CHAPTER 44: CHAPTER 44: WOLF BANDIT (2)

The tent fell silent. Blood pooled around the Third Brother’s head, and the small girl whimpered from her corner, sensing the strange quiet all of a sudden.

The four brothers looked at each other in shock.

The First Brother’s eyes widened, and for the first time, his cruel grin faltered. Even though he had committed countless sins, he truly cared about his four brothers as they were his real blood siblings. They had supported each other until today... and now, one of them was gone just like that.

"...What the hell?" he hissed angrily, gripping his sword tightly as he stormed outside.

Rain poured down, soaking his clothes, but the scene before him made him forget the dampness.

In the middle of the camp stood a tall, cloaked figure. Its face was hidden beneath a dark hood, its body completely still under the rain. Around it lay the corpses of his subordinates. The surviving bandits clutched their swords with trembling hands.

The remaining wolves growled but dared not approach.

"...What the hell happened?" the First Brother muttered. Soon, the rest of the brothers came out, their faces pale with shock. Especially the Second Brother, who had just finished killing the captives and returned to the tent.

A chilling thought struck him: If I’d stayed outside a little longer... my head...

The Second Brother swallowed nervously.

The First Brother grabbed one of the terrified subordinates and ask, eyes dark, "What happened?!"

"T-This... I don’t know. We thought it was Third Boss coming back from his task but... that guy showed up with Third Boss’s head!!"

The four brothers finally understood.

The Fifth Brother shouted angrily, "Then what are you doing?! Kill him!"

"We tried..." the bandit stammered, swallowing hard. "B-But all of us were killed with a single punch..." He trembled at the memory of his comrade’s head exploding, bones shattering, a scene so gruesome that even a bandit like him could barely stomach it.

The bald Fourth Brother stepped forward and shouted, "Who are you?! Did we offend you somehow, for you to kill our men like this?"

"..." Only silence answered him.

Seeing this, the First Brother’s voice cut through the rain, cold and sharp. "Get ready to fight."

Even though he was filled with rage, he dared not underestimate the figure before him. To kill the Third Brother, who was already at the sixth stage of Qi Refinement so easily, this cloaked monster was either as strong as him... or even stronger.

Soon he leapt onto his Alpha Wind Wolf. The other brothers mounted their wolves as well.

"Grrrrrrr..."

The giant Alpha sensed its master’s fury and growled, its savage aura pressing down on Goldie.

Yet Goldie still did not move.

A tense standoff stretched on, only the sound of pouring rain continuing in the camp.

After staring at each other for a while, the Fifth Brother, impatient and in pain from losing his big brother, attacked. "Damn it, what are we waiting for?! Let’s kill this thing and avenge Third Brother!" Then he rode his wolf and rushed forward.

"No! Don’t!" a voice cried out behind him, but he ignored it.

"You bastard! Die for me!" He slashed down with the force of both wolf and rider, expecting to cleave the figure in half.

Clang!

Instead of flesh, his blade struck something harder than stone. The recoil numbed his arm and nearly threw him off balance. A split second later, a dark fist appeared before his eyes.

"Eh—" His pupils shrank in shock. But before the fist landed, a blur shadow snatched him away.

BOOM!

The ground exploded where the punch landed. Rocks shattered, cracks spread like a spiderweb, and the unfortunate wolf beneath was crushed to death in agony.

"..." Goldie, seeing it had missed its target, turned to look to the side. It saw a giant Wind Wolf carrying the Fifth Brother by the mouth, with the First Brother currently mounting it.

"You idiot! Don’t rush in blindly like that!" The First Brother berated the foolish younger brother but didn’t dare take his eyes off the cloaked figure.

’That punch is not normal... it would be bad to get hit even once.’ The First Brother didn’t know if it was sweat or rain running down his neck as he saw the crater spreading out like a spiderweb from where the punch landed.

"Don’t get hit, no matter what! Get into formation!" he barked.

The First Brother decided not to waste any more time and go all out using their formation which they had built themselves.

Hearing the seriousness in the First Brother’s tone, the brothers quickly spread out, surrounding Goldie from all sides. Even the Fifth Brother, shaken but alive, mounted another wolf and took his place.

"...." Goldie just stood still, observing them as if it was trying to "learn."

The First Brother, seeing this, tapped his Alpha Wind Wolf, and it realized its master’s intention and let out a loud howl.

"AWOOOOO!"

The rest of the wolves under the other brothers also started howling. Then a red aura began spreading among their wolves, their eyes turning crimson as they growled menacingly, baring sharp teeth.

This was one of the Alpha Wind Wolf’s abilities, it could drive part of its pack into a berserk state, greatly increasing their strength and speed.

Swish!

Then, with a speed faster than the eye could follow, the brothers vanished from their spots.

The rain continued pouring down. Goldie still stood still, but its senses followed their presence as they rushed past him, even leaping above him from the nearby trees.

Swish, swish, swish—

Suddenly, with a slash from one of the fast shadows—

Slash!

It hit Goldie, but caused no damage other than a cut on its robe. Soon—swish, slash, swish, slash—

Like a tornado of blades, multiple attacks came at Goldie from all directions.

Goldie tried to strike the shadow in front of it, but then an attack landed on its back. When Goldie swung its fist toward the back, its front and sides were attacked again.

Swish—Slash! Swish—SLASH!

Finally, a powerful slash hit Goldie’s chest, causing wooden fragments, tempered by it ’Gold’, to fly off.

The First Brother, seeing his attack finally cause some damage, grinned. "You bastard, I’ll make sure to cut your body into pieces!" But inside, he frowned, noticing this thing was not human.

Soon enough, cracks began to appear on parts of Goldie body.

"...."

And seeing the damage not only to its body but to the robe its master had gifted it, Goldie decided to end this.

Then it grabbed the robe and threw it high into the sky.

"Huh? Is that a... puppet?" The Second Brother muttered, seeing Goldie’s full appearance.

"Since when was a puppet this powerful?!" The Fourth Brother shouted. None of them dared stop their frenzied attacks.

Then they saw a golden light shimmering through the puppet’s body, as if it had suddenly powered on and they noticed bright, golden-lit eyes staring straight at them.

BAMMM!

Goldie slammed its leg onto the ground, hard, causing the earth to shake and cracks to appear all around.

The tornado of blades suddenly stopped as the wolves lost their footing.

Their combined technique....shattered by a single stomp.

"Eh..?" Once again the Fifth Brother let out a dumbfounded sound as the puppet bent, leapt toward him, and almost immediately he saw a fist before his face and this time, no one could save him.

SPLASH!

The Fifth Brother’s head burst like a watermelon.

"FIFTH BROTHER!" Seeing the violent scene of another brother’s death, the First Brother let out a raging scream.

"You bastard!!!" he shouted as he tried to attack again. But Goldie ignored him and, with a speed unlike before, burst straight toward another target with shining bald head.

The Fourth Brother tried to dodge, but a huge hand clasped his head and pushed him off the wolf, slamming him into the ground.

"ACHHH!" A painful groan escaped the Fourth Brother as he lay on the ground. He looked up to see chilling golden eyes staring down at him. Then Goldie raised its leg and smashed his chest.

SPAST!

The Fourth Brother screamed in pain, blood pouring from his mouth. Slowly, he turned his head toward his chest, only to see a hole there. Then, trembling, he turned toward his Big Brother, stretching his hand weakly.

"S-Save *cough* me, Big Brother... I-I don’t want to die..." Then his eyes lost their light.

The First Brother’s eyes turned bloodshot at this sight, and he let out a scream as he decide to activated his demonic technique. The reason he never wanted to use this technique was because if word of it spread, even the aloof Azure Moon Sect, who normally ignored such matters, would likely dispatch an Elder to kill him. They would never allow a demonic cultivator to appear in their region.

"Blood Sacrifice!"

Red aura grew violently from his body as blood from the surrounding corpses surged into him like a red mist. Even the blood of his dead brothers wasn’t spared. His skin began turning crimson.

The quick-witted Second Brother had already retreated a distance away after witnessing the Fifth Brother’s death. And seeing his Big Brother use that technique, his expression darkened. He knew they would have to immediately leave the Azure Moon Sect’s territory after this.

The Alpha Wind Wolf under the First Brother also began shaking violently as the red mist seeped into its body. Soon, its grey fur turned dark red.

"ROAR!"

Goldie, seeing the violent red aura emitted by the two, finally turned its attention toward them. Soon, golden light traces began appearing on its body like electric waves, making it appear somewhat majestic.

HMMMMM

A silent pressure was emitted by Goldie, clashing against the violent red aura.

The surviving bandits trembled at the scene, not daring to move.

The air itself seemed to groan under the clash of forces.

On one side, Goldie. Its body now radiating dazzling golden lines like molten veins, each pulse releasing an ancient, suffocating pressure. Its eyes glowed like twin suns piercing the rain.

On the other side, First Brother, skin dyed crimson, blood surging violently around him, the Alpha Wind Wolf beneath him howling like a demon beast from hell. The red aura boiled, twisted, as if trying to devour the world itself.

The rain could no longer fall between them, droplets hissed and evaporated mid-air, caught between colliding forces.

"Monster... puppet... whatever you are" First Brother’s voice was distorted, guttural, his words more beast than man. His pupils shrank into pinpricks, madness and grief burning in his eyes. "I’ll rip you apart for killing my brothers!"

The Alpha Wolf leapt forward, its claws glowing with a violent red light. At the same time, First Brother swung his blade down. The sword wasn’t just metal anymore, it was an extension of the blood sacrifice, a crimson arc that could cleave trees in half easily.

Goldie didn’t retreat.

BOOM!

The ground exploded as Goldie stomped forward, meeting the strike head-on. Its golden fist collided with the crimson blade.

The final clash was about to begin.