"I have a mission for the both of you".


    "I need your help to subdue a wolf pack".


    Legs had less than 24 hours to live if he did not get the Queen Orb herb to treat the Pugilist Energy infection of the swordmaster.


    Facing the unrelenting attitude of the swordmaster, he already resigned to fight against this powerful Pugilist and the only way that he could think of to stand a chance against him was by embracing his ss as a Shepherd.


    Predator, Ak, and Lucky may be powerful for Grade E beasts but when pitted against a Grade D Pugilist like the swordmaster, they stood no chance.


    For the first time since reincarnating into this world, Legs decided to use the trademark of Summoners to win this battle, quantity over quality.


    After the Shepherd ss advancement upwards, most Summoners tend to lean towards quantity more so long as they had a good contracted beast with leadership qualities. This tendency only increased in thete stages of the game.


    Summoners were one of the more underrated sses until Version 3.


    ording to a special quote from one of the official Dominator TV pundits, Summoners were the underdogs until they unlocked the Beast Marshal ss advancement that truly made them marshals over beast armies.


    Having leveled to Grade A in the game in his previous life, Legs already had the privilege of being a Beast Marshal.


    Though he wanted to reminisce about the good old days of his previous life, Legs could not as his life was in danger at this moment.


    "A wolf pack?" Ghost Sentry asked.


    "Yes". Legs answered as he forced himself to stand up.


    Having finished his daily experience limit to give to yers in missions, Legs could no longer offer them experience points and was why he rather opted to increase their favorability with him as the mission reward.


    By making it to the beast ne, his favorability of them already increased as they received matching notifications through their virtual interface status.


    For this mission, Legs had no ns of triggering another one for them. He instead decided to take advantage of their rtionship and simply ask for help.


    Their reverence for him made them overlook this little detail.


    "If I don''t make it out of here in the next 24 hours, I''ll be dead".


    "And to escape, I have no choice but to fight the swordmaster".


    "Here''s my n…"


    Legs spent some good minutes exining to them. "The overall n is to subdue the wolf pack peacefully; we are needed only in the case of an emergency".


    "Let''s go".


    As they were in the process of leaving, Legs suddenly remembered something as he turned to face prince Christensen. "Where''s Leo?"


    "U-ahh…, I-I don''t know". Prince Christensen was caught off-guard as he scratched his head. "I think he was taken into the cave alongside me but after some time, I didn''t see him anymore".


    "Ok". Legs nodded. "Don''t you have a telepathic rtionship with him?"


    "Umm…, no".


    "…"


    Legs really felt like bashing his head against a wall.


    He wondered if this was really the same prince that was capable of such amazing things in future versions, Christensen currently looked no part of the great warrior that he became in the future.


    "Never mind, let''s go".


    As they left, Legs focused andmunicated with Ak telepathically.


    By now, Predator''s tenacious vitality already enabled him to recoverpletely from his injuries while for Lucky''s, her incredible luck helped her.


    He was the only one still injured whose life was in danger. "I hope I don''t die so soon man; I have a lot of unfinished dreams".


    …


    Awoo! Awoo!"


    The cries of wolves filled the chaotic battlefield as the fight dragged on.


    On a daily basis, wolf packs had to engage in intense battles to secure food. During some of these battles, some unlucky wolves die, decreasing the numbers in the pack but this didn''t matter since other wolves joined with time.


    When Legs just came to the beast ne to hunt for his 2nd contracted beast, Ak''s wolf packprised 15 wolves but now it increased to 18.


    At this moment, the leader of the pack, the Wraith Wolf was engrossed in the action as she led her pack to fight against a pride of Lions.


    The 8 Lions despite being the side with the lesser numbers gave a good fight. Despite losing a lioness, their alpha male''s incredible might trumped that of the Wraith Wolf and led them to killing 3 wolves.


    In the end, after an intense battle, the wolf pack ended up retreating.


    They didn''t know what happened, unlike the previous sess that they enjoyed in the past few days, today just seemed off and they suffered.


    Apart from the 3 dead wolves, 50% of the others suffered severe injuries. Even the 2nd strongest in the pack, the Dark Wolf suffered injuries. This was the greatest defeat of the wolf pack since the Wraith Wolf''s reign.


    As soon as they returned to their mountain peak to leak their injuries, as the other wolves whimpered, one of the wolves soon stood up and faced the alpha.


    "Awoo!"


    To the surprise of the other wolves, one of them was confident enough to voice his discontent about the alpha''s leadership and issued a challenge.


    The tradition of the wolves was for the strongest to be the alpha. After the tragic loss, Ak voiced his discontent and issued a challenge to the Wraith Wolf.


    The Wraith Wolf was as shocked as the others but having been annoyed by the oue of the battle already, this riled him up as he agreed to the challenge.


    If Ak won, he would be eligible to be the leader of the pack but it would not be easy since the irritated Wraith Wolf was ready to tear him apart.


    In no time, all the remaining 15 wolves surrounded the mountain peak, forming a battle arena at the center for the 2 wolves to battle.


    After a sizeable number of intimidating growls from both massive wolves, the Wraith Wolf made the first move and the Wind Wolf reciprocated.


    Boom!


    Wind Wolves were not renowned for their great strength, neither was Wraith Wolves. Wraith wolves were more renowned for their cunning and terrifying undead energy.


    As for Wind wolves, they were renowned for their speed, leadership qualities, and their incredible control over the wind element.


    Once both wolves shed, their differences showed as Ak opted to dominate the battle with speedy runs and swift attacks from the side.


    As for the Wraith Wolf, though his anger prevented him from showing his famed elegance and cunning, he still fought to his undead energy''s advantage.


    All it needed was one deep injury and Ak was done. So long his undead energy could seep into his opponent''s blood stream, then the battle was his.


    Both wolves went at it for a few minutes and the Wraith Wolf started dominating with time. This didn''tst long though.


    A green energy appeared from nowhere and suddenly wrapped the Wind Wolf''s form, multiplying its strength and speed several folds.


    In an instant, Ak regained the initiative and he did not let the Wraith Wolf recover or adapt as heboed the wolf till he incapacitated it.


    With one of its hind legs injured, the Wraith Wolf surrendered.


    All the other wolves were shocked including the Dark Wolf, the Wind Wolf won! Even Ak was ecstatic as he turned to acknowledge the other wolves.


    As soon as he turned, the unexpected happened as the Wraith Wolf activated a special ability, making its body turn shriveled and rocky brown in color as it pounced on Ak before sinking its teeth into his neck.


    Ak howled in pain as the Wraith Wolf threw him to the side after inflicting a terrible neck injury to him.


    To all the wolves'' shock, the Wraith Wolf spoke. "Traitor!"


    "You think I don''t know that energy?"


    "You became a human''s beast!"


    All the wolves were clueless and confused, but someone was not.


    "n B!" Legs whispered to the 2 yers as he mounted Predator. The peaceful n to subdue the wolves without a fight clearly already failed.


    "Attack and kill that wolf!"


    "Yes, Faction Leader!"


    2 humans soon rushed out from behind a rock where they hid as they were quickly followed by another human and 2 beasts.


    The Wraith Wolf''s eyes narrowed hatefully. "Humans!"