Dozens of wolves were rushing toward Lin at high speed. Their faces were full of bloodlust and cruelty — they hadn't eaten for five whole days. And now the moment had come when they could finally fill their stomachs with fresh human meat!
Watching five of the wolves, Lin sighed and took a stance, preparing to comfortably receive these foolish beasts.
"Even if I can't use my skill for a while, that doesn't mean I'll lose to these wolves. Six years of surviving on the streets and working with gangs have shaped me completely. My body is in peak condition," Lin thought, getting ready for the attack.
The wolves quickly closed in, reaching five meters from Lin. He tensed every muscle in his body to meet the closest one.
The nearest wolf stood directly in front of him. It was black as pitch, with eyes glowing red. As it leapt at Lin, it opened its massive maw, which stank like a sewer.
Lin's right palm shot toward the wolf's lower jaw, creating gusts of wind. When it reached its target, he slammed the mouth shut and threw the wolf several meters back!
Whoosh!
The wolf, completely confused, tumbled backward. Then it glared at Lin with intense rage.
It had never been humiliated like that before!
Ignoring the wolf's furious gaze, Lin braced himself for the next wave.
A second wolf attacked from the right side, growling viciously and opening its jaws.
Lin snorted and with a series of rapid punches to the wolf's snout, flung it back a couple of meters. It quickly raised its head to growl again — but noticed Lin was already gone!
A second later, it saw two feet above its head, closing in fast!
Smash!
Lin's legs slammed down onto the wolf's skull with force, nearly killing it. The wolf's face twisted unnaturally, its lower jaw completely shattered, its upper crushed under the blow.
Without sparing a glance at the nearly-dead beast, Lin raised his right leg and forcefully kicked another charging wolf in the snout!
Thud!
Its snout twisted grotesquely, and it flew back a fair distance.
"I'm starting to get tired…" Lin thought, then noticed the wolf that had first attacked him.
It was sprinting at full speed, leaping toward Lin with murderous intent.
Lin's eyes gleamed slightly — he immediately sensed the killing intent. His expression turned ice cold as he readied himself.
When the wolf was a meter away, Lin vanished from sight, reappearing beside its belly and driving his knee into it with full force!
"Owwwooo!!" The wolf yelped in agony, confused by how the human had gotten there so fast. But the pain — it was terrifying!
Lin wasn't done. As the wolf's body began to slump from the impact, Lin brought his elbows together and slammed them down on its spine!
Smash!
With immense force, the wolf was driven into the ground. Its body twitched slightly — then stopped completely.
It was dead.
Lin had enough power to kill a wolf outright.
He grinned and noticed several more wolves charging at him.
Quickly calculating, he bent down to grab the wolf's body. When his hands reached its fur, he tensed them and violently thrust them into its belly!
His hands pierced through, digging deeper until they reached the ribs. When he felt them, Lin smiled involuntarily and yanked them toward himself.
The sound of tearing flesh filled the air. Lin now held two of the wolf's ribs, one in each hand like daggers.
"With these, my chances of survival are way better than without." Lin smiled and looked at the approaching wolves.
When one leapt at him, instead of dodging, he ran straight toward it. When it was mere centimeters away, he ducked and raised his bone "daggers," slashing open the wolf's belly!
Two clean lines appeared on the wolf's abdomen. Blood poured out in liters, along with intestines and other organs!
Lin quickly got up and drove the right bone dagger into the lower jaw of another wolf — the tip burst out of its head!
He swiftly pulled out the dagger and jumped back to put some distance between himself and the wolves. He was very tired and needed a breather.
"Phew. Killing them with ribs is definitely easier than without them. But the effort you have to put in is massive. And the ribs wear out quickly — after just a few uses, they might break," Lin muttered, breathing heavily, examining the blood-covered ribs in his hands, already showing scratches.
...
Meanwhile, as the wolves focused on Lin, there were others in the field pretending to be dead.
Several bodies twitched at once. One of them spoke in a low voice:
"How's Lin doing? Did he lure all the wolves?"
Another corpse opened its mouth and replied:
"Seems like it. I watched the battle and saw a lot of wolves from our side run toward him."
The first "corpse" exhaled and smiled:
"That's good. Never thought that quiet, silent Lin would turn out to be a real demon in the flesh! Did you see how he killed those wolves? He didn't even hesitate to rip out a rib and use it as a weapon!"
Another "corpse" stirred and said:
"That's impressive, sure, but maybe we should get out of here? While all the wolves are focused on Lin, this is our chance to escape!"
"What about Lin? Won't he be left alone? And if he sees we used him to escape, we're screwed..." the first one said nervously.
The third one rolled his eyes.
"Wanri, do you see how many wolves there are? Even for an Awakened, this number is tough — let alone for someone like Lin! So while we have a chance, let's go. If he survives, we'll just say we couldn't have helped anyway."
"I agree."
"Then... so do I," Wanri agreed reluctantly.
Lin's classmates made their decision and began slowly crawling away, careful not to draw attention.
After a few minutes, all three reached the Red Gate and slowly stood up.
"This is our chance!" said the third one and sprinted toward the gate.
The other two hurried after him and entered the Red Gate. Before stepping through, Wanri glanced back at the battling Lin — and felt a wave of terror.
"H-he's a damn monster!" he muttered and vanished through the gate.
What Wanri had seen was Lin fighting off nearly twenty wolves!
Lin's eyes were completely cold, his movements swift and deadly. He cut through the wolves with precise strikes, every move catching them off guard.
In the middle of the battle, Lin felt Wanri's gaze. He looked over and saw his classmate step through the Red Gate and vanish from the world.
"..."
A faint anger began to rise in Lin's heart — realizing he had been used as bait. But after a sigh, he understood he would've done the same in their place.
"You become a tool for others without even realizing it," he thought, then turned his focus back to the fight.