Speed and pack coordination were the defining traits of the Rock Wolves.
Against such nimble opponents, the Golias units were not particularly effective.
"They fear fire! Who among you can use fire-attribute magic?" Fritz shouted.
"I—I can," one of the female knights replied.
"I can as well!"
"Leave it to me," said Bernardo, captain of the investigation team.
One of the female knights, Bernardo, and another member of the team from the Kingdom of Egerea stepped forward.
"Good. The three of you, fire your Fireballs in the same direction simultaneously. Aim for the one with the dark fur."
"Understood."
Both captains had evidently decided it was best to defer to Fritz, who seemed the most experienced in this type of combat.
"Fire!"
Three Fireballs streaked through the air. Just before impact, the lead Rock Wolf twisted its body and dove aside. In that split second, an opening appeared.
"Wind Cutter!"
Fritz unleashed a mid-level wind-attribute spell, perfectly timed to exploit the beast's momentary vulnerability. He managed to wound three Rock Wolves in the volley.
"That wasn't deep enough! Again!"
They repeated the two-stage attack, wounding three more wolves. This forced the pack to become significantly more cautious.
"Stay calm! Individually, these Rock Wolves are nothing special. If we break their coordination, we win!" Fritz's voice boomed, rallying the men and women who had been shrinking back in fear.
It was true; a Rock Wolf was only about a meter long, roughly the size of a large dog. Their only weapons were their fangs, and their hides weren't particularly tough. An ordinary sword could cut them easily enough. Their true danger lay in their numbers and their pack tactics.
"That black one is likely the leader."
That specific wolf had been slashed across the back by Fritz's Wind Cutter and had retreated to the rear of the pack.
"If they pounce individually, stay calm and swing. Once they're in the air, they can't change direction. That's your chance!"
Fritz shouted his instructions clearly so everyone could hear. While such a feat wasn't easy for everyone, he knew that giving them a concrete goal was essential to keeping them from panicking.
"We can't just wait them out. I'm going to provoke them. Here... Wind Bullet!"
Invisible spheres of compressed air slammed into the pack. Five wolves grew agitated and lunged toward Fritz.
"Hmph!"
Their timing was sloppy. Fritz handled them with practiced ease. He stepped forward with a deep lunging stride and split the lead wolf's skull with a clean vertical cleave. On the return stroke, he slashed through the legs of the two following closely behind.
The next two wolves slowed down for a fraction of a second to avoid tripping over their crippled packmates. Fritz exploited that hesitation with a wide horizontal sweep.
The two beasts let out high-pitched yelps as their snouts were sliced open, sent reeling backward. He finished them with a second horizontal flash that opened their defenseless throats.
"Oh...!"
Gasps of awe rippled through the ranks as they witnessed Fritz neutralize five beasts in the blink of an eye. Fritz immediately fell back, returning to his position in the defensive circle. Though he had slaughtered three and incapacitated two, he remained on high guard.
"This is the dangerous part. Now that their coordination is broken, they'll either flee or attack in a desperate frenzy. It's one or the other."
As if on cue, the Rock Wolves—driven by instinct after seeing so many of their kind fall—chose to charge.
"Here they come! Do not turn your backs!" Fritz roared, cleaving a charging wolf in two.
"Right!"
Gloria had also just cut down a wolf that lunged at her. The skirmish quickly dissolved into a chaotic melee. The circle—which had been protecting the two female knights and Jade Nephroi—began to fray.
"Nooo!"
One of the less experienced female knights screamed. Gloria spun around to see a Rock Wolf pinning the woman down, its fangs mere inches from her throat.
"Get off her!"
Without a second's hesitation, Gloria threw her short sword. Her aim was perfect; the blade buried itself in the wolf's torso just as it was about to bite.
"Kuh..."
However, Gloria was now unarmed. Sensing her vulnerability, four Rock Wolves pounced on her at once.
"Hah!"
Fritz saved her just as she prepared for the end. He threw his massive frame between her and the beasts, cutting down three in a single blur of motion. However, the final wolf managed to sink its fangs into his left arm.
Fritz didn't flinch. He simply used the sword in his right hand to sever the beast's head.
"Lord Fritz!"
"Gloria, are you alright?"
"Yes... yes, I'm sorry."
"Save the apologies for later. Use my sword."
Fritz was currently using a longsword designed for cavalry use, so he handed his personal short sword to Gloria.
"You have my gratitude!"
With a curt nod, Gloria unsheathed the short sword and cut down a charging wolf, then another in quick succession. Meanwhile, Fritz claimed two more victims with his longsword.
Having lost two-thirds of their number, the remaining Rock Wolves finally realized they were outmatched and fled into the distance.
"..."
"We... we're alive."
Fritz had personally slain thirteen Rock Wolves, and Gloria had taken seven. Combined with the efforts of the other knights, thirty-nine wolves lay dead or dying. After finishing off four that were still breathing, the group finally allowed themselves a moment to breathe.
However, Fritz was not done. "Clean this up quickly. The scent of blood will only attract other predators."
At his command, everyone wiped the gore from their blades and washed the blood from their clothes and skin. Fritz then utilized the Golias units to gather the Rock Wolf carcasses and hurl them into the pit they had yet to refill.
Rock Wolf meat was foul-smelling and inedible, and their pelts were of poor quality. There was no choice but to discard them. Several of the carcasses landed directly in the center of the pit, falling into the pool of discarded chemical waste.
They dissolved in an instant, vanishing as if they had never existed.
"My, that is quite impressive," Jade Nephroi remarked, watching the process with professional curiosity.
Once all thirty-nine carcasses were disposed of, Fritz finally allowed himself to relax. Gloria hurried over to him.
"Lord Fritz, I am returning your short sword. I owe you my life."
Fritz smiled as he accepted the weapon. "I'm just glad you're safe."
However, blood was still dripping from his left arm where the wolf's fangs had clamped down.
"Lord Fritz, you need a Behandeln!"
"Yeah... I suppose I do."
Since several other team members were injured, Tiffany Bardak, the team's healer, began administering treatment.
"Thank you, Tiffany."
When Fritz smiled at her, Tiffany's cheeks flushed bright red. "It was... nothing," she stammered, before scurrying off to the next patient.
Once the group had fully recovered their composure, they tossed their remaining food scraps and waste into the pit and began refilling it with earth. With the Golias units doing the heavy lifting, the work was finished in less than an hour.
"Right. That's everything. We can depart now without leaving a trace."
From this point, the Kingdom of Egerea team would head north, while the Klein Kingdom team would travel south.
"Thanks to all of you, the rest of our journey should be smooth. You have my gratitude," said Bruno, captain of the Kingdom of Egerea investigation team, offering a sharp salute.
"Not at all. It was the Shouro Empire's Golias units that did the real work," Bernardo, the captain of the Klein Kingdom team, replied as he returned the salute.
The female knights looked on with visible sadness as they prepared to part ways with Fritz.
But then, an event occurred that drained the color from everyone's faces.
The earth they had just used to refill the pit suddenly erupted upward.