Chapter 406: Battle of Rock Mountain — Fire Barrier

It was not until the afternoon that Knight Lanisha rode back on a warhorse whose horse armor was covered in many claw marks.

Originally, she had intended to ambush the Wolf King using the Magic Perception she had only recently mastered, but in the intense exchange, she had overextended herself, directing a large number of attacks at a fake Wolf King. Although she had killed the Northern Wolf that was eerily possessed by the fur, her methods had been suspected and seen through by the battle-hardened Wolf King.

The Wolf King had set a trap for her, and with just a simple test, it had exposed Knight Lanisha's new ability.

After a brief standoff, they both felt the need to return to their respective camps to rest for a while.

It was not that they could not continue fighting, but the more intense the battle, the more food replenishment was required. On this point, neither the Northern Wolf Pack nor the humans were very well-off at the moment.

As soon as she returned behind the Wooden Wall, Knight Lanisha briefly explained the previous battle to her subordinates.

Thump, she slammed a fist into the ground, causing the gravel on the ground to vibrate: "Cunning Northern Wolves! They actually forced me to choose between two options at that moment. Either choose you all, or choose the Metal Spear passed down in my family."

Hearing this, Jier and the others looked at each other, knowing that the Knight had ultimately chosen them.

"Fortunately, there are many spare Metal Spears of that style at home. It's just that, after all, it was one my father used while he was alive. Sigh." Sighing, Knight Lanisha unhappily picked up a Wooden Bowl near the campfire and drank the clean ice and snow that had melted into water inside in one gulp.

The not-so-warm melted water slid down her throat, and Knight Lanisha was clearly jolted by the somewhat icy water; after a shiver, she put down the Wooden Bowl with satisfaction.

"I will go fight it again this afternoon, and this time I will definitely destroy the remaining possessed fur it has!"

She then explained to the Hunters a strange ability possessed by this Northern Wolf King.

Shedding Wolf Fur that flies flexibly through the air, and wolf skins that can possess and parasitize ordinary Northern Wolves. And there are other eerie abilities, though it is unknown what else it can do with such things.

The Hunters were all somewhat worried; after all, while Knight Lanisha's strength had been improving over the years, that Wolf King was not just sitting around waiting to die. It had just mastered this new type of eerie ability.

The Hunters offered suggestions to Knight Lanisha one after another, such as: once the real and fake Wolf Kings are distinguished, just chase and attack the real one. Since the fake Wolf King that appears after an ordinary wolf is possessed cannot affect Knight Lanisha, why not just deal with the real Northern Wolf King?

But after thinking for a while, Knight Lanisha did not adopt this method. After all, she did not know if the Wolf King could use the shed fur to employ other eerie abilities.

After much thought, she felt it was better to go and eliminate the possessed fake Wolf King first.

After finishing the discussion about the battle between the Knight and the Wolf King, the topic inevitably shifted to Jier.

After sizing up Jier, who was sitting on the ground resting, for a while, Knight Lanisha finally breathed a sigh of relief. Because at this moment, the things on Jier that resembled seals appeared intact, and there was no sign of any residual Magic Power from a Magic Beast affecting or eroding Xiao Ji'er.

"Jier, let me see the weapon you used to show off your great power just now," Knight Lanisha said.

Jier looked around at the young Hunters, then handed the handle of the Two-handed Axe to the female Knight: "Be careful, for some reason, it only stays obediently in my hand. When others try to hold it, their palms are directly repelled."

A young Hunter rubbed his palm and said helplessly: "You must be careful, my lady, when it is held in other people's hands, it actually struggles to break free on its own."

"I tried it just now, really, the palm becomes very slippery," a young Hunter said.

"No, it's that the axe flew up into the air!"

"That's not it, the axe is struggling to break free on its own. Its force is too great; as long as anyone else tries to use that axe, it will break free on its own and try to fly back to Jier."

Knight Lanisha took the Two-handed Axe, which had a large area of blue on the axe head. Sure enough, compared to before, this axe was indeed very different in her Magic Perception.

The axe, which had looked relatively ordinary, now seemed alive in her Magic Perception, with a layer of energy invisible to the naked eye of ordinary people drifting over the axe head. This energy was constantly changing, and the images of several Monsters and Magic Beasts on it were also constantly influencing the changes in the energy drifting on the surface of the axe.

As soon as the handle was in her hand, the entire axe vibrated, its force growing from small to large.

If it were an ordinary person, they would indeed be forced to let go of such a heavy Two-handed Axe that actively struggled to break free. But Knight Lanisha was very strong; after gripping it tightly with one hand, no matter how this thing struggled, it could not escape.

She toyed with the axe for a while, then deliberately let it go.

With a whoosh, the axe struggled a few meters into the air, then spun and fell toward Jier.

The other Hunters were a bit nervous seeing this scene, but Jier himself and Knight Lanisha both had relaxed expressions.

Jier reached his hand into the air, and the spinning axe actively adjusted its angle and speed, landing directly in his outstretched hand.

Nodding, Knight Lanisha said to Jier: "Jier, let me use that Metal Spear of yours. If it breaks, I'll go back and find you a new one." She pointed to the double-edged Metal Spear leaning against the rock wall behind the Wooden Wall.

Because of Jier's miscalculation, that weapon had been made too heavy. For him, it was fine for exercising his body, but it was a bit too heavy for combat.

Jier nodded, agreeing to the Knight's request to borrow it.

By the time it was almost dark in the afternoon, the Northern Wolf Pack surrounding Rock Mountain began to stir.

The Northern Wolf King was also pacing outside the pack. To Knight Lanisha's surprise, when she charged out of the Rock Passage on her warhorse, she discovered that the Wolf King had somehow obtained another Empty Wolf Skin that flew under its control.

With this, the results of her hard-fought battle at noon had returned to square one.

However, she thought to herself, it was fortunate that she had destroyed the wolf skins that the Northern Wolf King had accumulated over the years early on. After all, every one she destroyed was one less for it.

Thinking of this, she grabbed Jier's double-edged Long Spear and drove her warhorse diagonally toward the Wolf King.

The Wolf King also knew that it should not fight near the pack; otherwise, the aftermath of the battle would cause casualties to the pack. It would not suffer such a loss.

Therefore, when the Wolf King saw the Human Knight charge out, it also moved away from the pack, preparing to fight the rested Human Knight again.

The two leaders of the two sides were locked in battle, and the subordinates driven by them naturally could not just stand there. Jier and the others, of course, wanted to just wear the Northern Wolves out, trying to keep them hungry and without strength, so that it would be easier for them to fight later.

But the Northern Wolves could not do that. Influenced by the dignity of their various packs, letting them do nothing and sit idly by was not allowed. Even if it meant letting the pack die on the path of the charge.

So, shortly after Knight Lanisha and the Northern Wolf King began to fight, the pack once again approached from both sides of the Rock Passage.

But they were met only by the laughter of the humans and the ignited Wooden Wall.

Jier and the others stood at the turn behind the first defensive line of the Wooden Wall, and a simple burning wooden stick was thrown directly under the Wooden Wall.

The scattered small wooden strips were quickly ignited, burning along with some dry wolf fur. In just a short moment, the entire Wooden Wall was ablaze.

At first, there was more smoke than fire, but soon there was more fire than smoke.

The fur on the Northern Wolves was truly easy to ignite, and before long, the smell of burning hair filled the surroundings.

"How is it? Can this level of fire hold them back?" Jier squatted at the turn of the Rock Passage, frowning as he asked.

An old Hunter nearby looked carefully at the firelight and smacked his lips: "I think it should work. At least they clearly cannot get through right now."

"It will take at least half the night for the wood on the Wooden Wall and the Northern Wolf corpses underneath to burn out. Hiss, calculating it like this, we have to be careful in the second half of the night."

The other old Hunters, who were also very familiar with the Northern Wolves, nodded: "Indeed, we must be careful at that time. However, as soon as it gets dark, the Knight will return soon. When the real fight starts then, everyone must be careful; the space in the Rock Passage is narrow, and there is nowhere to hide."

Jier and several young Hunters nodded, looking at the raging fire not far away, their hearts prepared for an intense battle.

On the snow outside the Rock Passage.

The Northern Wolves looked at the raging fire in the Rock Passage, their hearts full of restlessness; they had failed to complete the Wolf King's order.

Just then, a young adult Northern Wolf could no longer endure their current powerlessness and failure. This young Northern Wolf first ran out from the pack, howling as it circled the pack. After all the Northern Wolves gathered there noticed it, the wolf stopped howling and silently charged toward the firelight in front.

The flames were raging, and after approaching the burning Wooden Wall, before this Northern Wolf could even touch the fire, the heat scorched the outermost layer of its fur.

It silently tried to sprint and run horizontally across the rock walls on both sides, but it did not get its wish, because even the rock walls had been scorched piping hot by the flames. The moment the Northern Wolf's paws touched the rock wall, the fur on its paws was scorched, and its footpads were burned.

After trying twice, it was helpless, and finally, under the gaze of a sea of reflective beast eyes from the Northern Wolf Pack in the distance, it let out a howl of grief and indignation, then lunged straight from the front at the burning Wooden Wall.

Upon contacting the burning Wooden Wall, it turned into a fireball; amidst the dazzling flames, it struggled and thrashed twice before dying.

At the turn on the other side of the flames, Jier leaned against the icy rock wall, watching the Northern Wolf that had lunged into the fire and died, grinding his teeth, not knowing what to say.

After a moment of silence, another young Hunter who had come to take over the watch walked over.

He greeted him: "Jier, how is the situation?"

The flames were raging, and the combustible materials brought by the wolf corpses beneath the Wooden Wall gave this fire barrier a duration beyond what they had anticipated.

"The situation is fine for now; a probing Northern Wolf was burned into a part of the fire in just a few moments. However, I feel that the current Northern Wolf Pack is terrifyingly silent. It will be very hard for us to hold out later." Jier stood up, answering his companion's question while stretching his body.

The young Hunter followed Jier's gaze toward the silent Northern Wolf Pack in the open space outside the passage, and he saw countless reflective white dots covering every inch of the open space he could see.

This caused the young Hunter's breathing to stall for a moment.

"It is indeed a bit different." He said, patting his chest: "But isn't this what we needed before? The angrier these Northern Wolves are, the closer they are to being the losing side of this battle that will last for a long time."

"That's right. That's right." Jier muttered.

"Also Jier, you had better tell Knight Lanisha about this situation; she needs to grasp the entire situation on the battlefield."

"Alright, stay safe and keep a lookout around you. In an hour, someone will come to replace you." After saying this, Jier tidied his equipment, wrapped his Cloak tightly around himself, patted his companion's shoulder, and walked toward the Second Position Wooden Wall.

He bypassed the Metal Clamps scattered on the ground; the number of these clamps was lower than when they had first arrived here. The missing ones were those with damaged parts—repairing them was not complicated, but they lacked the tools to replace or repair them, so they could only be piled up by the rock wall and abandoned.

Bypassing the clamps, he approached the second Wooden Wall. The simple ladder for entering and exiting the Wooden Wall was propped against the side, and Jier climbed up in a few steps. Knight Lanisha was currently sitting on top of the rock wall to the side, confronting the Wolf King in the distance across a vast distance.

Jier knew the Knight at the high point had noticed him, so he told Knight Lanisha about the situation just now in a normal speaking volume.

"I know." She waved her hand, signaling Jier to go rest.

Jier then jumped down from the Wooden Wall and came to the campfire behind the Wooden Wall. Everyone was gathered here to rest, even the Knight's warhorse was here; the several large pieces of horse armor on its body had been removed and placed to the side, leaving only some of the more complex parts on its body.

This allowed the warhorse to remain ready for battle at any time; since they did not know how long they would have to wait, they could neither remove all the horse armor nor keep it fully armored at all times. The former would delay the timing of the battle, and if they really did that, it might force the warhorse to fight alongside the Knight without armor protection.

That would be very dangerous.

And if they did the latter, it would double the inability of the warhorse to rest properly and recover its strength after the battle.

So they could only do it this way.

Jier leaned against the campfire, feeling somewhat exhausted, and rested his head directly on a companion's feet. After some dissatisfied grumbling from his companion, Jier insisted, and the companion just let Jier rest his hard Helmet against his feet.

The formal battle had begun since the previous night, and he had only been able to take short naps in the gaps between battles; often, he would close and open his eyes, and time would have already slipped away.

Just like now, as Jier's eyelids grew heavy, accompanied by the soft chatter of his companions in his ears, his consciousness gradually drifted away.

Gradually drifted away.

"Jier! Get up and fight! They're here!" A loud shout startled him awake.

For a moment, he did not know if he was still in a dream, but then the tugging on his arm let him know he was currently in the real world.

"What? What time is it?" Tapping his Helmet with his sturdy Glove, Jier took a deep breath of the still-cold air and wiped the snot under his nose as he asked.

The person who pulled Jier up was a young Hunter, who was currently hanging his quiver onto his belt. Seeing that Jier was already waking up quickly, he shouted along: "Never mind that, the fire is out, those Northern Wolves are here!"

Jier looked up at the sky and found it was still night, though he did not know how long it was until dawn.

He saw bowls of warm melted ice water by the campfire and immediately picked one up and drank it. The water was lukewarm, not icy, and it looked like it had been placed by the campfire to heat for a long time.

Jier hurriedly followed his companion to climb the Wooden Wall, and he strode to the middle of the Wooden Wall. Because Knight Lanisha was not currently holding the Wooden Wall, Jier stood in this spot that could cover both sides of the Wooden Wall as a matter of course.

Jier looked toward the front of the Second Position and found that, apart from a chaotic mix of Northern Wolf howls and painful shrieks, he did not see any Northern Wolves rushing through the passage ahead.

Moreover, the Metal Clamps on the ground were still intact and had not been triggered.

"Where are the Northern Wolves?" He pulled the old Hunter next to him and asked.

The old Hunter pursed his lips, using his white beard on his chin to point the direction for Jier: "They are crossing the fire wall that is no longer burning. I heard from the Knight that those Northern Wolves aren't stupid; they even know how to carry non-combustible debris to cover the embers."

Jier looked up at the surrounding rock walls and discovered that Knight Lanisha was already prepared for battle, standing at a high point on the rock wall different from her previous position.

Just as he was looking, Knight Lanisha loudly issued an order: "Now is the time to light the small lighting campfires on both sides of the rock wall."

Two old Hunters shot out two lit wooden sticks, quickly igniting some flammable firewood piled in the grooves on both sides of the rock wall. With the illumination of these small campfires, a long stretch of the Rock Passage in front of the Wooden Wall where Jier was standing became crystal clear.

Although the Northern Wolves had not yet arrived, and the Wolf King that might appear with them had not come either, everyone's mood gradually became tense.

"Damn it! How did we forget to take back the wooden ladder!" A loud shout left everyone stunned. Turning to look, the Hunter was right; the simple ladder made of two pieces of wood joined together for entering and exiting was still propped outside the Wooden Wall. At this moment, it looked exactly like it was facilitating the Northern Wolves' charge.

Everyone felt a wave of annoyance, and the tense atmosphere from just a moment ago suddenly deflated. Some Hunters began to curse directly, though they did not name anyone; after all, so many people had been standing on the Wooden Wall for quite a while, yet they only discovered this right before the battle.

Everyone had failed to see it, or rather, everyone had seen it, but everyone had lost their reason and logic due to tension, and they had collectively forgotten to take the ladder back.

Jier grimaced, handed the Long Spear in his hand to the old Hunter next to him to hold temporarily, then went to the ladder, lifted it with force, and pulled it backward.

Just as Jier had finished his task.

Knight Lanisha, high up on the rock wall, shook her head and said loudly to the Hunters below: "Prepare for battle, they are really here this time."