A soldier shouted, "What? What is it?"

"Something that walks upright. I have a feeling they’re Jackal Wolfmen, and they’re coming straight for us. They’ll probably be here in under a minute. You called it again, Colin."

As he spoke, Kase rummaged through his backpack, pulling out two Beast Traps with a CLANG and a RATTLE. He then grabbed a few Torches from a rack inside the watchtower and ran outside to set everything up.

Colin thought for a moment.

These Jackal Wolfmen must be the ones who contacted the village chief and converted him into a Cultist.

After realizing they’d been discovered, these creatures must have decided to throw caution to the wind. With the watchtower’s troops dispatched to the village to investigate, this pack of Jackal Wolfmen had a straight shot at the tower.

’It’s all one big chain reaction...’

"Don’t worry, if we shut the door, they won’t be able to get in, will they?" a soldier said hurriedly.

"That won’t work. Those creatures are excellent climbers. Is the hatch at the top strong enough?" Colin remembered his experience at Dragon’s Fang Castle.

"Could an Ordinary trapdoor hold them off?" The soldier immediately answered his own question. "Damn it... Who would’ve thought an enemy would try to break in from above."

"Then we’ll use every ranged attack we have to wear them down from the rooftop. If we can’t hold on, fall back immediately," Colin said as he ran for the roof.

A CLANGING and BANGING sound came from behind him; the two soldiers were probably grabbing their weapons.

He climbed the spiral staircase that wound around the wall all the way to the top floor.

Colin took a quick look. The watchtower’s rooftop trapdoor was reinforced with iron, but it didn’t look thick enough to hold for long.

He leaned over the crenellations and looked out.

Kase was running back and forth around the tower.

His movements were swift; he had already finished setting things up.

A few Torches fully lit up the ground around the watchtower, and the two Beast Traps had been placed in suitable locations.

With the THUD of the door closing, the preparations were complete.

After that, Kase somehow got his hands on a Longbow and some Arrows and rushed up as well.

The evening wind blew, and the forest surrounding the watchtower swayed in the breeze.

"You’re field agents, right? You must face situations like this all the time?" one of the soldiers asked, his voice trembling slightly.

Colin said with a blank expression, "You could say we’re used to it."

’The trade routes around Thousand Masts City are usually pretty stable. This guy has probably never faced a real monster before.’

’Still, since these Jackal Wolfmen didn’t dare to attack Pig Badger Village directly, they can’t be that strong.’

Just as Colin was thinking this, a shadow emerged from the viscous darkness, followed by a dozen more.

Their familiar, stooped figures were instantly recognizable as Jackal Wolfmen.

Seeing the number of opponents, Colin breathed a small sigh of relief.

The leading Jackal Wolfmen clutched Short Spears and Wooden Shields they’d likely stolen from somewhere. The elite ones behind them wore sturdy Beast Hide Armor and held Short Bows and Short Spears.

But due to a lack of maintenance, their weapons and Armor were caked in a layer of black grease, which looked disgusting.

"Alright, attack!"

Colin was the first to cast [Flaming Arrow], followed closely by Orelia’s Cantrips and arrows from the others.

The Jackal Wolfmen in the front raised their Wooden Shields to block the ranged attacks.

Only the Priest’s Cantrips manifested behind their target, successfully bypassing its Shield and setting a Jackal Wolfman howling in pain.

Meanwhile, the elite Jackal Wolfmen in the back took cover under the trees and raised their Short Bows, which they’d gotten from who knows where.

The Jackal Wolfmen in the front continued to advance. They gathered around the main door at the base of the tower, holding their Shields high. Two of them were caught in the traps as they moved forward, but their companions paid them no mind. A few simply broke off to kick out all the Torches on the ground.

As the Torches were extinguished, darkness flooded in like a tide.

’What are these things planning? Are they trying to get through the iron-reinforced wooden door downstairs?’

Colin whipped around to dodge a black Arrow, returning fire at the dark figures below the tower by the light of the moon.

This time, his [Flaming Arrow] burned straight through a Jackal Wolfman’s Shield.

Immediately after, Kase put an Arrow through the Jackal Wolfman that had dropped its burning Shield, knocking it to the ground.

Just as they were about to attack again, a black shadow suddenly shot out from the forest.

The thing’s Speed was incredible; it shot toward the tower door like an arrow loosed from a bow.

The moment the shadow collided with the tower, Colin clearly felt a powerful tremor run up from the soles of his feet. A cloud of dust shook loose from the tower, and the shriek of splintering wood and twisting metal reached his ears.

The two soldiers beside him jumped, cursing incessantly.

"How is that Jackal Wolfman so strong?"

As he spoke, Kase fired an Arrow at the dark figure.

But after ramming the door, the creature zipped back into the shadows, and the Arrow landed uselessly in an empty spot.

And with Jackal Wolfmen holding up Shields all around the door, they couldn’t attack the creature while it was ramming.

"That’s probably a Yenogu the Poison Fang, a special Jackal Wolfman blessed by an Evil Deity," Orelia explained, once again casting her Cantrips and burning a Jackal Wolfman to death.

Kase cursed under his breath. "So it’s basically a Gnolls Paladin or a Totem Warrior."

Hearing this, Orelia’s expression became complicated.

’It seems like they can see in the dark,’ Colin thought.

He cast another [Flaming Arrow] and said, "I don’t think the door downstairs will hold for much longer. When they start coming up, we’ll block the stairwell. I’ll hit them with some serious Range Magic!"

The group unleashed another volley, sending Flames and Arrows flying everywhere.

The Yenogu the Poison Fang didn’t let up, charging back and forth, using itself like a Siege Hammer to slam against the watchtower’s main door again and again.

Even an iron-reinforced door made of oak couldn’t withstand the creature’s repeated abuse.

On the fourth impact, an unprecedented BANG echoed from the base of the tower.

It sounded like the door’s final scream.

Casting one last [Flaming Arrow], Colin used its light to survey their handiwork.

Eight Jackal Wolfmen lay scattered at the base of the watchtower. Their poorly maintained, dilapidated Wooden Shields were no match for the Cantrips. Once a Shield broke, it was a simple matter to finish them off with an arrow.

"What do we do now? What do we do?" the two panicked soldiers asked Colin repeatedly, clearly seeing him as their last hope.

"Let’s head down. Orelia, try to stay in the back," Colin said. "Kase, how many are left?"

"Seven," Kase answered. He threw a Javelin down, piercing through a Wooden Shield and felling another Jackal Wolfman. "Now it’s six, if you include that Gnolls Paladin."

Orelia protested quietly, "Please don’t call it a Paladin..."

"Okay, downstairs now!" Colin shouted.

The group quickly broke off their attack to organize a defensive line downstairs.

Kase, holding an Insect Shell Shield and an Ice Short Spear, became the absolute core of the defense. The two soldiers stood beside him with their Short Spears, while Colin stood behind them, ready to unleash [Burning Hand] into the stairwell at any moment.

The CLACK-CLACK-CLACK of the Jackal Wolfmen’s claws echoed in the stairwell.

Their ugly, cackling laughter grew closer.

The group stared intently at the empty stairwell entrance.

Time seemed to crawl. Colin could even hear his own heart pounding in his chest.

They were down to five opponents, plus one Divine Gifted Gnolls.

This encounter was definitely worse than that night at Dragon’s Fang Castle. But unlike that night, besides Kase, he now had three others fighting alongside him!

Just as Colin was thinking, a Jackal Wolfman burst out of the stairwell, baring its fangs and claws.