On the other hand, the starving wolves grew restless and poised for an attack. Brian observed the situation carefully. He planned in his mind—once the wolves launched the attack, he would explode the grenades he was carrying. However, since nobody, including himself, had seen so many wolves in Hell Forest all at once, he had brought only two grenades for emergency purposes. He knew that exploding two grenades might not drive away or kill all the wolves, instead it might drive them mad.
"Climb the tree," Brian said calmly. In such stressful situations, his calm demeanor made him the natural leader.
"Brian..."
"Climb the tree!" the same words came from his thin lips in an ice-cold voice, not giving any space for an argument. Brian's sharp eyes were fixed on the alpha wolf, and he was ready for the battle that might break out any moment now.
Cora gritted her teeth. She knew that she couldn't be of any help to Brian. On the contrary, she would only hold him back if she stayed on the ground with him. Finally, when the alpha wolf pounced forward, she quickly climbed up the big tree beside them with both her hands and legs.
When the other wolves pounced, following their alpha, Brian threw the grenade in his hand in the direction behind him. Following a loud explosion, the wolves burst into wounded wails.
Scared by the sudden sound and fire, the wolves stopped their attack, not daring to move forward. At the same time, they assumed an attack position, ready to pounce again. Gazing at Brian with their fierce eyes, the wolves howled, one after the other. Their howls sounded increasingly sharp.
The alpha wolf raised his head and howled towards the sky. Brian knew that it was their war horn. He swiftly ran to the tree nearby. As the alpha pounced towards him, he withdrew his legs on time from the ground. The wolf couldn't get a hold of him.
Cora was frightened and her face was deathly pale. By instinct, she stretched one of her hands to pull Brian up. However, Brian didn't grasp her hand. Instead, he backhand extracted a saber which was placed on the outer side of his thigh. Followed by a quick arc-shaped movement with the saber, the wolf mourned painfully and fell down to the ground. It lay motionless on the forest floor.
Cora had watched in astonishment, with her mouth agape. It was not until that moment that she realized that Brian had never intended to climb the tree. He was only trying to confuse the wolf into thinking that he was trying to escape. The wolves moaned as they gazed at the alpha, who was lying dead in its pool of blood. They looked terrified.
All the species in the world were just the same. Once the leader fell, the whole team would collapse sooner or later, no matter how well trained they were. Fear and hopelessness would grip their hearts in the absence of their leader. Wolves were no exception.
Standing beside the dead wolf, Brian looked around at the pack with his sharp eyes. The gripper on his grenade was pulled almost halfway out. If he continued pulling it, some more wolves would die in the second explosion.
Seeing the deadly look in the human's eye, some of the wolves started retreating. Just when Cora thought that the wolves were fleeing out of fear, they pounced on Brian all of a sudden.
"Ah—" Cora screamed loudly. She closed her eyes by instinct.
Bang!
There was more howling and painful moaning from the wolves.
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