expands and swells, blasting and shattering everything around it.

Air, snow, mud, and large trees—everything around it is blown away by this explosive force. The Metal Spear, which was stabbing forward in an instant, is inevitably pushed by this force; in the momentary clash of power, the spear pierces through the expanding high-temperature wolf-shaped air wave, deviates slightly in angle, grazes the back of the strange Northern Wolf, and flies past, bringing with it a roar and the snow on the ground, flying forward until it disappears somewhere.

The strange Northern Wolf lies terrified on the ground, unable to recover for a long while; on one hand, it was frightened, and on the other, it drove its internal power to the limit and is now somewhat withered and weak.

In the distance, Knight Lanisha frowns beneath her helmet, not expecting that the full-power strike she just unleashed would miss! Although there was the factor of the opponent's near-death power deflecting the spear, Knight Lanisha is still somewhat dissatisfied.

She breathes in the warm air deeply, reaches out, draws the Armor-piercing Rapier hanging at her waist, and clamps her horse's belly, driving the warhorse to charge forward.

Jier, standing at the very front of the Hunters, exhales a long breath; he was truly frightened just now.

It was not only the first clash between Knight Lanisha and the Northern Wolf capable of releasing high heat, but also the terror of the Northern Wolf that followed, which heated the air around it until it was blurry and charged straight at them, ordinary people.

What shocked them even more was the roar of Knight Lanisha's Long Spear as she threw it while riding at full speed, and the moment before the Northern Wolf was killed, it erupted with power, creating an expanding, exploding white-light figure on its body surface that matched its size.

He swallows a mouthful of saliva, feeling his whole body go somewhat weak and limp in an instant.

He turns his head stiffly to look at his companions, only to find that they are even worse off than he is; the three old Hunters in the middle are currently leaning on each other to keep from falling to the ground. The four young people surrounding them are no better; everyone had previously only assisted in the battle between Knight Lanisha and the Wolf King, and after defeating the Wolf Pack, they had only interfered by shooting arrows from far away.

How could they have witnessed such a powerful collision between a knight and a Northern Wolf with magical abilities at such close range?

When Jier recovers his senses, he discovers that the Northern Wolf that dodged the fatal blow has already climbed up from the ground, its glowing eyes fixed on them; it is clearly intending to burn them all to death before the knight can ride over.

Just as Jier judged, that is exactly what the Northern Wolf intends.

Although it just erupted with its full limit of power, the temperature around its body is still very high. Its fur moves without wind, as if aided by some force, and the wolf takes two steps of momentum and skims across the ground toward them at high speed.

In his desperation, Jier roars, "Ha!" gathering his Yongqi and strength, and charges forward with his Shield.

He has not forgotten his duty in the team; from the moment he was forcefully recruited by the knight to his half-reluctant joining of the Hunter team, he knew his position: to act as their Shield and dam when the enemy tries to attack the Hunter archers, blocking the attacking enemy and creating opportunities for the Hunters to shoot and retreat to fight again.

This is the moment his duty must be borne; he cannot retreat a single step.

And Jier does not retreat a single step; instead, he charges forward, intending to use his Shield to block the high-heat-radiating Northern Wolf outside a certain range.

"Ah!!!" Jier shouts loudly to give himself strength; the two meet, and they are about to collide.

As soon as he approaches the high-heat-radiating Northern Wolf, Jier feels as if he has jumped into a blacksmith's furnace; the anti-rust Grease applied to the outside of his armor instantly catches fire.

And through the holes in his Helmet's Faceplate, a temperature that causes him unbearable pain pours in instantly.

His eyebrows instantly catch fire, and the high-temperature air rushing in through the breathing holes of his nose makes him feel as if someone has shoved a scorching iron rod directly into his nose, poking it around the bend into his trachea and lungs.

A burning sensation.

His wide-open eyes feel the scorching heat instantly, and he cannot help but squint his eyelids.

But if he squints his eyes, how can he fight a powerful enemy?

Fortunately, Jier is fighting with a Shield.

Thud!

The Shield strikes directly against something hard; having practiced with the Shield recently and fought with it, he accurately staggers his legs before and after at the moment of impact, planting himself firmly on the ground.

Even though his eyes are tightly shut, this movement is like an instinct—effective and fast.

Although its body size grew larger after receiving the power bestowed by the Wolf King, the Northern Wolf radiating heat still weighs no more than eighty kilograms. Jier, fully armed, weighs well over one hundred kilograms.

So even though the Northern Wolf charged at high speed from the ground, it did not knock Jier flying when it collided with him.

Its hard head presses directly against the opponent's Shield, its four claws borrowing force from the ground, pushing the opponent backward while keeping it in this posture.

Jier felt a scorching pain on his face, and his entire body felt waves of heat, each stronger than the last, pressing in on him. Although his eyes were tightly shut, he realized the opponent's situation through the force on his shield.

This Northland Wolf was currently pitting its strength against his, attempting to knock him to the ground.

He removed his right hand, which was holding his Long Sword, from the left arm behind the shield, raised his arm, and swung it directly down over the shield toward the opponent's head.

The Northland Wolf, which had been confident in the sturdiness and toughness of its fur, skin, and bones, had not taken the human's weak counterattack to heart. However, when the opponent's Long Sword cleaved into its skull, one of its ears was shattered instantly, skin and flesh were torn open, and the originally hard bone was deeply cut into by the opponent's Long Sword, which took it by great surprise.

What is this!

The Northland Wolf immediately moved its head away to dodge the opponent's next sword strike, and a massive wolf claw grabbed the side of the human's shield, forcefully pushing and skewing it.

Although Jier could not open his eyes, he reacted instantly to the opponent's intention just from the feeling on the shield. He pulled the shield back slightly, then swung it to bat away the opponent's claw, held the Long Sword he was preparing to swing high and rested it on the top of the shield, with the tip of the sword pointing directly at the opponent's body and face, and with a shift of his intent, he conveyed his intense fighting spirit to his Hunting Longsword.

Silently, the white light that had been wandering over the sturdy surface of the Long Sword retracted and converged, and in the next instant, it caused the bewildered Northland Wolf to close its eyes in pain.

An intensely strong white light burst forth, starting from the Long Sword resting on Jier's shield, and with himself as the center point of a semicircle, the white light was suddenly released in a wide-angled fan shape forward.

In the forest, which appeared slightly dim due to the sky being full of dark clouds, a bright lamp was lit by someone, as if using the stars in the sky as a wick.

Although it was only for a moment, by reflecting off the snow on the ground toward the sky and then being reflected by the thick dark clouds in the sky to illuminate the earth, Jier's release of the Long Sword's power illuminated the vast area in front of him entirely.

Behind Jier, the Hunters looked at everything before them in astonishment; they had not been enveloped by the power of Jier's Long Sword this time, so they saw the might of this power clearly and truly.

Although their eyes were still aching from the strong light reflected by the ground and sky, the seven Hunters reacted instantly; the three old Hunters held their breath, raised their bows, and after a brief aim at Jier, all three fired their arrows at once.

These three arrows boldly grazed the two sides of Jier's Helmet and his right armpit, and directly carrying the starlight of the feathers at the arrow tails being ignited by the high temperature, they passed Jier from three different places and hit the strange Northland Wolf in front of Jier.

The four young Hunters did not have the steady hands or the bold and meticulous technical experience of the old Hunters, so they could only roll to the sides, two on each side; after one roll, they took advantage of the time when Jier's Long Sword white light was retracting to half-squat and each shoot an arrow, barely catching a window of opportunity.

The four people's arrows flew past Jier's sides, and their tail feathers were likewise ignited by the high temperature around the Northland Wolf, instantly hitting the Northland Wolf's waist and hind legs.

Unfortunately, whether it was the old Hunters or the young Hunters, their arrows only pierced the Northland Wolf's fur and got stuck between the fur and the muscle, unable to advance an inch.

The seven of them immediately realized that this strange Northland Wolf was on par with the Northland Wolf King in terms of physical strength.

Lanisha the Knight, who was riding a horse toward here from afar, was also directly enveloped by the blessing ability Jier released from his Long Sword. The moment her eyes were dazzled by the intense white light, she instantly blocked her eyes with her left hand; the white light was intense, but she was not affected.

Unfortunately, her warhorse was dazzled; this fellow saw a vast whiteness before its eyes, and although it was somewhat afraid, its master was still on its back, so it was not afraid of not being able to see things.

It was often like this; in heavy snow, on pitch-black nights where one could not see one's fingers, it often could not see anything, but its master seemed to be able to see everything. So for many years, whenever this happened, it would not panic; if it could not see, it would just run forward on its own, and if its master wanted it to turn, she would naturally give it a hint.

For example, pulling the Jiansheng, or tapping its legs in the direction of the turn, or bumping its abdomen, it would naturally know in which direction to turn, and according to the magnitude of the force, how large an angle to turn.

"Quite impressive." The female Knight whispered to herself; although she did not know how severe the burns Jier would suffer from being near the Northland Wolf that was releasing high temperatures from its entire body, there was one thing he did well: although that fellow was young, he was indeed bravely and powerfully blocking the enemy rushing toward the Hunters.

And no matter how powerful the enemy was.

Not to mention the defensive techniques in Jier's actions, at least this young man Jier had a scorching, brave heart of a guardian.

If he could receive proper guidance, he should be able to become a formidable fellow.

Perhaps because the Long Sword's charging time was insufficient, the duration of this power release was significantly shorter than the last time. The Hunters had just released a round of arrows when the white light it released retracted and disappeared in a very short time.

Although the white light was dazzling, it did no harm to Jier, not to mention that he still had his eyes closed.

So, feeling the power of the Long Sword's white light disappear, Jier immediately took a deep breath of the high-heat air that could scald his trachea and lungs, moved his left arm to clear space, and the Long Sword held in his right hand landed a straight, heavy, top-down Heavy Cleave on the Northland Wolf he had anticipated.

Jier calculated correctly; the Northland Wolf, which was howling in pain and twitching while covering its eyes, was right in front of him. This sword landed heavily, and the sword strike without the white light swirling around the blade did not lose a bit of its power. Its power itself came from the heavy weight and sturdy blade of the Long Sword after being reforged, as well as the sharp edge that had been honed.

With a thud, although the fallen Northland Wolf sensed the killing intent in front of it and raised a front claw to block, this heavy blow directly severed most of its front claw and got stuck deeply into its hard bone.

Jier failed to pull the sword out, so he immediately let go of the Long Sword, turned around, and skillfully took the Two-handed Axe from his back.

He released his left hand from the grip behind the shield, hanging the shield only by another grip on his forearm, and Jier held the axe with both hands, standing in place and raising the Two-handed Axe high.

He shouted and swung the axe down heavily.

With a dull thud, it missed.

At the final moment, that Northland Wolf turned its body, dodging Jier's fatal axe strike.

Jier was unwilling; listening to the movements of the Northland Wolf on the ground with his ears, he directly swept the axe along the ground and hit something. Subsequently, the Northland Wolf's cry of pain let him know that he had just hit it.

At this moment, Lanisha the Knight, who had rushed over on horseback, took her feet off the Stirrup, supported herself with one hand with her left hand, and lifted her body, landing her feet on the horse's back. Then she leaped, the warhorse stopped under the force, and she jumped high from the air, flying over the final distance silently.

She spread her arms, the Armor-piercing Rapier in her right hand like her wings, and after jumping, she tucked and bent her legs to reduce the resistance when passing through the air. The gaze under her Helmet was slightly unfocused, not staring at the Northland Wolf that had been swept away to the side by Jier's axe. Yet, her entire person was quickly and silently approaching that Northland Wolf in the air.

When she finally fell downward, Lanisha the Knight's gaze focused, and condensed killing intent shot directly at the target from her eyes. Her body inverted in the air, her left hand was behind her waist, her right hand held the sword extended forward, and she fell toward that Northland Wolf in a straight line, head down and feet up.

From the condensation of killing intent to the transformation of her posture to fall and attack the Northland Wolf, the entire final stage of Lanisha the Knight's movements did not exceed one-third of a second; even the target, who was also a Knight-rank Warrior, could not react correctly.

This move was one she had learned from Kela the Knight. It had originally been a killing move prepared for use in the battle against the Wolf King, but since this strange Northland Wolf was so powerful, it would not hurt to use it to test this move now.

The move had no name; it was an aerial instant-kill move that Kela the Knight had mastered while serving in the Kingdom Royal Guard. At that time, the Refining Qi Knights needed to drop from Gryphons flying high in the sky, approach the target silently in the air, glide and decelerate when close to the top of the target, and after reaching the appropriate speed, use their weapons to suddenly kill the target from the air.

Ordinary Humans naturally could not withstand the landing impact after falling from a high altitude; only Refining Qi Knight-rank Warriors could master the ability to decelerate in the air without Magic Tools, relying solely on the Bat Abdominal Membrane at their hands and legs to decelerate and control the flight direction, and upon landing, both ambush and kill the target without being injured by the impact of the landing.

If a normal person did this, ten out of ten would be dead. Only these Refining Qi Knights could accomplish this.