Wind Wolf Pack

When Lin Shenyue and Ye Jue reappeared before Chris, Lin Shenyue was bursting with uncontrollable anger.

Ye Jue, on the other hand, wore a sheepish expression, following behind her without daring to utter a word.

Chris, though still a child, could still sense the strange tension between them. She glanced at Lin Shenyue’s clothes, chuckled softly, and said nothing. Instead, she kept shifting her gaze between Lin Shenyue and Ye Jue with a peculiar look.

Feeling Chris’s stare, Lin Shenyue’s face flushed with embarrassment. She shot Ye Jue a fierce glare and sent a private message:

– “It’s all your fault…”

“I…” Ye Jue was left speechless. Only then did he realize that men were meant to bear the blame for women.

“Alright, Sister Yue’er, I know you two have a good relationship, but there’s no need for such affectionate glances. Let’s set off quickly.” Chris wore an expression of a third wheel, which made Lin Shenyue feel like tearing her hair out.

Although Lin Shenyue was furious, there was no way she could shamelessly explain what had just happened. So she had no choice but to swallow her anger for the time being, planning to find a suitable moment to clarify things to Chris.

The three of them boarded the Blue Water Skyhawk once again and headed toward the inner perimeter. Ye Jue finally had time to examine the little white dog cradled in Lin Shenyue’s arms. He stared at the dog, a thoughtful look in his eyes.

“Do you know where Little White comes from?” Lin Shenyue asked.

“I’m not sure if my guess is correct. After much thought, the possibility of my guess is almost nonexistent. However, another explanation is that it’s a mutated pet,” Ye Jue said with a frown.

“Mutated pet?” Lin Shenyue’s attention shifted from her anger, which gave Ye Jue, who had been constantly on edge, a chance to catch his breath.

Ye Jue nodded. “A mutated pet, as the name suggests, is a pet that has mutated from a common one. Generally speaking, mutated pets are stronger than ordinary pets, but that’s not always the case. During the growth of common monsters, due to differences in each monster’s situation and external factors, a mutation can occur. After being captured by players, they become mutated pets. As for this one…” Ye Jue’s expression grew serious as he stared at Little White. “I can’t identify it.”

Lin Shenyue grew even more curious about Little White’s identity. She had originally thought Little White might be some rare beast, but since even Ye Jue couldn’t identify it, that meant Little White was probably just some mutated monster. As for the identification skill, Lin Shenyue couldn’t identify anything at all. All she saw when she looked at Little White was a bunch of question marks.

After encountering several more monster ambushes, the group flew for several hours before finally reaching the junction between the outer and inner perimeters. The monsters in this area had generally reached the critical point of level 29. At level 30, players undergo their first class advancement, and monsters also receive a significant boost. After arriving here, Ye Jue had Chris find a place to land. Although searching for targets from the air would be faster, if they attracted a level 30 boss while in the air, they would have nowhere to cry.

Ye Jue checked his current coordinates. They weren’t far off from the coordinates in his memory, so he said, “Let’s go directly. But from now on, we need to avoid battles as much as possible. Even you, Chris, can’t easily handle the monsters in this area.”

Lin Shenyue, holding Little White, followed Ye Jue cautiously toward their destination.

Since neither Lin Shenyue nor Ye Jue had used their experience gain time to level up for two consecutive days, and the general player level had reached 16, with the advanced players at 18, their levels were already somewhat behind. The experience from the teleportation array quest would be granted uniformly after this special storyline ended. If they didn’t return in time, they might end up five levels behind, making it very difficult to catch up.

Just as the three were about to reach their destination, a series of wolf howls echoed, causing their faces to instantly change. Wolves, especially wolf packs, have always been troublesome creatures. At low levels, wolf packs without a unified leader fought independently. But as levels increased, wolf-type field bosses would gradually gather wolves of the same type to form packs. This was one of the monsters players least wanted to provoke. However, if you were strong enough, wolf packs were actually the most suitable location for grinding.

At this point, Lin Shenyue’s group was naturally far from being able to overwhelm a wolf pack, let alone the fact that even killing a single wolf would be quite difficult.

Wind Wolf (Level 24 Common Monster): ???/???

Elite Wind Wolf (Level 26 Elite Monster): ???/???

Wind Wolf King (Level 29 Silver-Grade Boss): ???/???

Due to the large level gap, they couldn’t even check the attributes of the most common monsters. Lin Shenyue had no ability to protect herself. Ye Jue was 8 levels below the common monsters, so his attacks would be reduced by 80%. Chris was an NPC and not subject to this restriction, but even so, her attributes were at most equivalent to an Elite Wind Wolf.

Ye Jue cautiously tested and found that the Wind Wolves began to be alert at a distance of 15 meters. This meant the Wind Wolf’s aggro range was about 10 meters. More importantly, this type of pack monster had a certain probability of triggering aggro chains—when attacking one monster, there was a chance of drawing the aggro of another monster. After observing, Ye Jue noted that the target location was slightly to the right of the center of the Wind Wolf pack. To get there, they would need to deal with at least ten Wind Wolves and one Elite Wind Wolf. Most critically, it might provoke the Wind Wolf King. Ye Jue quickly pondered a solution. He glanced at Lin Shenyue, who was standing behind him deep in thought, and had an idea. “Yue’er, have you come up with any plan?”

Lin Shenyue hesitated for a moment, then asked, “What is the exact aggro range of this monster?”

Ye Jue carefully tested with a branch and said, “10.5 meters.”

Lin Shenyue quickly mapped out the best route in her mind, as well as a method to lure away the Wind Wolf King. Finally, she said: “Karma Fire, you mentioned that group monsters have a probability of triggering an aggro chain, but unless it’s a very special monster group, a regular aggro chain can only link one additional monster. We must ensure that when we kill the Elite monster, we don’t aggro any other monsters. So we need to clear out these ordinary wolves to avoid triggering an aggro chain while dealing with the Elite wolf blocking our way. Including the monsters on our route, we need to eliminate a total of thirteen wolves and one Elite wolf. As for luring away the Wind Wolf King…” Lin Shenyue looked at Chris. “We’ll probably need the Blue Water Skyhawk to draw it away.”

Chris nodded. “Don’t worry, Sister Yue’er, I understand what you mean.”

“Then let’s move,” Lin Shenyue said.

The clearing process went smoothly, without any unnecessary complications. When it came time to divert the Wind Wolf King’s attention, the Blue Water Skyhawk kept circling in the area, putting the Wind Wolf King on high alert as its attention was completely captivated. Although the Wind Wolf King had a higher level, its grade was low. Moreover, its opponent was an aerial overlord, while it could only take a beating on the ground. So the Wind Wolf King was quite wary of the Blue Water Skyhawk that was swaggering around its territory.

Thus, when it saw Lin Shenyue and the others appear, the Wind Wolf King merely spat out a wind blade in their direction as a territorial assertion, then ignored them. Chris, having prepared in advance, used Block to deflect the wind blade.

After placing the pre-prepared Five Elements materials at the five corners of the array and successfully activating the teleportation array, the group vanished from the Celestial Ridge Mountains. Just before they disappeared, Chris also recalled the Blue Water Skyhawk to its pet space.

Seeing the Blue Water Skyhawk disappear, the Wind Wolf King, which had been in combat mode, finally relaxed. It lazily glanced at the spot where the three humans had been, let out two disdainful howls, and then lay back down. For an AI that wasn’t very high, it probably didn’t understand what the teleportation array meant.

A feeling of weightlessness swept over them. When they felt solid ground beneath their feet again, everyone opened their eyes.

“Who dares enter the Vermilion Bird Holy Mountain?” A loud voice rang out, followed by a terrifying pressure that surged toward the three of them.