The black wolves were limping and their feet swayed a bit, their fur drenched in their own sweat and blood as they tried to gather their last bits of strength to face the other predators that had appeared in front of them after their successful hunt.
The bodies of their fallen brethren were twisted and bruised. Deep gashes spread along their abdomen as blood and organs spilled out of them.
Not even their eyes were unscathed as three of the five lifeless black wolf bodies were still bleeding out of their eyes that had been pierced by something hot and pointy.
After fighting valiantly, despite being hungry and exhausted from the lack of prey during the last few moons, the black wolves finally found a large group of Frenzy Antelopes. They hunted the majority of them and were relieved to have struck the jackpot to make up for the scarcity of meat they faced before, only for their future to shatter with the appearance of the weird beings.
The herculean man looked like a human, but he was not. As for the Sparrows, they looked different than any Sparrow the wolves had encountered until now, and their attacks were more precise, deadly, and planned out than the mindless attacks of the Pyrat Sparrows.
And last but not least, the robed figure was certainly human. He moved quickly and wielded the shortsword in his hand as if it was an extension of his body.
Zayn was not satisfied with his display of strength because he relied on the prework of his Spirits to finish as many black wolves as possible in the shortest amount of time.
That was not a bad thing because it allowed him to fight efficiently and increase his strength quickly as he absorbed the soul particles of every single Soul Wisp that appeared in his sight.
Nonetheless, Zayn knew that he had to gain more combat experience and push himself to go beyond his limits and risk his life to learn survival tricks in a harsh way. Only by facing situations like that would it be possible to become strong enough to face powerful Blessed even without the help of Spirits.
His Spirits were supposed to become an efficient tool to give him the power he was looking for, and the only thing he had to do was learn how to apply the power properly.
That was what he planned, which was why he chose to pursue the accumulation of strength first now that he could use the Grimoire of the Ancient. Zayn had spent a lot of time improving his fighting skills during his time in the Academy.
Thus, it was now time to apply what he had learned, improve what he was lacking and become even stronger.
Zayn approached the remaining limping black wolves that were growling intimidatingly as two fire needles were released from behind the monsters that were focused on him and the Human Spirit.
The Human Spirit was to Zayn's left, with less than ten meters of distance between them. It bashed the iron mace against the large shield, creating loud sounds of distraction as the two fire needles found their target in the butts of two black wolves.
There were only three black wolves left alive, and two of them yelped out miserably as the fire needles stung them viciously before digging deeper into one of the most vulnerable spots of their entire body.
Zayn and the Human Spirit made use of the surprise attack that had been initiated by the Sparrow Spirits. The Human Spirit was still faster than its smaller master and it attacked the black wolf that hadn't been hit by the fire needles.
The black wolf was trying to pounce at the Human Spirit and tear it apart but the herculean Human Spirit thrust forward with its shield, restricting the claws from reaching its body before smashing the shield to the side with tremendous force.
In a desperate effort, the black wolf clutched to the edges of the large shield, only to notice too late that the large iron mace came crashing down on its head.
As it was already injured before, the black wolf momentarily lost all its strength and it slumped down from the shield.
This gave the Human Spirit the necessary time to retract the large iron mace and cleave it down upon the black wolf that was desperately trying to move.
While the Human Spirit rendered the black wolf incapable of harming anyone else, even itself, Zayn had emerged next to the head of the closest black wolf whose butt had been set on fire, from within.
He used the momentum of his full speed to slash diagonally at the distracted black wolf who could only narrowly evade the incoming attack.
The blade still grazed the monster's flesh as it flicked past its head, but sadly its body was still intact. Nothing had been cut off, or cut through.
Zayn couldn't change his trajectory quickly because he was still at his full charge. Thus, the paw of the black wolf missed his face by a hair's breadth. It was only possible for him to evade the attack by twisting his body at an uncomfortable angle, straining his muscles to the extreme, and using the soul particles to circulate them through his entire body.
Rather than using his soul particles in a manner that could cause more harm than good, Zayn ended up circulating them through his entire body, strengthening himself from head to toe.
He didn't break his bones by twisting his body, the razor-sharp claws of the black wolf were evaded, and Zayn was even able to deliver a feisty kick to the black wolf that stumbled backward.
After being grievously injured before and still feeling tremendous pain from its butt that had begun to bleed severely, the black wolf was bound to die, either way.
The same could be said about the other black wolf that pounced toward Zayn. He was trying to evade the attack but his balance was still off the charts.
Thus, Zayn ended up swinging the silver iron shortsword at the black wolf while its claws dug into his arm.
"That hurts, you dead bastard!"