The chain of events caused the boys to lose their chance to retreat, and now they found themselves surrounded by these vicious beasts. This new batch of canids instantly recognised them and immediately protected their alphas from Edward’s arrows.

“Looks like we’re in hot waters this time,” Alan looked around and said. Most of them were observant enough to nod their heads in agreement, only Jim turned his head left and right asking, “What’s happening? Somebody tell me please?”

“The crows attacking us wasn’t random. Look at the dust we had scattered beforehand,” Edward explained.

Jim took just one glance and his pupils instantly constricted. The weakening powder had all been dispersed; this level of combat tactic already come close to enlightenment. The beasts are becoming almost as cunning and sly as a human could.

Tommy then added, “That’s not the last of our problems. There are more arriving while we are pinned down here, we will soon be overwhelmed.”

The group immediately went into a defensive formation without a word.

Kairos whispered, “Our only chance is to kill their leaders to scatter the wolves. Unfortunately, they are too well protected in their tight little groups, and the alphas have learnt to stay apart.”

After cutting off all possible exits, a chorus of howling ensued to summon more of their friends. The Black Winds are separated into different packs, and all are ruled under the wolf king. With a quick glance, there are four separate groups, and each alpha stood protected by two betas.

The appearance of a leader is vastly different from a regular Black Wind. They have larger maws and thickly muscled bodies. Unlike their greyish-black subordinates, their fur is dark like obsidian, and their yellowed eyes gleamed with bloodlust. Each stood proudly with a fierce dominative pressure, and they stared down the boys and the Grey Wolves like prey for the taking.

“They are still underestimating my arrows,” Edward smiled confidently letting loose a powerful arrow enhanced with a shortened incantation right into the midst of a tightly packed wolf gang.

A series of dying yelps sounded as it flew, and then the arrow turned into a fiery explosion.

*Vvvvom*

The underside of the trees glowed brightly for a single moment, then a powerful gust of hot wind rolled the fallen leaves away. There was a brief moment of stunned silence, then the beasts whimpered fearfully. Edward’s shot gone through every single wolf in its path and it struck his target directly on its head. But not even a single second later, another explosion happened on another side and rocked them all back.

Then a third, and a fourth.

In one breath, Edward actually sent out four such arrows.

Out of those four targets, the first two alphas were instantly killed, the third wounded by the explosion. And the last one, due to having more time, managed to dodge out of the way, unscathed.

“While they are confused… CHARGE!!” Alan yelled.

The two groups clashed with terrifying strength. The wolves fought with their lives on the line. It is obvious that while the Greys walked a path in harmony with nature, they are no less bloodthirsty than the Black Winds. In the end, they are still beasts that learnt that to survive the savage wilderness, they need to become even more savage than their environment.

As the boys fought, they are also experiencing what it means by only the strong survive and the weak die. Without them noticing, their methods slowly changed. Unconsciously, they have become deeply influenced by these beasts they are supposed to cull.

Their foes are far stronger than reported, and it forced them to fight more viciously. Little by little, there are more killing intent in their attacks. In the past, they fought to survive, now it is kill or be killed.

They had no real choice either when only the Wolf King is supposed to be Mid C rank in this mission but turns out that even the betas have C rank attacking power, and the regular wolves are at D rank.

The world seemed to dull out as they fought harder than ever before, only the snapping of maws and the dying sound of wolves are left.

Suddenly Kairos shouted, “Form a circle and make use of the energy stored within our blades.”

He had also been dragged into that madness of senseless killing like everyone here, but as time passed, his overactive brain detected an abnormality: They are not using their tools properly.

Instead, they had been giving in to their primal instincts for survival.

His words were like a lifeline which they immediately grab on.

“Guys hold your ground. If the wolves want a battle of attrition, we will give them exactly that,” Alan said.

After getting used to fighting beasts, they are fending off the Black Winds with considerably more ease now. The main trick is to not get lured out of formation by the wolves. Also, Alan’s Tonfas proved extremely suited to disabling the beasts, although it is a terrible killing weapon.

Time dragged one, and their wariness quickly peaked.

“How many of them do you guys estimate?” Tommy asked as he sent a wolf flying with a yelp. Sweat is pouring down his back, but the boy did not even blink.

“I’d say they have nearly two hundred,” Edward gauged with a glance. As his fighting style was refined for killing, he had been the deadliest thus far with his wrist blades and the lucky one who used the least energy. Even Kairos’ Swallow that allowed sweeping slashes couldn’t take down as many enemies because their enemies are much too agile.

A swift dagger appeared like a blur as it went in and out of a wolf’s skull from under its chin, so sudden that the beast Jim is fighting did not realise it is already dead and still stood with its menacing jaws open.

He huffed in exhaustion despite being the second most in kills. Stamina was never his thing.

“They weren’t so tough last time!”

“Idiot, that’s because you drugged them!” Alan said while rolling his eyes.

“Owh… right.”

At this time, surrounded by fallen Black Winds, a frown appeared on Tommy’s face, “My gloves are running low on frost energy, should I start using fire, or will this forest burn down?”

The corpses around him are riddled with ice spikes unleashed from the frost dragonling living in his weapons. It helped vastly in taking down his opponents. However, the baby frost dragonling was drained quickly, in just minutes, a third was used.

Edward looked around carefully, never slowing down in wounding his opponents. As he hamstrings a reckless Black Wind wolf, he shook his head to Tommy’s question, “Their fur will catch fire, and the scurrying wolves will set the nearby bushes alight.”

“This means we will have to retreat to a safe position, and soon,” Alan said.

Unfortunately, the battle of attrition wasn’t going so well. About, as effective as punching feathers. With the way this is going, the year is going to turn before they suppressed the Black Winds.

Kairos nodded to Edward, who immediately removed his bow and aimed in the direction of their escape route. The closest Black Winds bravely leapt towards him, trying to crush his throat between their large maws. However, the boy simply flicked his wrist, and a sharp blade protruded outwards like a dart, impaling any that dared. He threw their bodies down on the floor and loaded several arrows in a single smooth action.

“Wait! How are we going to bring the Grey Wolves with us?” Alan pointed at the Greys that are still clashing against their cousins.

“Individually, they seem stronger than the regular Black Winds, but they number too few to make a difference in the retreat.”

“Don’t call it a ‘retreat’, we’re doing a tactical withdrawal!”

“Pifft, does it matter?”

“I’ll lead the breakthrough charge. We will destroy their encirclement in one go.”

“Okay, we’ll leave it to you, captain!”

They fluidly changed their position in battle and prepared for the ‘tactical withdrawal’.

The young captain gave a loud whistle signalling the start and then he ran headfirst into the wolves. The Greys immediately saw their action and followed while an alpha Black Wind howled summoning a large amount of its pack that tried to block their path. But, at this time, arrows suddenly flew right into those in the way as Edward released his bowstring. It created a gap for Kairos to charge in.

He was like a hurricane of death. His weapon was a scythe that reaped lives and displayed its true value on a battlefield. The Swallow shone with the radiance of metal and crimson blood of any that cross his way. His brothers and the Greys followed closely behind.

Yet more enemies arrived by the moment as if these beasts do not fear death. Then, in a moment of delay between his slashes, a massive wolf managed to sink its maws onto Kairos’ arm. It is a powerful bite that could easily rip off a C ranker’s appendage with one chomp, Ki barrier or not.

Dread filled the boys as they saw their captain being bitten.

“NO!!” the others shouted even as they tried to help. They know that in such a situation, any delays will make it easy for the other wolves to maul Kairos and drag him away.

In desperation, Jim shot out several daggers, and along with him, Edward released the fastest shot he ever done, but they know it is already too late.

Kairos turned to look at them from his position, with the wolf still chewing on his arm. He smiled sadly at his friends as if saying goodbye.

Time seemed to freeze, and then all the wolves pounced on him. These beasts tore into Kairos savagely. Their maws dripping with foam and drool.

His friends could only stare with horrified looks on their faces as the wolf pack moved in a frenzy swarming Kairos.

“CAPTAIN!”

“KAIROS!!”

A heart-wrenching cry escaped from their lips.

Suddenly.

*Whooosh*

A great gust of wind, like a crescent moon. A flash of light drew a horizontal line. A single slash, sliced apart all that is before him, releasing a rain of blood. And a row of beasts lays dead by his feet.

He grabbed the wolf still biting him on the head and threw the canid away like a ragged doll.

It flew into a bunch of wolves that shot backwards by the blow, like pins dropping from a rolling ball.

“Whattt?” the boys exclaimed.

“Oh, I have Titan ranked physique,” he waved them away as if it wasn’t worth mentioning.

His brothers definitely didn’t appreciate him scaring them, but at least now they can see for themselves the strength of a higher-ranked physique. Kairos continued laughing as he pummelled any wolf still trying to surround him. Somehow, at some point, he had developed a liking to mow through his enemies. In fact, it kind of reminded him of home. He had not lacked doing clearing weeds to earn small pieces of bread or a handful of barley groats.

“Ah, this is the feeling of satisfaction from working hard!” Kairos muttered to himself.

The Greys, the Black Winds, and his four brothers, all of them felt frightened to death.

“How did you become Titan ranked?!” Tommy cried out. He had the best physique among them, but he hadn’t enjoyed that title for a month and is already thrown behind.

What happened to poor cultivating bloodline? What happened from descendent of a long line of pig farmers?

“It’s a long story, I’ll let Jim tell you guys later.”

Everyone looked at Jim whose expression is desperately saying ‘I’m sorry I forgot to tell you all’.

Kairos quickly cut a path through the remaining pursuing Black Wind Wolves and led his friends through. The enemy wolf packs that had four alphas now only remain one that could keep chase. The only other surviving alpha had been severely wounded by Edward’s Secret Art and left behind.

With only one alpha controlling four different packs, it is hard to keep control even with the help of its betas.

Just as they are almost about to get away, the forest air seemed to become still as an oppressive aura enveloped them. This is the sign that strong beings are approaching. The Black Winds’ reinforcements had finally arrived.

A small group of fifteen wolves charged over, cutting in front of their path. They skirted across the undergrowth like shadows and aimed straight for Kairos.

“B rankers!” Alan said with a hiss.

In a wolf pack, the strongest and wisest will lead as alpha. Each group consist of one or two alphas, usually with one of each gender; however, the group attacking them is fully formed by alphas gathered from different wolf packs.

“Aren’t alphas C ranked creatures?”

“No, even the ones we met before are B ranked or near it.”

“This useless booklet! They should fire the one that wrote it!”

“DODGE LEFT!” Kairos called out in an emergency.

Like a trained team, they moved without hesitation and even the Grey Wolves behind followed instinctively.

Still, there were a few Greys those could not react in time and were immediately hit by a black-coloured wind that gave off a sickly feeling. The poor creatures were sliced into dices and splattered gruesomely to the ground.

“That’s definitely an attack worthy of B rank,” Jim exclaimed with shock.

If any of the boys are hit by this attack, it will surely take away at least half of their life. And this is only one attack out of all the alphas before them.