Hax stood in front of a circular table outside the forge room. A few dozen men with low-caliber pistols and modified pistols stood guard in the grassy backyard. Dozens of crates stacked upon each other. A few of them were open, showing ammunition and pistols inside.
This place was the outdoor practice range. Complete with shooting dummies and anything else a gunner might need.
Hax decided to held the meeting here so he could clear his mind. Staying in the forge made him sweat too much, and that bother his concentration.
"Where is Bodin?" Hax asked.
"We have sent someone to look for him, sir. He will be here soon."
A few minutes later, Bodin came with guards on his flanks.
"Gaelin and Ailmon usually guard me while being unseen," Bodin said. "But I have to say. To be surrounded by a dozen guards really makes me feel safe."
"It's also new to me but we have to get used to it. Anyway, let's talk about our plan."
"Slow down, Hax. First, tell me what do you intended to do. You are not alone, now. There are thousands of norms at your beck and call. If you spend your time on anything except making more weapons, our major strength would not improve."
"I know. But the Black Wolves must not be allowed to lose. They are the vanguard of the rebellion. Their death would be a big blow."
Bodin looked serious. "What do you suggest?"
"I suggest we send reinforcement quickly. Have my men told you about the rifle?"
"Yes."
"I can make a few dozen of those in a couple of hours. After that, I want to reinforce the Black Wolves."
"The norms have been preparing for more attacks. You don't have to bother with this. Everyone is telling me to tell you to focus on making more weapons. Everyone is counting on you on this part. This is why more than thousands of people come here."
Hax nodded. "I understand. I will focus on developing more weapons. But I want to know who will lead the reinforcement?"
"A group of hunters have volunteered to lead the attack," Bodin said. "They are the best we got in our situation. They have years of experience in hunting animals, and people believed that they would use the same approach against those cultivators."
"Is that all?"
"No, there are more gangs, mafias, and clans that offered their service to us."
"So Black Wolves will not be the only one?"
"Of course not. When they heard the Black Wolves pioneered the attack against the cultivators, these guys turned red because of jealousy. The Black Wolves is famous now, and a lot of people want to join them. The people that joining us are the largest, but those who want active aggression choose the Black Wolves."
"So we have enough manpower?" Hax said.
"More than you can ask for. It's a terrible idea to send all of them at once, but sending a few groups to reinforce the Black Wolves will be fine."
"Have you been talking to them?"
"Of course! What do you think I've been doing."
"Alright, tell them to come here. I want to see how they planned to save the Black Wolves."
A group of men with straw hats came. They brought the heavy variant of the pistol on their waist. When they neared Hax, they saluted.
"It's an honor, Mr. Hax."
"Drop the courtesy. Tell me your plan."
A man approached the table and spread a piece of map on the table. "We've been hunting in this forest for years. There is no magic beast or wildebeest that is dangerous to us here. Though, there might be a few big spiders here and there."
"I don't want you to explain the fauna. Tell me your plan."
The man pointed at a long line. "This line that stretches above is a big crevice. No norms could cross it unless they bring the necessary equipment. So we believe that the Black Wolves retreated from the boiling volcano and arrived at this river a couple of days later. If they don't go to the river, then they have probably died already."
Hax nodded. The logic was sound. "So, you plan to directly go to the river?"
"Yes, sir."
"Then you must take a longer route since there is the crevice blocking you."
"You don't have to worry about that, sir. Our men have made a lot of hook rope for this."
Hax smiled. "Seems like I have underestimated you guys. I apologize for that. Tell me your name."
The man who brought the map stood up. "I'm Goras, second in chief. The man next to me is our leader, Balmar."
Balmar slightly lifted his hat. "Balmar is in your service, sir."
"Are you afraid of cultivators, Balmar?"
He smiled. "Not in the slightest, sir. With your weapons, I'm sure we can defeat them."
"Confidence. That's what I need in this operation. And all of you seem to have it. With people like you helping me in leading the masses, I can put more time on developing stronger weapons."
Their eyes lit up.
"It's our obligation to help, sir."
"What do you call your group?"
Balmar chuckled. "We have no name before, sir. But with your blessing, we would like to name our group the Man Hunter."
"You don't need my blessing. I'm not a god."
"Yes, sir."
Hax nodded. "I'm at ease. Now go. Save your fellow norms!"
"Yes, sir!"
…
"Watch out!" Nesterin jumped to the ground and protected his head.
Swords sliced the air above him, ripping his tents apart. One sword fell in front of his face, nearly cutting his nose.
"Stay on the ground! Stay on the ground!" Nesterin fired his pistol towards the forest. He couldn't see his target, but he didn't give a damn about that.
Jharteel and the others that survived the surprise attack fired their pistols. Their clothes and skins were cut. If they moved a little slower, they wouldn't be alive by now.
The sword's attack was like heavy rain, barraging the Black Wolves constantly. Nesterin and the others did not dare to lift their head until finally, the attack stopped.
"Prepare for battle," Nesterin shouted.
In the distance, a group of red-robed men walked among the fallen trees. Their path was cleared. They stared at the Black Wolves with the boiling rage of a volcano. Red filled their eyes, and their hand trembled like they couldn't wait to strangled the norms to death.
"Why you ants just couldn't die!" Elaith shouted.
Nesterin's eyes bulged. "Ants? You are no different than us! How dare you call us ants!"
"You dare to compare yourselves to cultivators? What a joke! All of you are insignificant beings. Even a million of you doesn't worth a single cultivator!"
Nesterin humphed. "Well, times have changed. We kill a bunch of you before, and we gladly will do it again. The Black Wolves is not afraid of you!"
Elaith clenched his fist. "You dare! I have enough! Today, all of you will die!"
The cultivators rushed forward without their swords. They zipped left and right to dodge the bullets that came in their way.
"We have learned from our mistake, norms! You cannot kill us anymore."
Nesterin and the others keep shooting, but the cultivators were quick on their feet. Their bullets did not hit anyone.
The cultivators kept approaching, and it would be soon before they arrived at point-blank range.
"Nesterin!"
"What!"
"We should do that! Just like how we kill the stage 2 cultivator."
Nesterin grimaced. "If we fail, we will run out of bullets quicker."
"There is no time. All we can do is try to distract them with it and escape."
Nesterin let out a breath. "Fine. Let's do it. Everyone, throw your magazine at the enemy!"
They did without hesitation. They had seen personally how the magazine exploded and helped them kill a strong cultivator.
As the magazine spun in the air towards the cultivators. The Black Wolves took aim and fired.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
A chain of explosions ran through the ranks of the cultivators.
"Ahh!"
"It burns!"
Some of them rolled on the ground consumed by flames, while the others fell with nasty wounds on their skin. The more unfortunate ones had their eyes broken, dangling from their face like a nasty creature. If not for the cultivators still rushing towards them, then the Black Wolves might felt some sympathy for their enemy.
Elaith rushed forward, burn marks all over his skin. His face was filled with shaking rage as he stared at the norms. "You bastard!"
"Keep shooting. The explosions have weakened them."
The cultivators' movements were slower than before. The wounds on their limbs were terrible. If not for their resilient physique, they would fall and die.
But even when some of them got hit by bullets, the rest still pushed on.
One stronger cultivator zipped left and right before he jolted forward. When a bullet came to his face, he slid down. And pushed the ground to move forward. He looked like he was gliding in the air as his jaw was parallel to the ground. His tricky angle made it hard to hit him.
One thing he learned from the fight against the norms was that, the closer you were to the ground, the harder it was to hit you.
His face was basically one inch above the ground. He only used his finger to moved his body to dodge or speed up.
"Throw another ammunition at him!"
He saw a black object flying towards him. He knew this was the cause of the explosions. He immediately moved to the side, but the explosions never came.
"That's my underwear, you fools!"
A bullet already went flying towards him. The shooter took a blind guess of where he would dodge and it seemed he guessed correctly. But it was not over yet, in the air, he jerked his shoulder to the side.
The bullet went past his ear and penetrated straight to his shoulder. The bullet pushed more towards his arms. It wreaked havoc inside his flesh, destroying his muscle and tendons inside.
The excruciating pain was almost unbearable, but he could not get distracted. He pulled his tooth and flung it towards the shooter.
As the teeth sunk into the shooter's head. Another bullet came and took his life.
More and more cultivators copied his movement. Even though he failed in the end, he was close to succeeding.
"Quick! Throw more ammunition at them."
Nesterin and the others had picked all the ammunition they can when their comrades died. And now, it all paid off.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
A large flame burned the trees. It was like the scene where a phoenix was in nirvana. Blazing flame blared to the sky, accompanied by rolling black smoke.
"Your little tricks won't work twice!" Elaith threw a handful of rocks, killing more than 3 gunners.
But just as he was about to rush to attack. A large caliber hit his shoulder and knocked him back. Squads of men with straw hats came from the forest, they brought a bigger pistol than the Black Wolves.
Balmar who had smoke coming out of his gun calmly walked forward. "I heard you cultivators have tradition before a fight. Well, we norms should also have one. Let me introduce ourselves. Man Hunter from the Hax Battalion has come to save the day!"