As the sun set, Zhang Shi completed the recruitment he had conducted that morning. Five soldiers of different builds and ages appeared in front of the barracks. None of them had an ability value exceeding 4 points. Apart from Da Zhuang, this was probably the upper limit for recruiting soldiers through the barracks at this stage.
Zhang Shi named these people Zhang San to Zhang Qi in order, which was simple, easy to remember, and easy to distinguish.
Each soldier was given a set of fine iron equipment, and Zhang Shi then handed the newly arrived soldiers over to Zhang Dazhuang for unified management. Looking at this team of seven, Zhang Shi was very satisfied.
Currently, the guard team has taken a rough shape, and all that is needed is to gradually increase the number of personnel to build up the team.
The barracks couldn't be idle, so Zhang Shi recruited two assault soldiers as usual, and then recruited one soldier from each of the other branches.
"I wonder what special skills and talents the other troop types have. I hope they can bring me some surprises."
...
The surprise came quickly: the sanctuary, which had not been attacked by wild animals for a long time, welcomed an old friend.
Standing on the watchtower, Zhang Shi could see a giant gray-white wolf in the distance, followed by a dozen smaller gray wolves.
In the darkness, the gray wolf's eyes gleamed with a green light, giving it a chilling appearance.
Zhang Shi shone his searchlight in the direction of the wolf pack, made eye contact with the lead wolf, and immediately recognized it as the gray wolf king that had escaped.
Zhang Shi gave him an assessment and found that the guy had actually advanced to the refined level, and his attributes had also improved significantly.
Name: Gray Wolf King
Race: Gray Wolf
Experience points: Level 50
Grade: Exquisite
Strength: 50
Agility: 60
Physical condition: 50
Magic: 0
Ability value: 40
"Hey, I've turned my life around! My stats are almost on par with the Black Mist Guardian."
Seeing that the Grey Wolf King had endured so much hardship and humiliation for so long, and that he had gathered his followers to avenge his previous defeat, Zhang Shi felt no unease.
Back during his first dungeon run, he had already dealt with even more troublesome gargoyles. Although Zhang Shi was cautious and wary when encountering this more primal beast, he wasn't too afraid.
At the top of the wall, Zhang Dazhuang had already led his soldiers, longbows in hand, into battle formation, ready to meet the enemy. Seeing this, Zhang Shi decided to take this opportunity to train his troops and test their mettle.
The Grey Wolf King stared fiercely at Zhang Shi above. Ge Dalong and Zhao Feng were also alerted and climbed the watchtower to check the situation.
Seeing that the enemy's numbers were increasing, the Gray Wolf King took the lead in sounding the attack horn.
With a long howl, the pack of wolves charged toward the main gate of the shelter, displaying considerable power.
Zhang Shi was not worried at all that the Golden Essence Stone's wall would be destroyed. He stood on the watchtower and observed the situation. When he saw the wolf pack enter the range of his arrows, Zhang Shi raised his arm and then brought it down heavily without hesitation.
Upon receiving the order, the guards fired seven arrows at the wolf pack outside the gate. Without checking whether the arrows hit their mark, the soldiers quickly pulled out the arrows and repeated the action.
With the guards positioned high above, three volleys of arrows struck down two unfortunate ordinary wolf cubs who were unable to dodge in time and died instantly.
Zhang Shi observed this and was quite satisfied with the soldiers' performance. For ordinary soldiers to kill a pack of charging beasts was already a remarkable achievement.
Zhang Shi nodded, and then gave another instruction.
"Everyone, open the door and face the enemy head-on!"
Without hesitation, the guards swiftly slid down the wall, opened the gate, switched their weapons to spears, and formed a battle formation to meet the wolf pack's charge.
Zhang Shi valued his soldiers highly and did not intend to let them get hurt. He arrived at the gate ahead of the guards, with Ge Dalong and Zhao Feng following behind.
"After being here for a while, my hands are getting itchy. It's a good time to practice with these wild animals."
Zhao Feng, arriving late but ahead of the leader, rushed to the front of the Gray Wolf King. His golden stone heavy armor gleamed, and he swept his flint giant axe across the air, creating a burst of flame as he slashed towards the Gray Wolf King's head.
Although the Gray Wolf King had high attributes, he dared not take the attack head-on. He suddenly arched his body and nimbly leaped to the side, easily dodging the attack.
Taking advantage of Zhao Feng's loss of balance, it extended its sharp claws and slashed at Zhao Feng's throat.
Zhang Shi and Ge Dalong's attacks came at just the right time. An arrow and an ice spike, though not necessarily fatal, forced the Gray Wolf King to abandon his attack and leap to the side to dodge.
After the first exchange, Zhao Feng gained an understanding of the Gray Wolf King's combat strength and dared not rush in recklessly, thus exposing his weaknesses. Instead, he maintained a reasonable distance and confronted it.
A wolf cub tried to launch a sneak attack, but was instead cleaved in two by Zhao Feng's axe, which triggered the "the more you fight, the stronger you become" talent, causing its stamina recovery to surge.
With the support of powerful equipment, Zhao Feng was able to hold his own against the Gray Wolf King for a short time, making the situation more favorable to Zhang Shi's side.
The wolf cubs were very clever. They circled around behind the gray wolf king, trying to surround Zhang Shi and the others, but were blocked by Pipi and the leopard who suddenly rushed out.
Like a bolt of lightning, Pipi slammed into a wolf cub and knocked it to the ground. The leopard then finished it off, biting the cub's throat. Before the cub could even struggle, it was dead.
When the Gray Wolf King saw Pipi, its anger intensified. It had suffered a great loss at Pipi's hands before. Back in the mine, if it hadn't been for Pipi's protection, Zhang Shi would probably have become a dead soul in its jaws.
The Gray Wolf King lowered his body, and suddenly a strong blue light burst forth from his body. He then transformed into a blue shadow and flashed to Pipi's side, seemingly intending to deal with Pipi first.
Zhang Shi was prepared. He activated the Shadow Step and appeared behind the Gray Wolf King almost simultaneously. At the same time, he activated the Triple Strike and the increased damage from the Shadow Step. With one strike, even the Gray Wolf King's copper skin and iron bones were cut in two.
At the critical moment, the Gray Wolf King's body once again burst forth with blue light, though much weaker than before. With a burst of speed, it charged forward, dodging Zhang Shi's fatal blow. Unfortunately, its tail was too big to handle, and its thick tail was severed by Old Duan at the root.
The wolf king cried out in pain, letting out a deafening howl. Seeing this, the wolf cubs gathered around, wanting to help their king.
Pipi and the leopard had already slipped to the side. Seeing that the gray wolf king was injured, they split into two groups and launched a feint attack from two directions. Ge Dalong and Zhao Feng had already arrived at this time, ready to catch it off guard.
The injured wolf king, its ferocity unleashed, ignored the leopard's bite and slammed its paw into Pipi. The iron claw was fast, powerful, and precise; due to the vast difference in strength, Pipi was sent flying.
The gray wolf king wanted to pursue, but Zhao Feng and Zhang Shi's attacks were already upon it, their combined strength blocking all its attack routes with a knife and an axe.
Ge Dalong quickly went forward to pick up Pipi and check on its condition. Seeing that it was still sticking out its little tongue and looked very lively, Ge Dalong was relieved.
"Pipi's fine, focus on the battle!"
Zhang Shi's face had long since turned icy cold as he confronted the Gray Wolf King. Behind him came the sounds of fighting from the guards, indicating that they were also battling the wolf cubs.
A moment later, Zhang Shi's skill cooldown refreshed, and he used Shadow Step to teleport behind the Gray Wolf King, slashing at its body with his sword.
The gray wolf king transformed into the blue wolf king, suddenly accelerating in an attempt to evade Lao Duan's attack, only to have its forepaw severed by a black mist longsword that appeared out of nowhere.
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