Chapter 1: Red Tail Wolf

  Ji Ran felt that his chance to leave this savage life had arrived.

  After struggling to survive in the forest for half a month, I finally saw a human figure today!

  It just so happens that these people seem to have run into a bit of trouble. From the tree he was hiding in, looking down at a small clearing, a battle was taking place.

  The main characters of the battle were on one side a team of five people, and on the other side hundreds or thousands of wild beasts with tails as red as fire.

  "Be careful! There are too many Redtail Wolves, we need to retreat into the forest!" A man in his 40s with a thick beard and holding a giant sword with both hands shouted at his teammates in front of him.

  "Ban and Beck, watch the defenses on both sides! Lydia, provide magical support! Aileen, take care of those stray Redtail Wolves! Don't let your guard down, with this many Redtail Wolves there's bound to be a Redtail Flame Wolf among them, it might be hiding somewhere!" Uncle Hu continued to shout, his massive sword not stopping for a moment. On his body, a faint white glow was flashing non-stop.

  "I... understand!" The response came from the girl in the middle, wearing a black robe and sporting short hair that reached her ears. She looked to be around 14 or 15 years old. If not for the slight fluttering of her robes, she could have been mistaken for a boy. In her hand was a staff, and after a brief incantation, all five people, including herself, were enveloped in a yellow glow. The light took on the shape of a shield, clearly intended to boost their defense.

  "Magic... it's actually a world of magic! This script is wrong! I must have clicked on the evolution tree incorrectly?" Ji Ran exclaimed in surprise and delight on the tree. He was delighted that the language here was similar to English, which he had studied fairly well; what surprised him was this magical magic.

  "Never mind, let's just wait and see if there's any chance to make an appearance..."

  "Hey, Aileen, you should help me out too. Look, the pressure here is much greater than theirs!" A man in his twenties, holding a long gun, smiled lightly at the woman in the cloak behind him after forcefully throwing off a red-tailed wolf.

  "Shut up, Beck! Instead of wasting your breath, you'd better pay attention to your opponents. Be careful not to let them take something more precious than your life!" But the hooded woman seemed to have a mouth that was quite merciless, and her voice, though tinged with coldness, was still exceptionally pleasant, yet unable to erase the deep malice in her words...

  "Knock it off, Beck! Follow the squad's lead! And Eileen, be a lady! By the way, we're in combat here, not chatting at the tavern..." The mustachioed old man weakly scolded the two. Apparently, although the current battle was intense, it seemed that they still couldn't cause too much harm to this group of people.

  "I never thought of being a lady, and I'm sure Lydia wouldn't either. Right, Lydia... crouch down!" The hooded woman named Irene suddenly shouted, glancing at the young magician girl who had unknowingly fallen to the back of the group.

  The girl in the cloak named Lydia was startled and, subconsciously following Eileen's words, suddenly crouched down. And almost at the same time, a fiery red figure flashed over her head!

  "Akōguren! You're dead, Warro, up!" Elain swung her hand, and the silver-gray eagle that had been circling above her head suddenly swooped down towards the fiery red figure. At the same time, the longbow in her hand also shot out a swift arrow, which was accompanied by a green glow.

  But all of this was too late. The tail, which seemed to be burning, bigger than the other Red Tails, landed and immediately turned around, pouncing again at Lydia who had fallen to the ground in shock!

  At this moment, Jiran moved. The place where Nadia fell was just under the big tree where he was hiding.

  From high up in the big tree, he swooped down directly, his iron sword in hand, stabbing straight at the eyes of that Red-tailed Fire Wolf!

  Akakiri no Kōō was clearly ferocious, but it didn't dare ignore the sword thrusting towards its eyes. With a pause in its footsteps and a sidestep, Kiryū's attack missed. However, at the same time, Kiryū had already landed on the ground, standing before Nalidia.

  Everyone else was worried about Lydia's situation, but they were too busy dealing with Akao's sudden intense attack to intervene. Seeing someone suddenly appear and save Lydia, although surprised, at this time, couldn't care less about that anymore.

  "Help! We'll be right there!" Uncle Hu shouted, and his entire body burst into a fierce white light. The several red-tailed wolves in front of him were instantly cut in two by his giant sword-like hands!

  Upon hearing this, Ji Ran smiled and waved his hand: "No problem, don't worry." Then, with a single step, he seemed to move instantly, crossing several meters in an instant, reappearing beside the Akatora no ōkami. And without hesitation, he struck again with another sword slash!

  In an instant, the Red-tailed Flame Wolf was entwined by him. Ji Ran's long sword swung seemingly not too fast, but it made his opponent difficult to resist. The long sword drew line after line in the air, compressing the space around the Red-tailed Flame Wolf smaller and smaller, leaving no room for escape.

  "Hua Luo, attack!" The archer Ailin, hidden in the cloak, waved her hand and the silver-gray eagle swooped down from mid-air, its iron claws aiming straight for the head of the Red-tailed Fire Wolf. At the same time, she also drew an arrow on her bowstring, taking aim at the Red-tailed Fire Wolf!

  Faced with so many attacks, the Red-tailed Fire Wolf also went into a rage. After a long howl, all the fur on its body suddenly burst into flames! From afar, the Red-tailed Fire Wolf looked like a ball of fire, emitting dazzling light!

  "Be careful, this Red-tailed Fox is about to level up!" Seeing the scene over here, that whiskered uncle shouted again, reminding people on this side.

  He calmly faced the Akakaze Ryūō, not flinching. The long sword in his hand continued to swing without stopping, and his feet moved with a strange gait. This gait allowed him to stay on the side of the Akakaze Ryūō, and the long sword continued to slash at it. Although the quality of the long sword was poor and couldn't cause any harm, it still made the Akakaze Ryūō roar in anger.

  In the next instant, the flames on Akatora's body exploded. With a loud roar, countless flames flew out in all directions, turning into sparks. And every spark emitted an astonishing amount of heat!

  The spark sent Huaruo flying into the sky, hovering high above, not daring to come down. And that archer, Ailin, was unable to see the Red-tailed Fire Wolf due to the sparks, holding her bow and arrow for a long time without daring to shoot. The little magician Lydia wanted to try her best to disperse these flames, but the more anxious she became, the more mistakes she made with the incantations in her mouth...

  As they watched the scattered sparks, Ji Ran was about to be engulfed by them. The eyes of others were filled with anxious expressions. This person had clearly appeared to help them, but now he was in danger and no one could assist him...

  Then they were amazed to find that the figure of the latecomer was darting back and forth in the flames.

  He swung the long sword in his hand, bringing up a gust of wind. The gusts swept away the sparks and then flung them to one side. And that figure darted through the gap that had just been created. Although the sky was filled with sparks, not a single one harmed him!

  What kind of skill is this? A group of people were stunned, and even let a few Arctic wolves take advantage. Fortunately, several people had rich combat experience and immediately stabilized the situation, without suffering too much loss.

  The infuriated Red-tailed Fire Wolf, seeing that its ultimate move had not caused any harm to the person in front of it, became even more enraged. It lowered its body and then suddenly pushed off with all four legs, pouncing towards Ji Ran with incredible speed!

  But Ji Ran stopped in his tracks when he saw Akakiri's movement, as if he had been waiting for it all along. He stared intently at Akakiri's movements, and just as the wolf was about to pounce on him, he suddenly shifted his feet and dodged to the side!

  The amplitude was not large, but it just happened to pass over the body of the red-tailed fire wolf that pounced over. And in the instant they passed each other by, the latter suddenly raised his arm, and the long sword in his hand flashed out like lightning!

  The long sword, at a wonderful angle, just from the throat of the Red Tail Fire Wolf, straight to its abdomen. This sword was extremely fast, except for Hu Zong and Ailin, others did not even see how this sword was swung, only saw a flash of light.

  When the red-tailed wolf attacked and fell to the ground, it let out a mournful cry, struggled for a moment, and then lay motionless. Under its body, a pool of blood slowly submerged the mud below.

  Akakitsune, died just like this.

  After the death of the red-tailed wolf, the other red-tailed wolves lost their leader and let out a howl, immediately tucking in their tails and fleeing to a distant place. The others did not pursue these ordinary wild beasts, but instead surrounded Ji Ran and the little girl Lydia after taking a deep breath.

  The fight stopped, and everyone finally had time to take a look at the suddenly appearing Ji Ran. He was not very old, probably around 17 or 18 years old. With black hair and eyes, his face was clean and handsome, with a pair of extremely bright eyes that added a few points to his entire face. Now, he was standing beside Akakaze Kiba, smiling slightly.

  "Thanks for your help, or our little magician would have gotten hurt. Your swordsmanship is quite good, but it seems to be in a different style... an adventurer from afar?" Hu Zong's face was kind, but he didn't let his guard down. After all, a sudden appearance of a stranger couldn't make everyone accept him immediately - even if he had just saved one of their own teammates.

  Ji Ran looked at the crowd, smiled awkwardly: "This doesn't count as anything, please don't mind it too much, I just happened to be there. Even if I didn't help, this little sister wouldn't have been hurt that badly. After all, that miss...". He turned his head, took a glance at Ailin who was still hiding in her cloak, nodded: "...reacted quickly, should be able to control the situation."

  The woman under the cloak walked over, stretched out her arm and let the eagle land on it: "No need to flatter me, if not for you, the little guy would have been injured. Is this hypocritical flattery a demonstration of your utility?"

  Her words were somewhat impolite, making the atmosphere a bit awkward. However, Uncle Hu Zi was obviously very good at handling such situations, and he stepped forward with a big laugh: "Little brother, how did you end up here? Where are your teammates? Or... are you out on an adventure alone?"

  Ji Ran touched the back of his head, and his face became even more flushed: "Actually... I got lost... I was originally hunting in the mountains near my home, and when I got tired, I fell asleep on a broken stone monument. When I woke up, I ended up here. By the way, my name is Ji Ran, nice to meet you."