Mystical Journey

"With this big guy, we can finally relax a little," murmured Malone softly.

"Yeah, it can find the Predators through their scent, and it can see in the dark as well. It's quick, and can patrol the whole town once in a few minutes." Garen nodded.

Right now, although the Predator Army would arrive within a day, and there was heavy pressure weighing down on all of them, they still felt a deep spring of hope at seeing this powerful living tank join their side, killing the Predators they could not see everywhere.

No one said anything, the survivors just stared at Garen quietly, deep hope in their eyes. They just knew that Garen was someone from the regions that their leader had brought back, and nothing else. But right now, in their darkest hour, Garen stood out and gave them all some hope.

"Why didn't you bring it out sooner!!?" Suddenly, an angry voice came from the crowd.

A young man with a scar on his forehead stared at Garen, his face scarlet.

"If you had taken it out sooner, we wouldn't have had to lose so many people! If you had taken it out sooner, would we still be in this situation right now?!" The young man rushed out and swung a fist at Garen.

"It's all your fault!! We're in this state because of you!!"

He howled, his fist aimed for Garen as he shouted.

Garen reached out a hand and caught his fist.

"Fool. If I really could take it out sooner, would you need to run out here and tell me?!" Garen said icily. "If it weren't for the fact that your leader saved me, I couldn't be bothered with your lives. What does it matter to me if you live or die??" he said directly, without hiding.

"You!! Listen to that! Listen! What monstrous crap is he spouting?!" the young man roared angrily.

But no one responded, the others, including his companions, just looked at him coldly. No one in the radiation belt was foolish, no one knew what this young man wanted to accomplish by running out here, maybe he just needed somewhere to vent. But no one was going to join in on his madness.

"Barr, your older sister and father were killed by the Invisible Predators, this has nothing to do with Mr Garen. Just as he said, if Leader hadn't saved him, he would not bother with our lives at all. And Mr Garen was working his head off just now, we all know it. That large hound didn't appear before, and now it's here, everyone can imagine what happened in between," said a slightly older middle-aged lady softly, stepping out. "If Mr Garen could have brought it out earlier, he would have. There were more of us before, and add that to the hound's power, it would naturally be easier to defend and survive. But he didn't take it out, so what does that mean? Are you implying Mr Garen has no intention to survive?!"

The more she said, the stricter she sounded, her eyes staring at the young man, Barr. The latter's sorrow and fury slowly quieted down, to be replaced with deep shame.

"Alright, we only have this few people left in Leo City, but we've weathered even tougher times before," said East Perrin loudly, walking out of the crowd. While the Predators were not here yet, and it was relatively quiet around them, she needed to unify everyone as best as she could.

"Do you still remember the attack of the Mutated Earth Demons? How many did we lose then? In the end we only had fifteen left, but we rebuilt the town anyway."

"Yeah, the new ones all died, we're just left with the old hands now..." someone added.

The others all nodded.

East Perrin looked around her and said calmly.

"So, now that Mr Garen has given us hope, from now on, we all obey Mr Garen's orders. We might still get through this yet!"

She had passed on the authority, even if there was not much authority left in a town of ten people, this was her way of making her attitude clear.

Nobody had any objections, so the decision passed easily, everyone knew that Garen was their only hope. Everyone else was pessimistic and had sunk into despair, but this person who appeared mysteriously was different. Evidently, he had some confidence in himself.

Under Garen's calm, quiet leadership, everyone, including East Perrin, perked up, their spirits picking up again.

Rip!

There was the sound of the Big Wild Wolf killing Predators again in the distance, it had evidently killed off another Invisible Predator.

This allowed the hope to grow in everyone's hearts.

If there were a few more of these Big Wild Wolves...

"From now on, everyone must listen to what Mr Garen says. My position as leader will officially be passed on to him. No objections?" said East Perrin loudly.

No one spoke, they all gave their silent agreement.

"Now, what do you have in mind, Garen?" Just then, Malone spoke, looking at Garen.

"The Big Wild Wolf will patrol and kill any Predators that might have entered the town, you guys just have to guard the walls. Await my further orders!" Garen nodded calmly, and turned around to walk towards the Biochemical Pool behind the town.

"There's still a day before the Predator Army arrives, we need to gather up as much strength as we can."

"Okay!"

That wave of chaos calmed down just like that, and Garen also became the leader of Leo Town in name. Although everyone still followed East Perrin's lead, this would also slowly change and solidify with time.

Returning to the basement, Garen poured the second batch of materials into the Biochemical Pool again, and then he crouched down, his hand pressed against the side of the pool.

Instantly, a large number of Willpower threads from the Energy Machine Imprint shot out, rushing into the middle of the Biochemical Pool like a vast web of blood capillaries.

Big Wild Wolf production, round two, begin!

The second round of production took up to two whole hours.

Garen also edited the control methods the same way, and then gave it orders, sending it to the wall to help the others patrol. The Big Wild Wolf, strengthened by the Distorted Seed, was way stronger than the cannon fodder from before. With their vitality tripled, and with their innate fighting power, forget wolves, even humans could become overpowered killing machines.

Garen did not know just how strong the Big Wild Wolf could be after strengthening, but it was undeniably much, much more powerful than a Level One Predator.

Outside.

When the second Big Wild Wolf appeared, everyone let out a suppressed cheer.

That huge ferocious body, long, sharp claws, and fangs, those powerful muscles and features, these all represented safety in the eyes of the residents.

As soon as this parasite of the Distorted Seed that Garen named the Big Wild Wolf appeared, everyone seemed to look a little more relaxed than before.

It was time for their afternoon meal again, and the five people left on the wall scattered to keep watch, working together with the Big Wild Wolf to maintain vigilance. Under Garen's orders, the others sat down to eat.

East Perrin followed the Predator-hunting Big Wild Wolf through the town, and found a hole in the wall that the Predators were using to enter the town. After she got some people to fill it in, there was no longer a hidden threat to their safety. Now that it was freed, that Big Wild Wolf was also ordered by Garen to patrol the wall, as an extra measure of security.

Malone and the others who had come down from the wall lowered their heads and kept drinking their meat soup, eating a mixed-flour pancake with dried vegetables. They would occasionally raise their heads to see the two Big Wild Wolves patrolling the wall and howling sometimes, and a sense of safety rose uncontrollably in their hearts.

"It sure feels good to have such powerful pets defending the town..."

That middle-aged woman who had berated the young man, Barr, sighed now.

"Yeah, thank goodness for Mr Garen's help..." Malone smiled, and glanced at the others, who were either crouching or sitting down. Although it was quieter in the town now, it was already not as despairing and depressing as before.

"I think Mr Garen is a powerful Energy Machinist, I've seen such powerhouses before when I was young, they are head and shoulders above everyone else, even the lord pilots don't dare to offend them," said Malone softly.

"Energy Machinists, huh..." The middle-aged woman seemed a little dreamy. "Mr Garen is still so young..."

"If I could become an Energy Machinist too..." said a little boy beside them with clenched teeth and fist, he and the other little girl were the only two adolescents that had survived out of all the children in the town.

Soon enough, another two hours had passed, and another Big Wild Wolf, almost two meters in size, ran out of the basement behind the town.

As soon as this big guy came out of the basement, it went straight behind the town and climbed a wall there, starting to guard the back of the town.

Around the wall, the three Big Wild Wolves would occasionally pause, and occasionally they would run again. They were much faster than the average person and could recover from just a short break. They instantly brought a profound sense of safety to the townspeople.

It slowly grew darker, and everyone split up into groups. Five would continue standing guard, while the other five stayed back and rested to recover their energy. Add that to the three Big Wild Wolves, and it looked like they had more than enough manpower.

Malone brought two people to the water purifier to collect drinking water, while also checking on their battery collector. Although it took a long time to collect batteries in the town, it was still better than nothing.

They were busy, so after East Perrin arranged the defenses, she went to the basement to await Garen's orders.

At seven o'clock in the night.

Another Big Wild Wolf ran out of the basement, this was the fourth one.

The four large beasts, each about two meters in size, ran all around the town's defense wall, running and pausing at breaks, each of them guarding one side with the discipline of an army.

For a town that could take several hundred people like this, that was not particularly stringent, but the Big Wild Wolves were surprisingly fast, dashing here and there, flashing past a dozen meters in the blink of an eye.

At night, just as the townspeople were changing shifts, the two who had not completely gotten off the wall started yelling suddenly and loudly.

"The Predators are coming!!"

That voice was like dynamite, instantly waking everyone up.

Everyone picked up their weapons and rushed up the wall, getting ready to defend their home at any moment.

There were only six able-bodied left in the town who could hold their guns, putting aside the two children and the elderly Malone, as well as East Perrin, the leader, which meant that only six people could actually fight.

But add that to the four Big Wild Wolves, and that meant there were actually ten people.

Malone used the moonlight to look down from above, sprawled on the wall.

He saw more than ten Predators rushing at them on their hands and legs. Their eyes glowed red, and they had actually chosen night time, the time that Predators detested the most, to attack.