Chapter 9

Ling Yi looked towards the crowd and saw a young girl wearing a gray coat that barely covered her fair legs in the center. The next moment the girl shot a fireball at the wooden fence.

It created a small hole about 1 meter in diameter through the gate.

‘Hmm, not bad.‘

He might be able to summon a burning ball of gas with a diameter of 35 meters now, but that was ten times from what he started in the beginning. Under normal circumstances, his [Starfall] was probably only 3.5 meters big.

Even if they had the same amount of MP, the fireball’s power was not as strong as his meteor.

Moreover, that girl was only Level 2.

At that level, his MP would be 10 points at most, which was expected.

“Hmm, I guess Level 2 is really the highest level right now,” Ling Yi muttered.

When they announced that the young girl named “Luo Yao” had the highest exp with 292 points, the players immediately burst into an uproar.

Ling Yi had no choice but to acknowledge the fact that gaining experience points was really difficult.

Which made his whopping Level 7 seem even more ridiculous.

If anyone knew, the entire world might explode from shock!

‘Fortunately, God’s Path places a lot of importance on the player’s privacy, and there’s nothing that can be used to check the information of other players.‘

‘That is… Unless I decide to expose it on my own.‘ Ling Yi felt himself relaxing at the thought.

His thoughts were quickly interrupted when he saw a pack of silver-gray wolves running out of the wooden fence, rushing toward the players viciously.

The players didn’t fight with them, and instead, they quickly retreated.

The intention was to make more space for everyone to fight.

“They’re coming, they’re coming! The grassland Wolves are out!”

“Hahaha, I can’t wait any longer!”

The players around him rubbed their palms together in excitement. They stared at the silver wolves with fiery eyes, thinking about all the experience points they would get.

They would have rushed up impatiently if it wasn’t for their rational restraint.

…

Just as everyone was getting restless.

Suddenly a loud and clear howl boomed from beyond the fence.

Awooo!

The plains fell into a suspenseful silence.

The intense sunlight shone on the grassland. Ling Yi raised his left hand to block the sunlight as he looked at the other players curiously.

He felt like a newbie who didn’t know anything.

The wolf’s howl must have symbolized something. Otherwise, these people wouldn’t have shown such surprised and irritated expressions.

Ling Yi didn’t know what it meant, but he wanted to laugh when he saw how intense their reactions were.

[You absorbed Zhang Wu’s 31 surprise points.]

[You absorbed 78 points of Li Ming’s sadness points.]

[You absorbed 65 points of Wang Yuan’s helplessness points.]

「…」

“Sh*t! The Wolf King is here!” Ling Yi didn’t have to wait long before someone beside him exclaimed.

“It’s over. We’re doomed! The Wolf King has a Group Strengthening Halo. With that ability around it, we’re no match for the wolf pack!”

“Why isn’t it sleeping in its cave? What is it doing out here?”

“This has happened before. I remember that they used their physical strength to recover from the disadvantage. Because we have 100 times more stamina during the novice stage, but demons don’t.”

“Then what are we waiting for? We should run!”

While the surrounding people continued to argue and discuss seemingly redundant stuff, the enormous wooden fence inside was knocked down by some force. It fell to the grass with a loud and resounding thump.

It drew everyone’s attention at once.

They’ll be stupid to assume the wolves would just sit idly as they waited for their prey to shut up.

With no more barrier between them, rows and rows of grassland wolves immediately rushed out. As if they had planned this, more Grassland Wolves came swarming them from behind. Every cave and big openings from the walls seemed to vomit an endless amount of wolves.

If this continues, they’re going to trap them!

“Sh*t, sh*t, sh*t!” Someone cursed.

Ling Yi took a deep breath when he saw it.

“F*ck! Why are there so many of them?”

It was the first time he had seen such a scene.

Thousands of wolves ran together like a huge, fast-moving silver carpet. From above, nobody would see the green grass at all.

And standing out like a sore thumb in a gray sea was a five-meter-tall giant wolf.

While the other wolves were running toward the players, it stood alone, glaring at all the retreating players with cold eyes.

Everyone knew that the majestic creature before them was definitely the Wolf King.

‘I heard that it’s a level 10 leader-class monster! And with this distance between us… It just so happens to be within my attack range!‘

Just as Ling Yi was contemplating whether he should attack, Lin Qingyu suddenly pulled him back and said, “Why are you still standing here?”

“Ah?”

“Run!”

Lin Qingyu’s grip on his was firm, and Ling Yi could only run after her.

‘Did this girl actually choose fitness for her skill!?‘

He looked at her slim back in surprise. It was hard to imagine and a little odd for a girl to choose this kind of “boorish” skill.

After all, most women have less strength than men, so there was not much of an advantage in choosing this skill.

‘Unless… This girl is confident in her close combat skills.‘

Ling Yi tried not to overthink this. They were in trouble at the moment to think about trivial things. He turned his head to scan his surroundings and realized everyone was heading south at full speed.

Most of the wolves had already caught up with the slower players.

And just like that, those players were immediately sent back to the starting point.

Within a few minutes, over 9 000 people were chased by the Wolf King and its 10 000 wolf minions from the northern part of the plain to the center.

They were only a few hundred meters away from Beginner’s Camp!

“We can’t keep running like this! We’ll be back at the camp if we retreat any further!”

At this point, everyone knew that it was time to fight.

The crystals in the camp were not invincible. Once they were destroyed, the people on the map could not be resurrected.

That was why, for security reasons, everyone unanimously agreed not to lure monsters into the camp.

“Our stamina-draining tactic is very effective! The wolves are not as aggressive as before.”

The players looked carefully at the wolves that were chasing them from a distance and found that their speed had decreased by a lot, and the fierce light in their eyes was not as intense as before.

The wolves had fallen far from their initial terrifying momentum when they first broke through the fence.

The players became slightly excited.

‘Maybe we can start our counterattack?‘ With this thought in mind, one of the muscled man’s eyes was filled with excitement. He rushed toward a wolf with significant momentum and swung his sandbag-sized fist fearlessly.

Although the wolf tried its best to resist, it was powerless against the decisive hit.

With another punch, it died under the strong man’s fist.

Upon seeing this, all the other players were reinvigorated!

“Charge! Charge! Exterminate the wolf pack!”

“Hahaha, the stamina consumption tactic is so effective! Although it can only be used during the novice stage, it’s still a great advantage!”

….

While the players were off fighting the wolves…

Ling Yi placed his hands on his knees and bent over, panting by the wooden fence at the campsite’s entrance.

“Phew… Ha… Hah…”

“Have you not exercised for a long time or something? You’re panting so much for a light run,” Lin Qingyu asked as she watched the boy double over. There wasn’t a single sweat on her forehead or even a red tint to her cheeks from all that running. She was speechless. Who would’ve thought a guy would be so tired from running three thousand meters?

Ever since God’s Path appeared 20 years ago, the world has emphasized physical fitness and endurance more. Everybody had started training for this since they were young. Only an idiotic person would skip training.

And here she was….

Ling Yi was too tired to retort.

Besides, it was true. He hadn’t exercised for a long time.

Although he was back to full of energy now, thanks to God’s Path, his legs were still sore. He could feel his thighs cramping up.

“It’ll be even harder tomorrow…”

Ling Yi’s mouth twitched when he noticed Lin Qingyu’s strange gaze. He forced himself to straighten his body.

“Feeling better?” She asked, blinking her beautiful eyes at him.

“Barely–”

Before he could finish his words, the girl pinched his arm. Hard. Causing him to let out a series of bitter cries.

The two of them had only known each other for a short time. They only exchanged names and the fact that they were both players from Qianjiang City.

But those who saw their oddly familiar interaction would think that the two of them were in an intimate relationship.