Chapter 21 Kill It
Mysterious energy began pumping through Alex's body. The fatigue accumulated by the two-hour-long sprint was finally relieved. He was ready to kill some wolves.
Suddenly a giant wolf came out of the pack and howled. It was comparatively larger than all the other wolves. More than twice as big.
'That's the Alpha.' Alex assumed.
Kan began firing arrows as soon as he heard the wolves howl. The fight began with a bang. He began killing wolves left and right. With his acute vision, he spotted the wolves before eliminating them one at a time.
Other people who could use bows were powerless before the agile wolves. Assuming they could see the wolves, it was hard for them to track and shoot a moving target.
Alex tightened his grip on the spear. It was time for him to act. Waiting for death was not exactly his style.
Even though there was dim moonlight, it only allowed the group to see at most twenty meters in front of them. The falling snow acted like a veil covering anything beyond that.
'I can't see them. I can vaguely hear them. But they can hear me and see me clearly. This is a losing battle. I need to take initiative.' Thinking that Alex concentrated the mysterious energy inside his body.
'Smoke-screen.' He realised that it was the only way to level the playing field.
Before the wolves could reach the twenty-meter mark. Alex began releasing the smoke screen from his legs. He willed it to move forward like a giant wave. He was hoping to cover the oncoming wolves' vision.
The thin layer of smoke spread just inches above the ground without anyone noticing until it reached the twenty-meter mark. After that, like a wave, it rose up from the ground and blocked the oncoming wolves.
Kan was the only one who realised what Alex had done. He was pleasantly surprised to see the wolves panicking. Making use of that distraction, Kan shot three more arrows at the wolves. He had already taken the lives of almost ten wolves.
This was great for Alex and the group.
Although the smoke screen was momentarily useful. The agitated wolves pierced through it under the leadership of alpha.
But Alex could accurately pinpoint their location due to the sensory enhancement he got from the smoke screen. He had yet to fully understand how his ability worked. But he realised in the training ground that he could clearly see any living being inside the smoke and track them accurately.
Seeing the giant wolf running towards them, Daya who was in the front began charging towards it. She was going to bash her shield onto the Alpha. If she played her cards right. She can trap it in one hit, like what she did with the mammoth.
Everyone ran behind her leaving behind the sleighs to attack the wolves.
Dhairya was holding a sharp bone sword, Kan with his bow and arrow and Daya with her shield. Three of them led the attack.
They manifested a full body enhancement state before running towards the beast.
Alex realised that it was his cue to act. He moved to the rear end of the group. Although the alpha was attacking from the rear. More wolves were hiding behind them, waiting for a chance to attack.
No one from the team has realised it yet.
Noticing the weak spot, Alex rapidly released the smoke screen. A cloud of smoke rose from the ground blocking every wolf that was attacking from the back.
Although the smoke screen was a useful skill. It was a double-edged sword. While blocking the vision of enemies, it also blocked the vision of his allies.
So, he had to be careful in using his ability. That was why he had to carefully move the smoke screen twenty meters away from the group before using it fully previously.
Fortunately, the situation has changed in his favour.
Everyone was occupied by the alpha.
Alex indiscriminately released the smoke screen. On a levelled playing field, he was sure of his physical superiority.
The wolves would be temporarily blind and he could move freely without any sensory inhibition.
Unknowingly, the wolves have entered his kill zone.
In the moment of danger, when killing or being killed was the only outcome. Alex turned into a completely emotionless machine. He computed the best possible solution and acted.
Lifting the spear, he ran into the sea of smoke.
Accurately finding the closest wolf. He ran towards it like a bolt of lightning. His enhanced foot muscles allowed him to run frighteningly fast.
The wolf couldn't even dodge before a speartip lodged into its eyes.
'It was better to call it permanently dead than permanently blinded.'
'I don't know much about wolves, but anything with eyes will have its eyes as its weakness.'
Even though Alex was quick. He was still only a person. Some wolves swiftly escaped from the smoke and circled away to the front of the group.
But it didn't matter. The strongest people in the tribe were in the front. They would probably die at their hands. He thought.
So, Alex continued his rampage.
One,
Two,
Three,
…
Ten.
The number of wolves quickly shrank.
—--
In the front, Daya charged at the Alpha wolf.
She hoped to trap it with her shield. But the Alpha was nimbler than the mammoth. Before she could land a solid hit, it easily jumped over them.
Everyone panicked seeing the two-meter-tall wolf jump over them. With its hefty body, it was trying to attack the weaker people.
Sensing the danger from the shield, it carefully avoided Daya.
With its cunning mind. It once again proved that it was a predator, not prey.
With a powerful lunge, it slashed at the people near it.
Just a single slash was enough to cut deep wounds into the full-body-enhanced warriors.
It was evident that people who cannot do full-body-enhancement stood no chance against this giant carnivore.
Dhairya, with his old body, moved like lightning to attack the wolf. He wanted to prevent it from rampaging inside the defensive circle.
The remaining people were already trying hard to fight the normal wolves. It would be hard for them to defend against the Alpha at the same time.
Kan was busy killing the smaller wolves. He was trying to make the wolves retreat by killing a large amount of them. He occasionally glanced at the smoke behind them, where Alex was. Trying to find what the kid was trying to do.
"Daya, go for its head," Dhairya screamed.
"Hmm!" Nodding her head. She dashed towards the Alpha once more.
However, the Alpha jumped to dodge once more. Yet, before it could relax, Dhairya appeared near its landing point.
One thing humans had more compared to animals was their intelligence. Dhairya who learned from the past mistake was waiting for the alpha to land.
Alpha who saw this tried to turn its weak underbelly up. To prevent Dhairya from attacking it from below.
But Dhairya didn't wait. He jumped up to slash at the alpha. His sword glowed a reddish hue before bursting out with great power.
"Slash…" A deep gash formed near the alpha's forelegs.
"Ahwooo!" The alpha howled in pain.
It finally noticed the state of the battle. Most of its pack was dead or almost dead. From the fifty-odd wolves, only twenty remain. This scared the Alpha.
It attacked the humans thinking they are weak. Yet somehow, it had incurred more loss than it could sustain.
It decided to escape.
To quickly escape, it ran towards the back. In the meantime, Alex who was massacring the wolves realised the Alpha moving towards him.
'It is running away, the battle is finally over.' He relaxed. Even though he had enough strength. Using the smoke screen for a long time was mentally taxing. He just wanted the Alpha to leave as fast as he can. Even Dhairya and Kan left the beast to run away. They had decided that it was better to let it leave than to incur more casualty.
But before the Alpha could run away. It saw a puny human to its left. In spite, it swiped its paw to the side and chopped off the human's head cleanly.
It was the same person that woke Alex up. Just a moment ago, he chatted and smiled. But now, he has become nothing but a cold corpse laying in the snow.
Seeing the blood scene irked Alex. Seeing the Alpha run towards him, he felt fear and anger. And in the battle between fear and anger, his anger won.
'This bloody beast should die.' He decided at that exact moment.
Alex quickly released a large amount of smoke. It was enough to engulf everyone.
Raising his spear up, he sprinted forward. Even though it would cause extreme pain for him to use full-body-enhancement, he could use it for just a moment.
A thin sheen of energy covered his body. Some of his muscles burst apart due to the strain. But it didn't prevent him from running forward at full speed.
The alpha who lost its sight tried to run forward as fast as it can to escape. It thought carelessly thought nothing could harm it.
Until it saw a bone spear just a couple of inches in front of its face, slightly glowing in metallic lustre. It pierced its eyeball, slamming hard into its skull.
"Tak…" The spear snapped like a twig.
The force from the attack was strong enough to pierce the skull and critically damage the brain.
The large body of the beast suddenly slumped.
After some time, the smoke cleared. And Alex was nowhere to be seen.