Chapter 26 - Trouble

Hearing the approaching thundering noise from above, the hunters immediately got alarmed. They turned their heads at the mountain with shaking and wide-open eyes. It was beginning to get darker as seconds passed hence why they were rushing in the first place. But wherever they were going, the earth was trembling.

_rumble, rumble, rumble_

In a split second, everyone realized what was approaching them. It wasn't one but judging by the sound and the rumbling of the ground, it was a horde! They were rushing down in great speed. With their current position, they were going to get hit!

All the hunters showed horror on their faces and quickly hid through the blockades in the area such as the stones and the big trees.

Some of the hunters who were too shocked to make rational decisions instinctively took a step back and was about to rush down, but in the next second, the Captain roared:

"Don't! Get into formation, unleash your weapons, and defend the formation. We are going to hold our ground!"

The Captain shouted so loud, and it was fierce and scary, making everyone forced out of their thoughts. The hunters who were about to retreat couldn't help but remain on their position.

_shiing_

The sound of the Captain's 1.5 meter sword being unsheathed from his waist then echoed as he stood right on the front!

His group and the veterans also all remained uptight, their backs and expressions firm and tough ready for what was about to happen. Alex and Carl was one of the few that remained calm.

The surroundings were turning darker by the second. No one spoke up, as the thundering noise continued to approach them.

'Dugun, dugun, dugun,'

The hunters heard the increasing pace of their heartbeats.

Carl was no exception.

'This is unexpected, but I'll better be prepared for the worst. Bloody boar, activate!'

Carl gazed at the mountain and let the mana in his body freely circulate around his body. Soon, his bodily muscles tensed, his body got heavier and tougher but at the same time strangely light, and soon five his senses improved, gathering all the noise in his ears and faintly putting light to his sight.

Looking with his eyes, he could see the broken rocks and woods that started to fall onto them, effectively dodging them, and in the next moments, streak after streak of dark shadowy wolves charged forth!

_Bang, crash, crash, bang_

In a mere instant, the entrance of the horde caused some people to lose balance and get separated from the formation. But before they could come back, they were dragged away. There were too many beasts in the horde making it almost impossible to dodge every beasts coming to their direction.

The hunters waved their flashlight to check for their teammates, and a hunter had been pushed down, screaming and asking for help, before direwolves dragged him towards the darkness.

It only took a second, but those that remained uptight did not have to luxury to save anyone.

_rumble, rumble, rumble_

The scene was too chaotic.

Most of the wolves were about 2-3 meters tall and a lot tougher than they met until now. This was because they were already at borderline fourth level, so the monsters were bound to be stronger and faster. On top of this, the flashlights can't keep up with their speed. It was like they were looking at afterimages. Anyone who was hit by them was almost taken away.

While Carl was looking around, the voices of the veterans then shouted.

"Kill!"

"OOO!"

The hunters unanimously shouted out loud too, and from their positions, Carl could see the vicious strength suddenly emerged from the hunters' physiques!

_bang, bang_

_crash, crash_

Killing intent shot up in the area. Multiple breathing techniques were activated at once. The sound of the blades and attacks hitting flesh resounded like war drums, and most of the wolves charging to their direction dropped dead mid-air, or rolling to the ground, all spraying blood to their surroundings.

The dark almost did not matter.

The intensity of the battlefield only got stronger as curses came from the hunters' mouths.

"Stand your ground!"

The Captain was angrily shouting all the time as he was swinging his large sword, cleaving wolves open going to their direction. His face was already covered in blood. It was hard to tell if that was his own or the beasts.

It was amazing to see. The terrain put them at a great disadvantage, but it looked like the Captain and the veteran hunters had been fighting on even ground!

Yet the wolves kept coming down.

Everyone could see that the Captain and the veteran hunters could only do so much.

Some wolves broke through the formation and went towards those in the rear and in the middle.

Alex immediately went onto action, sending wolves away with his fists and kicks. The two hunters with them also drawn out their swords and started slashing when given the opportunity.

Carl was also there with, but he wasn't fighting at all. He turned his eyes to the left and then the right, squinting his eyes. Some hunters naturally saw him doing this, and were quite pissed, but they were too preoccupied with their own battle.

Carl did not pay attention to them and continued looking at their surroundings.

It was dark, but thanks to his breathing technique, he could see a little and for some reason, direwolves were also rushing down from the mountain, and their number was no joke. At first he thought they were like 20 or 30 in the area. But there were about a hundred and more going down the mountain!

This was much more than he'd expected. The behavior was also extremely strange!

Just as he was confused, the wolves continued to ram onto them.

'Huh? There are probably over a fifty of them that already passed.' Carl was confused.

He didn't fight, and simply chose to dodge any incoming wolves or corpses charging to his direction. Instead of mimicking the others, he was looking around.

'What is going on?' Carl thought amidst the battle, a bit stunned. 'Even though the wolves are attacking us, that don't seem to be their main intention.'

On top of this, amidst the noise, Carl knew that this area was not the only place the wolves was rushing onto. Thanks to the bloody boar's Improved sensing skill.

"They are passing through!"

Carl dodged a few direwolves and turned his head above to see the mountain.

'Are they migrating? Running from something else? If so, this is bad!' Carl's face turned grim.

Carl only had one conclusion. Something up there scared the direwolves. And the most alarming point was that probably just happened.