"Perfect! I've run out of Fig Snake Fruit again — I can take this chance to gather more. I just don't know whether this plant still grows on the prairie…"
Leilin thought to himself, gradually drifting away from the caravan.
"Chip! Pull up my current physical data!"
"Beep! Leilin Farell — Strength: 1.6, Agility: 1.7, Constitution: 1.5, Status: Healthy."
The Chip's feedback arrived almost instantly.
"The increases are minimal — only about 0.1 across the board!" Leilin furrowed his brow. "Ever since everyone started resting inside the wagons, I haven't been able to find a suitable place to practice the Breathing Technique. On top of that, the effects of the various potions are wearing off. According to my projections, the optimized Cross Sword Breathing Technique can push my physical stats to around 1.9 at most — that's the ceiling. Any further gains will require stimulating the Life Energy within my body. Only after becoming a Knight will there be room for growth…"
Leilin kept a distant eye on the girls from the Golden Flower Alliance while searching the ground for usable plant materials.
After a long while, he finally raised his head in resignation.
"Sure enough! The living environment is different — Fig Snake Fruit can't survive on the prairie. I can't even find a suitable substitute!"
"Hey! Leilin!
"Coming!" Wandering around alone this far from the group was not only conspicuous but dangerous. Seeing no alternative, Leilin abandoned his plan for the day and headed back toward the wagon.
"Warning!!! Warning!!! Dangerous creatures approaching!!!" Just then, the Chip's alert blared. Red warning text materialized before Leilin's eyes, impossible to miss.
"Quick — pull up the image!"
Leilin's expression didn't change, but his pace quickened dramatically, nearly pushing his body to its limits. His right hand tightened around the grip of his Cross Sword.
The virtual display in his vision showed a cluster of red dots closing in on the caravan, fanning out to encircle it like the mouth of a sack.
"Beep! Cross-referencing the database — dangerous creatures match Scavenging Wolves at a 97.8% similarity!"
"Scavenging Wolves!" Leilin narrowed his eyes, recalling the data he had gathered earlier. "Scavenging Wolf — a wolf species of the prairie. Extremely aggressive, typically hunts in packs. Estimated Strength: 2–3, Agility: 3–4, Constitution: 3–4."
"This level of power is absolutely not something a Preliminary Knight like me can handle!"
Leilin accelerated again, reaching George in a few strides. He kept his voice low: "We've got trouble!"
George glanced at the people around them. The apprentices were still going about their business. He lifted his water canteen to conceal his movements. "What's going on?"
"A Scavenging Wolf pack! I spotted their tracks!" Leilin spoke in rapid, clipped sentences.
"Got it." George took several long gulps of water, then flashed a series of quick hand signals.
The boys who had been selected for the escort detail froze for a moment, but they remembered the pre-arranged signals and began moving, pulling the dazed girls back toward the caravan. They leaned in and whispered into their ears. The entire operation was carried out in silence. Some of the other apprentices noticed something was wrong and started retreating as well, but others remained oblivious.
When danger strikes, sometimes all you need to do is run faster than your companions!!
"Move! Now!" Seeing that most of their alliance members had already pulled back, George and Leilin quickly followed.
"I didn't know you had it in you when it came to scouting, Leilin!" George murmured. After spending so much time together, he had come to understand Leilin well — he knew the other boy wouldn't lie to him.
Though the Golden Flower Alliance apprentices had withdrawn quietly and without attracting attention, a few perceptive apprentices from other groups noticed and began slipping away as well.
Clang!! Clang!!
The piercing sound of a gong rang out. "The adults have detected danger! All apprentices, return to the wagons immediately!"
A Black-robed figure's voice boomed like thunder, exploding right next to every apprentice's ear.
The apprentices lounging on the grass froze in stunned silence, then scattered in a frantic stampede, sprinting back toward the caravan.
"No more hiding! Run!!!" George roared, drawing the long sword from his sheath.
With the Golden Flower Alliance apprentices already warned, they had a head start — the first few were already climbing aboard the wagons.
"Awoooo!!!"
At that moment, a long, desolate howl rang out, drenched in bloodlust and savage fury.
Howls erupted one after another. Their prey had spotted the ambush, so the wolves attacked without hesitation!!!
Wave after wave of dark wolf shadows — each one two or three meters long — charged toward the apprentices at breakneck speed, trailing chains of black afterimages.
"The Scavenging Wolf pack!" the apprentice at the rear screamed in despair.
An instant later, a dark shape slammed into him, the sheer force of impact knocking the youth flat. A muzzle full of razor-sharp teeth clamped down without mercy, severing the screaming apprentice's throat entirely.
The fleeing apprentices glanced back at the cry, and fresh screams erupted as they ran even faster.
A girl with tears streaming down her face ran and sobbed, "Mama! Mama! I want my Mama…"
"Poor thing — has she already had a breakdown?" Leilin had reached the wagons by now and turned to survey the scene behind him.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Seven dark figures burst from within the caravan, each wielding a massive sword as tall as a person. They tore through the air and charged straight into the wolf pack.
"The Black-robed Knights! They've entered the fight!" Leilin thought.
"The Scavenging Wolves' average stats hover around 3 — roughly on par with a Knight. But humans wield weapons and possess intelligence. Knights, moreover, have secret techniques that can dramatically amplify their latent potential, unleashing astonishing power. In a one-on-one or even one-versus-three scenario, Scavenging Wolves wouldn't stand a chance. But now…"
Leilin's expression grew worried as he watched the hundreds of red dots closing in. "Last time, fewer than a hundred wolves already reached the wagons and damaged the carriage bodies. Now there are several hundred… Perhaps today I'll finally get to see a
Squelch!! A Black-robed Knight swung his massive blade, carving an arc of brilliant silver light that split a Scavenging Wolf clean in two!
"Heh heh!" The Knight licked the blood from his lips, looking positively savage. "Come on then, little darlings!"
"Th-thank you, sir!" The girl he had just saved stammered her gratitude. Tears still clung to her cheeks — she was the same girl who had been crying for her mother moments ago.
"Are you stupid? Get moving!" Without looking back, the Knight charged into the wolf pack again.
Only then did the girl snap out of her daze and sprint toward the wagons.
"Quick! Form the wagons into a circle — defensive formation! Girls to the back! Boys — draw your Cross Swords and step forward!"
The Black-robed Knight left guarding the caravan barked his orders.
"Right!" George was the first to leap up onto a wagon, shouting acknowledgment and directing the alliance members.
"Time to fight for our lives!" Leilin tightened his grip on his Cross Sword and muttered under his breath.
He cast another glance at the field. Thanks to his early warning, the Golden Flower Alliance had suffered the least damage — apart from a few unlucky ones who had tripped during the retreat, not a single person had been killed or seriously wounded.
The other apprentices, however, were not so fortunate. For instance, in Olin's group, Leilin noticed that two of the noble-born boys who normally trailed after Olin were missing. The survivors who had made it back to the caravan were all injured.
"Alright! Everyone who could be saved has been pulled back!"
Angelei returned to the defensive formation, his body spattered with blood, seemingly unconcerned. His gaze immediately found Leilin, who stood gripping his sword with both hands, braced for battle.
"Aren't you afraid?" the Black-robed Knight asked.
"At a time like this — what good would fear do?" Leilin replied, though his knuckles whitened around the hilt. In his previous life, he had rarely witnessed anything this bloody.
"Heh heh! Scavenging Wolves are clever and cunning. As long as we make it clear that we're a hard nut to crack — that taking us down will cost them dearly — they'll back off," Angelei said calmly.
Leilin couldn't tell whether the Knight was simply trying to reassure him, but the words eased his tension noticeably.
"Awoooo!!!" The apprentices who had fallen earlier were all dead now. Driven mad by the scent of blood, the Scavenging Wolves lost whatever restraint they had left and lunged at the caravan with savage fury!!!
"They're coming! Everyone, be ready! We'll do our best to protect you, but there will be gaps — when that happens, you'll have to fight for yourselves!" Angelei shouted, then swung his massive sword forward and took his place at the very front alongside the other Black-robed Knights.
"Kill!" the Knights roared in unison. Leilin could even see a faint luminescence shimmering along their blades.
The great swords came crashing down. The Scavenging Wolf at the forefront took a gaping slash across its chest and tumbled backward, spraying droplets of blood through the air.
In an instant, the dozen-odd dark figures stood like a fortress of steel, holding the wolf pack firmly at bay.
"We need to step up too — take some pressure off the Knights!" George moved to Leilin's side.
"If this keeps up, the Knights' stamina will give out, and that'll be catastrophic," Leilin agreed with a nod.
At George's call, every able-bodied boy drew his sword and fell in behind the Knights, facing the savage wolf pack from the flanks!
"Awoooo!!!" The howls came without end. The wolf squaring off against Leilin was a massive beast, over two meters long.
The Scavenging Wolf kept snarling. Leilin could even smell the stench wafting off its body.
"Chip! Run a simulation and design the optimal kill solution!"
"Task established. Simulation commencing. Entering assist interface!" A faint fluorescent glow flickered before Leilin's eyes, and a three-dimensional view of his surroundings materialized.
The Scavenging Wolf finally lunged. A gleaming claw, flecked with old blood, raked toward Leilin, trailing waves of hot, fetid air.
"Host is under attack! Optimal response: deflect with the Cross Sword from a 50-degree angle on the right, then thrust straight ahead!"
"Hah!" Leilin bellowed, activating the Breathing Technique and channeling every ounce of strength in his arms. He swung from the right, knocking the wolf's claw aside.
"Bang!!!" A massive jolt of recoil traveled up Leilin's arm, so violent he might as well have struck a timber of ironwood as thick as his waist.
"The Scavenging Wolf's strength is greater than mine. A few more exchanges like this and I'll be exhausted. I need to end this quickly!"