Their hiding position was not so far from the beast, so their speedy runs brought them to the beast’s tail in an instant.
The wolves had forgone silent sneaking after initiating the ambush, hence the beast heard them approaching. Its thick tail swung just as the frontmost wolves were about to arrive. The lead alpha was amongst the frontmost, it had high enough reflex to dodge the tail swing. Its two other mates were not that lucky, they were hit by the powerful tail and were sent flying as if weightless.
The beast swiveled around and face the incoming pack, which then spread out. Jack followed the closest wolf and went to the beast’s left. He had no idea how this pack fought so he decided to not be reckless.
The alpha wolf attempted a bite at the beast’s face, which prompted the beast to slap one of its powerful fore-limbs at it. The alpha wolf again exhibited nimble moves. It jumped away just as the beast’s claws slammed into the ground.
The other wolves took advantage when the beast was focusing on the lead alpha to bite and scratch at the beast’s flanks and rear.
‘So they are using a coordinated feint tactic,’ Jack thought. He was just about to join in the rear attack when the beast tail’s swung again. Several wolves were again knocked flying.
Due to the tail, the wolves could only attack its two sides while the lead alpha distracted the beast from the front. The wolves’ damage was minuscule compared to the beast’s HP pool. Jack could not see its total HP number since he couldn’t use inspect, but the HP bar above the beast went down very slowly.
‘This is going to be a protracted battle,’ Jack thought as he sneaked to one of the beast’s hind legs and bit at it. He noticed his damage was higher than the other wolves. He might not have the advantage of his equipment, but his stats still provided an advantage.
Another ability also gave him an advantage, he sensed at this moment a mana buildup within the beast’s body.
“Get away! Get away!” Jack shouted. But of course, it came out as a series of barkings instead. Yet somehow, the other wolves understood his warning. They moved away just as the beast’s body pumped down and released a stream of hot air.
Jack did not doubt that the wolves would receive damage if this hot air hit. Luckily, this hot air just lasted for an instant. It disappeared soon and the wolves returned to offense. Jack caught the glance of the lead black wolf at him. He strangely felt gratitude in that glance.
They returned to the coordinated feign tactic to wear the beast down. This wolf pack was very good at coordinated attacks. Jack tried his best to not disrupt their rhythm.
The beast executed the hot air blast every once in a while, but Jack’s mana sense allowed him to detect it and issue a warning before the hot air hit. Hence, the beast’s HP continued to fall at a steady rate without the wolf suffering many casualties.
Some wolves did get smack every while due to negligence or pure bad luck, they received high damage that took out almost half their lives with that one hit, but Jack noticed they possessed some kind of regenerative ability, similar to his body recovery skills, albeit very slow. As long as they didn’t get careless and received successive hits, they would survive.
When the beast HP went below half, Jack saw signs of exhaustion on the wolves, especially the lead alpha. Its movements were slower now.
The beast noticed this as well. It increased its struggle and used its bull horn to ram at the alpha. The black wolf managed to avoid the horns but it was still slammed by the beast’s body. It reeled backward but surprisingly refused to back down. It made a forceful bite on the beast snout and planted all its feet on the ground, holding the beast down.
Seeing their leader’s valiant effort, the pack doubled their offense. Jack was also inspired and decided to go all out. He nimbly jumped on top of the beast’s body, clawed his way to the front, and bit down at the beast’s neck.
The pain caused the beast to jolt with all its strength. It trashed around and broke free from the lead alpha’s bite. Its left foreleg then slapped at the lead black wolf. The black wolf tumbled from the hit and landed a distance away.
Jack was still clinging onto the beast’s neck. He noticed as long as his bite was still on the neck, the beast suffered damages each second. But with the lead alpha’s distraction gone, the beast swirled and wreaked havoc on the pack. Many were smacked flying. Two wolves died after being hit repeatedly. One wolf received critical damage for being bitten by the beast’s massive jaws, causing instant death.
Jack saw from on top of the beast that the lead alpha was having trouble standing. It seemed it had exhausted most of its stamina trying to distract the beast.
Jack made a decision. He let go of his bite. Although he inflicted continuous damage over time. By the time the beast’s HP was depleted, the pack would also have been decimated. Even if he could pass the trial by killing the beast in this way, he couldn’t let it be at the cost of the whole pack. He jumped down in front of the beast and bared his fangs.
The beast noticed Jack as the one that had been clinging to his neck this whole time. It accepted Jack’s challenge and slammed its powerful leg from above him.
Jack nimbly dodged the slam, but he immediately sensed another blow coming. He jumped backward just as the beast’s other leg swiped by. He might not move as naturally as a wolf did, but he could still utilize his mana sense to predict an attack before it arrives, allowing him a high dodge rate.
In time, he might get used to this wolf body and incorporate his Eight Diagram Illusory Steps, but now was not the time to experiment. He made simple jumps, relying on his high Dexterity stat and ability to sense incoming attacks, to dodge the beast’s assaults. The remaining pack reorganized themselves and soon resumed their offensive rhythm.
When the black alpha beast had rested enough, he came back to join the fight. But instead of taking the lead of distracting the beast, it instead let Jack continue taking the role. It joined the rest of the pack in delivering damage.
During the beast’s last moment, it made a furious roar. Jack sensed that it was going to make a final struggle, but its HP was very low already. Jack made a gamble and copied the alpha wolf’s move. He jumped forward and bit hard on the beast’s snout. Then used all his strength to hold the beast down.
Seeing Jack’s move, the rest of the pack also joined in his gamble. They forgo cautiousness and went all assault. Some copied Jack’s previous move and jumped onto the back of the beast, biting at different parts of its body. The lead alpha came to Jack’s side with its maw wide open. It then clamped hard onto the beast’s head. Jack heard a cracking sound from the beast’s skull.
The beast’s HP fell to zero and Jack felt all the resistances in his jaw’s grip disappear.
The beast disintegrated, leaving behind only Jack and the wolf pack. Jack was panting. The pack all turned to him as with the lead alpha wolf. Jack watched them in bewilderment. The lead alpha made a bow to Jack, followed by the rest of the pack. Jack then heard a notification, informing him that he had passed the trial and became a Beastmaster.
His vision soon faded.
When his vision returned, he found himself back in the greenhouse. The woman who had given him the pond water was smiling at him. Peniel was sitting beside her.
“Congratulations on passing the trial,” the woman said. “I must say I am impressed. Not many of the members of your pack die in the trial. Not many achieved that.”
“Maybe the others focused on killing the beast,” Jack said.
“Then they will have failed the trial,” the woman replied. “The trial is not about killing the beast, it is about keeping your pack alive. The condition for passing the trial is to keep at least half of your pack alive.”
Jack was astounded. He secretly exhaled a relief to not have continued clinging on the beast’s neck and left the pack to die. He would have failed the test otherwise. Then he suddenly came to a realization. “Hey! I remember what happened inside the trial,” he exclaimed.
“Those that managed to pass it with flying colors do. Consider it as a secret reward,” the woman said. She then asked, “Do you already have a tamed beast? You can hunt one in the wilderness, but if you joined our Hunter’s Lodge, you can buy a young beast as long as you accumulate enough points.”
“I already do, thank you for your information,” Jack said.
The woman nodded.
Jack said his farewell and left with Peniel.. On his way out, he opened his status window to check his new elite class.
