A new batch of werewolves brought out from the tribe was lining up to receive Little Pig and Lin Jun's "naturalization baptism."
To be honest, for Little Pig, this job had long since gone from a mouthwatering perk to a purely routine task.
After tasting fine wines enhanced with tastiness LV8, going back to sucking the blood of these ordinary werewolves felt like a human swallowing a bowl of completely flavorless paste.
Calling it painful might be a bit of an exaggeration, but it was definitely not something that could be called enjoyable by any means.
What's more, every time she bit into a werewolf's rough neck, her mouth would end up full of wolf fur. She'd spit for ages and still couldn't get it all out, really damaging her elegant image.
On the other side, Little Blue, who had just been crowned as the new wolf king, found Karen—the only one who hadn't come to watch his "head wolf challenge"—and boasted with considerable pride: "I'm the wolf king now, Karen!"
Karen was rubbing her sore arms. She'd just lost once again to Norris from the Jida crew in direct combat.
The boss had forbidden sneak attacks, but she couldn't beat Norris from the Jida crew in direct confrontation either. Karen was feeling irritated!
She glanced without enthusiasm at the smug Little Blue, and at the Marshal Puchi sitting calmly atop his head, then suddenly asked: "Oh, impressive. So let me ask you—who's bigger, you as wolf king, or the 'boss' sitting on top of your head?"
Little Blue froze, blurting out: "Uh... well, of course the boss is bigger!"
Karen immediately gave him a massive eye roll: "Then what kind of head wolf are you?!"
With that, she couldn't be bothered with Little Blue anymore. Irritated, she turned and walked away, leaving the new wolf king standing alone in a daze.
The Marshal Puchi atop Little Blue's head symbolically shifted its bottom left and right, which counted as patting the dog's head to comfort him.
However, Little Blue didn't feel too disappointed by this. He'd come to find Karen partly to show off his "new clothes" anyway.
His attention quickly shifted to another matter. He shook his head slightly and asked the boss on top of his head curiously:
"Boss, what does it feel like... sitting on top of my head?"
"Hm? Hmm..." Lin Jun controlled the Puchi to shift around, seemingly actually experiencing the sensation. "Just so-so. Too much fur, a bit slippery, not very stable. Way worse than Shòu's head."
"Then boss, why do you always like staying on my head?" Little Blue continued asking.
"Because you're the tallest!" Lin Jun answered.
Lin Jun loved the feeling of others looking up at him most of all!
...
Meanwhile, in the elven city of Ishildorin, in a small dwelling at the bottom level.
A scout Puchi fluttered its wings, having just flown up from Airaven's soft locks of hair. When it tried to land on Salian's seemingly more "high-class" head nearby, it was blocked by the latter's somewhat irritated wave of his hand.
Salian's brow was currently furrowed tight. He had absolutely no mind to deal with his sister's little pet. He was deeply worried about the increasingly severe situation at hand.
The biggest trouble the elves currently faced was undoubtedly the "Madness" contamination spreading continuously in the Divine Tree Dungeon. Although the royal guard captain had personally led large numbers of elite rangers deep inside to clear it out, the situation was far less optimistic than it appeared on the surface.
Mad monsters were indeed being continuously eliminated, and the elven positions were steadily advancing downward, as if the dungeon would be completely purged before long.
However, this was just a dangerous illusion.
The spread of "Madness" had never truly been contained at all.
In rear areas that had already been cleared, monsters would still suddenly go mad without warning from time to time, viciously attacking supply convoys or retreating wounded.
It was like a persistent affliction, as if it would never stop until every living creature in the dungeon was completely exterminated.
The elves still couldn't determine whether these mad monsters suddenly appearing in the rear were fish that had slipped through the net by hiding during previous sweeps, or poor creatures that had once been purified but relapsed again for unknown reasons.
This situation bred panic and extreme emotions. Some had even proposed the radical suggestion of "completely burning down the entire Divine Tree Dungeon."
This proposal was naturally rejected by the vast majority of rational elves, but it also reflected how many elves' mentalities were quietly changing.
Salian completely understood these emotions. Anyone who witnessed their comrades, friends, or even relatives being attacked by these seemingly unkillable mad monsters, suffering serious injuries or even death, would inevitably develop extreme and desperate thoughts.
Even he couldn't avoid it!
Just a few days ago, news had come that one of his friends had been infected.
Although the druids had done their utmost to purify him, witnessing his friend's bloodshot eyes and crazed roaring, Salian's heart was still filled with grief.
However, he was even more aware that this kind of extreme emotion was precisely the best breeding ground for "Madness"!
There had already been several cases of frontline rangers who had not come into close contact with infected individuals yet were mysteriously infected during intense combat.
Because of this, the guard captain had no choice but to divide the elven troops at the front line into several shifts, forcing them to rotate and rest to calm their emotions and relieve mental pressure.
Although this method reduced the influence of "Madness" on the elven forces to some degree, it also greatly slowed down the progress of the downward sweep.
What made Salian feel most uneasy was that even now, they still didn't know what the demons' true purpose was in spreading this "Madness"?
Initially, he thought this was the demons deliberately creating chaos in the elven rear to tie them down in order to increase pressure on the human front lines.
But according to the latest intelligence transmitted from the outside world, not only had the demons not strengthened their offensive on the eastern front recently, they were actually showing signs of lying low.
This was definitely not good news for the elves.
When demons expended such effort, they must have a scheme in mind.
Since their target didn't seem to be the humans, then the greatest possibility was that they were directly targeting the elves themselves!
Yet at this moment they knew nothing about the enemy's true intentions. This feeling of being passively beaten was suffocating.
At a time like this, only solving the problem as quickly as possible could give him a little peace of mind, but the strange and unpredictable transmission characteristics of "Madness" had them tied hand and foot...
On another front, because large numbers of spellcasters had been transferred to the dungeon front lines, the "Monitoring Array" project he was in charge of leading had to be temporarily shelved, meaning the radical faction's problems also couldn't be resolved for the time being.
Just yesterday, the elven king had directly ordered his teacher Iros to also proceed to the Divine Tree Dungeon to assist with cleanup work, and to investigate whether the dungeon itself had undergone some kind of unknown mutation.
Salian planned to apply to go along. His specialty in spatial detection magic might be able to help.
It's just... with the situation unstable both inside and outside the city, he really couldn't feel at ease leaving his sister, who wasn't good at socializing yet couldn't stay idle, alone at home.
After thinking for a long time, he finally decided to ask a colleague for help.
(End of Chapter)
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