Chapter 76: The Interruption of Wolf Sky Mercenary Corps (Part-7)

To Xiao Hei, those pills were like exquisite delicacies. Not only did they taste good, they made its body feel warm and powerful, strengthening it from within. It had become quite fond of them.

“You really are shameless,” Ryan muttered, glancing at the little tiger. Xiao Hei met his gaze without the slightest embarrassment, paw still stubbornly extended.

Sighing helplessly, Ryan admitted defeat. No matter how much he wanted to correct this habit of demanding payment before working, Xiao Hei had just made a huge contribution. Rewarding merit was only fair.

He flicked out two attribute pills.

“Meow!”

Xiao Hei snapped them up in one bite, swallowing them midair. Its expression immediately turned satisfied, and it withdrew its paw, sitting obediently once more.

Not far away, Shen Yu finally recovered from his shock. His brows knitted tightly together.

With a Fifth rank protecting Ryan, capturing him had become far more difficult. Worse still, the hidden force behind Ryan might be lurking nearby, ready to intervene at any moment.

There was no more time to hesitate.

Shen Yu yanked a leather whip from his waist and shouted sharply, “All of you, attack together! No matter what it takes, seize Li Wei!”

“Yes!”

The remaining men in black responded in unison and began advancing again, this time far more cautiously. Their eyes were fixed on Xiao Hei, alert to even the slightest movement.

They had already learned their lesson. This cute little beast was anything but harmless.

An Upper Exalt and nine Exalts advanced together, releasing their momentum in unison as they surged toward Ryan.

Yet Ryan stood there calmly, as if unaffected by the oppressive pressure.

“All together?” Ryan laughed softly, his expression relaxed and indifferent. “All together to die, then.”

He tossed two more attribute pills to Xiao Hei and said coolly, “Xiao Hei, don’t leave a single one alive.”

Xiao Hei leapt up excitedly, swallowing the pills in midair. Its demeanor instantly changed. The softness vanished, replaced by ruthless ferocity as it charged straight at Shen Yu and the others.

A Fifth rank against one Upper Exalt and nine Exalts.

One versus ten.

And yet Xiao Hei’s aura did not weaken in the slightest.

Its body blurred, transforming into a series of afterimages that streaked across the ring. One moment it was here, the next it appeared somewhere else, moving so fast it seemed to flicker in and out of existence.

It wasn’t teleportation. It was pure speed.

Golden-blooded tigers were born hunters, masters of velocity. Just like before, Xiao Hei relied on overwhelming speed to close in, strike, and withdraw before its enemies could even register what had happened.

Its claws, though short and cute at rest, extended sharply during attacks, lengthening by several centimeters and slicing through flesh and bone with terrifying ease.

In a flash, Xiao Hei appeared beside two of the black-clad warriors.

A dull boom sounded, followed by screams.

Before anyone could see what had happened, the little tiger vanished again. The two men staggered, blood spraying from their throats, and collapsed lifelessly to the ground.

They never even saw the attack.

Another two were dead.

Panic spread instantly among the remaining men in black. The earlier seven had died the same way, unable to see, unable to resist, cut down in an instant.

How were they supposed to fight this?

They weren’t Ryan. They had no divine movement techniques, no godlike perception, no way to track Xiao Hei’s movements.

Even with Shen Yu present, fear gnawed at their hearts. Their steps became hesitant, advancing yet retreating, terrified of being shredded by Xiao Hei but equally afraid of angering Shen Yu.

Seeing this, Shen Yu’s face darkened. He cursed inwardly, then shouted, “Don’t panic! Gather around me! Stay close, and move together!”

Only Shen Yu, as an Upper Exalt, could barely follow Xiao Hei’s movements. As long as they stayed near him, he was confident he could protect them.

These were the core elites of the Wolf Sky Mercenary Corps. Too many had already fallen. They could not afford to lose more.

From the original thirty-five, Song Fengxi’s entire group had been wiped out. Now only seven remained under Shen Yu’s command.

The losses were catastrophic.

The remaining men rushed toward Shen Yu without hesitation, clumping together as they advanced once more toward Ryan.

At that moment, Xiao Hei moved again.

A golden blur streaked across the ring, claws flashing as it lunged straight toward the tightly packed group.

Because the men in black had clustered tightly together, Xiao Hei’s sudden assault this time did not achieve the clean, devastating effect it had before.

Although the black-clad warriors were far too weak to perceive Xiao Hei’s movements, Shen Yu could see them clearly.

At the instant Xiao Hei burst forward at terrifying speed and was about to pounce, its sharp claws aiming straight for a man’s chest, Shen Yu, who stood at the center of the formation, reacted immediately.

“Crack the whip!”

With a sharp shout, Shen Yu’s eyes turned cold. He snapped his leather whip outward just before Xiao Hei could land its strike.

Snap!

The whip tore through the air like a thunderclap. The force behind it was immense, compressing the air itself and creating a suffocating pressure that rippled outward.

Shen Yu’s reaction was lightning-fast. The angle of the whip was vicious and precise, sealing off every route Xiao Hei might have used to continue its charge. If Xiao Hei forced its way through, it would be struck head-on by an Upper Exalt’s full-powered whip.

But Xiao Hei was no fool.

Beneath its cute, harmless appearance lay the cold composure of a born predator. It possessed not only ferocity but also a keen hunting instinct.

Seeing the whip’s killing intent and the sealed attack path, Xiao Hei instantly abandoned the frontal assault. Charging straight through would be reckless. Even if it managed to kill one or two enemies, it would likely suffer serious injury, which would be a terrible trade.

The true threat was not these lesser prey, but Shen Yu himself.

As long as the Upper Exalt remained standing, the remaining black-clad warriors would still have their backbone. Xiao Hei understood this instinctively. It needed to preserve itself, thin out the pack, and wait for the perfect moment to bring down the true target.

With a sharp cry, Xiao Hei twisted its body midair at an impossible angle, narrowly slipping past the whip’s reach. Using its incredible speed and flexibility, it retreated in a blur.

After landing, it did not pause for even a heartbeat. With a light push off the ground, it shifted position again, circling wide and launching a flanking attack from the side.

In that fleeting instant, Xiao Hei had attacked, retreated, repositioned, and attacked again.

Only Shen Yu could follow this sequence. To the other black-clad warriors, Xiao Hei simply vanished. They could not see it, could not track it, and certainly could not fight it.

Snap!

Shen Yu’s whip struck the ring floor instead, exploding with a deafening crack. The stone surface caved in, leaving a crater the size of a fist, fragments of rock spraying outward. Cracks spiderwebbed across the ground, a chilling testament to the whip’s power.

But Xiao Hei had already changed direction.

Shen Yu had just expended his strike and was in the process of retracting his whip. By the time he realized Xiao Hei had reappeared from another angle, it was already too late to block with the whip again.

Yet Shen Yu was no ordinary Upper Exalt.

Without hesitation, his other hand moved. From within his robes, he drew a short blade that gleamed coldly.

“Nine Blade Flurry!”

With a roar, Shen Yu slashed forward.

Boom!

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep