Swords, magic, and martial arts

The roast meat smelled delicious. Rhodes ate almost half a thigh by himself. Even without any seasoning, it was the best roast meat he had ever eaten. After all, it was the first wild boar he had killed with his own hands.

He drew a fine steel dagger from the system, and then used the dagger to cut the wild boar meat into small strips to roast. Small pieces of meat cook faster.

Aya probably hadn't eaten meat in a long time, and he ate a lot of it, but he said the meat was a bit fishy.

By the time they finished eating, it was completely dark. Just as Rhodes was about to go to sleep, he heard a continuous howl of wolves.

They must have been drawn here by the roasted meat and the wild boar carcass. By the light from the campfire, Rhodes spotted several wolves hiding in the shadows.

They were afraid of fire and dared not get too close, only daring to spy from a distance. They would probably muster up the courage to try to steal the wild boar carcass later.

Surrounded by wolves, Rhodes was a little nervous. Although he felt that even if all the wolves were together, they couldn't kill the wild boar, he still felt fear instinctively.

Aya didn't dare to utter a sound after seeing the wolf and kept moving closer to Rhodes, whereas he had kept a certain distance from Rhodes when they were grilling meat earlier.

The wolves, perhaps sensing fear, drew closer and closer. Rod picked up a burning branch to scare away the wolves that were getting too close.

Even though he was a little scared, he didn't want his hard-earned prey to be taken away like that.

"If I had a sword, I could kill all these wolves," Rhodes thought to himself. He wasn't wearing any armor, and he wondered if his Iron Shirt and Golden Bell Shield alone could withstand their bites.

He remembered killing the Frostbite Spider before; it was his iron armor and Iron Shirt that allowed him to slay that giant spider. These wolves weren't very big, not even as large as the huskies he'd seen before.

Even without the Iron Armor now, my current level 3 Iron Shirt and Iron Shirt should be about the same as my previous level 1 Iron Shirt plus the Iron Armor.

Could it be that I was frightened by the sharp dagger of the Death God Cult priest last time, and began to seriously doubt my own thick skin?

"Get closer to the fire, and you'd better take a burning branch; they're afraid of fire," Rod said to Aya, who was clutching his clothes.

He pulled Aya's hand off his fur coat, took a burning twig, and approached the wolf. The wolf kept backing away, baring its teeth and growling at him.

The best weapon to beat a dog is a stick, followed by its legs. Rod swung a branch at the wolf; this branch was much thicker than the mop handle he used to use, and the wolf whimpered in pain as it struck.

He felt a sharp pain in his calf, looked down, and saw a wolf tearing at his calf.

Rod kicked the wolf toward a tree, sending it crashing into the tree with a howl. He used his knee to pin the wolf against the tree, and just as he was about to punch it, he felt a wolf bite his hand that wasn't holding the branch.

After being bitten by the wolf, he only felt pain, but no blood flowed out. Wearing such thick fur clothing should have greatly increased his defensive capabilities.

Rod loosened his grip on the branch with his right hand and reached for the wolf that was tearing at him. The wolf released his left hand and bit his right palm.

He was in so much pain that his face twitched and he almost cried out. Suddenly, a bold idea came to him. He used his right hand to release a gravity spell, gathering the little magic he had left after killing the wild boar in his right hand and then deliberately dissipating the magic. The uncontrolled magic in his right palm exploded, causing the wolf biting his right hand to bleed profusely from its mouth. Then it collapsed softly to the ground and lay motionless.

His right hand was bitten by the wolf's canine teeth, leaving several bloody holes, and his glove was also tattered.

Even a gloved hand can get bitten, so what if I got bitten on my unprotected neck? Wouldn't I die? And what if I got rabies?

Thinking of this, Rhodes dared not act as before and began to concentrate fully.

He raised his left hand and delivered a powerful punch to the wolf that was trapped between his leg and the tree.

When the fist adorned with brass knuckles struck the wolf's head, it cracked with a snap. The wolf's skull was shattered, a large chunk of its head caved in, and blood seeped from the broken pieces.

Rod loosened his grip on the wolf pinned to the tree and began to survey the surrounding situation. The torch had fallen to the ground and gone out. The remaining wolves in the pack, seeing that two of their companions were dead and one was injured, dared not approach. They bared their teeth and began to circle Rod, looking for a suitable opportunity. Aya, who was by the campfire not far away, was still safe, and no wolf dared to approach the flames.

One of the strongest wolves suddenly howled, and the wolves attacked Rhodes from all sides.

Upon seeing this, Rod turned and ran toward the campfire. He kicked away a wolf blocking his way and then struck a wolf that was jumping in mid-air, ready to bite his neck.

Once they reached the campfire, the remaining dozen or so wolves, led by their alpha, approached Rhodes step by step.

Aya hid behind Rod. "What should we do?" Aya asked, her voice trembling with tears.

"It's alright," Rod said, glancing back at Aya. He grabbed a burning branch from the fire and threw it at the wolves; none of them were hit.

Rhodes was actually quite panicked. He was confident that he could kill all the wolves with only minor injuries, but Aya wasn't as tough as him. Unless he was willing to disregard Aya's life or death.

Even though he had only just met Aya today, he didn't want such a cruel thing as being torn to pieces by a pack of wolves to happen to Aya, who was still at an innocent and carefree age.

Leaving aside Baron, even Hammer would be more than capable of dealing with this pack of wolves. Hammer was able to hold his own for a while against the stronger and more agile werewolves last time, so it would probably be a massacre against these beasts.

I'm still too weak.

Running away from a pack of wolves is impossible. Even if he is now better than the best long-distance runner before he transmigrated, he is still far inferior to animals like wolves.

Rod suddenly remembered that Aya seemed to be good at climbing trees. Their campfire was in an open space with no trees nearby. If they could get Aya to climb a tree, that would be fine, since wolves can't climb trees.

"I'll carry you to a tree nearby. You need to climb up the tree quickly and don't come down," Rod said to Aya.

Aya nodded, and Rod immediately picked her up, ran around the campfire, and the wolf pack followed. They ignored the wild boar carcass beside the campfire, preparing for revenge.

He ran to a tree, raised his hands and lifted Aya up. After Aya climbed up the tree quickly, he glanced down at Rod, who had been knocked to the ground by wolves.

Each wolf weighs seventy or eighty pounds. Several of them pounced on Rhodes together, and even though Rhodes had learned several martial arts, he was still knocked to the ground.

Lying on the ground, he used his hands to protect his neck and head as much as possible. Rhodes endured the stench emanating from the wolves' mouths, and with all his might, knocked down several wolves that were clinging to him before standing up.

He leaned against a tree to catch his breath, then assumed the starting stance of the Taizu Long Fist in front of the restless pack of wolves.

It seems only one side can escape this place tonight...