"Do not...do not heal me," Lu Sheng suddenly ordered The Automated System.
[What? Have you gone insane?]
"DO NOT HEAL ME!" Lu Sheng yelled out instead of saying it inside his mind.
The wolves treated it like a taunt and lunged at him, their instincts heightened by the scent of fear and weakness emanating from their prey. Their nostrils flared as they closed in, driven by the primal urge to hunt and consume.
"AHHHH!" Three wolves clamped down on his legs as he screamed in a primal, bone-chilling shriek.
[Are you finally giving up? But you will only return to where you started, what is the purpose of all this?]
Lu Sheng remained silent to the System's plea, a stubborn defiance hardening his resolve. The other wolves, eager not to miss out on the feast, wasted no time.
"AHH! GAHHH!" Lu Sheng's screams escalated into bloodcurdling cries of pain as the wolves tore into his flesh. His hand became a mangled mess, two of the beasts sinking their fangs into the fleshy expanse of his belly.
He had never known such agony. Hungry red eyes glinted with a predatory gleam, their focus solely on consuming him, not delivering a killing blow. Blood painted the red dirt wet as weakness took over him, his strength draining with every agonizing gasp.
BOOM!
The wolves, whoever enjoying their meal, were suddenly slapped away as if they met a shockwave. Dirt and dust exploded out, scattering the wolves along with it.
They smashed into the ground with ragdoll whimpers. They stood up with terror-filled roars, looking for each other, looking for their pack when they noticed a fat shadow in the dust and a verdant green aura around it.
The crunchy and chewing munching sound broke the silence of the barren land as the dust settled. It was Lu Sheng, bloodied but his face emotionless.
[Thanks Host, leave everything to me now.]
Lu Sheng's mouth kept on chewing the multiple candy-like Spirit Nourish Pills as the body healed with visible speed, closing all the wounds and regenerating lost flesh with remarkable speed.
The wolves howled again and formed the pack, ready to hunt and enjoy the sweet and juicy flesh they had just tasted. Their eyes red, dripping fangs as they circled Lu Sheng.
However, this time Lu Sheng did not smell like a terrorized prey, but it didn't smell like anything at all. This confused them, but hunger urged, and two of them pounced - one aimed for the leg, and another directly for the neck, seeing the opening.
The fingers rubbed, and from the spatial ring came out the staff, smacking the wolf targeting the leg while dodging the wolf in the air who missed the neck. But a roundhouse staff smashed into its head, smashing it like a fruit, exploding blood and brain matter all over.
The rest of the pack backed off, surprised and alarmed by this sudden change. They realized that the prey they had been chasing was no longer weak and fearful. There was something different about it now - it seemed like a strange force had taken over Lu Sheng's body, making him an unstoppable force.
Undeterred, the Automated System spun the staff in complex patterns, getting ready to defend itself against the wolves' next attack.
The wolves were fearful but only for a moment because they are not real here, this is not a real place, this is all a void weaved spatial trial woven from ethereal strands of chaos tamed.
Their momentary hesitation quickly faded away. Their hunger wasn't just a biological urge; it was driven by the rules and parameters of this deadly examination. Like mind controlled creatures, they cast aside their fear and prepared for the next all out attack.
Their number downed by two but suddenly from far dust, two wolves joined the pack and their number bolstered to the previous number. However, this was not a concern for the Automated System as he waited for them.
Four wolves lunged from all four sides, as if they were sacrificing themselves for the pack's plan. Lu Sheng's body bent down at the right moment, assuming the eagle stance as all four of them collided in the air. But that wasn't the end of the wolves' strategy.
These four wolves were meant to conceal the true plan of the pack. As Lu Sheng's body took the eagle stance, four more wolves attacked, targeting his legs. With a swift motion, Lu Sheng's body swung its staff down in a sweeping arc, intercepting the wolves and throwing up dirt, blinding and choking them.
Using the dirt screen as cover, Lu Sheng's body continued its assault. The staff didn't stop as it struck the first four wolves who had missed their initial attack in mid-air.
There were loud snaps, shrieks, and sudden silence as half of the wolves met their end. As the dust settled, the fat, blood-drenched Lu Sheng emerged with a broken staff in two.
*Pthoo*
He spat and threw the broken staff away, gently rubbing his ring as his eyes remained fixed on the wolves. A sword materialized, and he took another stance, daring them to continue. Four more wolves emerged from the distant dust, restoring their numbers to their original count.
The wolves growled in frustration and launched their attack simultaneously, abandoning all strategy and plans as hunger fully consumed their reason. Lu Sheng's body jumped, kicking and striking the wolves in mid-air as he broke free from their encirclement.
He dodged and parried, saving his legs multiple times, but this time he refused to let them surround him. When one wolf jumped, targeting his neck, he didn't just parry; instead, he punched inside the jaw, pushing his entire left arm down the wolf's throat.
The wolf gagged and became stuck, but Lu Sheng wasn't finished. With his spatial ring on his thumb, he pulled out a dagger and secured the grip inside the slimy stomach of the wolf. Despite the wolf's biting, it couldn't close its jaw, turning it into a makeshift armguard for Lu Sheng.
With a sword in one hand and the living wolf as a shield in the other, Lu Sheng continued to defend himself against the relentless onslaught of the wolves.