At the moment, Adam was busy defending against the attack of a wolf. He had been fighting non-stop for the last ten minutes or so and was already out of strength. So he was relieved that someone was coming to help him.
However, when he heard the voice, he was confused.
Isn't that Jeffrey's voice? Why is he—
He had never expected Jeffrey, out of all people, to help him. This left him puzzled. But the next moment, his thoughts came to an abrupt halt when an arrow pierced his left shoulder.
Adam's eyes widened in shock. He didn't have a second of respite as the moment he was shot, the wolf had gotten the upper hand and had severely bitten his left arm and pinned him to the ground.
"Aggghhh!!" Adam screamed in agony as the wolf's teeth sunk deeper into his arm, threatening to rip it apart. He was unable to do anything about it.
Meanwhile, Jeffrey reloaded another bolt into the crossbow and cursed inwardly. Damn it! I was aiming for the head.
He looked at Adam struggling underneath the wolf and hesitated to shoot another bolt. However, he ultimately decided against it. That earlier shot could still be attributed to an honest mistake, but if he shot Adam again, he didn't know how the three Magi would react to his blatant attempt at murder.
Jeffrey didn't want to risk it. He took one last glance at Adam and coldly smiled. Serves you right, you peasant! He then turned around and started shooting down wolves.
Adam struggled with all his might as he tried to escape from the deathly maw of the gluttonous wolf. But no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't overpower the beast.
His left arm was slowly beginning to go numb. He gritted his teeth and his eyes reddened. Involuntarily, tears streamed down his face and mixed with the blood.
He thought back to all his struggles during his childhood, his encounter with the white lotus in the pond, and finally the scene of the black-armored Magus fighting valiantly against the thousands of Magi.
Adam's eyes turned even more bloodshot and his aura turned savage. He screamed in his heart, That brave Magus single-handedly fought against thousands of powerful Magi, and I can't even fight a mere beast?!
How can I die here?! I haven't even become a Magus!
I refuse to die!
A raging fire lit up inside of him and he managed to gather strength that he didn't even know he had. He glanced at the crossbow bolt sticking out from his left shoulder and yanked it out!
"Aaaarrgggh!!" He growled like a beast as he tightly grabbed the bolt and stabbed it into the wolf's eye.
Immediately, the wolf let go of Adam's arm and whimpered in misery. It tried to run away, but Adam had already coiled his legs around the wolf's neck like a python. Then, he hammered down his right fist on top of the crossbow bolt.
BAM!
The bolt penetrated further into the wolf's skull and stabbed its brain. Adam continued to ruthlessly hammer down his fist on the bolt until the wolf completely stopped moving.
After making sure that the beast had died, Adam felt like he had lost all strength in his body. He limply sprawled on the ground with the wolf's corpse still on top of him.
A few moments later, he removed the corpse with great difficulty and slowly got to his feet. His left arm looked hideous as it was viciously chewed on by the wolf. He was drenched in blood and looked like a demon that had risen from the pits of hell.
He looked around and his gaze finally landed upon Jeffrey who was helping out the others.
"I'll kill you!" Adam growled as he slowly walked toward Jeffrey. He was full of unprecedented bloodlust.
He had never taken his earlier scuffles with the other children seriously. But it looked like he had been naive. Just because he didn't plan to kill others, didn't necessarily mean that others wouldn't kill him.
And to think that Jeffrey would attempt to kill him for such a petty reason.
The moment Jeffrey laid eyes on Adam, his knees buckled and he fell to the ground. The image of Adam drenched in blood and walking toward him with reckless murderous intent made him shudder.
He's alive! Jeffrey couldn't believe that Adam was able to make it out alive. He was certain that the wolf would devour him.
He raised his trembling hands and pleaded, "Adam, w-wait! It was a mistake, I p-promise!"
Adam refused to listen. He slowly walked toward Jeffrey with the broken sword in his hand. His sword had already been destroyed from the constant fighting earlier.
Just when he was a few meters away from Jeffrey, the blond man with bright blue eyes and wearing an olive-colored cloak appeared right in between them.
The blue-eyed man first looked at Jeffrey, causing the latter to tremble in fear. Then, he looked at the grievously wounded Adam who didn't seem to be bothered by his presence at all.
"This is not the time or the place for your dispute," he said calmly.
"But he—" Adam protested.
"I said this is not the place." The man interrupted him in a more strict tone.
Seeing this, Jeffrey was relieved and he complained. "Thank you for saving me, sir. If not for you, I would have—"
"Shut it," The blue-eyed man coldly said to Jeffrey. "Don't think I don't know what you did."
Shit! Jeffrey gulped and lowered his head, avoiding eye contact with the man.
Two more people, a man and a woman, appeared out of nowhere and stood next to the blue-eyed man. All three of them wore the same cloaks. It was olive-colored and had a four-leaf clover insignia at the center of the chest.
The man looked into the distance and saw a night wolf slightly bigger than the other wolves and muttered, "Seems to be on the verge of advancing to a Rank 2 Magic Beast."
"No wonder it was able to control such a large number of wolves," replied the blue-eyed man.
"Let's combine our spells and get this over with," the woman spoke succinctly.
The three Magi then jumped and landed beyond the blockade made of wooden carriages. Instinctively, the surrounding wolves made distance for them, sensing the immense danger.
"Alright, time to get to work." The blue-eyed man cracked his knuckles.