32

It was a black stave jutting out of the dirt and from its unique appearance it should be of a better quality than his. Although Cheng Yang wasn't using his starter equipment anymore his stave was very ordinary. It was just a Green Bronze piece of equipment, commonly called initial equipment in his past life. In Cheng Yang's experience a guardian horde of just fifty was too few for the equipment to be above the Green Bronze level but since it was the beginning of the apocalypse maybe he would get lucky. Cheng Yang hoped he would be able to change his weapon soon.

Cheng Yang carefully observed the distant monsters. The horde was entirely composed of Venom-Fanged Gray Wolves and as expected there were a few elites as well. The leader seemed to be a bigger wolf curled up next to the stave. Based on the black inky patterns in it's fur it might have even been able to reach High-Grade by using the stave's magical fluctuations to speed up its growth.

If the leader was the same level as him, this would be pretty troublesome. If it was just the leader, Cheng Yang was confident he could win. He had an advantage in speed that would allow him to avoid damage and enough Mana to kill a High-Grade monster without needing to Meditate somewhere.

However, the leader wasn't alone, and Cheng Yang didn't have enough Mana to kill all fifty wolves.

His only option was to pull the wolves into a battle of attrition but jumping from tree to tree. Regardless, it would be best for him to kill the leader first.

The tree Cheng Yang was perched in had a trunk the size of a millstone but wouldn't be able to resist so many attacks. He scanned the area until he spotted a tree thick enough that two people would be able to wrap their arms around it. Although it might not be able to resist the attacks of the leader for long, it should be able to stall the ordinary wolves. He didn't need long to kill the leader.

Cheng Yang dropped to the ground and lightly ran over to the tree. It must have been a big tree even before the apocalypse and after a few days of accelerated growth had reached its current size. Without hesitation, Cheng Yang swiftly climbed up the tree.

The tree was more than forty meters away from the pack of wolves so Cheng Yang couldn't reach it with his Magic Missile. Having been in similar situations before Cheng Yang had prepared a few fist-sized rocks. After a few deep breaths, Cheng Yang hurled the rock at the wolves.

POW The rock landed in the middle of the group of wolves causing them to jump up in alarm. They let out loud growls as the searched for the source of the noise.

The leader stood up and sniffed the air. After a few seconds, it looked towards Cheng Yang and let out a wild howl.

The rest of the horde followed the leader's example, howling towards the sky before charging towards Cheng Yang.

"Ow…" The loud wolf howls resonated in Cheng Yang's ears. When they reached him, they started to gnaw at the tree with their sharp fangs.

They created sawdust with their fangs, and their venom ate away at the rest.

"Shit! Isn't that too cowardly!" Cheng Yang swore. The leader hadn't taken the initiative but instead stayed out of range, letting the weaker wolves attack first. It was a despicable tactic for a monster to use.

Cheng Yang couldn't just sit and watch the Venom-Fanged Wolves knock down the tree otherwise, he would die. All he could do was grit his teeth and fire Magic Missiles at the wolves below him.

Ptew Cheng Yang fired a Magic Missile into one of the Elite Standard-Grade wolves. It tore directly through its back, bursting open its chest. The damage was so great that even after a few seconds, the wolf was entirely unable to get up.

The next Magic Missile directly destroyed its head, killing it.

Cheng Yang clicked his tongue, "Why did there have to be some damn many of them."

The death of an Elite caused the wolf pack to go into a frenzy.

Sixteen Magic Missiles were fired and sixteen wolves died. At this point, Cheng Yang was in a dire situation. He only had 78 Mana left and a third of the trunk was gone. All it would take to break the tree was a single strong hit.

Right before firing another magic missile, Cheng Yang spotted movement out of the corner of his eye. The leader had quietly started to charge at the tree, and its speed was slightly faster than Cheng Yang's!

"Fuck! Why did it have to have a Movement Speed Innate Ability!" Cheng Yang lamented miserably.

Monsters, like humans, had all kinds of Innate Abilities. The leader of the wolf pack had a Movement Speed Innate Ability which synergized with the already high Movement Speed of the Venom-Fanged Wolves.

Seeing that the leader had entered his attack range, Cheng Yang forcibly changed targets and fired.

If it was anyone else, they would find it difficult to hit the leader under those conditions, but Cheng Yang's past life wasn't just for decoration.

Cheng Yang managed to hit the wolf's flank causing it to let out a tragic howl. Instead of slowing down, it just got mad, its eyes turning red. It coldly stared at Cheng Yang, but even with its speed, it could only eat another Magic Missile before reaching the tree.

Even if it had a regular High-Grade monster's 12 Physical Defense, it would still take a little over fifty points of damage. Cheng Yang only had to land four hits to kill it.

A few second's later, Cheng Yang had finished casting magic missile and was ready to fire, but at the same time, the leader violently hit the trunk of the tree causing it to shake. Branches and leaves fell from above while the entire tree creaked.

Cheng Yang's experience from his past life showed its true worth here. After losing his balance, Cheng Yang was able to grab a branch with his free hand while falling and flicking his stave towards the leader, sending a Magic Missile right towards it.

Ptew With a dull thud, the Magic Missile hit the leader on the nose.

The wolf pack leader whimpered in pain before smashing into the tree again.

Twrrrrrr The tree groaned under the weight of the wolf and started to tip backward, giving Cheng Yang a big shock. The leader was this strong? Just two hits and the tree was already falling?

Come on! Cheng Yang steadied his body and relied on his intuition to properly aim at the wolf.

This time the leader let out a tragic wail but hadn't died as expected.

"Shit, I forgot it was an Elite." Cheng Yang calculated in his head that it should have less than a single point of health left, how unlucky!

At this time the tree couldn't hold on any longer and wide cracks spread on its trunk. It couldn't resist the pull of gravity and fell towards the ground.

The wolf pack knew that their prey would soon be on the ground and had gathered together in the area where the tree would fall. Even the leader limped over with hatred in its eyes.

The leader of the Venom-Fanged Wolves was furious. It was born a ruler having the strength of a Standard-Grade monster since the day it spawned allowing it to easily gather a large horde underneath it. Just yesterday, it had found a magical treasure and successfully became its guardian, leveling up in the process.

Becoming a High-Grade monster made it feel like it was blessed by god to become a powerful beast emperor in the future, but now a human had caused it enormous pain and almost killed it! How could it possibly become the leader of a mighty horde if it couldn't even kill a single human?

Cheng Yang watched the leader of the wolves draw closer with ecstasy. He didn't care about the large number of monsters he would have to fight later, all he could do was praise the leader for being stupid enough to give him the chance to land a killing blow. With a smirk, Cheng Yang fired the final Magic Missile at the leader's head.