Don't Mess with That Dragon-Chapter 466 - 19 Refugees

In a stretch of swamp at the outskirts,

the surrounding tall, dense reeds reach as high as a person, growing so closely that they seem to block out the sky.

Suddenly,

swish swish!

The lush reed thicket parted with a rustle, and several bedraggled figures emerged, fleeing.

These people wore tattered clothes, holding pitchforks in hand, their faces gaunt and sallow, burdened with a few bundles, looking like farmers fleeing hardship.

Leading them was a young man in his twenties or thirties, broad-shouldered, though the lack of adequate food made him appear malnourished, his strength somewhat depleted, yet among all the escapees, he still appeared the strongest.

At this moment, they were stumbling and crawling in a frantic escape, occasionally glancing back with expressions of terror.

"Damn wild wolves, run everyone!"

Roar!!!

A deep roar sounded, and from the parted reeds behind, several wild wolves emerged, surrounding them through the dense thicket.

They were surrounded!

Under the command of the leading wolf, nearly ten wild wolves converged from all directions, enclosing these hapless, fleeing farmers into a small area.

"Damn it! We’re surrounded!"

The refugee-like farmers huddled back to back, clutching their wooden pitchforks tightly, trying their best to appear fierce, but the dense sweat on their foreheads betrayed their inner fear.

In the surrounding reeds, the gathered wild wolves prowled at the periphery, their gazes sweeping over their prey.

A powerful pressure came from all around.

This was the leading wolf’s hunting strategy.

Relying on this intimidation, they continually wore down their prey’s strength until exhaustion overtook them for an easy strike.

Escape was impossible, and hiding was futile.

They were trapped in a doomed situation!

If these were the timid peasants from the Central Earth World, they probably would have been torn apart by now.

However, being able to escape to the Kawa Great Forest and survive meant that even the most vulnerable refugee possessed a certain resilience for survival, yet even this resilience was futile against a wolf pack.

A desperate atmosphere hung in the air.

"Lanier, are we going to die here?"

One of the frailer young men, his voice hoarse and body drenched, was sweating profusely.

"We can’t escape; these damn beasts caught us even here. What will my poor Eve do in the future?"

These people were originally part of a group fleeing south due to the wars breaking out across numerous duchies in Central.

The fires of war destroyed estates, forcing masses of war refugees to flee south, hoping to escape the conflict and cultivate land to survive in the Southern Kawa Great Forest’s Barbaric Zone.

Along the way, countless fell by the roadside, surviving with great difficulty across the Border Great Wall.

However, at human pioneer points near the Border Great Wall, greedy nobles exploited them fiercely, demanding high fees from those wanting to join, and the taxes on land produce afterward would drive them to despair.

This lifestyle was even more miserable than being a peasant in their homeland.

Due to the situation in the Central Earth World, many people were fleeing south to escape the conflict.

Because of a major battle at the Kawa Great Forest’s core, the Beastman forces at the forest’s outskirts suffered a heavy blow, allowing human forces to dominate most peripheral areas.

This attracted even more people to flee south to escape the war,

as no power could resist humans after the destruction of major Beastman forces in that area following a crusade against the Beastman Royal Court.

The Border Great Wall had almost become obsolete.

Human forces, Beastman forces, and a myriad of wild monster factions were spread out over the vast outskirts, forming a conflict-prone yet still peaceful peripheral zone.

With humans in the ascendant, and the great volume of magic resources being extracted from the Kawa Great Forest,

the border city economies were developing extremely rapidly.

Rapid economic growth and fleeing populations were of no value to the city lords of the nearby Pioneer Cities near the Border Great Wall.

Even penniless refugees were seen as grain-wasting liabilities, driving them away was only natural.

Without towns to welcome them and no sources of food,

they had no choice but to travel further, hoping to find a place to settle down.

As various factions waged war, and the Beastman and human pioneer towns fought, chaos spread everywhere; without sufficient force to establish village fortresses, they’d soon become bones in the wild, as nearby villages due to food scarcity turned them away.

Facing monster ambushes from mountains and forests, cold and starvation along the way, their group suffered massive losses, leaving only a dozen or so people.

They had left the old, weak, sick, and wounded of their group in a cave, then ventured outside hoping to find some food.

Unknowingly, they had strayed into the wolves’ hunting grounds.

The collaborative strategy of the wolf pack was something these farmers could not withstand.

Without these strong laborers, their relatives in the cave would surely starve to death.

Sorrow, despair!

Enveloped the group.

Their strength, dwindling over time.

The wolf pack in the surrounding reeds meandered leisurely.

Until a certain moment, one frail young man in the group wobbled, seemingly about to collapse.

In that instant, as if receiving an invisible command, the wolves that had been pacing and prowling around them suddenly charged forward as swiftly as thunder, rushing towards the group in a ferocious assault.

"Watch out!"

Accompanied by a roar, a wooden pitchfork thrust instinctively,

a battle erupted almost immediately.

A wooden pitchfork pierced an oncoming wolf, causing blood to spill. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

But more wolves, like lightening, evaded the exhausted refugees’ attacks, tearing through worn clothing, sinking teeth into their flesh, blood splattering on the ground.

"Ah!"

"Damn it!"

Painful screams mixed with furious shouts echoed continuously.

The lead wolf had timed the attack perfectly.

In no time, the wolves breached the refugees’ defenses, entering a brutal hand-to-hand combat phase.

And in close combat, the two-legged humans, stripped of their weapon advantage, would only become meat for the wolves.

However, at this moment,

swoosh!

A sharp iron arrow descended from the sky, with immense piercing force, instantly shooting through the leading wolf hidden among the reeds.

The surrounding wolves in the fray paused,

but quickly,

swoosh swoosh swoosh!

The sharp sound of air being pierced accompanied, as arrows streaked through the air!