Under the shroud of night, on the dark, endless fields, a cluster of flames had gathered at this moment.
At the center of the light, Holt and Colin stood side by side, facing a colossal White Wolf that lay dead on the ground, apparently felled by a massive penetrating wound to the head.
A few City Guards were busy dismembering the wolf's carcass.
"The number and strength of Fierce Beasts are increasing… Such giant wolves have never appeared before," Holt suddenly remarked with solemnity.
Originally, he had not planned to come after seeing the signal flare.
But then, a series of wolf howls followed, one after another, indicating an overwhelming number of attacking beasts.
Although he was not worried about Colin's safety—after all, Colin's Defensive Witchcraft was already among the strongest of Intermediate Apprentices—
Colin was still just an Intermediate Apprentice, so after some thought, he decided to come over and lend a hand.
What he did not expect was that by the time he arrived, the battle had already ended.
It seemed Colin was as formidable in offense as he was in defense.
Colin, upon hearing this, nodded silently.
He did not feel much about it, as this was only his first month on duty.
The giant wolves who attacked tonight—if it were a one-on-one fight—in his opinion, were not as powerful as the previous Black-Maned Giant Pigs.
They were only capable of hunting Black-Maned Giant Pigs because the pigs lacked strong offensive abilities, and the wolves had numbers on their side.
"I didn't expect the area near the outer perimeter of the Dark Forest, which was just cleared, to be invaded by Fierce Beasts again so soon," Holt continued with a sigh.
"But those giant wolves could be chasing the Black-Maned Giant Pigs, could this be a coincidence?" Colin wondered.
"It's a coincidence, but it's not," Holt explained with a smile, "The Black-Maned Giant Pigs were undoubtedly the overlords of this region. In other words, the vicinity of the outer perimeter of the Dark Forest was their territory."
"Now that they've been nearly eradicated by us, the vacant territory naturally attracts other Fierce Beasts to fill the void."
Colin nodded in understanding; it made sense.
Bang!
At that moment, a signal flare suddenly burst in the distant sky.
Colin looked toward the flare; the flickering lights in the dark distance indicated another probable beast attack.
"The frequency of beast attacks is indeed more frequent than before," he couldn't help but lament, then diverted his gaze back to the wolf carcass.
By now, the City Guards had completely skinned the White Wolf, exposing the bright red muscles underneath, indistinguishable from those of an ordinary wild animal.
Mysterious doubts arose in Colin's mind.
"What exactly are these Fierce Beasts?"
The case of the Black-Maned Giant Pigs was clear enough, as they visibly possessed supernatural bloodlines… But these giant wolves, apart from this White Wolf, were just larger versions of ordinary wild wolves.
Lacking in Magic Power and with ordinary bloodlines, yet curiously strong…
He looked up at the Dark Forest shrouded in darkness.
The secrets behind this, he thought, might only be revealed once he became an Official Wizard and ventured into the forest to explore…
Holt followed Colin's gaze, as if sensing his worries, he reassured proactively:
"You don't have to worry too much, the increase in beast attacks is only temporary…"
"Because—Wizard Lap is already aware of it."
At this point, his tone shifted, filled with confidence as if Wizard Lap's awareness alone would solve everything.
Colin nodded noncommittally, catching sight of flickering lights moving in the corner of his eye.
Looking over, he saw the Guard Captain and a young City Guard with a bandage wrapped around his head carrying a stretcher away into the distance.
The lights came from torches tied to either side of the stretcher.
"Alright, I'll head back now; you continue on your patrol," Holt said.
"Sure," Colin replied, as he watched Holt ascend into the sky, disappearing into the darkness, then he too returned to the patrol cabin.
Meanwhile,
The young City Guard silently shed tears as he carried the stretcher.
It was his first encounter with such an incident since joining the City Guards.
"Ah… Don't cry," the Guard Captain turned to comfort him.
"...I'm not crying." The young man lifted his left hand, instinctively reaching to wipe away his tears.
However, with the loss of support from his left hand, the stretcher tilted abruptly, nearly sending the body on top tumbling down.
Fortunately, he recovered in the next second and stabilized the stretcher again.
"You..." The captain of the guards instinctively looked back, wanting to scold him, but upon seeing the young City Guard, he just sighed in the end.
After all, there were only two and a half men left in their team of City Guards.
Himself, the young man, and a disabled man who had lost his legs...
After a while, the captain spoke again:
"You're new here, not used to it yet. Once you're accustomed, it'll be better...
People like us, we work with the sword at our necks... Death is a common occurrence."
"However..." he said, suddenly changing his tone, "you must remember the lesson this time. Don't ever be as foolish as Jack and the others!"
"A tailor who's foolish once loses perhaps just a bolt of cloth.
But when we're foolish once... what we lose is our life!"
...
Inside the duty cabin.
Under the illumination of the Bright Crystal, Colin spread out a sheet of white paper on the wooden table.
After the practical test in the Dark Forest, he noticed some issues with the darts.
Although the darts were quite effective against most targets of smaller size, forming a large hole with a single hit,
they fell short against large creatures like the Black-Maned Giant Pig King.
Therefore, he prepared to design a new kind of dart, one specifically for attacking large creatures.
So time passed quietly.
The latter half of the night was calm.
The footsteps of the patrolling City Guards were few.
As dawn approached, the distant eastern sea began to light up faintly.
Hu.
Colin let out a soft breath, stretched lazily, and glanced at his pocket watch.
'Another day's duty has ended.'
He organized the draft papers on the table, packed them up, then picked up the white wolf meat the City Guards had brought over and turned to leave the duty cabin.
Whoosh!!
Just as Colin opened the door, he saw a flame-colored light, carrying a breath-stopping momentum, arriving from the horizon.
'Wizard Lap!'
Without any explanation, Colin already knew the identity of the flame light.
Such momentum could belong to no one else; it had to be Wizard Lap!
The flame-colored light stayed in his view for only a moment, then sped across the sky and plunged straight into the Dark Forest.
At that moment, Colin oddly recalled the confident words of Holt from the night before—"Wizard Lap already knows."
'Could it be that Wizard Lap has come personally to clear out the Fierce Beasts?'
Watching Wizard Lap enter the Dark Forest as if entering a land devoid of humans, he felt a myriad of emotions.
...
Back at home.
After eating and waking from sleep, he began his usual practice.
The new dart designs had already been given to Arthur in the morning to have someone custom-make them.
He completed a set of the Sunlight Breathing Technique.
Colin exhaled a murky breath, feeling his body's strength increase a bit more, and his mood became pleasurable.
He then focused his attention on the front of his chest.
The energy at his heart was a bit less than before... the Sunlight Breathing Technique seemed to promote its absorption.
At the current pace, it wouldn't be long before he could absorb all the energy at his heart.
After practicing the Sunlight Breathing Technique, he began to practice witchcraft.
What he mainly practiced was the Hope Defense Field.
Recalling the narrow escape from death, the greatest credit obviously went to his powerful defense.
And the progress of the Hope Defense Field had only just reached halfway and couldn't even be activated instantly.
Clearly, it needed to be improved as soon as possible.