The alpha wolf was well aware that humans were a dangerous species. This wasn't because humans were strong, but because they possessed one of the highest levels of intelligence in The Oneness, particularly in analytical and strategic thinking, far surpassing other species.
This superior intelligence allowed humans to often defeat creatures stronger than themselves.
However, it was precisely this human intelligence that made the alpha wolf the most desirable prey. The more human flesh and blood it consumed, the more its own intelligence increased, making it stronger than other wolves.
Normally, low-intelligence monsters consume only a few types of prey, limiting their strength. These gray wolves typically have a strength level of at least Professional, but this alpha wolf was at the High Professional level, due to its superior intelligence.
It had learned that consuming a diverse range of prey made it stronger, and this increased intelligence allowed it to hunt prey that ordinary wolves couldn't.
The earlier charge of the red-furred Venubi towards Natee's camp was due to the alpha wolf's skillful execution, as it had its subordinates chase the pack away. The alpha wolf intended to kill Natee's group without expending its own energy.
When that failed, it switched to a nighttime ambush, but it missed again due to the force field effect of the sacred scroll that Nava had obtained from the wizard Alfor. Even so, the alpha wolf didn't give up. It even used its own minions as bait to lure Natee's group out.
Just as Nawa had predicted, this alpha wolf was incredibly cunning. It positioned most of its forces in the direction it expected Natee and his friends to break through.
It did this because it knew that the time when its prey is weakest and easiest to hunt is when they are trying to escape.
While the alpha wolf was basking in its confidence that everything was going according to plan, a strange sound suddenly emanated from the group of humans. Immediately, the wolves closest to the humans went berserk and attacked the source of the sound, disregarding the alpha wolf's commands.
Normally, Somchai's Deflem skill has a radius of about 100 feet, but because wolves have exceptionally good hearing, the skill's range extended beyond 100 meters, provoking almost all the wolves. Except for a few wolves that stayed with the pack leader, the rest focused their attention on Somchai.
With the pack leader's intelligence, it could deduce that the unusual behavior of its subordinates was likely due to the special ability of the man wielding the large hammer. But what it couldn't understand was why this human would do this.
If the two sides were evenly matched, using the power to draw the wolf pack towards a man with superior defense, allowing its offensive teammates to attack freely without worrying about defense, would be a good fighting strategy.
But at this moment, the numbers were too great. Doing so would be tantamount to suicide. The pack leader's only possible explanation was that the human was sacrificing himself to give others a chance to escape.
Even though it had seen this kind of behavior from humans before, it never understood why a species considered one of the most intelligent on this planet would do something so foolish.
Soon, the pack leader was surprised again. Natee and his companions didn't try to escape as it had expected. The group seemed to have chosen to stand their ground and fight. Although the pack leader still believed that this group of humans would inevitably die, it wasn't pleased at all.
Because the humans were fighting in this manner... This would cause it to lose more wolf subordinates than necessary. While the wolf pack leader hesitated about joining the fight to minimize unnecessary losses, a human separated from the group and headed towards the wolf pack leader with intense killing intent.
The wolf pack leader now understood that the humans' goal was to kill it, the pack leader. But what it didn't understand was why the humans would send the seemingly weakest member of the group to do something so almost impossible.
The reason the wolf pack leader thought this was none other than the equipment and weapons that Nawa was using. Even a quick glance revealed that they were clearly of inferior quality to those of other humans.
Even so, the wolf pack leader didn't dare underestimate them. Its instincts were screaming loudly that this human was dangerous.
"Grrr!"
The wolf pack leader snarled softly. Then, three wolves with white manes emerged from the bushes behind the pack leader and charged towards Nawa with the speed of the wind.
"Those wolves…"
"Those are mid-level Pro-level monsters!" Maya shouted frantically, her twin knives decapitating two wolves charging from behind her.
"We have to go help Nawa! Just dealing with the pack leader is hard enough, plus three mid-level Pro-level monsters... even a high-ranked player might not be able to handle them!"
Ploy shouted to her friends, her face filled with extreme worry.
Nawa's situation was dangerous, but Natee and his group weren't safe either. Not only were they struggling to help Nawa, but even the slightest disruption to their formation could lead to them being devoured by the wolf pack. Natee frowned before shouting to Nawa:
"You escape! There's no need to throw your life away with us here!"
Nawa turned to look at him with an appreciative expression before speaking...
"If I escape, how will you guys survive this pack of wolves?"
"This place isn't far from Taiban Village. Maybe you can go get help," Natee shouted, using his Kremoy sword to stab a nearby wolf in the head, creating a large hole.
Nawa knew that Natee and his friends couldn't hold off the wolf pack long enough to get help, but he said that to give himself a chance to escape.
"Listen carefully. No matter what happens, focus on doing your duty. I'll handle things here."
Nawa shouted, giving an order before turning to look at the three wolves with a sharp, determined gaze.
Nawa stopped moving, drew his bowstring to its fullest extent, and aimed at the three mid-level Pro-level wolves charging towards him. Suddenly, a large gust of wind converged on the arrow.
"Boom!"
A loud explosion of air rang out, a result of the Air Bomb skill's enhancement. The arrow flew at high speed like a bullet, but the mid-level Pro-level wolves moved incredibly fast. They could easily dodge arrows from distances of over 200 meters.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Even so, Nawa continued to fire arrows. But as before, the Pro-level wolves still dodged them. They were only slightly slower due to losing their balance while dodging the arrows.
In an instant, the distance between Nawa and the three wolves rapidly decreased. Even so, Nava continued to fire arrows. It seemed he had no intention of escaping.
"This won't do. His bow is too low-level," May exclaimed, her face clearly worried.
Even though Nava's bow was a good artifact, it was only a low-level item among good equipment, with an attack power rating of only 12-15.
Compared to the premium weapons with an attack power rating of over 50 that Natee's group was using, the difference was like night and day. If Nava had a premium bow in his hand right now, he might have killed a mid-level Pro-level wolf with the first shot.
"What is this guy thinking? He has enough money to buy high-level magic items…"
"But he's still using such crappy weapons," Somchai said, but his face showed extreme fear. If Nawa failed, his own life might be in jeopardy as well.
"Natee, we have to hurry and help Nawa. If the wolves get to him, he won't survive…"
Ploy pleaded, her voice trembling. It was well known among mages and archers that allowing the enemy to get close meant defeat.
Natee looked at the situation, frowning slightly before replying in a firm voice.
"No. Our duty is to hold the wolf pack back here. As for the pack leader, we can only trust that man."
Natee realized that it was too late to help each other. All they could do now was hold the wolf pack back for as long as possible and pray that Nawa would perform a miracle and deal with the pack leader. Otherwise, everyone would lose their lives.
Natee noticed that even though Nawa's arrows hadn't missed their target yet, he still didn't move. Normally, archers or mages who use ranged attacks pay great attention to distance. They wouldn't let enemies get close easily.
But Nawa's behavior was completely different, as if he were inviting the three wolves closer.
The moment the three mid-level Professional wolves got within 50 meters of Nawa, Natee couldn't believe what happened.
"Bang!"
With a sound louder than a landslide, arrows pierced the heads of all three Professional wolves, penetrating their skulls by more than two inches. Their bodies slid uncontrollably across the ground until they stopped in front of Nawa, several silver energy crystals dropping from their bodies.
"How did he do that?"
Natee exclaimed in stunned disbelief, staring at what Nawa had just done. Even with his premium equipment and weapons, he wasn't sure he could have dealt with three mid-level Professional wolves simultaneously, or even if he could, he certainly couldn't have done it so quickly without sustaining any injuries.
In reality, this battle was not as easy as it seemed. Earlier, Nawa missed his first arrow. He intentionally reduced the power of the remaining arrows to accustom the wolves to his speed and make them overconfident. When they got close enough, Nawa fired three arrows at once with full power.
Although this greatly reduced his accuracy, his telekinesis allowed him to control the arrows' trajectories after firing. By suddenly changing direction and honing his skill from repeatedly dodging slow-moving arrows, he made it impossible for the three wolves to dodge the unexpected shots.
Nawa's plan was extremely risky. If it failed, he would face a simultaneous attack from three mid-level professional wolves. While his Dragon Scale Armor might not kill him, he would undoubtedly suffer serious injuries or even lose limbs.
In truth, even without this method, Nawa might have been able to handle the three wolves. However, it would have taken a long time and consumed a great deal of energy.
Even if he won, he might not have enough energy left to fight the wolf pack leader. Moreover, he was racing against time, realizing that Natee and his friends couldn't hold off the wolf pack for long.
Therefore, Nawa decided to risk his own life. Fortunately, the outcome was as he intended.
Nawa looked at the wolf pack leader, who was now staring back at him. The two exchanged glances without speaking, as if assessing each other's fighting power and planning their battle. In an instant, the wolf pack leader charged towards Nawa at high speed.
Nawa roughly estimated that the leader was at least three times faster than the three previous wolves. Without hesitation, Nawa drew his bow and activated his Air Bomb skill, drawing the surrounding air into the arrow.
"Boom!" The sound of the air exploding was louder than ever before.
This arrow Nawa fired was more powerful than any before. He also used his object manipulation power to deflect the arrow to follow the wolf pack leader's movements.
Even if the pack leader was faster than the other three wolves, it would be difficult to evade. Nawa was confident that even if he couldn't kill the pack leader, he could at least injure it.
But as the arrow neared the pack leader, its massive body vanished, reappearing dozens of feet to the right, causing Nawa's arrow to miss its target and hit a large tree nearby instead.
"CRASH!" The large tree fell after being struck in the center by Nawa's arrow.
"Impossible!" Nawa exclaimed, his eyes wide with disbelief.
He wasn't surprised simply because his attack failed; he knew the pack leader was an intelligent monster. The fact that it charged forward after seeing its subordinates dealt with meant it must have some kind of strategy to counter his attack.
But what Nawa didn't expect was that strategy would be teleportation.
Teleportation is the manipulation of spacetime to send an object or energy from one point to another in an instant. As someone with a deep understanding of spacetime, Nawa knew this was something that could actually happen. If he had enough power, Nawa thought he could do the same.
Teleportation is an extremely dangerous and terrifying ability. If the wolf pack leader truly possesses teleportation, dealing with it would be dozens of times more difficult, or perhaps impossible.
"This won't do. If this wolf really can use dimensional teleportation, with my current power level, I can't handle it,"
Nawa muttered to himself, his face instantly becoming serious. Without hesitation, Nawa drew his bowstring and fired an arrow.
But this time, Nawa didn't use the Air Bomb skill. He only used telekinesis to control the arrow. Although the arrow curved towards its target, its speed wasn't high enough. The wolf pack leader didn't need to dodge; it chose to grab the incoming arrow and easily bit it in two.
"Hmph... looks like that skill consumes a lot of energy, huh? That's why you won't use it easily. But I'll force you to use it," Nawa cursed, firing another arrow with the Air Bomb skill.
"Boom!"
This time, the wolf pack leader couldn't deal with the arrow with physical strength alone anymore. As the arrow neared its target, it activated its ability again, and its massive body vanished from that spot, reappearing about ten meters away.
"It seems it can't travel far. Its teleportation range is only about ten meters,"
Nawa thought to himself, feeling somewhat relieved. A bright gleam pierced his eyes, and a fierce killing intent radiated from him. He pulled out five arrows from his dimensional inventory and unleashed an air bomb skill on them all at once.
"Boom!"
A deafening explosion sounded as Nava fired the arrows. This time, however, the target wasn't the charging wolf pack leader; Nava fired all the arrows into the sky.
The wolf pack leader didn't understand Nava's action, but it didn't care. As long as it was within striking range, the pack leader was confident it could kill Nawa in a single blow.