The monsters in The Oneness are incredibly diverse, perhaps even more numerous than the number of species of life on Earth.
Each species possesses unique abilities and powers, allowing players to plan their hunts effectively and avoid life-threatening danger.
The Oneness Association has categorized monsters into eight levels: Common, Professional, Elder, Warlord, Marquis, Emperor, Asian, and Chaos.
Each level is further subdivided into three stages: Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced, to narrow the power gap. Even with such a large division, the difference in power levels between stages is still comparable to the strength of a child versus an adult.
This means that a single Advanced Professional wolf might be more difficult to defeat than all the wolves currently on the map. Even so, Natee and his friends are not without a fight.
Although their power level is only Mid-Rank D, their weapons and artifacts are all premium-grade, coupled with high-level combat skills learned from the Asashi Academy. The overall combat power of each of them was no less than that of a typical Rank C player.
But the problem was, they weren't fighting just one high-level Professional Wolf. Beside it were many more wolves. Because of this, the situation was extremely dangerous. Not to mention the chances of winning, even escaping might be impossible.
"Natee, what are we going to do?"
Maya shouted in panic. The others were in a similar state, as this was the first time they felt their lives were hanging by a thread.
Natee remained silent, not saying anything, but his face clearly showed despair and guilt. He blamed himself for putting his friends in this situation.
Just then, a pack of wolves charged towards them. Although they were only low-level Professional wolves, fewer than ten in number, given Natee and his friends' current state of mind, even common monsters could easily kill them, let alone Professional-level monsters.
Fortunately, Nawa wasn't like that. Having been through countless life-or-death situations, Nawa quickly shook off his overly anxious thoughts and unnecessary fear.
He drew his bowstring and activated his Air Bomb skill, gathering air currents into the arrow. The moment he fired, a deafening explosion of air erupted.
"Boom!"
The arrow flew like a bullet, accurately piercing the thick skull of a wolf more than 50 meters away. It seemed Nawa was becoming increasingly skilled with his Air Bomb skill and bow. In an instant, he had taken down three wolves, each killed with a single shot.
Nawa's incredible actions not only brought Natee and his friends back to their senses but also boosted their morale. Natee didn't say anything, but his gaze towards Nava was filled with respect and gratitude.
"Let's take them down! Let them know the skill of the Four Heavenly Kings of Asashi Academy!"
As soon as he finished shouting, a red aura erupted from Natee. It was his Berserk skill, a B-rank skill he had used during his player trials, which earned him the title of New Genius. The skill's effect would increase his stats… His strength and speed had increased many times over.
Natee lunged towards the pack of wolves, swiftly swinging his sword.
"Slash! Slash!"
Two consecutive sword slashes rang out, and the heads of two wolves blocking his path were severed from their necks.
He truly deserved his title as the number one player in the Asashi Academy this generation. Normally, only high-ranked players could use B-level skills, but Natee, a newcomer of Rank D, could wield them.
The others were equally impressive. Somchai used his large shield to knock a wolf away before using the hammer in his other hand to smash the head of another wolf, transforming its skull into a pulverized watermelon, blood splattering in all directions.
"Twin Slash!" Maya shouted.
The twin blades in her hands were enveloped in the green aura of her Blade skill. They were incredibly powerful, easily cutting through the wolves' hides. Combined with her rapid attacks, she had killed more than three wolves in an instant.
It's no wonder Natee and his friends are top students at Asashi Academy. Their combat abilities easily rival the main assault teams of major guilds. However, they're trapped in a horde of monsters, outnumbered and forced to defend.
Furthermore, these wolves seem intelligent. They constantly shift their attack points towards Natee's group, forcing constant adjustments to their defense and creating vulnerabilities, inevitably leading to injuries.
Fortunately, the team has a healing player. Although Ploy can't yet use buff and debuff skills due to insufficient mana, her healing skills are highly effective.
This allows Natee and his friends to hold off the wolf pack's attacks for a short time. Even so, Ploy's face is filled with anxiety. She shouts to Natee in a tense voice:
"Nathee, we have to break through now! If we hold out any longer, we won't have another chance!"
As a healer, her role was to support all team members. Ploi Jing had a clear view of the overall situation. Although they seemed slightly superior at the moment, this situation couldn't last much longer.
A full-scale battle required activating skills, which consumed a significant amount of mana. With their current mana levels, they couldn't fight at full strength for much longer.
"Grrr… We can't do that. These wolves are intelligent. If we start to retreat, they'll launch a full-scale attack. Given their speed, the chances of all of us escaping are very slim,"
Natee replied seriously, before turning to look at Nawa with a difficult expression.
Even though he didn't speak, Nawa understood what Natee meant. Natee probably thought that if they decided to break through, a ranged attack class weak in close combat and lacking speed like himself would be in danger.
But the truth was the opposite. With Nawa's current abilities, escaping this pack of wolves wasn't too difficult. The reason Nawa didn't choose this path was because he felt it was a trap.
This pack of wolves was so intelligent that they used a portion of their pack members… Nawa thought their plan wasn't over yet. The wolf pack leader's easy appearance might be part of a trap, designed to force their own group to escape in another direction.
In Nawa's mind, breaking through might not be the best option. He decided to risk his own life to buy time for the wolf pack, while Natee and the others protected Ploy and helped her escape.
Although risky, it was the best option Nawa could think of at the moment. But before he could speak, Natee interrupted:
"I'll buy time for the wolf pack. Everyone, hurry towards Taiban Village. Once we reach the village, we'll be safe."
"No! If that's the case, you won't survive either!" Maya shouted.
"Yeah! Do you think we're such cowards that we'd let our friend die for us?" Ploy added.
"Yes, friends, let's fight through together. Don't forget, we are the Four Heavenly Kings of Asashi Academy!"
"There's no way we're going to die at the hands of these wolves," Somchai said.
"No, if we do that, we'll all die," Natee retorted.
Before Natee could explain, Nawa interrupted.
"I have a way to save all of us."
Nawa was slightly surprised that no one disagreed with him. Even Somchai seemed to be listening intently.
It wasn't surprising, though; in a life-or-death situation like this, everyone wanted to hear an opinion that could help them get through this crisis. Seeing that no one objected, Nawa continued:
"You just need to distract the pack of wolves for a while, giving me a chance to get to their leader. Once we deal with the leader, the remaining wolves will be without a commander. At that point, they'll be confused, unable to continue surrounding us, and if we're lucky, perhaps we'll be the ones hunting and killing the pack instead."
Natee looked at Nawa thoughtfully before speaking in a calm voice:
"Are you sure you can handle a high-level, professional-grade monster?"
If he had heard something like this yesterday, Natee would have thought it was nonsense, not worth his time. Because dealing with a high-level professional-grade monster all by himself was something even he couldn't do.
Hunting a high-level professional-grade monster usually requires at least two mid-rank C players. How could someone who was only a low-rank D handle it alone? But because Nawa had done so many incredible things in the past, Natee didn't dare underestimate or disregard his words.
Nawa didn't reply, but his eyes were full of confidence.
"Natee, don't believe that guy. He's just trying to escape alone. Someone like him handling a high-level professional-grade monster?" Somchai shouted.
"Stop slandering Nawa right now! He's not like that. Besides, if Nawa hadn't helped us, we would have been finished by those wolves a long time ago," Ploi interrupted immediately.
Before the argument could escalate, suddenly two wolves ran out from the forest behind them. They immediately pounced on Nawa.
The others were stunned. In their minds, Nawa was definitely going to be defeated. Suddenly, an air explosion sounded right where Nawa stood.
"Boom!"
The force of the explosion sent Nava flying dozens of feet above the ground in an instant, narrowly dodging the wolves' fangs.
While airborne, Nava performed a gymnastic-like flip, releasing arrows that struck the heads of the two wolves from mid-air. At such close range, the arrows easily pierced their skulls, even without the added power of his air bomb skill.
The wolves fell dead instantly, and several copper crystals dropped from their motionless bodies.
Everyone was in disbelief. They had always thought Nava was a mage, weak in close combat, but his movements and speed were no different from theirs. Furthermore, the air bomb skill he used to enhance his movement increased his speed many times over.
"You guys have to decide now whether to fight or flee. If you're not going to fight, then run away and stay out of my way."
"My current strength alone isn't enough to protect all of you," Nawa said to Natee and his friends in a serious tone.
Although Nawa's words sounded like an insult to Natee and his friends, in this critical situation, no one was thinking about such things. Natee nodded slightly, a glimmer of hope in his eyes, before speaking in a firm voice:
"We will create an opportunity for you to deal with the wolf pack leader."
"But Natee, if he tries to escape, we'll be throwing away our chance to break through,"
Somchai still refused to accept the reality of having to place his hopes on someone he had always looked down on.
"Are you blind? With that skill, if Nawa wanted to escape, he would have done so long ago." Ploi interrupted angrily.
Nawa turned to Somchai and spoke in a serious tone:
"Listen carefully, this is the team leader's order. If you don't do as I say, I will consider you no longer one of us."
"Damn it… do as you please."
Somchai cursed, but still followed Natee's orders. Somchai raised his shield. Before enveloping it in a yellow aura...
"You mad dogs! Take this! Deflam!"Somchai roared, slamming the hammer in his hand against his shield, now enveloped in a soft yellow aura.
"Whizz…whizz…whizz…" A strange, low sound echoed throughout the area.
The skill Somchai was using was called Deflam, a C-rank wide-area debuff skill. It created low-frequency sound waves that spread around, irritating and enraging monsters that heard them, causing them to attack the source of the sound, or the skill user.
Beginner-level professional wolves within a 300-meter radius, with low intelligence, targeted Somchai. He ran past others without paying them any attention.
Although this skill was dangerous to the user, it also gave teammates ample opportunity to attack their targets, making it a very useful skill for the team.
Nawa didn't waste any time. He started running, simultaneously activating the Air Bomb skill at his feet. Each step covered tens of meters. In an instant, he broke free from the wolf encirclement and rushed towards the mound of earth... The alpha wolf stood there.