The three opposing alpha lead by the sly wolf were slowly circling around the black wolf.
Moments after sizing each other up, the three-versus-one clash erupted.
The one on the left lunged at the black wolf. In return, the enraged black wolf, overcome with emotion and no longer thinking straight, met the assault with savage ferocity.
The two got tangled up with the black wolf having the slight advantage in the first bout. The first wolf was overpowered and soon got tumbling down the ground. When the black wolf was about to deliver the finishing blow, he heard the muffled thuds of the grasses from behind. The battle-savvy black wolf rolled away from its original spot. As he was rolling around he saw that it was the alpha from the right trying to sneak up on him from the rear.
The black wolf winced, struggling to steady himself after the roll. He glanced at his profusely bleeding ankle. The bite left by that crazy wolf was deep and nasty. Paying it no mind, he launched himself at the two opposing alphas with renewed aggression.
The two alphas coordinated their attacks, yet still found themselves at a slight disadvantage.
The sly wolf launched itself toward the black wolf. The black wolf tried to break away to avoid the third enemy, but its swollen, wounded ankle was beginning to throb with pain.
"So this is how it ends, huh?" the black wolf whispered bitterly.
"DIIIIIEEEEEE!" the sly wolf lunged, jaws snapping toward its face.
Just as the black wolf, the sly wolf, and the two other alphas were sure it was over, something unexpected cropped up.
The sly wolf nearly retched as something crushed into its abdomen, sending it hurtling away from the black wolf.
"YOUUUUU!" the sly wolf spat through clenched teeth, seething with indignation.
Before it stood that beautiful-looking wolf that had broken away from the black wolf's pack earlier, chasing after its subordinates who were pursuing someone from their group.
The sly wolf thought it had died long ago after separating from its pack. It genuinely found the members of the black wolf's pack annoying. All the more reason to eliminate them.
As the sly wolf seethed at the sight of the beautiful white wolf, the latter turned its attention to the black wolf, gently nuzzling and brushing against it with its head and body.
"How about the kid?" the black wolf asked in a whisper.
"The child escaped." The black wolf's eyes brightened upon hearing the good news, but when it accidentally saw the current situation of the odd robust and tiny wolf duo, its bright gaze dimmed once more. It simply nodded in silence.
Noticing the shift in mood, the beautiful white wolf followed its gaze. What it saw made it shudder, its expression turning colder.
The robust wolf lay motionless, its head bowed, its body torn open by countless bites. Blood seeped from every wound, forming a dark pool beneath it. Beneath its chest, the tiny wolf's head protruded. The position suggested that even in their final moments, the robust wolf had tried to protect its little rival.
"Wow, you wolves really have no shame, do you?" the sly wolf said in annoyance after seeing their display of affection.
The beautiful wolf teased it disdainfully and said, "Lone dog."
Upon hearing that, the sly wolf lost it.
"Kill them both! Kill them all!" Veins bulged on the sly wolf's forehead, threatening to burst.
The two alphas beside it stifled their laughter as they closed in on the pair of wolves.
"The feeling is mutual. Die," the beautiful white wolf said, her voice low and cold.
The sly wolf started scurrying away when the beautiful white wolf attacked it with such intensity.
"Damn it!" the sly wolf cursed, surprised that the black wolf's mate, despite being female, was this strong. "Help me!"
The other two alphas looked each other in the eye and silently came to an agreement: they would help the sly wolf first before dealing with the black wolf. Just as they were about to turn, however, the black wolf launched a sneak attack on one of them. True to its status as an alpha, the targeted wolf managed to fend it off by dodging to the side.
The black wolf missed his chance to deal fatal damage, but succeeded in cutting off the two enemy alphas' path to his mate.
"You're not going anywhere," the black wolf declared menacingly, baring its fangs at them.
While the two alphas were preoccupied by the black wolf, the sly wolf's subordinates seized the opportunity to prove their worth and gain its favor, surging forward to rescue their leader. About five wolves advanced toward the beautiful yet ferocious mate of the black wolf. They tried to overwhelm it by simultaneous attacks yet they horribly failed.
The black wolf's mate nimbly dodged the first wolf and closed in on the second, catching it off guard with her speed. Before it could even react, it collapsed with a hole in its neck. The three wolves behind it recoiled in shock. She turned just in time to intercept the first as it moved in for a sneak attack, as if she had eyes at the back of her head. The first wolf froze, not expecting its ambush to be countered. Before it realized what was happening, her fangs had already torn a hole in its slender neck. It slowly turned its head and its body towards wolves trio's direction.
The three subconsciously stepped backward, which was a mistake. The black wolf's mate had a personality in contrast to her delicate figure. She attacked the three wolves with overwhelming aggression, plunging them into a quagmire they would not be able to escape.
From the side, the sly wolf watched as a bystander, figuratively sweating bullets.
"You lot! What are you waiting for?! Come here and kill her!" the sly wolf ordered at the top of its lungs, its voice cracking.
Without looking back, the black wolf smirked with satisfaction, proud of his mate. Inspired by his mate's display, the black wolf regained his vigor. He launched himself once more toward the two remaining alpha wolves, the last survivors among the three original allies of the sly wolf.
Standing several meters apart yet back-to-back, guarding both directions, the pair showed why they led the strongest wolf pack in the Eternal Forest. Despite being heavily outnumbered, they displayed overwhelming dominance together. The very aggressive delicate-looking white wolf relentlessly tore through the waves of wolves rushing toward her. The black wolf on the other hand was single-handedly overpowering the two alphas despite being heavily fatigued and feeling sore on his wounded ankle.
As the sly wolf watched the battle unfold, an increasingly uneasy feeling crept into its heart. It knew that even if it won, failing to kill the pair would inevitably lead to retaliation in the future. The two had to die right there and then. They were simply too strong for the sly wolf to let them escape. Realizing this, it decided to take matters into its own four paws. It barked commands to its own pack and the allied wolves, many of whom stood frozen like deer caught in headlights. Two of the allied alpha wolves were already locked in battle with the black wolf, while the third had long since fallen to his fangs. The sly wolf then blended into the swarming mass of wolves.
A dangerous glint flickered within the delicate-looking white wolf's eyes as she pretended not to notice the sly wolf's stealthy approach. She continued overwhelming the battlefield with her dominance, deliberately ignoring its movements to maintain the illusion of obliviousness.
The sly wolf gulped a few times as it quietly observed and slowly approached the black wolf's mate. Not only was she aggressive, but her attack patterns were also very hard to predict. Over the years, the sly wolf had seen countless strong and dominant wolves. Usually, there were two types of dominant wolves based on what it had seen thus far. One type consisted of those who brainlessly used their superior strength without much thought. They simply bulldozed their way through enemy ranks. Then there were those who were the exact opposite—strong but clever, with attacks that always used the most efficient methods. There was always a thought process behind their actions. But this was the first time it had seen someone like the black wolf's mate. Her attacks were, at times, very efficient, but half the time they were chaotic. The sly wolf couldn't tell whether she was the calculating type or one driven purely by instinct.
The black wolf was somewhat deceptive. At first glance, it looked like the brainless type that relied purely on brute strength to dominate others, but the sly wolf's keen instincts immediately identified it as one of the intelligent ones the moment it saw it. At least, that was what the sly wolf believed. In a way, the black wolf's mate was even more troublesome than her partner.
For the time being, the sly wolf only planned to circle around her. It wanted to exhaust her first. It readily admitted that it was far weaker than the delicate-looking white wolf, a female wolf, in terms of individual strength, let alone the black wolf, but that had always been the case.
The sly wolf had faced countless wolf pack leaders far stronger than itself, yet it always came out on top. Its secret? It was not really a secret at all. The sly wolf was simply that skilled at using superiority in numbers to exhaust enemy leaders both physically and mentally before delivering the fatal blow. To put it simply, the sly wolf was just a bastard that loved fighting dirty.
The sly wolf gave the signal to its core subordinates with a glance. It was about to use its favorite tactic as the battle neared its climax. Its core subordinates ordered the rest of the pack to mix feints into their attacks.
Meanwhile, the allied wolf pack members were left to fend for themselves.
The allied wolves continued their frenzied assault, unaware of how the battle was unfolding since no one was there to update them. The sly wolf took full advantage of this. It allowed the allied wolves to serve as cannon fodder, exhausting the beautiful and delicate-looking mate of the black wolf, while its own pack members focused on feints and deceptive attacks to wear down the female wolf's concentration, mental strength, and focus.
Little by little, the beautiful white wolf, though avoiding fatal blows, slowly accumulated small wounds across its once pristine white fur.
The sly wolf decided that it was finally time to make its move. It moved close enough to strike at a moment's notice while carefully staying out of the black wolf mate's field of vision.
The moment the beautiful white wolf faltered and lost her balance, it propelled itself forward. It lunged with its jaws wide open, aiming for the black wolf mate's slender neck to deliver the finishing blow. However, the sly wolf shuddered when it saw the delicate-looking white wolf smirk and glance its way, as if she had anticipated this very moment from the beginning.
It tried to stop its lunge, but its momentum was too great to halt.
The beautiful white wolf suddenly opened her jaws and shot toward the sly wolf like a streak of white lightning, determined to rip the bastard's throat open.
The sly wolf's eyes widened in shock as it desperately twisted its head to dodge the ferocious white wolf's attack, but she was too fast. Luckily for it, one of its subordinates threw itself at the female white wolf and knocked her off course.
The sly wolf stumbled blindly before desperately forcing itself back onto its feet after narrowly avoiding the fatal blow that would have surely killed it.
"Good job!" the sly wolf shamelessly praised its subordinate. Earlier, it had ordered its subordinate to rescue it if anything went wrong, and it had obeyed perfectly.
"Tch!" The beautiful white wolf clicked her tongue in annoyance at the wasted opportunity.
The sly wolf frowned when it noticed the ragged breathing of the delicate-looking white wolf suddenly stabilizing. That was when it realized it had been tricked. It finally confirmed that she was even more troublesome than the strong black wolf. She was not only powerful, but deceptively cunning as well.
That was when the black wolf appeared within their sight. He positioned himself in front of the sly wolf, using his body to block its line of sight from his beautiful white wolf shielding her from the treacherous enemy.
"How did it go on your side?" the delicate-looking white wolf asked her partner.
"Naturally. I won," the black wolf replied coolly.
At the spot the black wolf had just left, one of the two alpha wolves lay dead on the ground, while the other weakly clung to all fours, looking broken and pitiful.
"How about you?" the black wolf asked his beautiful white partner.
"I almost tore that bastard apart, but someone got in the way," the white wolf said, visibly annoyed, prompting a playful snicker from her partner.
That statement immediately infuriated the sly wolf. It nearly lost its composure before noticing a favorable development—the black wolf was badly wounded, with a huge gash on his ankle and several deep wounds across his shoulder and side. Yet if not for those visible injuries, the sly wolf would never have believed he was wounded. The black wolf carried himself calmly and moved with sharp precision, as though he had no injuries at all. The sly wolf smirked.
"This is my command to everyone here! Kill that black wolf! He's badly injured! This is our final battle!" the sly wolf barked hysterically.
"KUHAHAHAHA! DIE, YOU BASTARD!" it howled maniacally as it unleashed all of its subordinates without restraint for the first time since the start of the battle.
It had learned its lesson after surviving the trap laid by the black wolf's delicate-looking partner—a trap that had nearly killed it. Because of that, it firmly remained in the middle of the formation, watching the battle grow increasingly intense in complete comfort, as though it were merely enjoying an action movie.
It had no intention of budging an inch unless the pair were half-dead and ripe for the picking.
"Focus on the black wolf. Completely ignore that cunning bitch!" it barked another command while trying to provoke the delicate-looking white wolf.
As the numerous wolves under its command followed the order, the black wolf's partner desperately tried to ease the pressure her injured companion was enduring, but it proved to be a daunting task. The sly wolf's pack moved as though they could not even see her, relentlessly pushing toward the injured black wolf despite losing several pack members to her attacks.
Meanwhile, the black wolf fought with everything he had to lessen the burden on his partner, who was desperately trying to protect him. Despite being injured and incapable of moving as fast as before, he was still able to kill enemies in a single hit. However, he gradually began accumulating numerous minor injuries because he was moving a beat slower than usual
The sly wolf was delighted to see the black wolf drowning in a sea of wolves, struggling to stay alive.
"FOCUS ON THAT WHITE BITCH NOW!" it suddenly barked, abruptly changing its orders and catching the pair off guard.
The white wolf was bitten several times before she managed to shake off the enemies that had suddenly shifted their focus onto her after previously ignoring her. The black wolf immediately tried to come to her rescue, but—
"GO AFTER THAT ARROGANT BLACK WOLF NOW!" the sly wolf shouted, switching targets again the moment it saw him desperately trying to help his partner. In the process, the black wolf accumulated even more wounds.
"KUHAHAHAHA!" the sly wolf cackled, immensely pleased with itself after finally making its two fearsome enemies dance in the palm of its paw. It continuously directed its pack to shift targets, exploiting whichever of the two appeared more vulnerable at any given moment.
As the battle dragged on, the pair's injuries continued to pile up. The deadly precision that once defined their movements was slowly disappearing. Defeat was only a matter of time.
The sly wolf was a successful pack leader for a reason. If it could not even deal with a weakening foe, then it might as well step down from its position as alpha.
As it watched the increasingly bloodied pair, it slowly began to approach. Even then, it only inched forward cautiously, never lowering its guard again. It would feel utterly foolish if it fell for the same trick twice.
Once it was certain the pair were truly on the verge of defeat, it gave a command that completely contradicted its earlier orders.
"Pin the two of them down!" the sly wolf calmly ordered from a safe distance away.
Quite a few wolves died just trying to subdue the pair alive.
When the two dominant wolves were finally restrained, their four limbs pinned down by numerous enemies, the sly wolf approached with a swaggering gait.
"Finally caught you, bitch!" It turned its attention to the white wolf instead of its original target from the beginning—the black wolf. It still held a grudge after nearly falling for her trap and dying.