Chapter 400: Battle of Rock Mountain — The Brutal Passage Fight and the Falling Boulders

Knight Lanisha freed one hand from gripping her metal spear, grabbed the reins whipping in front of her, and pulled with all her might, forcing the horse's entire head to twist.

Immediately, the entire horse slammed toward the Wolf King.

As for the Wolf King, the moment its front paws touched the ground, the impact from the clash of the other claw caused it to lose its footing, and its hind legs, which had not yet touched the ground, became a tangled mess.

But at the critical moment, it forcibly planted one hind leg, used the leverage to shift its body, and at an extremely risky distance, narrowly avoided being hit by the charging knight and horse.

Knight Lanisha spat, then reluctantly slid her right-hand long spear backward until it reached between the Wolf King's forelimbs. She gripped the protruding tip at the end of the metal spear, used her legs to clamp the warhorse as a pivot point, and used her entire body and arm as a lever to swing the long-extended spear with force.

The time for intersection during combat was extremely short; this was the only attack the female knight could make in the instant after her mounted charge failed.

Although the Wolf King had barely avoided the knight's impact, it was too late for any further movement and could only watch helplessly as the human knight thrust the long spear out and then swung it across.

The spear tip slashed instantly between the Wolf King's right foreleg and neck, severing a long row of thick wolf fur and sending a spray of hot blood flying from the long, narrow wound between the muscles.

It was truly hot blood; after this small cluster of blood landed far away, it first melted the accumulated snow at the impact point, then hissed as it evaporated the nearby water vapor, and eventually even dried out the withered grass under the snow, igniting it into ash.

The Wolf King let out a roar, and the air in a circle around it was blown away for several meters by an unknown force. Its eyes were fixed on the human knight who was turning her horse around, while its long tongue slid over its sharp teeth to lick the wound between its leg and neck.

Its eyes were filled with killing intent.

Knight Lanisha pulled on the warhorse's reins, causing the horse, which had run for some distance, to slow down and turn around to engage again.

On the other side, after the Wolf King had given some instructions to the Northland Wolves before fighting Knight Lanisha, the large pack of Northland Wolves stopped sitting still and began to move.

Following the divisions between their various wolf dens, they split into small squads, bypassed the area where the Wolf King was fighting the human knight, and a portion began to split into two groups, running toward the two sides of the Rock Passage entrance. The other portion turned and ran entirely toward the forest behind them.

The young wolves, though young, were similar in size to adult wolves and were quite excited, running with great joy, their tongues lolling out and swinging as they moved, while the adult Northland Wolves leading each squad remained silent and serious.

The portion of Northland Wolves running toward Jier and his group did not charge directly at the human position; instead, they arrived at the sides of the passage that Jier and his group could not see. Here, they began to follow the Wolf King's previous instructions, using their claws to continuously scrape away the accumulated snow and cold mud beside the trench Jier and his group had made.

This was easy for the Northland Wolves; usually, after they defecated, they would dig holes to bury their waste in the dirt. At this moment, with just two rows of Northland Wolves moving their front claws rapidly to push the dirt backward, the mud on the ground was scattered to cover the short, thick spikes at the bottom of the trench.

"Damn it, those animals are really smart." Jier listened anxiously to the movement on the unseen sides of the passage entrance, and he could guess what they were doing just by thinking about it.

A companion beside him patted his shoulder in comfort: "Enough, at least it had some effect last night, didn't it?"

But another hunter had a different view: "I still think we shouldn't have spent time on those things back then; it would have been better to use that dug-up dirt to reinforce the Wooden Wall under our feet. I saw the outer wall of Kendall City was done that way."

Jier awkwardly wanted to scratch his hair, but after raising his hand, he could only reach his hard Helmet.

"Alright, then why didn't you say so at the time? It's useless to say anything now. By the way, does anyone know what the other batch of Northland Wolves that returned to the forest went to do?" A hunter diverted the topic to relieve Jier.

However, no sooner had the words been spoken than some of the Northland Wolves that had returned to the forest in the conversation began to appear, scattered.

The hunters, including Jier, had good eyesight and could see from afar that these Northland Wolves were carrying things in their mouths. Jier slapped his forehead: "I understand! They are going to use the things in their mouths to trigger the Metal Clamps we set up!"

Everyone looked at each other, only then realizing what the Northland Wolves were about to do.

"Then what should we do now? We can't just let them break our position like this, can we?"

"How could we? Hmm, uh, alright, like this: everyone hurry and pull the Wolf Skin Straps tied to the clamps backward, so we don't give them a chance to get near the Metal Clamps at the passage entrance." Jier quickly came up with an emergency plan.

Although they didn't know if it would work, the hunters followed Jier's method and quickly pulled the Wolf Skin Straps hanging on the edge of the Wooden Wall backward. Some Metal Clamps that were already close to the Wooden Wall didn't need to be moved; the main focus was to pull the large number of Metal Clamps at the passage entrance back slightly.

Just as Jier and his group finished, those Northland Wolves with things in their mouths approached the Rock Passage entrance directly along the sides of the trench that the previous Northland Wolves had filled in.

As soon as a wolf head poked out from the edge of the rocks at the entrance, an old hunter shot an arrow directly, scaring the Northland Wolf into quickly retracting its head and mouth.

It was also somewhat unwilling, so it hid on the outer side of the passage, tilted its head, and threw a Stone the size of a fist toward the passage entrance. The Stone rolled and bounced on the ground twice, finally stopping a palm's width away from the outermost Metal Clamp.

Before the hunters could breathe a sigh of relief, a continuous stream of things was thrown over by the Northland Wolves from the side of the passage entrance.

Tree branches, Stones, tree fruits, withered bones.

Everything they could find from the edge of the forest was thrown in like this.

This left Jier and his group looking at each other in dismay; those scattered things were simply a pile of trash. It was hard for those Northland Wolves to have gone out of their way to find them; Jier even saw a strangely shaped humanoid skull, which made him wonder if that thing was a Dwarf Soldier who had died nearby many years ago?

Although the Northland Wolves' actions looked ridiculous, if Jier and his group hadn't pulled the Metal Clamps back in time, the large number of Metal Clamps in the front row would have all been triggered and closed by those 'things' by now.

Several old hunters pricked up their ears to listen for a moment, then said seriously: "Attention! They're coming!"

No sooner had the words been spoken than, accompanied by the howling of a large pack of Northland Wolves, quite a few Northland Wolves surged out from both sides of the Rock Passage entrance in an instant.

As soon as they came out, they changed their running direction, ran directly toward the middle of the passage, and charged straight at the Wooden Wall.

"Loose arrows! Fire!" The hunters roared, their hands moving without pause, prioritizing shooting the fastest Northland Wolves in an attempt to slow them down and create obstacles for the Northland Wolves behind.

At the same time, the Metal Clamps spread all over the ground also took effect. Every Northland Wolf running at full speed was caught because there was not enough space to dodge. Once a leg was clamped, the wolf would fall to the ground, rolling and being trampled by the Northland Wolves behind it.

Jier, who had not yet fought the approaching Northland Wolves, keenly discovered something. He carefully examined this wave of Northland Wolves that had rushed out and saw the Northland Wolves poking their heads at the passage entrance behind. He discovered that the ones rushing out this time were actually all young wolves with large builds; the truly experienced hunters had not yet launched their attack.

"Damn it!" Jier had only this thought before he had to raise the Long Spear in his hand and stab this weapon fiercely under the Wooden Wall.

A lucky young Northland Wolf crossed the layers of obstacles and rushed under the Wooden Wall. At this moment, it raised its upper body, wanting to grab the Wooden Wall, either to climb or to serve as a stepping stone for its companions behind.

But Jier's Long Spear thrust forced it to dodge to the right.

Its luck ended there; as soon as it dodged the thrusting spear, it stepped right onto a Metal Clamp on the ground.

With a *crack*, the rapidly closing metal teeth clamped fiercely into the flesh of its leg. No matter how it shook its leg or used its mouth to gnaw on the metal structure of the clamp, it could not escape the pain.

Jier, on the Wooden Wall, took aim at this Northland Wolf caught by the Metal Clamp, and while the opponent was trying to lower its head to get rid of the Metal Clamp, he delivered a fierce stab from top to bottom, hitting the young Northland Wolf's spine directly.

Blood flowed like a pillar. Having suffered a critical injury, the young wolf fell directly to the ground. After Jier pulled out his spear, it could no longer control its twitching hind legs and tail, and it could only lie on the ground, emitting whimpering gasps from its mouth.

Just as he had severely wounded one young Northland Wolf that had rushed over, two other young wolves arrived at the edge where the Wooden Wall met the rock wall, one stepping on the other, attempting to climb over.

"Jier! Over here! Over here!" The hunter above couldn't spare a hand at all; he was currently aiming at the Northland Wolves trapped by the Metal Clamps on the position one by one.

Grabbing the Long Spear, Jier walked quickly for two steps, passed three hunters, and came from the middle of the Wooden Wall to the edge.

The young Northland Wolf stepping on its companion below seemed to be about to succeed. Jier held the Long Spear in his left hand, drew his Dagger from the belt on his right waist in one smooth motion, and stabbed it directly into the mouth of the clawing young Northland Wolf.

The not-yet-fully-grown teeth were no match for the armor on Jier's arm, and the Dagger stabbed directly through the open mouth and into the young wolf's brain from the upper jaw.

Without even looking, Jier stabbed into the wolf's mouth with one hand, then used the strength of his arm to lift the Northland Wolf up and throw it backward, slamming it fiercely inside the Wooden Wall.

Stepping on the Northland Wolf's body to gain leverage, Jier pulled out his arm and the Dagger, then sheathed the Dagger back into the waist scabbard. Jier turned and pointed the head of the Long Spear downward, stabbing it fiercely into the Northland Wolf that had been providing a stepping stone for its companion below.

Fearing that a single blow wouldn't kill the Northland Wolf below, he followed up with two more strikes.

The hunter beside him pushed him: "Enough, several have come over there." Jier turned his head and discovered that, indeed, a large number of young wolves had quickly crossed the Rock Passage where the Metal Clamps were set up. At this moment, they were all arriving under the Wooden Wall, and some were even dragging the Metal Clamps caught on their claws, running over surrounded by their companions.

The hunters' bows and arrows could not stop this wave of a large number of Northland Wolves at all.

Jier put the Long Spear on the ground, took an axe from his back, rushed to the other end of the Wooden Wall, and chopped directly with the axe onto the head of a Northland Wolf that had its entire upper body clinging to the top of the Wooden Wall.

With the force of a bamboo-splitting blow, accompanied by a 'thud' of wood colliding, the wolf's head fell off.

Jier's axe had actually severed the Northland Wolf's head clean off. He then raised his foot and kicked, sending the headless wolf body off the Wooden Wall.

Next, he leaned out half his body, sweeping his axe heavily and vertically along the edge of the Wooden Wall, severing the forelimbs of several Northland Wolves to prevent them from clawing their way up.

Just as the siege was eased, Jier looked up and discovered that, seemingly because the achievements of the wolf pups exceeded the expectations of the adult wolves, those adult Northland Wolves had also begun running toward this place from the entrance of the Rock Passage.

Jier calculated that if the adult Northland Wolves also came to charge this place, they would likely find it difficult to block them directly. Honestly, Jier had not expected these Northland Wolf pups to be so fearless of death; they paid no heed to the adult wolves' fear of death, charging whenever they were told to, and even charging bravely when their companions were killed.

It cannot go on like this.

Jier hacked another charging wolf pup to death with his axe, then grabbed the wolf pup's corpse and smashed it directly outside the Wooden Wall, knocking down several other wolf pups that were setting up a ladder.

He then patted an old Hunter beside him and pointed his hand directly at an inconspicuous mechanism on the upper side of the passage entrance.

"It's time! Old man!" Jier shouted loudly amidst the battlefield of wolf howls and human curses.

The old Hunter said nothing; he nodded, took a breath, then forcibly steadied his arms, raised his bow, nocked an Arrow, and aimed at the small mechanism specifically left not far away.

It was an upright, thick, short branch; to make it conspicuous, it had been wrapped several times with a blood-stained strip of cloth. Moreover, the position of this branch could only be seen from the Wooden Wall where Jier and the others were located; from the perspective of the attacking Northland Wolves, it was impossible to notice from the outside because it was blocked by the rock wall.

Only when the Northland Wolves ran to the front of the Wooden Wall and turned their heads to look upward could they see a small red dot on the gray-white, mottled Rock Mountain.

'Swish', the Arrow traced an arc, and the high-angle upward shot accurately hit the thick, short branch tied with the cloth strip.

The force of the Arrow hit and pierced through the branch, the metal arrowhead shattering most of the branch, causing the branch that was barely supporting a Stone at one end to snap immediately.

The human-head-sized Stone lost its support and fell directly toward the Rock Passage below.

However, a Rope was still tied to the Stone, connecting all the way to the bottom support of another giant boulder positioned a section higher than it.

As the Stone fell, the connected Rope was pulled taut, and with its force, it took the support above along with it, dropping it into the Rock Passage.

Jier, while blocking the continuous stream of Northland Wolves clawing their way up, kept his attention on the mechanism he had prepared.

A 'rumbling' sound of rolling Stone came, and the corners of his mouth curled up.

Looking up, on one side high above the entrance of the Rock Passage, a Stone larger than a horse rolled twice, made a huge collision sound against the sloped rock wall, and then fell straight down from the entrance.

A 'boom'—a loud noise.

Jier felt the Wooden Wall beneath his feet shake violently; this thing almost fell apart. Everyone on the Wooden Wall, except for Jier, was knocked down by the huge collision sound and the vibration of the Wooden Wall.

As for the Northland Wolves, they were the same. The wolf ladder, with one wolf pressing on another, was directly shaken down, and they, all fours on the ground, also had to lie flat on the ground to maintain stability because there was no cushioning effect from the Wooden Wall. Moreover, the huge noise made them, with their keen hearing, very uncomfortable; the Northland Wolves slightly further back all covered their ears with their front paws.

But the Northland Wolves closer to the entrance of the passage were actually struck by the Stone fragments sent flying by the falling giant boulder, leaving their bodies covered in bloody holes. They lay low on the ground, howling incessantly.

As for the adult Northland Wolves that had been hiding on both sides of the entrance, attempting to rush in and join the battle, apart from a small portion that were crushed into pieces by the giant boulder, the others either fell down from the shock or ran away howling from afar.

After waiting a moment, Jier saw that after the giant boulder landed at the entrance of the passage, no other Northland Wolves rushed in, and he immediately shouted: "Good chance! The Stone is blocking those outside from rushing in; everyone, take this opportunity to kill all the Northland Wolves at our feet!"

The Hunters came to their senses and stood up one after another to respond to Jier.

As for Jier, he was even bolder, jumping down from the Wooden Wall and landing directly on a Northland Wolf pup that was lying on the ground covering its ears. The huge impact force directly crushed the body of this wolf pup; the snapping of its spine was incomparably clear, and some of the Viscera, blood, and body fluids were even sprayed out from the head and tail of the Northland Wolf.

With the Northland Wolf as a cushion, Jier stood up directly, and with a sweeping slash of his axe, he severed half the body of a Northland Wolf, then followed up with a two-handed downward chop, smashing several Northland Wolf pups that were rolled into a ball at the bottom of the Wooden Wall.

Axe after axe, until these few were all dead, did he turn around.

The Northland Wolves began to retreat. They had paid with many lives to swarm to the front of the Human position, but at this moment, because the rolling giant boulder had shocked and blocked the subsequent Northland Wolf offensive, the wolf pups in the front finally learned fear.

They ran back to where they came from at a speed even faster than when they attacked, quickly crossing over many companions whose legs were clamped by the Metal Clamps during the charge, pushing them aside without even looking, crossing over them, and then jumping over the wreckage of the fallen giant boulder, escaping the Hunters' sight.

"Shoot those who can't run first!" The old Hunter on the Wooden Wall commanded, focusing the target first on those Northland Wolves whose legs and paws were trapped by the Metal Clamps.

'Swish, swish, swish, swish.'

Although their arms were sore, this was the time to beat a drowning dog; everyone shot with all their might. Originally, they had to worry about the Arrows being taken away by the injured Northland Wolves and never being found again, but now the Northland Wolves below were all fish in their own barrel, so there was no need to worry about the return of the Arrows, and everyone used their full strength.

Jier was the same; after hacking a Northland Wolf pup to death with his axe, he ignored it, directly drew his Hunting Sword, didn't use a Shield, and chased directly, hacking left and right, knocking down one Northland Wolf pup after another that only cared about fleeing with their backs to him.

Until the last wolf pup was sliced into two by the Hunting Sword thrown by Jier at the wreckage of the fallen boulder, this wave of the Northland Wolf offensive finally ended.

Although he was covered in blood and stained with wolf fur, Jier could not spare the time to clean up; he immediately called for the Hunters to pull the Wolf Skin Straps connected to the Metal Clamps, retrieving all the Metal Clamps to be used as a second line of defense.

He himself put away his weapons, and then, during the time the Northland Wolves were regrouping, dragged the corpses of the dead Northland Wolves back. It was the same principle: do not give the Northland Wolves even a chance to devour the corpses of their own companions.

Animals were originally unwilling to approach the vicinity of the Rock Mountain; although Jier and the others did not know if it was related to the battle from decades ago, this was clearly good news. Plus, it was winter at this time, and animals were either migrating or hiding to pass the winter. Those that dared to wander at this time were either pack predators like the Northland Wolves, or fierce animals with their own capabilities that were not afraid of being preyed upon.

Not giving the large pack of Northland Wolves enough food was forcing them to either disperse or intensify their offensive, forcing the situation to become even more precarious. It was not just the Northland Wolves; they, the Humans themselves, were the same.

However, unlike the Northland Wolves fighting on away ground, Jier and the others had more home-field advantages.

Jier thought this while dragging wolf corpses behind the Wooden Wall. In this battle, he not only wanted to defeat the large pack of Northland Wolves, but he also wanted to defeat the Wolf King. He felt that, through the battle just now, he could definitely have it all, and take it all.