Chapter 161 Journey To The North (15) The Winter Wolves Subdued

Winter wolf

A wolf with a coat of winter cladding its body. They are very famous for their strength, which is not just because of their physical body that is very robust and huge with the height the same as the average man, but because of their innate talent of using ice magic as well.

Those tall bodies of theirs intimidate other magic beasts, and it's an even great horror when seeing them in a pack. They are considered as one of the northern's terror since there are lots of travelers and merchants that fell victim to their assault.

It's common for magic beasts to be stronger than normal beasts, but what made them much more dangerous is their intellect which also much more advanced than a normal beast. As wolves are a highly social animals with a quite high intellect, the winter wolves which is one of the magic beast version of smart wolves are even smarter, making them even more dangerous.

One of the most dangerous things about a winter wolf pack is its alpha. Their alpha which has a body even bigger than the rest of the pack obviously has a stronger body, and even the quality of mana residing inside it is much more stronger and denser. With the existence of the Alpha that has strength, magic, and leadership. The winter wolf pack is considered B+ rank or could be even higher according to the size of the pack according to the adventurer guild's standard.

-Encyclopedia of Magic Beasts and Monsters, Great Library of Eureka, The city of academy and magic, Ausbildia

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"One of the northern nightmares, the winter wolf... And its pack's leader is now acting like a tamed dog in front of master..." Tesha uttered in disbelief as she stared at the sight before her.

"Sit," (Lyan)

*Woof!* *Woof!*

The winter wolf alpha followed his orders and smartly sits while giving friendly woofs. Lyan felt like he was witnessing the dog of his former world's neighbor which has grown big enough to be as tall as a human.

(So it has completely regarded you as its master, huh...) (Arturia)

After the prompt saying that Lyan has succeeded in subduing the winter wolf alpha, the grimoire appeared out of the thin air, and light blue particles gushed out of the grimoire like a storm, enveloping the winter wolf alpha.

This time, when the light blue particles enveloped the winter wolf alpha, Lyan activated his mana eyes to see clearly about what mana phenomenon is happening when the particles emitted by the grimoire enveloped the winter wolf alpha.

As Lyan observed the sight, he realized that the particles are leaving some kind of a trace inside it. As if it is inserting mana stamps all over the winter wolf alpha's body, but Lyan immediately understands that it's the way how the grimoire's space branded the magic beast and bound it to the grimoire. With those stamps-like mana particles planted on them, they could be transformed into those same particles and enter the grimoire's space with Lyan's orders.

"Ah. Hey," (Lyan)

The winter wolf alpha approached Lyan and brushes his head towards Lyan which Lyan reply with a stroke on its head. It seems to be enjoying his touch, and when Lyan glanced backward, he could see Tesha fidgeting as she slowly grow closer to Lyan. It seems that she's curious about the winter wolf alpha and wants to pet it as well, but at the same time, she's scared of it and its huge body as well.

Letting out a chuckle, Lyan called to her.

"Tesha," (Lyan)

"Y-Yes!?" (Tesha)

"Try petting its head," Lyan pets the winter wolf alpha's head, and it immediately lowered its head as if letting Tesha to pet its head.

"No need to be scared, I'm right beside you," Lyan reassured her.

She slowly approached the winter wolf alpha, but her left-hand gripped tightly to the hem of Lyan's cloak, while her right hand reached towards the head of the winter wolf alpha.

At the time her hand felt the smooth and fluffy but cold sensation of its fur, a bright smile appeared on her face as if she just got a sudden wealth.

Looking at that bright smile, Lyan's face also gets infected, and a smile also appeared on his face.

"Okay, that's it for now. You continue the petting later. Hm... Since you're the alpha of your pack, let's just give you the name, Alpha," (Lyan)

As if agreeing to his name, Alpha the winter wolf alpha howled and bowed towards Lyan.

"Good. Now Alpha, it's your first job. Try to convince your pack to follow and serve me. I'll make sure that none of your pack will starve or die if they follow me. But in case some of them do not want to follow us, you can just either kill them or let them go if they won't harm us," Lyan gave out a complicated order to Alpha.

But after hearing Lyan's words, Alpha gave a big nod with a dignified look befitting the alpha of the winter wolf pack. It then went to its pack that Lyan had healed, then the communication between them unfolded.

It's quite surreal to see the wolves talking as if they are people conversing in a foreign language in front of him. As the winter wolves and Alpha converse, Lyan noticed the change of expressions on the winter wolves just like when humans interact with each other. There are signs of fear, and doubt, and some looks at Alpha with a look of loyalty.

Alpha's persuasion of the remaining members of his pack does not go on for too long. After more than ten minutes, he returned with just 4 female winter wolves with him. It seems that the other winter wolves do not agree to serve under a human, especially the human that has just killed some of their pack members. It would be easy for Lyan to subdue them just like how he did so before to Alpha, but looking at Alpha seeing off his former pack members with a dignified look, he decided to give respect towards their decision and agreement with each other.

"So there are only four of them that agreed to follow you, huh... Hm?" Lyan then noticed a certain thing from the four winter wolves that are making a bowing pose to him.

"All of them are female, aren't they? Does the four of them follow their instinct to follow the strongest male no matter where he goes to make a strong offspring and to get the highest rate of survival?" Lyan uttered in wonder as he furrowed his brows.

Lyan then saw how the four female winter wolves approached Alpha and rubs their head with each other for a while.

"I guess you're quite popular, huh? But this is not the time for that. I'm thinking of having the five of you pull the wagon!" Lyan then instructed the five of them to follow him, but when he stopped in front of the wagon, he saw the black aggressive horse staring at the five wolves behind him condescendingly.

Normally, a horse like him would be trembling furiously in fear in front of such a strong magic beast like the winter wolf, especially Alpha. But the black aggressive horse remains arrogant before snorting in front of Lyan as if saying 'Could you even do that job?'.

*Grrrrr....*

Alpha let out a warning growl, but the black horse does not waver nor does he back off. Somehow, he was already released from the wagon, and he approached Alpha condescendingly as he looks down at Alpha that is slightly shorter than him.

The tension between the two get worst, and Alpha's growl gets louder as his face seems to be saying that he's ready to pounce on the aggressive black horse at any second. Looking at Alpha's reaction, Lyan caught how the black aggressive horse's eyes turned sharper, and he suddenly moved at an unexpected speed.

*Thud!*

With a speed that is as fast as a blink, the black aggressive horse gave a powerful headbutt towards Alpha, catching Alpha off-guarded. That attack made Lyan surprised, but Tesha beside him is staring at the sight with her mouth wide-agape because of shock.

"M-Master's horse is strong!!" (Tesha)

"No, he's just short-tempered," (Lyan)

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Name: Lyan Arkanium Evocatore

Occupation: Mythril-ranked Mercenary

Money: 3,797,710,950 Elnes / 3797 gold 71 big silver 9 big coppers 5 coppers

Weapon: Magic Glaive, 1 (Decent) One-handed Sword, 2 (Good-Quality) One-handed swords, 1 (Decent) bow

Equipment: Black leather cloak, Leather Armor, Breastplate, 2 Health Potions, 2 Poison Vials

Grimoire's Companions: 8 High Spirits, 3 Valkyrie, Shadow Goblin Lord (Lv. 5), Papilio Slime (Lv. 45), Galewing Butterfly (Lv. 45), Rock Golem (Lv. 50), Deadlight (Lv. 63), Moonlight Butterfly (Lv. 45), Ice Golem (Lv. 50), Acid Ant Queen (Lv. 9), Magma Bear (Lv. 1), Fey Mammoth (Lv. 1), Arcane Retriever (Lv. 1), Winter Wolf Alpha (Lv. 12)

Grimoire's Army: 6 Shadow Servants, 800 Skeleton Army