A swift gust of wind rushed by as Lake’s King’s Aura enveloped the entire area, suppressing all the wolves that were approaching.
"Grrrrr..." Even the large Alpha Wolf retreated a little bit in the face of Lake’s majestic aura as it released a low growl.
"This is the most I can do for you," Lake said as Kate watched on in disbelief, "Don’t waste the chance I’ve given you to organize your team."
As Lake spoke, he prepared to confront the Alpha Wolf, its emerald-green eyes locked onto him with a bloodthirsty intensity
As Lake’s presence grew faint, Kate knew she had no time to complain. With Lake’s focus shifting to the Alpha Wolf, she hurriedly started to analyze the situation.
"Common wolves hunt in packs and usually pick off the weaker prey first. The green wolves seem to specialize in speed... that means the best option is..."
With a sharp glint in her eyes, Kate quickly commanded everyone.
"Sylph, enhance us all and stay close. Avoid flying under any circumstances," Kate commanded, "These wolves are much faster compared to typical Rank One beasts and most likely have the ability to leap into the air to attack you."
Sylph, who was about to take flight, abruptly dropped to the ground.
"Iris, you’re in charge of defending Sylph from now on. The wolves will target her as she’s the weakest in the team, so don’t get distracted by their attacks."
Iris, despite feeling displeasure at the sudden transfer of leadership, didn’t question Kate’s orders as she positioned herself to block the wolves from reaching Sylph.
"Bramble, you’re going with a hit-and-run tactic. Take care not to get surrounded while I try my best to separate them with my blade aura."
"Lake wants these wolves alive, so try to aim for their joints or legs. Try to leave the damage at a level where Sylph can heal it after the battle." As Kate ordered everyone, she suddenly had an idea as to what Lake was trying to do.
"That psychotic bastard! He really did try to pull something crazy!" Kate cursed as she observed Lake’s presence completely vanishing in front of her.
Romero, who was observing from the side, was about to intervene when the Alpha Wolf appeared. He was able to instantly recognize it as a Rank Two creature, but when he saw that the group was gearing up to fight, he was slightly stunned.
"These kids can’t possibly think they could handle that, right?" is what he thought, but when he felt Lake’s King’s Aura come down on the area, he was left utterly shocked.
He had just broken through to the Martial Master Realm and unlocked his own Mana Field. That was why he knew that whatever skill Lake was using was just as strong as his own.
"There’s no way he’s also a Martial Master...?"
At that moment, Lake was staring at the Alpha Wolf with a wicked smile. He didn’t know why, but he strangely felt was going to be the first time he fought in a long time despite recently returning from his hunt with the third years.
After thinking about it a bit longer, he was able to realize why he felt that way. When he hunted with the third years, he killed most of his enemies in one attack, making the fights feel lackluster. When he fought against the Lizard King, he had to go all out only to barely hold on and fight against him and was only able to win with the assistance of everyone else.
In both of those situations, the fight either ended too quickly, or was filled with danger.
In the case of the first one, Lake didn’t feel it was much of a fight, while in the second one, it was too much of a risk for him, so he didn’t like to fight like that.
Now, however, the Alpha Wolf in front of him had reminded him of another time before he hunted with the third years. In his mind, all he could think about was that the Alpha Wolf was the perfect target for him to return to his "old ways".
The way that left his enemies trembling in fear...
As an incomparably bone-chilling smile appeared on Lake’s face, the Alpha Wolf quickly sensed something as it quickly took a step back.
Just as it stepped back, a sharp claw appeared right where its neck was, tearing apart the wind!
Lake punched at the Wolf King who managed to dash away just in the nick of time again, as a sonic boom sounded out from the air pressure generated by Lake’s punch.
This didn’t stop Lake as he continued to chase after the Alpha Wolf, releasing countless attacks as he continued to push it back into the woods, away from the rest of his team.
Romero and everyone else were left in shock by Lake’s sudden actions as less than three seconds had passed since the start of his attack to him pushing the Alpha Wolf back.
"That monster..." Kate muttered, her eyes twitching, but she didn’t think about it for long.
Without hesitation, Kate unleashed her blade, its surface shimmering with a faint, ethereal glow.
As she swung her sword through the air, the astral mana flowed from her, forming a crescent moon-shaped projectile that streaked toward a nearby group of wolves, causing an explosive eruption of starlight upon impact!
"Bramble, disable them while they’re separated!"
"At your command, my lady!" Bramble flashed a polite smile at Kate before springing into action. His swift footsteps barely left a trace as he moved toward one of the wolves that had been separated by the blast.
Iris was alert as she observed the surrounding wolves who seemed to have recovered from their initial confusion and were encircling them again.
"Hah!" With a light shout, she stomped onto the soft ground, causing it to fracture as a few fragments of earth flew up into the sky.
With a swift kick, she shot one of the stones towards the approaching wolf, sending it sliding backwards from the sheer force behind the stone!
"There are roughly thirty to forty wolves in total... This is going to be a bit troublesome. Although I can handle all of them individually, my mana reserves are still too low to support prolonged fights." Kate looked at the situation as she calmly analyzed the situation.
"If Lake is indeed doing what I suspect, then all we have to do is hold on until he’s finished..."
Deep in the wooded hills, Lake took the chance to back away after throwing a punch at the Alpha Wolf.
"Grrr..." The Alpha Wolf looked at him cautiously. Although it hadn’t been hit by any of Lake’s attacks, the intensity and strength behind them made it recognize Lake as an equally strong predator.
"Hmm, you’re quite fast, aren’t you?" Lake didn’t immediately continue his attacks. Instead, he spoke to the Alpha Wolf as he employed his recently acquired ability.
[Kinship - This skill allows the Host to establish a limited empathic connection with anyone, enabling them to understand and communicate basic emotions and intentions.]
Under the connection brought by Kinship, the Alpha Wolf seemed to understand Lake’s words as "praise."
"Grr..." The Alpha Wolf released a low growl, but Lake understood that it was also acknowledging his strength, which caused him to smile.
He had just established basic communication with the Alpha Wolf.
However, he didn’t continue to speak as he quickly cast a flashbang spell between them.
"ROARR!" Temporarily blinded by the light, the Alpha Wolf released a loud roar as it thrashed about.
After a few seconds, its vision had recovered, but Lake was nowhere to be seen.
"?" As the Alpha Wolf grew increasingly confused, it suddenly felt something pull its tail.
Enraged by this action, the Alpha Wolf swiftly turned around and swung its sharp claws.
A nearby tree was snapped in two under the Alpha Wolf’s strong attack, but when it looked around again, there was nobody there.
The Alpha Wolf’s eyes suddenly widened as it felt something heavy smash into its head, causing its face to slam down into the ground.
As it struggled to pick itself off the ground, the Alpha Wolf released a few whimpers in pain as it hurriedly stood up.
Suddenly, the Alpha Wolf felt a strong intent coming from all over that caused it to feel slightly enraged.
It was one word, yet the Alpha Wolf perfectly understood its intent.
"ROARRR!" Releasing another loud roar, the Alpha wolf felt another force smack into it, this time from below, causing its eyes to momentarily dilate as it was sent flying into the sky!
However, before it could even go more than two meters off the ground, it felt something grab its tail and ruthlessly swing it back down towards the ground!
The strong emotion overwhelmed it again once it was on the ground, but it still had no intention of giving in, as its bloodthirsty eyes looked for the bastard who was attacking him, but no matter how hard he looked, he still couldn’t catch sight of his attacker.
Suddenly, it felt something grab its tail again, but when it looked, there was no one there...
The Alpha Wolf felt shivers as its body was wildly flung around.
The next few minutes of the Alpha Wolf’s life couldn’t only be described as hell. It was swung around and beaten ruthlessly again and again, yet it still refused to submit.
Eventually, the beatings got so bad that the Alpha Wolf’s skin and bones started to peel and break. With how severe the beatings were getting, the Alpha Wolf knew it was only moments away from its own death but still refused to submit.
As the leader of its pack, it would rather die than surrender.
When the Alpha Wolf finally felt like its consciousness was blurring, and death was coming, it felt a slight bit of relief.
It knew that once it died, these torturous beatings would be over.
As it gently closed its eyes to accept its fate, however, it suddenly felt a wave of rejuvenating energy flow into it, miraculously recovering its injuries and lifeforce.
As the Alpha Wolf lay on the ground, its mind went blank as fear slowly gripped its heart. Just moments ago, it had been one of the top predator of the grassland, but now it faced a new form of torment...