“How is it? Do you feel any discomfort in your body?” Miley was the first to ask. “No.” Sylvia shook her head as she answered. “I feel great.” She could feel that the bottleneck around her mental strength was already showing a sign of loosening. If nothing unexpected happens, she would surely break into the B-rank in no time. Tyron and the rest also asked her one question after the other. Seeing that there was nothing wrong with her, they all rested assured and resumed back to their conversation. “I think that our previous aimless strategy plan needs to be reworked.” Kai lay forward. “You are right.” Tyron agreed with him. “I also think it needs to be changed. Firstly, we shouldn't charge forward without inspecting the surrounding areas. Our encounter with the SS-rank bear might have been termed an accidental mistake, but this also serves as a wake-up call that we shouldn't let down our guard at any moment. The deeper we head in, the higher the rank of the beasts we’ll meet. So, we must tread carefully.” “Hmm.” They all nodded in agreement. “It's getting dark. I'll go spread the beast-repelling powder outside the entrance.” Jose stood up from the midst and stepped outside the cave. Out of the blue, a black shadow suddenly jumped by and pinned him to the ground. “Grrrr.” “F*ck.” Jose saw that the beast was about to tear him apart and instantly punched at its head with all his strength. The beast was soon thrown back a few distances away. “There's a beast attack!” Jose cried out as he jumped to his feet. Inside the cave, the loud growl of the beast had already alerted everyone. Now, with Jose's alarm call, they all ran out of the cave and jumped into a battle position.“Jose, let me see your body. Are you injured anywhere?” The sky outside was already dark, so Milo took out a flashlight and shone it upon Jose’s figure. When he saw the bloodied claw mark on the latter's arms, he instantly called for Atlas' attention. But just as Atlas was about to administer his healing skill on Jose, several black shadows instantly jumped by, surrounding them. “Everyone, get into formation,” Tyron called out in order. Sylvia moved into formation, holding the small dagger in her hand tightly. Under Milo's flashlight, everyone saw the true appearance of the black shadows. Black fur, sharp fangs, and deep black eyes. These are characteristics belonging to the hunter Night Wolves. 'Aaaoooo!' The eerie call in the darkness of the night could make one feel a chill in their heart. And then, numerous shadows started to emerge from the bushes at the call of the wolf. Their actual numbers were staggering, which totalled around 200. This info was given to Sylvia by Susu. And from Susu, Sylvia also knew that several powerful wolves were still hiding in the bush without any intention of making an appearance. === [Night Wolves] Class: A Characteristics: Increased Agility During the Dark Hour, Fierce Attacks, Moves in Packs. Skills: Speed. Halo: Night Hunter. Elemental Weakness: Potent Poison Attack, Light Attributes Attacks. Physical Weakness: Becomes Weaker During the day. Innate attributes: Darkness. ==== Another beast with a halo skill. This is surely not a good one. Sylvia's gaze landed on their weaknesses, and she couldn't help but glance at Atlas. He's the only one capable of using the light attribute among them. But with the staggering number of the Night Wolves, she doubted that he would be able to take them down. The Night Wolves stood in the same spot, as if waiting for an order. “It must have been the blood. Although we've already cleaned ourselves up, the night wolves' noses are very sensitive to the smell of blood.” Ryker said with seriousness. “It's so dark already. Our main problem now is to find out the exact number of the beasts surrounding us so that we won't charge forward recklessly.” “They should be over two hundred at most,” Sylvia spoke out, trying not to give too many details. “Two hundred?” Walker was filled with shock when he heard this. Although they've come across stronger forces like the Golden Honey bees and Mischievous Gluttony Monkeys, but those events occurred in the daylight, where the situation of the battle can be seen clearly. If they couldn't win, at least they could still run for their dear life. But this time around, the stronger force appeared in the nighttime. Being the most dangerous hours of the day, even a powerful beast wouldn't dare to step out of its lair. Unfortunately, they were unlucky to come across the night wolves, who are known as the professional hunters of the night. There's no way they could escape from their grasp. “Should I summon Huji?” Ian looked in Tyron's direction as he asked. “No. Your contract beast is still recovering from the previous battle. If it were to participate --” Tyron didn't get to finish his sentence when a loud howl reverberated around the whole forest. This was the call to hunt. The standby Night Wolves instantly began to move and jumped at the group. “Attack!” Sylvia put back the short dagger into the ring and made a sword out of the wind. ‘Bang!’ The night wolves' bodies were thrown out by the clashing impact. However, only a little cut was sustained on their body, and they soon sprang back in battle. Sky appeared beside Sylvia, easing off the waves of attacks on her side. Apart from Ian, Miley, and the rest, summon out their strongest contract beasts to shift away the wave of attack on them. The quiet night was instantly disturbed by the roar of beasts and clashes of battle. A night wolf appeared in front of Sylvia, its stinky breath washing over her. “Grrr.” It opened its mouth wide, wanting to bite off her head in one go. “Get lost!” Sylvia threw out several wind arrows into its open mouth.Its head instantly burst open. Blood and flesh splattered around as it fell dead to the ground. Thankfully, Sylvia had a windshield protecting her, so she wasn't sprayed by the gunk of the beast. But before she could have a breath, another night wolf had charged towards her. With Susu's help, she was able to escape getting injured. But her lucky halo wouldn't last forever, as her defense was becoming harder to maintain. Sylvia finally made a resolute decision. She ran out of the formation and jumped into the hordes of beasts. Witnessing her suicidal actions, Miley, who was not far away, shouted out. “Sylvia!” Tyron also noticed the ongoing situation. Yet before he could take a step, someone was already faster than him. Ian speedily ran forward, jumping into the hordes of monsters after Sylvia. “Are you two crazy?” Tyron didn't care about Ian's royalty identity and roared out. He was still battling against four nights' wolves, so he couldn't find a way to stop the action of the two. “Damm it. I'm going to beat the hell out of them if I catch those two.” Tyron's body burst out with an intense strength, and he threw the four wolves before him away. Before any of them could encircle him again, he instantly followed behind Ian. As Sylvia moved among the hordes of beasts, she detected someone following her, but she didn't make any attempt to stop. “Sylvia!” Ian shouted out as he waved the long sword in his hand forward. The night wolves' beast, who were ready to attack him, didn't escape from the might of the sword and were split into two. At the same time, a golden light emerged from his body, and Huji's gigantic figure appeared in the dark sky. “Roar!!” The roar of the dragon sent out ripples of wind across the surrounding area. The crazy night wolves beasts who were engaged in battle instantly cowered under the pressure of the S-rank beast. Seeing the figure running amidst the static beasts, Ian immediately dashed forward. “Sylvia.” He arrived next to her. “Why do you --” “Don't talk. Just follow me.” She needed to find a place to hide very quickly and didn't want to waste her time talking to him. Not finding a suitable area to hide, Sylvia decided to climb the tree. Ian also jumped up to the tree branch next to her. “Why-.” Before he could ask his question, a loud howl, stronger than the one they had heard earlier, sounded around the forest. Ian felt his whole body screaming danger. Not only he, Tyron and the others also felt the hair on their bodies stand on end. 'Whoosh, 'whoosh.' Five shadows darted out of the trees and appeared in the open ground. Each of them was brimming with the aura of an S-rank beast. They stared at Huji, who was floating in the sky with a fierce expression on their faces. Yet, Ian could tell that the danger he felt hadn't come from the five S-rank wolves before him, but instead something more terrifying. “Wha... That…”Sylvia knew what he wanted to ask, so she readily gave him the answer. “That's the leader of the Night Wolves pack.”