The Demonized Wolf King (Page 1/2)

The stats of the gray wolves were no joke. Compared to the Bison King, they only fell short in health but outclassed him in both attack and defense.

But let's not forget—this was *Yi Jack Shui*, the guy who'd just earned the title "Unstoppable" after slaying the first Bronze-Class Boss in the game. Armed with his trusty Bison Sword, he wasn't about to back down from a challenge.

With sword in hand, Jack strode toward the pack of gray wolves, radiating an aura so intimidating it might as well have been accompanied by dramatic movie music.

"...Uh-oh."

As dozens of razor-sharp eyes locked onto him like heat-seeking missiles, Jack felt his stomach drop. "Monsters in the starter village are already annoying enough when they gang up on you—but seriously? They can initiate attacks too?"

"Awooo!"

Of course, life has a way of proving Murphy's Law true: the one thing you don't want to happen is exactly what does. About ten gray wolves rose from their lounging positions, growling low and menacingly as they began closing in on Jack, clearly planning to surround him like a SWAT team cornering a suspect.

"Meep."

Without wasting another second, Jack turned tail and bolted faster than a cat chased by a vacuum cleaner.

Facing three or four wolves at once? Sure, he could handle that. But ten? That would be like trying to fight off a horde of zombies with a butter knife at midnight—it wasn't happening.

After shaking most of the pack, he glanced over his shoulder at the two stubborn wolves still hot on his heels. With lightning reflexes, he scooped up a rock and hurled it at one of them, forcing it to veer sharply to avoid getting beaned.

"Whoosh!"

Taking advantage of the distraction, Jack zeroed in on the second wolf. As it leapt toward him, jaws snapping like a malfunctioning bear trap, he executed a flawless slide tackle—

-79!

The wolf nearly sank its teeth into his neck, but Jack reacted quicker than a caffeinated squirrel, shoving his bracer straight into its mouth to block the bite.

His health bar immediately dropped by nearly a tenth, but this bought him precious time. In one fluid motion, he flipped over, pinning the wolf beneath him, and drove his iron sword into its belly twice in rapid succession.

Basic Combo!

-110!

-116!

Thanks to the Bison Sword's ridiculous attack power, Jack shredded through the wolf's defenses like tissue paper.

"Awooo!"

The other wolf lunged at him next, but Jack rolled out of the way just in time, kicking the pinned wolf off him like a soccer ball before scrambling to safety.

Back on his feet, Jack went on the offensive, weaving between the two wolves like Neo dodging bullets in *The Matrix*. His high damage output made quick work of them both.

Ding!

System Notification: Congratulations! You've defeated [Gray Wolf] and earned 80 experience points!

The gray wolves granted significantly more XP than bison. A quick mental calculation told Jack he'd need to kill around twenty-five wolves to level up. Not bad! Plus, each wolf dropped two copper coins—a veritable fortune.

"Two coins…"

Picking up the measly total of four coins, Jack did some more math. At this rate, he'd need to slay five million wolves to earn ten thousand gold coins. Tears welled up in his eyes—not from sadness, but from sheer exhaustion at the thought.

Paying back debts? Forget it. Hunting demon gods? Yeah, right. Dream on.

By his calculations, he'd end up owing thirty thousand gold coins and a hundred thousand reputation points while being stuck at Level 50…

Jack shook his head, utterly unfazed. "This punishment is laughably weak. Barely worth mentioning."

In his mind, this was all fallout from the villagers' hostility toward adventurers. He didn't see anything wrong with what he'd done—in fact, he considered himself ahead of the game.

First, the contract with Soldier Kaylo stipulated that breaking it would result in a village-wide manhunt. This meant the penalty was *being hunted*, not having ten thousand gold forcibly deducted from his inventory.

Second, while the old man's threat sounded scary, the Forbidden Spell Scroll had been handed over willingly and unconditionally after the quest conditions were set. There was no clause requiring its return if Jack broke the contract.

Trading fifty levels and a hundred thousand reputation for a Forbidden Spell Scroll? Was he losing out?

"If I go negative levels, I'll still use that scroll to solo Gold-Class or even Dark-Gold-Class bosses," Jack muttered confidently. "Let's see who comes out ahead."

Still, the old man would definitely try to get the scroll back. Jack's top priority now was figuring out how to keep it safe.

But there was no rush. For now, he pushed those thoughts aside and focused on grinding.