Still seated cross-legged, Renji's eyes suddenly snapped open, and he immediately stared southwards. But there was nothing to the south aside from a mass of vines and rattan growth. This was one of the reasons why Renji selected this location for resting. With so much forest growth, even if a magical beast neared Renji, they might not notice him.
Two magical beasts are closing in on me, and for now they are some forty meters or so away." From the tremors of the motions in the local air elemental essences, Renji knew there were two beasts. Renji wordlessly strode to the edge of the mass of vines. He peered through vines a yard ahead, thirty yards. A couple of burly Tempestwolves were slowly pawing a path toward him, and from the ones that had already come through this area, it looked like the current pair of Tempestwolves he was watching was going to come quite close to him.
Presently, Renji felt a weight settle on his shoulders, and he knew that Echo had already arrived on his shoulders.
"Boss, it's just a pair of Tempestwolves. We've seen them several times at the Keito Institute." Not worried in the slightest, Echo chatted casually with Renji.
But Renji's attention was all on the two Tempestwolves. "Yes, they are Tempestwolves. Amongst the wolf packs, there are three major types: Fangwolves, Tempestwolves, and Frostwolves. Frostwolf packs are the strongest type, while Fangwolves are the weakest. Tempestwolves squarely fill the middle.". In a pack of Tempestwolves, even the weakest would be a magical beast of the fourth rank, while elites might be of the fifth or sixth rank. Supposedly the strongest a Tempestwolf can be is a magical beast of the eightrank.
Even an average Tempestwolf was of the fourth rank. A Horned Tusker simply wasn't on the same level. My power as a warrior is simply of the fourth rank. Based on physical skills alone, I definitely cannot resist these two Tempestwolves," Renji thought, feeling roused. "But it will make it a challenge.
As he watched the two Tempestwolves drawing closer, Renji's lips mumbled the words to a magical spell, his icy eyes running over in coldness.
"Shrrrk! Shrrk! Shrrrrk! Shrrrk!" A dull roar noise could be heard as ten or so large rocks, each at least one meter long and earthen-colored, suddenly flew towards and smashed at the Tempestwolves within the dark night. But the Tempestwolves quickly threw their heads up, seeing the danger; they immediately began to flee towards this direction at high speed.
They all heard a dull crash of collision. In the very brief interval before the rocks struck the Tempestwolves responded in a very quick reaction. Thus, one of the two Tempestwolves broke a hind leg, and the other avoided all the stones dexterously.
"He does live up to that name of 'Tempestwolves.' They are not kidding; he's quickly! "Renji thought to himself, even as he began mumbling the words to another spell, the wind-style 'Rapidstream' spell. Simultaneously, he pulled out his Direct Chisel blade, then charged directly forward at high speed at the injured, retreating Tempestwolf. A warrior of the fourth rank, aided by the Rapidstream spell, had roughly the same level of speed as the uninjured Tempestwolf. Naturally, the injured one was much slower than Renji.
The injured wolf scurried away in fear and bared his fangs.
"Swish! Swish! Swish!" A string of knives of air that looked to be of no origin was cutting at Renji.
"Hrmph, all wolves have heads as hard as copper and tails as hard as steel, but their waists are as soft as tofu." Renji was extremely agile. With three simple motions, he dodged the wind knives and drew even closer to the injured Tempestwolf. Like a tornado, Renji kicked out with his left leg, snapping forward viciously like a whip onto the Tempestwolf's waist. "Woooo! The agonized howl that sent the Tempestwolf flying echoed through the forest, but with one more step, Renji stood close to the downed Tempestwolf. The Direct Chisel in his hand flashed beautifully, cold, as pity-less light, chopping at the Tempestwolf in his chest.
The Direct Chisel in his hand striking at the crying Tempestwolf really felt like it was hitting at something tough and resilient yet close at hand.
He was able to barely nick the side, and blood spurted out.
"The waist is weak for the Tempestwolf, but the skin is tough. Or rather, it's better to say my Direct Chisel isn't sharp enough. Simple stone can be cut, but it's something different if we are talking about the fur and skin of a fourth-level magical beast." Renji thought, looking cautiously towards the other Tempestwolf.
The other Tempestwolf didn't really move. It just stood there before Renji. In those cold green eyes lay a murdering aura, low growls from its maw incessantly.
"I know clearly that Tempestwolf wasn't hurt. If it has enough power, then with only the fourth-ranked warrior's ability like mine, it's impossible to kill it. That's just a dream." Renji knew quite well that the Tempestwolves specialized in speed. He could never reach it, speed-wise, if he had not been helped by a wind-magic spell.
Renji immediately followed with another incantation, mumbling words from another spell, but just halfway through, his face suddenly changed.
"Not good!" The Triton Tempest Wolf let out a low howl, and it was met by howls from all the directions too. Renji swept his eyes across the area, and as it happened, one pair of cold green eyes after another hidden in the darkness met his.
"This isn't one Tempestwolf…this is a pack!" Auxiliary immediately tightened within Renji's chest. Even Echo, who up till now had just been sitting to the side and feigning boredom, sat up and all his fur straightened as, well, he carefully looked in all direction.
"Boss, looks like it's getting dangerous." "Old man Kaiya, surely you didn't really prove to be way too accurate…" Renji had a very bitter expression on his face. In the Mountain of Magical Monsters, running into a pack of Tempestwolves was just as lethal as running into an extremely powerful magical beast. "Accurate my ***. I was talking about encountering a pack of tens of thousands of Tempestwolves. In a situation like that, unless you are able to fly, there really is no way you will be able to survive. The current situation isn't as bad. At most,t here are twenty or thirty of them. "Kaiya Tanaka's voice was casual, but his face was solemn. "But Renji, you must understand, I'm just one spirit without any Magic force. I can hence not help you. It's all up to you." Renji felt utterly wretched. "Twenty or thirty Tempestwolves, all at least of the fourth rank. Tempestwolves are very fast, and they can use magical attacks. I'm just a magus of the fifth rank." Renji felt a mountain rolling over him. Right at this moment of time, the howls that filled the surroundings of the Tempestwolves stopped. From within the pack of Tempestwolves stepped two exceedingly powerfully built ones. They were at least a size category bigger than the one Renji heard earlier. Perhaps respectful of the one lucky enough to survive, he strayed to walk on their side and even whimpered in a low voice as he said something to them.
He was a complete category larger than the others in body and even in his eyes. Painfully, for Renji, it only increased the nervous giddy-up going on in his heart, considering what he was to do next. "These are definitely elites amongst Tempestwolves. At the very least, fifth rank. Hope they aren't of sixth rank! " Renji's heart was tight and quickly began to contemplate how to deal with these opponents.
Even if it was only a pair of fifth-ranked Tempestwolves, assisted by a pack of fourth-ranked magical beasts, all attacking Renji—Renji did not consider himself many percent confident of winning.
Renji most probably wouldn't be able to equal it, even using the Rapidstream spell, let alone a Tempestwolf of the fifth rank. The two leading Tempestwolves gazed at Renji with their cold eyes, and a murderous intent flowed out from them. "Seems like I have to go all out this time." Since Renji and a pack of wolves surrounded him, his forehead and back were already completely wet with cold sweats. Dragging the heart, which was clenching painfully in his chest, he released the magical incantation with an even quicker speed. "Howwwwwl!" Out of the two, the obvious leaders, one of them suddenly opened its mouth and released a long howl. The next moment, these twenty to thirty powerful Tempestwolves were charging forward like tempest wind, with their white fangs glistening with terrible light, snarling at Renji in the middle of their run. At the same time, over a hundred deep green blades of wind popped up out of nowhere, and from each of those blades, great power carried them.