Chapter 81: The Troubles of the Supreme Mercenary Corps

At first, I assumed the commotion at the rear of the Supreme Mercenary Corps was simply due to the magic wolves being wiped out and respawning, so I paid it little mind. After all, this wasn’t the deepest part of the Blackwind Forest—any newly spawned magic wolves here wouldn’t be of high enough level to seriously threaten players of the third rank.

Yet, to my surprise, the chaos not only persisted after several dozen seconds but seemed to be growing even more intense! Amidst the curses and screams erupting from the Supreme Mercenary Corps’ rear guard, even those at the front, who had been holding the line against the magic wolves, kept turning to look back, their faces tense and anxious. Clearly, something was going terribly wrong behind them.

At that moment, the Swiftwind Magic Wolf King also seemed to notice the mercenaries’ firepower waning. It let out a powerful, rhythmic howl from within the wolf pack, and the pace of the wolves’ assault abruptly quickened! Simultaneously, piercing howls echoed from deep within the Blackwind Forest, each one drawing nearer from all directions, converging upon the battlefield.

Yes, countless newly spawned magic wolves responded swiftly to the Magic Wolf King’s call, racing in from all sides, launching an even fiercer assault on the Supreme Mercenary Corps—utterly fearless, attacking from every direction.

At this, I couldn’t help but smile inwardly.

Ha! The Supreme Mercenary Corps has finally blundered!

To be honest, I’ve never had a good impression of the Supreme Mercenary Corps. From their boss—Supreme himself—who killed indiscriminately outside the city and carried himself with an overbearing air of “I alone rule the world,” to his subordinates—Warwolf and the rest, who looked down on lower-level players, all gave me a rather unpleasant feeling.

Most importantly, the Supreme Mercenary Corps was very similar to another top-tier mercenary group—Chaos. Both were elite corps with fourth-rank powerhouses, boasting immense strength, fame, and an equally arrogant swagger, constantly suppressing any potential rivals…

Chaos, in fact, was the sworn enemy of my close friend Lin Xuefeng. He was hunted down by Chaos’ own Hunter, forced back to level 30. Even some of his companions had to flee the city where the Hunter operated, taking refuge in smaller towns to recover.

Now that I had come into conflict with the Supreme Mercenary Corps myself, there was no way I could wish for them to succeed in annihilating the magic wolf horde. So, when I heard the Swiftwind Magic Wolf King summon its kin from within the Blackwind Forest and recalled how it had previously led a large pack into the woods, I immediately realized the Supreme Mercenary Corps had walked right into the cunning boss’s trap!

The Swiftwind Magic Wolf King was even more clever and adaptable than the Goblin Chief. Knowing that neither it nor its pack could defeat the mercenaries head-on, and that it would be hard to summon reinforcements outside the forest, it swiftly led its brood back into the familiar terrain of the Blackwind Forest. There, taking full advantage of the complex environment and the endless reinforcements streaming in, it encircled the Supreme Mercenary Corps!

For now, the Supreme Mercenary Corps’ defenses still held, but they couldn’t possibly wipe out the ever-respawning wolves in a short time. Should they slip up, or if their mana failed to recover in time, the Magic Wolf King’s scheme would succeed!

By pursuing the wolves into Blackwind Forest, the Supreme Mercenary Corps had unwittingly trapped themselves in a deadly, perilous land, all because they underestimated the wolf king’s intelligence. For this, they would pay a price—possibly a heavy one, if they didn’t escape soon.

At that very moment, things took a sudden turn for the worse. I saw several blindingly bright balls of fire materialize above clusters of Supreme Mercenaries not far away—clouds, each ten meters in diameter, swirling slowly in the air like fiery vortexes, radiating a strange and ominous magical power.

The nearly hundred Supreme Mercenaries beneath those crimson clouds immediately noticed the danger overhead, all of them blanching in terror.

“Meteor Firestorm! Get out of the way!!”

Someone was quick enough to shout a warning, but it was too late. The red clouds began to spin faster and faster, and then, as if the heavens had opened, a torrent of dazzling, fiery “raindrops” shot out from the clouds—true to its name, a meteor firestorm, sweeping down at a slant toward the mercenaries below.

A few quick-thinking archers and warriors managed to escape the downpour, but the rest were not so fortunate. Under the relentless barrage, even the trees and undergrowth seemed to catch fire. Those archers and warriors with poor magical defenses, unable to dodge in time, were the first to fall; even mages, despite their higher resistance but low HP, could not escape the death that rained from above.

The sudden firestorm threw the Supreme Mercenary Corps into a frenzy. Several archers swiftly locked onto the attackers.

“Damn! There are Dragonwolf people here too!”

“Somebody come with me! Let’s go! Take down these despicable scoundrels!!”

Dragonwolf Cavalry? So it was them… That explained the utter chaos at the rear. The Supreme Mercenary Corps’ shouts made everything clear—I finally understood the true cause of the uproar.

With the Dragonwolf Cavalry harassing them, it seemed the Supreme Mercenary Corps was in even greater trouble than I thought. Yet I couldn’t help but wonder: how did the Dragonwolf Cavalry end up here? And how did they dare attack the Supreme Mercenary Corps so brazenly?

Could it be… a bounty notice?