During the past month with the Tartarus mercenaries, Cloudhawk had often helped the mercenaries maintain their firearms. He had never, however, had the chance to use one himself. It was his very first time using a pistol… and yet, it felt so very familiar.
Cloudhawk felt as though his mind had reached out of his body and extended into the gun itself. He could clearly sense every tiny part and every molded line with perfect clarity, almost as though the revolver were part of his own body. It was like his eyes, his arms, or his legs; he was able to control it with absolute mastery.
Cloudhawk could clearly sense his body transforming. Every single pore in his body was tightening and contracting, and every single muscle group moved in concert to prepare for this upcoming shot.
This was what it felt like to be a control metahuman. Control metahumans were able to perfectly control their bodies as well as any weapons they wielded. These types of metahumans often preferred to use complicated technological weapons, such as various types of firearms. Thus far, the most powerful control metahuman Cloudhawk had ever met was Slyfox. He was able to use those two modified pistols to hit bulls-eyes from a hundred meters away without even aiming.
Cloudhawk wasn’t as formidable as Slyfox… but given how close the target was and its size, he felt certain he would be able to hit it! He had only one bullet. Everything rested on this shot!
Cloudhawk could clearly sense that when he raised his revolver and aimed it at the alpha rotwolf, the alpha rotwolf’s body trembled slightly as it immediately began adjusting itself to avoid the shot.
As expected, this incredibly dangerous mutabeast possessed a keen sense of danger. However, Cloudhawk felt he could predict what the alpha rotwolf’s response would be and immediately made some minute adjustments with the tip of his revolver to compensate.
The giant rotwolf could sense the invisible specter of death hanging over its head, causing it to feel fear for the first time. And yet, this feeling of fear further fueled the creature’s savage aggression and it let out an enraged howl as it leapt forward.
Either it would die, or its prey would die!
It was a moment of life and death, but Cloudhawk actually became incredibly calm and focused. His fingers were steady as they gently closed around the trigger. He could sense everything with perfect clarity, from the barrel of the gun to its handle, to the fingers gripping the gun and the rest of his body.
He pulled the trigger of the gun, causing the hammer to fall down at high speed and slam into the gunpowder behind the bullet. The gunpowder was successfully ignited and the bullet’s shell casing instantly expanded explosively, pushing the bullet out of the barrel at tremendous speed!
CRACK! A single bullet flew out like flames from the barrel of the gun!
The bullet tore a path through the air… and hit the alpha rotwolf in its one remaining eye with incomparable accuracy. In slow-motion, the bullet shattered through its cornea, bored through its vitreous, severed its optic nerves, and smashed straight into the creature’s brain, reducing the brain-matter inside its skull to a pile of mush.
Cloudhawk’s skidding legs finally came to a halt, while the massive body of the alpha rotwolf crashed to the ground in front of him. Its body still twitched as what little consciousness it had left tried to will it to its feet, as though it wanted to leap up once more and tear Cloudhawk to shreds. Alas, there was no way it could ever rise again.
This sequence took time to describe, but in reality it happened in an instant!
Cloudhawk stared in disbelief at the hill-sized corpse in front of him. He could hardly believe he actually slew this monster with his revolver. But before he even had a chance to savor the feeling of snatching life from the jaws of death, a feeling of incredible exhaustion overwhelmed him and caused him to slump down. It was as though he had poured all of his energy into that shot, and now had nothing left.
With the alpha rotwolf dead, the other rotwolves began to howl mournfully and their frenzied morale seemed to take a sudden hit. However, this was nothing more than a temporary lull. Given how brutal these mutabeasts were, they wouldn’t retreat even if their alpha perished. Instead, all of those oily green gazes turned to focus on the alpha’s murderer. Those dozens of ferocious glares were like dozens of swords that stabbed at Cloudhawk’s heart.
Cloudhawk didn’t even have the chance to catch his breath before the wolves began to move in unison. Dozens of the incredibly muscular rotwolves all began charging towards a single target: him! This was an incredible sight to behold. Cloudhawk was completely defenseless and had no weapons left, but even if he was both armed and as powerful as Mad Dog, he still wouldn’t be able to deal with dozens of rotwolves at the same time.
Cloudhawk began to run. He wanted to pick up his short sword and fight back, because he didn’t want to give up… but as soon as he started to run, a muscular rotwolf slammed into his back with the power of a sledgehammer, knocking him to the ground and sending him rolling through the mud. The rotwolf used its paws to keep him pressed down to the ground and moved to deliver a lethal bite to Cloudhawk’s neck.
Cloudhawk really had reached the end of the line! He frantically struggled, but was completely unable to overcome this beast’s raw physical strength. He could smell his own death emanating from the rotwolf’s open maw and could already sense the rotwolf’s sharp teeth tearing through his skin.
But right at this desperate moment, Cloudhawk suddenly heard a familiar roar ring out right next to him. A black silhouette shot out at lightning speed and barreled straight into the rotwolf, sending it flying. The black silhouette and the rotwolf began tearing and biting at each other on the ground. In the end, the black silhouette managed to tear the rotwolf’s throat out. It was simply too fast for the rotwolves! It then transformed into a streak of black lightning as it threw itself towards yet another one of the rotwolves about to pounce on Cloudhawk.
“WOOLA?!” This creature had always spent its time chasing after Cloudhawk and biting him in the posterior for amusement. Woola gorged itself on human meat and had an absolutely violent temper… and yet, for the first time Cloudhawk felt it was absolutely adorable.
It had to have been Slyfox or Mad Dog who sent Woola over! Woola’s senses were incredibly acute, allowing it to locate the missing Cloudhawk through scent alone. It really did appear right on time; if it had been just a second too slow, the only thing it would’ve found was Cloudhawk’s corpse.
Although Woola was nothing more than a watchdog the mercenaries had raised, it was even stronger in battle than Captain Lain. Its six legs gave it explosive speed when running, letting it move even faster than mutant panthers. As for its shark-like teeth, they were like death razors that could tear through even iron sheets with ease.
In a brief span, it killed four of the rotwolves!
Woola instantly drew the attention of many of the rotwolves, who realized that this savage beast was a danger and immediately moved to surround and assault it. Although Woola was very powerful, there was no way it could possibly defeat so many of those savage rotwolves.
Cloudhawk picked up his fallen short sword and screamed at the surrounding men, “What the fuck are you guys staring at? Get over here and help!” But none of the men moved to intervene. None of them wanted to interfere in a fight between animals.
Woola was currently fighting at least five wolves at the same time, with many other wolves circling and prowling around him, biding their time. Woola’s skin had already been bit open in four or five places, and blood flowed across its body. The situation was extremely dire.
Screw it. Time to go all out!
Cloudhawk disliked Woola. In fact, the two had never gotten along well at all and the creature had bullied him nonstop in the mercenary base. And yet, Cloudhawk’s way of thinking was quite simple: Woola had only fallen into such dire straits because it had come rescue him. If Cloudhawk abandoned Woola and fled, not only would the other mercenaries scorn him, even Cloudhawk would look down on himself!
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21 One Wave After Another
Cloudhawk lifted his short sword up high and charged straight into the fray! The people around him couldn’t help but be flabbergasted; was the kid mad? Not even outpost guards would necessarily be able to beat rotwolves in one-on-one combat. This kid was fourteen or fifteen years old, whereas there were ten rotwolves circling Woola. For him to charge into the mix was tantamount to suicide!
Although the kid had been lucky enough to shoot and kill the alpha rotwolf, he didn’t seem to be an especially skilled combatant. Two of the rotwolves noticed the human youth charging towards them and immediately leapt towards the arrogant, presumptuous creature.
This kid is dead! This was what everyone in the surrounding area was thinking.
Cloudhawk suddenly accelerated, shooting forward like an arrow from a bow as he stabbed forward with a double-handed blow. His short sword stabbed straight into a rotwolf’s flank and he raised his leg and kicked the rotwolf away. As the second rotwolf leapt towards him, Cloudhawk delivered a punch right to the rotwolf’s head. His scrawny frame unleashed an entirely disproportionate amount of force as his punch actually smashed the rotwolf into the ground.
The rotwolf let out a few low yips as it immediately crawled to its feet and slunk back. All of its hair stood up straight as though it had seen something utterly terrifying.
Both of Cloudhawk’s eyes were blood-red and his veins bulged out from his body. He seemed to have transformed into a completely different person. No one could believe that the amount of speed, strength, and viciousness he had just put on display belonged to a youth.
It was happening again! That strange thing was happening again! The stone hanging around Cloudhawk’s neck had once more turned scorching hot as the same thing that happened all those nights ago began to occur once more. He seemed to have turned into a volcano, filled with fury, savagery, and violence. All sorts of destructive thoughts flooded through his mind as the will within the strange stone was once more unleashed!
Cloudhawk could sense that things were different this time. He was actually able to stay fairly calm, whereas on that night, he had nearly gone completely insane!
The wolf pack seemed to sense something and all of them hesitated and began retreating. Woola seized this opportunity to regroup with Cloudhawk. Although his body was covered in wounds, he continued to roar savagely as he glared at the rotwolves. A half-grown youth and a highly mutated human… together, they had actually cowed and frightened a group of rotwolves!
But this situation wasn’t to last. The reason the rotwolves hesitated was because they could sense that Cloudhawk’s aura had changed. However, based on what they could see, this human still didn’t pose much of a threat to them. As more rotwolves leapt over the ramparts and replenished their ranks, the group instantly regained their morale.
“There’s just too many of them. We can’t beat them!” Cloudhawk could sense that the surge of power provided by the stone was receding like the waters of the tide and disappearing at high speed. He immediately said to Woola, “Run!” Woola just growled in response; it was unclear if he even understood what Cloudhawk said.
Cloudhawk knew that given his current speed, it would be very difficult for him to outrun the rotwolves. The rotwolves had hesitated for a few seconds, but now they once more charged straight towards him… but right at this moment, the sound of an engine revving could be heard directly behind him.
Multiple riders appeared within his field of vision, led by a wastelander-retrofitted motorcycle. As for the others, they rode on giant lizards or bigfoot birds, and they all wielded heavy hacking machetes. They charged over at high speeds, slamming into the line of attacking rotwolves and knocking several of them flying.
A lucky survivor cried out in surprise and delight, “An elite squad!”
This squad was comprised of the most elite and best-trained guards in the entire outpost, with every single member being a top-tier expert. The deceased Captain Lain had been a member of this elite squad and the man known as “Grizzly” was one of the squad captains.
The leader of the mounted riders, however, was not Grizzly. Instead, it was a short-haired, energetic youth whose name was “Wulf”. He was the second captain of the elite squad and was definitely one of the most skilled experts in the outpost.
“What the hell happened here?!” Wulf scanned the surrounding area. The first thing that drew his attention was the corpse of the alpha rotwolf on the ground. Next, he stared at Cloudhawk rather strangely and followed with a glance at Woola. Clearly, he recognized Woola. “You belong to Tartarus? Did you kill this alpha wolf? And where the hell is that idiot Lain?!”
Cloudhawk had yet to recover from his state of shock. He nodded almost instinctively and said, “He’s spread across the ground. I’m not sure which chunk belongs to him!” These were completely innocent words, but to the elite squad, it sounded rather mocking. The Tartarus mercenaries were all quite formidable and they often tussled and competed against the elite squad.
Lain was Wulf’s subordinate, but had been slain. This young mercenary, however, had survived. How could Wulf possibly smile upon hearing this news? He let out a snort, a cold look on his face!
Right at this moment, a rotwolf was slinking towards them, hoping to launch a sneak attack. Wulf threw his knife out, sending it piercing through the rotwolf and pinning it to the ground. He then hopped off the wastelands motorcycle in a rather crude way and swept past the rotwolf corpse like an eagle, using his feet to help him tug out the knife. Then, a wind of flashing, electric blades began blowing through the rotwolf, cutting through every part of it as easily as cutting vegetables.
What an impressive weapon and skill! Was this the power of one of the elite captains?
The other elite squads joined the fray as well. One particularly strong man grabbed a rotwolf by its jaws, using his raw power to resist the rotwolf’s biting power and forcibly tore the rotwolf apart from the mouth with his bare hands. He then casually tossed the rotwolf’s corpse to one side like garbage. The ordinary members of the elite squads were all as strong as Lain!
The rotwolf pack had first lost its alpha and then been driven back repeatedly by the elite squad’s attacks. Only ten or so remained and they turned and fled with their tails between their legs.
“All clear!” Elite Captain Wulf was in no mood to piece together and collect Lain’s corpse. “Let’s go reinforce the other areas!” The elite squad departed.
Cloudhawk’s life had been saved. He stared at the devastated battlefield and let out a long breath. The price they paid for victory here had been an enormous one. Suddenly, Cloudhawk noticed Woola sniffing around one of the corpses and pawing at it. “Woola, what are you doing?!”
Woola quickly found the object it was looking for. It returned, holding a blood and gore-splattered shotgun in its mouth, delivering it to Cloudhawk. The shotgun had been badly corroded, but was probably still serviceable. Cloudhawk was delighted by this discovery and began searching the area as well, only to discover a number of shotgun shells in one of the pouches worn by an outpost guard.
Perfect! He never would’ve expected to win such a great prize from this melee.
A few dozen lucky survivors stood nearby with rather odd looks in their eyes. They stared unblinkingly at the shotgun in Cloudhawk’s hands, unable to disguise their greed and envy.
“And what the hell do you think you are looking at?!” Cloudhawk slung the shotgun over his back before pulling out his revolver and waving it a few times, a savage expression on his face. “Y’all better pretend you saw nothing! If you say a word, I’ll waste your sorry asses with my bullets!” Woola very obligingly growled in support as well.
After having spent so much time with the mercenaries, Cloudhawk had unconsciously begun picking up their manner of speech. In this era, talking reason was absolutely meaningless. The most effective method was to issue naked threats.
By now, no one dared to underestimate the skinny little kid. The w
ay he shot and killed the alpha rotwolf with a single bullet had stunned everyone present. Without question, all of these people viewed this young kid, seemingly thirteen or fourteen years old, as an extremely powerful expert. They wouldn’t be so foolish as to try and steal something from someone so powerful. That would be suicide! And of course, Woola was a legendarily ferocious creature that everyone in Blackflag Outpost knew about!
Cloudhawk had been bullied by others all his life. Back in the ruins, the scar-faced man had bullied him; here in the outpost, both the mercenaries and the red-nosed innkeeper had bullied him. Now, when he saw the looks of fear in the eyes of those around him, he had a strange feeling in his heart.
Holy shit. Bullying others is really fun!
Blackflag Outpost’s walls had been breached in six or seven places and roughly three to four hundred rotwolves had charged inside. The battle persisted for two more hours and more than half of the rotwolves were injured or killed before they were finally beaten back. As for the giant bats, they left after eating their fill at this “feast”.
The outpost had suffered extremely heavy losses due to this beast wave. It suffered more than 1500 casualties, the vast majority of whom were active, able-bodied fighters. More than a hundred of the outpost guards had been wiped out as well. Clearly, the overall power of Blackflag Outpost had suffered quite a bit.
Nobody dared to relax or drop his vigilance. Who knew if the crafty rotwolves would decide to launch a sudden second attack? As a result, that very night, they cleared the battlefield and began repairing the breached ramparts.
This battle truly had not been worth it. Rotwolf corpses were worth almost nothing, aside from the fur which could be used to make warm clothes. All their other parts were completely useless! Rotwolf meat was completely inedible; not only was it highly sour and reeked of decay, it was also poisonous. Blackflag Outpost had paid an enormous price to win this battle, but there were no spoils to be shared at all.
The Wastelander Page 17
