Chapter 34: Chapter 33: Tank, Melee, Rout, and Ambush
The wolf pack leader’s size is more than half as big as the old desolate wolf from before.
It’s also much better than when Lin Feng and the others encountered it while hunting rock-horned horses three or four days ago.
Through these days of frenzied hunting, the wolf pack not only healed their injuries but also leveled up significantly.
Chen Shanshan decisively shot the wolf fang arrow, breaking through the air at a speed of one hundred meters per second, aiming at the wolf pack leader a hundred meters away.
But the other party’s reaction was equally swift, dodging the brain-targeting wolf fang arrow with just a quick duck.
"Its strength is already approaching Tier One Evolution, and it easily spotted the bow-drawing action."
Li Hu reminded, inserting his left hand into his pocket and single-handedly lifting a 1.5-meter heavy saber onto his shoulder, calmly directing the team on the car to quickly organize the formation.
Twelve team members split into three groups, each defending four directions, forming a triangular formation with the slaves placed in three directions.
In this setup, each side has two bait and four warriors, while three free men in the center of the triangle provide support, rotating when teammates are injured.
From this, we can see the vast difference between a regular deserter squad compared to Li Hu’s team.
Their combat competencies were worlds apart.
This greatly shocked Lin Feng and the others on his side.
This also explained why they only lost seven people during the full-strength desert wolf pack’s attack, three of whom eventually succumbed to their injuries.
Yet they managed to counter-kill four desolate wolves.
It’s important to know that the wolf pack launched a surprise attack while Li Hu’s team had just experienced a battle with the rock-horned horse herd, and their stamina had already plummeted greatly.
Even with the wolves holding a significant advantage, they gained no upper hand. No wonder Li Hu had the confidence to claim a bounty order and initiate revenge while their team was heavily injured.
There is surely someone with a knack for commanding talent and strategy within this team.
Lin Feng observed this and immediately ordered the four people in the car to hold shields and get off, surrounding himself and Chen Shanshan.
Liu Mingfei stood in front, with Ding Yi and Liu Qian covering the left and right flanks respectively, while Jiang Zhuo guarded the rear.
Arranging the square formation, Lin Feng intentionally adjusted it to be close to Li Hu’s group, reducing the risk of being surrounded by concentrated wolf pack attacks.
Meanwhile, after avoiding Chen Shanshan’s full-draw shot, the wolf pack leader howled, and the desert wolves emerged from the top of the nearby slopes.
In particular, the path they came from had seven desolate wolves, clearly orchestrated by the head wolf to cut off their escape route.
"It’s a trap!"
Seeing eight huge desolate wolves slowly approaching, using rocks for cover, Liu Qian exclaimed in panic.
Their formation directly faced the entrance.
Only six of them, and half were worrisome in battle capability, yet they had to confront seven desolate wolves.
Even with Lin Feng’s guarantee, the immediate threat was enough to make Liu Qian extremely nervous.
In fact, most deserters had never encountered such a scene, and those who had did not survive to tell the tale, becoming food instead.
Fortunately, though flustered, Liu Qian hadn’t made any solo escape moves, just overly tense under the threat of death.
Beside her, Ding Yi and Jiang Zhuo were much calmer, one having survived a desolate wolf attack, the other indifferent to life and death.
Lin Feng spoke with a solemn tone, steadying the morale:
"Do not fear, hold the formation!"
"Let them come closer; we’ll be able to kill more. Trust me, firing now will only scare them off!"
As more wolf pack members showed up, Lin Feng realized there were far more than the fifteen Li Hu mentioned; actually, there were up to twenty.
Evidently, the initial attack on Li Hu’s squad only involved part of the wolf pack’s members, but this time, knowing they were being hunted, the desolate wolves lured them into this three-sided mountainous, one-way-out terrain...
Intending to use all their might to completely eliminate the enemies stained with their companions’ blood, leaving no future troubles.
Among these twenty desolate wolves, no fewer than ten were late-stage desolate wolves with sizes exceeding three meters.
The frantic hunting of deserter teams these days had dramatically powered up the wolf pack.
They now had the confidence to launch a counter-attack.
Realizing this, Li Hu grinned sinisterly, standing at a protruding corner of the formation, facing the head wolf alone:
"That creature has reached its enhancement limit, wanting to swallow us Level 9 Enhanced People in one go to evolve!"
The 1.5-meter heavy saber, weighing a hundred pounds, swung in Li Hu’s nearly-ton-strength hand, creating airwaves:
"But that’s just what I want too!"
With that, three late-stage enhanced desolate wolves, led by the head wolf, charged at Li Hu at over ten meters per second.
Two teammates at his sides each intercepted one wolf.
Li Hu swung the heavy saber at the head wolf, which evaded with a single leap.
Yet, Li Hu adeptly controlled the weighty saber, slicing sideways to continue the attack on the head wolf.
The wolf pack leader opened its bloodthirsty maw, with two pairs of ten-centimeter-long sharp steel fangs clamping onto the blade, leveraging the swing force to pull it back.
Under immense pulling force, the vicious friction sparked.
As the squealing sound and flying sparks filled the air, the three-centimeter-thick blade had two deformed grooves pressed into it.
The heavy saber was already deformed with ruffled edges.
Li Hu knew this was the head wolf’s strategy, to first bite and crush human weapons with its fine steel wolf fangs, then launch a close attack.
But he had been waiting for this moment!
His left hand, previously in his pocket, already had knuckle dusters poised on his four front fingers.
Taking the opportunity, he stopped hacking with his right hand holding the saber, instead drawing back forcefully, pulling the head wolf, fixed to the blade by its steel teeth, in front of him.
His clenched left fist already raised its elbow, accelerating a fierce strike, slamming into the head wolf’s skull.
The knuckle duster’s three-centimeter protrusion, under power and speed enhancement, directly pierced the wolf’s scalp, driving into its flesh and skull.
The wolf’s skull is the hardest part of a canine.
However, the sound of cracking bones rang out.
This almost took half the life of the leading wolf.
Yet, it completely provoked its ferocity!
Its fur bristled all over, and the next moment, it broke free from the blade, viciously biting towards Li Hu’s abdomen, tearing his clothes to shreds in an instant and ripping a palm-sized piece of flesh from his side.
In pain, Li Hu punched it away.
At this moment, a series of gunshots echoed.
Lin Feng waited until the last second when the entire wolf pack attacked, swiftly pulling the trigger on the desolate wolves lunging at the group.
Seven desolate wolves appeared from behind, already close by.
Among these seven, five were late-stage desolate wolves, including one at level 9.
To block the human retreat, the wolf head specially stationed heavy guards at the entrance and exit.
But this played right into Lin Feng’s hands.
He was waiting for the level 9 desolate wolf, not wanting the level 7 and level 8 ones as his first kill target.
As automatic mode activated, following his mentally rehearsed kill order, Lin Feng aimed the gun at the level 9 desolate wolf closest to him.
At this time, it had already collided with the shield, and the heavily struck Liu Qian leaned back, fortunately steadied by Lin Feng’s support.
But the next collision would definitely break the formation.
However, there won’t be a next time.
With the handgun in automatic mode, fire erupted from the muzzle with a slight trigger pull.
Three bullets instantly hit the level 9 desolate wolf’s head and neck.
On its mane, already hardened like needles, blossomed palm-sized blood flowers.
Bullets causing thirty points of damage directly shattered the desolate wolf’s cervical bone and skull.
Its whole body went limp, collapsing to the ground instantly.
As brain death ensues, losing life, only the limbs twitched instinctively.
After firing three bullets, Lin Feng didn’t even glance at the deathly state of the level 9 desolate wolf, continuing to follow his mental rehearsal, turning the muzzle to shoot other desolate wolves.
Now time meant results, killing meant points!
He was racing against time, striving to kill more desolate wolves before the wolf pack retreated in defeat.
With a slight trigger pull in automatic mode, he could fire three or four bullets.
And at a distance of less than twenty meters, Lin Feng could hit with precision even with his eyes narrowed.
Continuously pulling the trigger five times, he fired a dozen bullets, killing seven desolate wolves attacking his squad.
One was hit by an arrow shot by Chen Shanshan, finished off by Lin Feng with his gun.
The advantage of firearm firing speed manifested at this moment.
Compared to the bow and arrow, even in ordinary mode, it could fire two or three bullets a second, its firepower several times stronger than the cumbersome steps of drawing a bow and aiming.
After resolving the crisis from behind, Lin Feng turned around and saw Li Hu still dealing with the encirclement of thirteen desolate wolves.
He was fiercely engaged with the lead wolf.
The remaining teammates were struggling against more than ten desolate wolves.
Both sides had injuries, but the deserted village squad had a greater disadvantage, with six slaves used as bait having already died on the spot.
They exchanged it for a few offensive opportunities for the team members.
But they only seriously injured two desolate wolves.
Subsequent wolf pack counterattacks left three teammates injured, losing combat power with bites on their arms and legs.
Lin Feng didn’t make a move; he was waiting.
Waiting for Li Hu’s squad to lose the strength to continue fighting.
Next to him, Chen Shanshan couldn’t bear to watch, using a steel rod to help one team member out of trouble, killing one wolf in the process, a contribution to the team’s battle performance.
Seeing this, Lin Feng did not speak to stop it, simply stood in front of Jiang Zhuo, watching intently.
With time passing, of the thirteen desolate wolves besieging Li Hu’s squad, only eight remained.
And Li Hu’s squad reduced from twelve to six members, three dead and three injured.
Plus the slaves, both sides had more than half casualties.
Just as Lin Feng was about to raise his gun to finish the job, two gunshots suddenly echoed from the entrance where they came.
Lin Feng felt something hit his back.
Warm blood splattered on his cheek.
He slowly turned his head to look...
Jiang Zhuo, who was protecting his rear, held a shield, his unprotected shoulder struck by a bullet.
And behind them, Qi Mountain appeared with a group of deserters thirty meters away.
They were hurriedly reloading two shotguns.
The other shot, aimed at Chen Shanshan,
was blocked by Ding Yi beside her.