Red rolled forward, going below the dire wolf that was already in the air. The dire wolf tried to claw him, but it was too late. It could not reach him, and he decided to run to the back of the house this time.
He thought of running toward the warrior. That would stop the dire wolf chasing him, or better, the dire wolf would keep coming at him. That would isolate the dire wolf, and they would get another kill.
That option was the most logical he could think of in this tense moment. But another idea popped into his head as he rushed out of the building through the back door.
This idea would put his life at risk, but it was worth a try. Time was luxury at the moment, so he made the decision right away.
He closed the door as he was leaving the house. He put a few meters away from the house and took out a metal ball, loaded his slingshot with it.
Red pulled the slingshot to maximum stretch and waited, staring at the wooden wall. Not long after he was ready, the wooden wall broke apart as a dire wolf came out of the house.
It looked confused for a moment, looking around, trying to find Red. Until it realized that its target was standing a little over four meters in front.
Red felt like Lady Luck was on his side. That moment of confusion helped him to adjust his aim at the dire wolf. He aimed at the left eye.
Swoosh!
He released his slingshot before the dire wolf could lunge at him. The distance between them was short, and the metal moved so fast that the dire wolf could not react in time.
The metal ball crushed the remaining eye, and the dire wolf tumbled for a moment as it lost its vision. However, it quickly got back on its feet and charged toward a random direction blindly. It crashed into the wooden fence and fell over.
The dire wolf immediately got up and went further away from Red instead. It kept crashing into the building and fence, but it kept going until it was out of the village.
Red thought of chasing after it and killing it, but he quickly threw that idea away. This was a battle, not a hunting trip. It was better for him to assist the warrior than chase an enemy who was incapable of fighting.
His face crunched as the stinging pain on his back got more intense. That reminded him that he might not be able to kill that fleeing dire wolf alone, even if it was blind.
The stinging pain reminded him to check on his window status, checking his health.
Health: 338 Stamina: 308 Mana: 686.4
Red was surprised to see his health drop to almost half, as his maximum health was at five hundred. Then he saw his health was still dropping to 335. When he lost all three health, the stinging pain on his back intensified. It meant he had been losing health for quite some time after the scratch.
There were two explanations why he lost health over time. First, he might suffer from a bleeding status. Second, he might be poisoned.
Aside from the pain in the wound, he didn't feel uncomfortable or pain in other parts of his body. It was most likely a bleed effect. The Dire Lupus had a bleeding skill, and the Dire Wolf might have one as well.
Fortunately, he still had over three hundred health. He should be safe from the bleed effect. Picking himself up, he went back to the half-destroyed building. There was a part of the wall that still stood, and he went to hide there.
He took a peek and observed the situation. With the blind dire wolf running away, there were only nine dire wolves…
"Huh?"
There were four dire wolves and one Dire Wolf King. With the three dire wolves he helped to kill, and the one that ran away, there should be ten dire wolves.
It didn't take long to find the tenth dire wolf, lying dead, surrounded by several dead goblin warriors and one hob. The warriors seemed to take one down while he was confronting the dire wolf by himself.
The two sides clashed again, and with the dire wolf's numbers reduced, three hobs could join the Chief to handle the Dire Wolf King. That was when he noticed the Dire Wolf King was being restrained by the dark tentacles, and the three hobs and the Chief attacked it together.
Red left the Dire Wolf King alone for now. His focus was to get rid of the dire wolf so the remaining hobs would be able to help the Chief.
After assessing the situation, he went out of his hiding spot. He spotted two spears and went after them. He picked the first one and held it upside down.
He turned around and spotted his next target, not so far from him, around seven meters away. He made a short run and threw the spear.
Whoosh!
It was much slower compared to his slingshot, but it would be more deadly if he hit the target, and he was confident with his aim within such a short distance.
Sure enough, the spear pierced the dire wolf's side. However, his throw was quite weak as it failed to pierce through the dire wolf's body. Only the spear entered the dire wolf's body, but that hit caused the dire wolf to tumble to the side.
The two hobs in front of it took the chance, jumping and slamming their weapon at the dire wolf's head. Then five goblin warriors followed, stabbing their swords at the dire wolf's body.
The warrior managed to take the opening he created, but that was not enough to kill that dire wolf right away.
The dire wolf was enraged, and dark smoke billowed from its fur. The two hobs reacted in time, leaping backward. The goblin warriors were confused and didn't know what to do with the smoke.
In that moment, a shadow beyond the black smoke lunged toward them. The dire wolf bit off one of the goblin warrior's heads. The dire wolf's two front paws pierced the other two goblin warriors' chests.
The remaining two goblin warriors trembled in fear, falling on their butts instead of escaping from the black smoke. Not long after, their heads flew off their bodies as the dire wolf came out of the black smoke.
It survived and killed five goblin warriors, but it was not in good condition. Red saw it through and already moved when those two goblin warriors were killed.
He was close to the dire wolf as it came out of the black smoke, aiming his spear at the dire wolf's head.
Red thought he got the timing right, but he was wrong. The dire wolf had its mouth open as a fireball gathered inside its mouth.
His eyes widened in surprise, caught off guard. He totally forgot that this dire wolf could shoot a fireball.
'Am I going to die?'