novelraw Chapter 96 : Wolf Tide
Chapter 96 : Wolf Tide
Chapter 96: Wolf Tide
This was something completely against common sense.
Normally speaking, animals would avoid places with light as much as possible.
Especially now, with the manor brightly lit, unless they were completely out of their minds, no ordinary wild beast would be foolish enough to appear in such an environment.
But these wolves were clearly different.
They were like drunkards high on drugs, excited beyond reason in the drunken haze of the early morning, opening their bloody jaws, drool spilling down as they charged forward with their tongues lolling out.
By all rights, the iron fence around the manor should have been enough to resist the assault of these beasts.
However, perhaps because of long years of peace, the people here had no such concept of danger.
Many haystacks and crates were piled right against the wall.
Wolves were no fools—after circling the fence, they climbed directly up via the crates and hay.
A bunch of useless trash!
Seeing this, Aurelia cursed in her heart and silently made up her mind: once this was over, she would definitely have the manor walls raised higher to prevent such incidents from happening again.
One wolf leapt onto the haystack first, then jumped.
“Bang!”
At that very moment, a gunshot rang out.
The wolf’s head instantly exploded; its body, mid-flip, convulsed before falling heavily to the ground.
But that was not the end.
Soon the second, the third, the fourth———like soldiers in a Normandy landing charge, they rushed forward through the storm of bullets, determined to break through the obstacle before them.
Yet gunfire roared again, mercilessly blowing apart the heads of every wolf.
“Bang bang bang!!”
When the fifth wolf’s corpse fell, the pack finally retreated, their bodies once again swallowed by the night.
“Hoo………………”
Everyone let out a collective sigh of relief.
“Who fired just now? Our guns can’t hit that far, right?”
“That detective, probably.”
“Didn’t expect it—his marksmanship is really good.”
The men on the second-floor balcony whispered as they glanced at Levi not far away, whose smoking barrel was still raised.
In this era, not to mention city folk, even country men were rarely strangers to guns and hunting.
In fact, hunting could even be considered a social activity for men in these times when nobody had ever heard of a Wild Animal Protection Act.
People went on outings, enjoyed the greenery, and hunted something—it was ordinary, casual.
Nobody worried about shooting a protected animal, nor feared prison for it.
In modern times, the stranger it looks, the faster the sentence comes.
But in this era, the stranger it looks, the greater the sense of achievement.
Ordinary animals had long lost their appeal.
Only by hunting bizarre, unknown creatures could one truly impress.
Put bluntly, it was like opening blind boxes.
Pulling an N-card everyone else had was nothing special.
But drawing an SSR? That was something to screenshot and show off in the group.
Similarly, if a man in this era hunted down a strange creature, he would definitely have it stuffed and displayed at home.
In essence, the act was no different from posting that SSR screenshot.
And compared to the fleeting flood of online bragging in the information age, this kind of trophy was permanent, stable, even hereditary.
From “I killed a tiger back then,” to “My father killed a tiger back then,” to “My ancestor killed a tiger back then”……… it might last several generations.
The bragging rights had a far longer shelf life.
It showed that no matter the era, no matter the world, humans never really changed.
Because of this, these country men’s shooting was quite good.
As the saying went, “once an expert moves, you can tell.” That wolf hadn’t even entered their effective range, and it was mid-leap, yet Levi blew its head off with a single shot.
Just this feat, in a hunting party, would leave men awestruck and women dazzled.
But……………
They looked at Levi again, then quietly averted their gazes.
With that face, women would be dazzled whether he hit anything or not.
Levi cared nothing for their opinions.
He had no time to care.
At this moment, he was controlling his puppet bird to track the wolves.
In Levi’s view, these wolves did not seem natural at all—they looked more like they were being controlled.
After all, wild beasts did not, without warning, gather to attack human settlements, nor would they cut lines and sabotage communications.
That was clearly human thinking.
Anyone else would likely never consider this.
But Levi was different—he had truly seen werewolves before.
Thus he couldn’t help suspecting that perhaps these wolves were being controlled by a werewolf even stronger than Red Riding Hood?
Unfortunately, Levi’s 【Puppeteer (LV3)】 control range was only about 200 meters.
He had circled around and found no black-clad mastermind lurking like a final boss, watching from afar.
Movies had shown animal controllers linking senses from a distance.
Could this hidden boss be the same?
Levi sighed quietly.
He hated such cowards the most.
If the opponent was within his investigative range, he could have his puppet bird silently fly behind them and then use 【Shadow Step】 to teleport, launching a surprise attack to finish things instantly.
But now? The enemy sat like a castle-dwelling Demon Lord in Dragon Quest, unmoving, sending minions to harass him.
Annoying, wasn’t it?
And the minions were clever.
Through the puppet bird’s eyes, Levi frowned.
“All units, watch the surroundings! Get ready to fire!”
“What is it?”
“What happened?”
The others looked around in confusion, but in the pitch-black night, they saw nothing.
Levi did.
The wolves———were digging.
Not in one spot, but everywhere! They were furiously clawing under the fence, opening one pit after another.
They really are becoming demons!
Levi glanced around silently.
This position was too awkward for a clean shot.
He could try 【Ricochet Shot】, but he chose to save it.
After all, these were just minions, not the boss.
“Awooooo!!!”
Howls soon echoed from every direction, making everyone more nervous.
Levi’s face grew solemn.
His 【Shooting】 skill might be powerful, but he was still just one man, unable to cover all angles.
But he wasn’t alone.
It depended on the others too.
“Roooooar———!”
Suddenly, dark shadows lunged from all directions toward the house!
“Fire!!”
In the open, an ambush from a wolf pack would have been devastating.
But in a house, it was easier.
So long as people guarded doors and windows, most danger could be averted.
Thus, despite the wolves’ all-around charge, very few actually reached the entrance.
Levi’s marksmanship was outstanding, but the others were no slouches.
With shotguns more deadly at close range, the house erupted in gunfire.
Dozens of wolves fell, corpses piling high.
Yet the wolves did not fear death, charging into muzzles again and again.
Several times they nearly burst through the door, only to be blocked by tables and chairs braced behind it.
“These beasts are insane!”
One guard cursed as he reloaded, slamming fresh rounds into his shotgun———while the maids were not idle either.
Unlike in horror films, where women screamed to heighten tension, in reality they busied themselves.
They refilled empty clips and handed them to the fighters.
Though pale with fear, the maids still did their duties.
Aurelia was no exception.
Dressed in hunting clothes, she wielded a shotgun at the window, firing mercilessly at the wolves outside.
Wolf after wolf rushed forward, only to collapse.
Yet the blood and corpses only fueled the others’ ferocity.
Even against the deadly flames of shotguns, they hesitated not.
“Bang!”
A policeman shot a wolf at the window.
But the beast didn’t fall—instead, it bit onto the shotgun’s barrel! Before the officer could react, a tremendous force yanked the weapon out of his hands.
“Ah!?”
Startled, the policeman instinctively reached forward—and just then, a wolf’s head lunged through the window, jaws snapping for his arm!
“Swish!”
Cold light flashed.
A throwing knife lodged in the wolf’s skull.
It fell before its teeth closed.
At the same time, Aurelia’s scolding voice rang at his ear.
“What are you dazing for?!”
“Y-Yes, ma’am!”
Snapped from shock, the officer retrieved another gun and fired again.
The battle between humans and wolves dragged on for over an hour.
Only when the final wolf fell did the fight end.
Everyone was utterly exhausted.
Some were clawed or bitten, but no one had died—that alone was fortunate.
“Hoo………………”
Aurelia wiped sweat from her brow, then swept her gaze across the hall and calmly gave orders.
“Stay alert.
Dispose of the wolf corpses.”
“Yes, mistress!”
With her command given, Aurelia climbed to the second floor.
She intended to change clothes before discussing matters with Levi.
Tonight’s attack was far too strange—utterly without warning.
Could it be related to the necklace they had found earlier?
What exactly was that necklace for? Why had her father never mentioned it? Or did even he not know?
Pondering, Aurelia entered her room and closed the door.
“Click.”
The door shut.
Curtains rustled in the breeze.
Instinctively she glanced at the window—and froze.
A man stood before it, unmoving, staring at her.
And to Aurelia, this man was no stranger…………… or rather, the most familiar of all………
“Father!?”
Staring at the figure, Aurelia cried in shock.
“How are you here? Where have you been!? What happened?”
She rushed forward.
But her once-handsome father now looked battered, clothes torn, face gaunt as if tortured.
“Aurelia……………”
Hearing his daughter, the man slowly lifted his head.
And only then did Aurelia see—his eyes were no longer human.
They were a wolf’s eyes—golden, cold, filled with madness and bloodlust.
She instinctively stepped back.
“F-Father?”
Then the huge black shadow engulfed her.
“Crash!!”
Glass shattered.
Levi’s head snapped up—just in time to see a giant wolf leaping from the second floor, vaulting the manor walls.
Its size was even greater than Red Riding Hood’s!
That was no ordinary wolf—it was a werewolf!
And in its clawed grip———a lock of golden hair!
Aurelia!
At once, Levi raised his gun and fired without hesitation!
Bang bang bang bang!!
Bullets tore into the werewolf, staggering its frame.
Yet in the next heartbeat it accelerated again, vanishing into the black forest.
“Damn it!”
Levi cursed.
He had wanted to use incendiary rounds, but with Aurelia in its grasp, he was forced to hold back.
So it was true—wolves feared fire most.
Fire was the answer……… but now it was too late.
Even so, Levi would not have fired phosphorus with her so close.
If Aurelia had been burned, that would have been worse than death.
But……… he wasn’t without options.
His gaze hardened.
The next moment, Levi’s figure vanished into the night sky, leaving no trace behind.