Chapter 401: Battle of Rock Mountain - Delayed Ignition and the Axe Whirl of Blooming Blue Light

At the side of the Rock Mountain Channel entrance, as the large pack of Northland Wolves was forced back by the rolling boulders, the Knight and the Wolf King, who had been trading blows, gradually retreated cautiously after a high-speed exchange of attacks.

The Wolf King swung its head viciously from side to side, staring at the Human Knight standing motionless on horseback while observing the state of the wolf pack. As it shook its head repeatedly, it clearly saw the cowardice of the pack, which left it extremely dissatisfied; its claws scraped the ground incessantly, turning the wet earth into a mess.

Knight Lanisha had naturally heard the sound of the boulder landing just now. She sat upright on her horse, cautiously observing the Wolf King while keeping an eye on the retreating wolf pack at the channel entrance.

"Heh. Not bad." Muttering this, she pulled the Jiansheng, then lightly tapped the horse's belly, slowly increasing the distance from the Wolf King.

The Knight arrived at the channel entrance and discovered that the boulder that had fallen from the rock wall had shattered into several large pieces upon impact, so it would not block her warhorse from entering or exiting.

But this also meant that the next obstacle for the wolf pack's entry would naturally not be very significant.

After entering, she saw Jier moving the scattered Northland Wolf carcasses back; the others were either defending on the Wooden Wall or helping to carry corpses on the makeshift Wooden Bridge built outside.

A glance around revealed that no one was missing, which made her heave a sigh of relief. The siege by the Northland Wolves was naturally strongest at the beginning, given their sheer numbers, and as they resisted layer by layer, the offensive would naturally diminish as their numbers decreased.

Since the first wave had already been blocked, as long as the Wolf King did not attack them later, the entire battle would naturally remain under the control of the Humans.

Seeing the Knight return, everyone gathered around to ask about the battle with the Wolf King just now.

They already had confidence regarding the ordinary Northland Wolves, so the rest naturally depended on whether Knight Lanisha could meet expectations.

Knight Lanisha jumped off her warhorse, then took a Whetstone from the horse's saddlebag, grinding the tip of her Metal Spear with a *scrape, scrape, scrape*: "It's alright. I can only say that thing hasn't shown its true ability yet. But the same goes for me. We are evenly matched; it just depends on whose stamina or body gives out first."

"Sir Knight, I saw that it seemed very scorching around the Wolf King earlier. Could it be like that strange Northland Wolf from before? Causing trouble during the fight." Jier said while rubbing the frozen wolf blood ice crystals off his Glove.

Knight Lanisha waved her hand: "The Wolf King wasn't actually that scorching, *tss*, I suspect that might be a specialized ability. And that is an adult wolf; last year, we didn't find any Northland Wolf with this kind of ability, so looking at it this way, this must be something the Wolf King conjured up."

Saying this, Knight Lanisha focused on sharpening the spear tip. This spear tip had already developed several blade dents from the impact during the collision with the Wolf King's sharp claws just now.

After a simple sharpening, Knight Lanisha jumped onto the side of the mountain to observe the Northland Wolf pack that had retreated to the edge of the Forest, discovering that the number of adult Northland Wolves appearing outside had not changed.

She looked down again and found that the wolf carcasses piled at the bottom inside the Wooden Wall were mostly young wolves, indistinguishable in size from ordinary wolves.

She shook her head and jumped down.

The Knight carefully examined the physical state of the Hunters and calculated the approximate number of those young wolf carcasses in her mind. "Everyone, retreat to the second Wooden Wall. These are all young wolf carcasses here; their main fighting force, the adult wolves, are still there. Set fire to the Wooden Wall and the wolf carcasses, let's slow them down."

Jier calculated the current time and found it was still morning; if they retreated now, tonight would be very hard to endure. He hoped more that this first layer of Wooden Wall could be set ablaze at night to obstruct the Northland Wolves.

Therefore, Jier hurriedly told Knight Lanisha his thoughts.

Knight Lanisha planted her Long Spear on the ground: "So Jier, you think this is better? But it will be very hard to hold out through the daytime today. I must drag the Wolf King outside the battlefield." Saying this, she looked at the boulder that had fallen at the channel entrance: "And besides me, the only boulder that could cause it damage has already been used. If it takes the initiative to kill its way to you all because of the wolf pack's losses, it will still be very difficult for us to cause it damage."

An old Hunter spoke up: "If the battle between Sir Knight and the Wolf King happens in the channel, the terrain is narrow, and we have no place to dodge. As long as it rolls twice in the channel, everyone will be knocked down and finished."

Jier rubbed his hands, feeling it was a difficult situation. The fact that the Northland Wolves only sent young wolves to launch the first wave of attacks also greatly exceeded his expectations. What did this mean? It meant that for the Wolf King, the importance of eliminating Knight Lanisha and the subordinate Hunters far outweighed the lives of the pack's offspring.

Just when Jier felt he didn't know how to speak up, the Hunters actually saw the intention behind Knight Lanisha wanting them to ignite the Wooden Wall in advance. In fact, no one felt confident, so they also felt it wasn't the time to just abandon the first Wooden Wall.

After all, it was still morning, and the battle just now was intense but brief; only a short while had passed. If they just retreated to the back, although there were five more Wooden Wall defensive lines behind them, they did not have enough confidence to hold them.

The Hunters also told these concerns to Knight Lanisha, letting the Knight know the thoughts of the Hunters who were the main fighting force.

"Alright, let's hold for one more time. If we can hold out, then we'll retreat backward. But this time, the Metal Clamps must be set up in front of the second Wooden Wall." After considering it, Knight Lanisha finally made a decision.

Jier hurriedly worked with the young Hunters to set up the Metal Clamps that were not yet broken in front of the second Wooden Wall behind them, while the old Hunters broke up the excess wood and piled it all between the bottom of the Wooden Wall and the wolf carcasses to facilitate a quick ignition later.

Just as everyone was finishing up, the Northland Wolves outside seemed to have launched their second wave of attacks.

This time, all the Northland Wolves ran out from the Forest; they boldly bypassed the entrance from both sides of the Rock Passage, not giving the Humans a chance to shoot Arrows.

At this moment, the large pack of Northland Wolves was no more than thirty meters away from Jier and the others in a straight line; it was truly dangerous.

Knight Lanisha leaped onto her warhorse, jumped over the Wooden Wall in a single bound, ignored the hundreds of Northland Wolves on both sides of the channel entrance, and charged quickly toward the Wolf King in the center of the pack.

Unlike the previous battle, this time a white shadow was floating in mid-air beside the Wolf King; that thing was a pure white Wolf Skin one size smaller than the current Wolf King.

The Wolf Skin was empty, the white fur fluttering with the cold wind, and there was a clear, massive tear on the belly of that thing, as if it had been bitten open.

"Finally showing some skill?" Knight Lanisha was unafraid, because on the white Wolf Skin floating beside the Wolf King, there were also multiple large and small signs of damage.

Some were half-meter-long marks slashed by sharp blades, and there were also multiple marks from Long Spear stabs and cuts.

"Just bringing out one skin, why don't you bring out all your skins? Ha! How much effect do you think these bluffing tactics can have?" As soon as Knight Lanisha finished speaking, she directly accelerated her warhorse, putting nine parts of her focus on the Wolf King and one part of her focus on the old Wolf King skin floating in the air.

During the high-speed charge, she muttered: "The Monster's ghostly tricks."

The Wolf King clearly understood the Human Knight's provocative words; its eyes, overflowing with killing intent, stared fixedly at the Knight, but its legs crouched low and leaped, instead jumping more than forty meters backward.

Knight Lanisha pursued directly, not paying any attention to the Northland Wolves running past the sides of her warhorse, while the Northland Wolves nearby were also quite afraid of the Human Knight, their crouched bodies containing profound hatred and pain.

"Sir Knight is engaging the Wolf King, everyone get ready, they're coming!" Jier shouted loudly; his breathing was rapid, his eyes blood-red—the effect of the Red-eye Mushroom had already taken hold.

He drew the Long Sword at his waist with his left hand, gripped the wooden shaft of his Long Spear with his right, and stared fixedly at the first Northland Wolf that climbed over the scattered boulders at the channel entrance, roaring as it charged.

It was an adult Northland Wolf.

No, there were also young wolves mixed in on the side.

It seems the Wolf King still didn't intend to commit its full combat strength at this moment.

That's right, if they killed these subordinates of the Knight, only the adult wolves could slightly hinder Knight Lanisha in the battle between the two; perhaps the Wolf King was still planning for this, so it didn't commit all its main forces to the battle at this time.

Perhaps it also anticipated that before the Hunters' Arrows were exhausted or their stamina ran out, those arrows would always bring losses that the ordinary Northland Wolves could not accept.

Adult wolves were much more cunning than young wolves, one could even say cold-blooded.

They were all accompanied by a young wolf at their side, or perhaps to put it another way, they were hiding beside the young wolves. When the Hunters on the Wooden Wall released the first wave of Arrows, these cunning fellows would slow down a step, sidestepping to hide behind the figures of the young wolves running in front.

Without the obstruction and stalling of the Metal Clamps, the effect of the Hunters' first wave of Arrows was not good. Although because of the narrow Rock Passage, all the Arrows hit the Northland Wolves, the Arrows that were previously lethal could now only wound the Northland Wolves; not a single one was hit in a vital spot.

"Jier! They're here!" a young Hunter shouted out.

Jier responded in a low voice: "Got it!" Then, to the surprise of the Hunters, he directly thrust his Long Spear diagonally, piercing an adult Northland Wolf that was trying to climb up from the side of the rock wall and pinning it to the wall.

*Puff, thud. *

Releasing the Long Spear, Jier grabbed from behind, then swung his body to the side, throwing his Two-handed Axe to split a Northland Wolf on the other side of the channel that had the same intention in two, leaving it hanging on the rock wall with flesh and blood flowing.

"Well done, Jier!" This move not only boosted the fighting spirit of the old Hunters but also shocked the Northland Wolves that were climbing over one after another.

Jier moved the Long Sword from his left hand to his right, then took the Metal Shield from behind his left shoulder and gripped it tightly on his left arm.

White light lingered on the Long Sword, the shield was light and tough, and to the surprise of the Hunters, Jier jumped down directly from the Wooden Wall.

"Uh, Jier is crazy! The Northland Wolves just attacked, and he jumped down again!" The Hunters were just about to support Jier when they heard Jier below shouting: "Keep shooting, don't worry about me!"

Immediately after, Jier's subsequent battle left the Hunters on the Wooden Wall greatly astonished.

As soon as Jier landed, three Northland Wolves lunged to bite him.

Jier instantly dodged one step to the right, letting the adult Northland Wolf on the far left pass by. Then, he used his Shield to block the adult Northland Wolf lunging directly at his front, while his Long Sword delivered a Heavy Cleave toward the Northland Wolf cub on his right.

The cub was fragile; Jier's Long Sword cleaved down, smashing the cub's head head-on and splitting its seemingly ferocious hiss directly in two.

After killing this Northland Wolf, Jier slammed backward to his left without even looking, pinning the adult Northland Wolf that had missed its lunge against the base of the Wooden Wall.

Thud. He blocked another wolf claw strike from the Northland Wolf in front; the leather on the front of the Metal Shield could no longer hold, revealing the silvery-white metal underneath.

The wolf claw lacked sufficient hardness and force; after the strike, not even the slightest mark was left behind. He retracted his Long Sword, keeping it horizontal and pressed against the upper edge of the shield, pulling it far back.

Retreating was for the sake of a counterattack.

Jier ignored the Northland Wolf leaning against his back, which was scratching and biting behind him. Its broad waist made it unable to reach with its mouth, so it had to try biting under Jier's armpit with its thick canine teeth.

As soon as the Northland Wolf in front of Jier finished its strike, he took the opportunity to thrust the tip of his sword along the shield.

He aimed at the Northland Wolf's bright yellow eyes. In Jier's eyes, everything around him was not very fast; the transition from wild ferocity to fear in the Northland Wolf's bright eyes took only a short moment.

The sword blade, masked by white light, grazed the shield and pierced into its eye socket bit by bit. The eye, which had been like a Gem, was pierced and torn, with the tip of the Long Sword inserted more than ten centimeters deep.

Jier even seemed to see white light overflowing from the Northland Wolf's open mouth. It didn't just seem like it; it was indeed so.

The other eye of this Northland Wolf lost its luster, which satisfied Jier greatly.

He boldly released the grip of his Long Sword, his right hand reaching for the Dagger at his waist, and then, turning his head to look to the side, he found himself face-to-face with the terrified Northland Wolf.

As their eyes met, Jier's hand did not stop; at this extremely close distance, he plunged the Dagger entirely into the Northland Wolf's ear.

He stirred it, and this Northland Wolf also quieted down.

Ignoring the Dagger, Jier reached out to grasp the grip of the Long Sword in front of him, kicked with his left foot, and pulled out the Hunting Sword.

Only then did the slow, surprised voices of the Hunters drift down from the Wooden Wall behind him.

Jier had no time to exchange a witty remark or anything else with the companions above, as multiple Northland Wolves appeared in front of him one after another.

One had an Arrow in its leg, one had an Arrow in its back, one had an Arrow stuck in its belly, and one had one embedded in its head.

Jier didn't care at all; he accelerated with long strides and directly knocked over a cub, causing the Arrow in its head to sink completely inside, making new friends with the brains inside the wolf's head.

An adult Northland Wolf from the side lunged over; Jier saw that the opponent had an Arrow in its leg and its movement was not agile, so he circled an extra half-step, sliced off the Northland Wolf's front leg with one sword stroke, and then ignored it.

Two other Northland Wolves, however, bypassed Jier and prepared to climb over the bottom of the Wooden Wall.

"Jier, catch!"

Just then, on one side of the Rock Passage's Wooden Wall, a young Hunter had finished shooting the arrows in his quiver and thus had his hands free; while Jier was fighting underneath, he pulled Jier's Long Spear from the rock wall with all his might.

Jier watched the Long Spear thrown from the air; he switched his Long Sword to his left hand, holding it in reverse, and then accurately caught the Long Spear.

Planting the butt of the spear into the ground covered in blood frozen into ice crystals, Jier tilted the Long Spear to one side and used the spear tip to poke the belly of the cub standing on the back of an adult wolf.

Stepping on the butt of the spear with his left foot, Jier tensed his arms and threw his whole body backward.

The cub, which had just placed its front paws on the Wooden Wall and had not yet bitten any Human, felt a pain in its belly and then found itself flying through the air.

It looked down and realized it had been flicked into the air by the Human's Long Spear in its belly.

"Woo-woo-woo-woo!" it howled in surprise, and was immediately flung by Jier, crashing heavily onto the ground.

Jier leaned the Long Spear against the side of the Wooden Wall, passed the Long Sword from his left hand to his right, and then continued to block a claw from the adult Northland Wolf that had been acting as a meat ladder underneath.

He swung his right arm backward, then followed with a powerful Horizontal Slash forward.

Behind the Northland Wolf was the Human's Wooden Wall; it had no way to retreat and in the end could only lunge at Jier.

Thud-boom.

It was struck mid-air by the Horizontal Slash, and half of its ribs were severed. From the wound overflowing with white light, one could even see the heart jumping inside.

The Northland Wolf fell to the ground on its side, its four limbs kicking and scratching, but immediately afterward, its head was stepped on by the Human wearing hard gear.

Subsequently, the cold metal extended into its body through the previous wound.

It felt its heart turn ice-cold, as if it had swallowed a large chunk of crushed ice.

A few seconds later, it gradually lost its strength and closed its eyes.

Jier killed this Northland Wolf and turned to look at the entrance of the passage.

"Well done! Jier, catch!" On the other side of the Wooden Wall, another young Hunter threw Jier's Two-handed Axe down with both hands.

Jier reversed his Long Sword and stabbed it into the ground, then reached out to catch the axe.

The force of the axe thrown from the Wooden Wall was not small; Jier did not resist it head-on after catching it with one hand. He spun in a circle and then let go. The axe flew out horizontally again.

Woo-woo-woo-woo.

The blue axe head of the Two-handed Axe emitted a terrifying whistling sound that frightened both man and wolf; although its speed was not fast, it made every living thing in the entire Rock Passage feel a sense of suffocation.

The adult Northland Wolf targeted by Jier's thrown axe had originally crouched low, trying to dodge the axe, but no one expected that the blue surface of the axe would bloom with a layer of blue light, and the images of several strange Magic Beasts originally engraved on it would hiss in unison.

That sound was incomparably strange; it actually manipulated the axe to change its throwing arc, suddenly slamming into the head of the Northland Wolf that had intended to crouch low.

The Northland Wolf's hard skull was like mud children play with; smashed by it, flesh, blood, and bone scattered everywhere.

The Northland Wolf's sturdy and powerful body was as if made of water; smashed by it, its Viscera and fur flew and exploded in all directions.

The axe did not slow down in flight, spinning wildly in a strange manner and striking left and right as it moved forward.

Jier, the Hunters on the Wooden Wall, and the Northland Wolves all paused in this instant.