The Alpha's Regret: Return Of The Betrayed Luna

Chapter 504: Chapter 504 Maxwell’s Back

”All right. I trust you all. You’ve been doing a great job so far. Just keep this up for about three more days, and I’ll leave this in your hands until then,” Levi said with an amiable smile.

Thanks to his experience as a Beta and the time he had spent working on the farm with Addison, this kind of task wasn’t particularly difficult for him. It was simply exhausting.

After finishing with the Golden Hue Pack’s temporary storage, Levi moved on to the next pack’s supplies. A few warriors were already stationed there to guard the area, along with several teenagers from the same pack ready to assist him in moving items around. They still had other duties to attend to, but they were more than willing to help Levi with the smaller tasks around the temporary shelter.

Time passed quietly until morning, but the calm of dawn was shattered by frantic footsteps. Addison awoke to the murmur of voices outside the tent and the sound of people moving hurriedly, as if something urgent was happening.

She frowned and slowly opened her eyes, still groggy from a restless night. Sleep had eluded her; she had tossed and turned endlessly, haunted by that insistent, gnawing craving, the hunger that whispered relentlessly from the deepest corners of her mind, refusing to let her rest until it had been fully sated.

”What’s going on?” Addison murmured, propping herself up and wrapping an extra layer of the thin blanket around her shoulders. She was wearing only a delicate, thin nightgown, with just her underwear beneath it, so the blanket offered both warmth and cover for her body. The break of dawn brought a chill, especially near the river, where the air hung thick with fog.

Carefully, she stepped out of her tent and followed the crowd, moving toward the entrance as everyone began converging there.

There, Addison spotted the newly arrived warriors who had gone out to gather materials from the wild.

”How are things outside?” Zion asked, handing Maxwell a pair of pants to put on. Maxwell’s body gleamed, wet not only with sweat but also coated in thick, dark blood. The metallic scent hung heavily in the air, so strong that everyone instinctively wrinkled their noses, making it impossible for werewolves to ignore.

Most alarming of all, several of Maxwell’s men had been injured as well, carried in by the rest of his team, their wounds evidence of the danger they had faced outside.

”It’s not good,” Maxwell said, trying to catch his breath. ”We came out at night, and wild beasts, and monsters, are far more active then. Even though we were cautious moving through the forest, there were so few safe routes we could take. They’re even more restless at night. I strongly suggest we don’t go out after dark again.”

His hair was wet with sweat, dripping as he ruffled it roughly. Coming from an Alpha as strong as him, Maxwell’s warning carried significant weight; if he himself advised against venturing out at night, it was a sign of real danger.

This also meant the situation was far more serious than they had initially thought. With so many wild animals and monsters migrating due to the biochemical mist, maneuvering through the forest without encountering them was becoming increasingly difficult. Displaced from their homes, these creatures were more sensitive, aggressive, and restless than usual.

Hunting packs were venturing out in search of food, and with the number of wild animals and monsters on the rise, competition had intensified. Fights over territory and resources were breaking out, and some of the hungriest creatures no longer hesitated to challenge stronger opponents, as long as they had the advantage of numbers.

And that was only the first night after the animals had begun migrating. If things were already this chaotic, the situation would only grow worse in the coming days.

Fortunately, some of the creatures were continuing to migrate in all directions, dispersing the pressure somewhat. But during the migration, many wild animals and monsters still needed to hunt to fuel their journey. Most of the land in the area had already been claimed by stronger monsters or established packs, leaving only a few stubborn ones behind.

Even so, it remained easy for people like Addison and her people to be caught in the crossfire, as Maxwell and his team had experienced just the night before.

After all, even teams like Maxwell’s never moved in large numbers, usually fewer than a dozen, to keep their movements swift and less noticeable in the forest. But migrating wild animals and monsters traveled in full packs, vastly outnumbering them.

Even with Maxwell fighting at the forefront, it would be impossible for him to annihilate every attacker. And killing everything that struck him wasn’t an option; it would cause bloodshed and disrupt the delicate balance of the wild.

Werewolves, after all, were creatures of nature. Maxwell had to remain mindful of the ecosystem after all; he is an Alpha, so this is also his responsibility. If he wiped out an entire pack of wolves that attacked him, for example, it would remove a key predator from the area.

This would allow prey like rabbits, for instance, to multiply unchecked. Rabbits have short reproductive cycles, and an overpopulation could quickly strip the vegetation bare. The result would be an ecological disaster akin to a locust swarm, creating yet another problem to manage.

Every action Maxwell took had consequences, and he had to weigh each one carefully.

Just because Maxwell was strong didn’t mean he could act without thinking. That’s why both he and Zion had to exercise extreme caution when facing their opponents. Normally, wild wolves would instinctively avoid a werewolf, recognizing their superior strength.

But during migration, hunger drove them to take risks. It was natural for even a weaker pack to test their luck and attempt to feed their own, even if it meant challenging a far stronger predator.

All night, Maxwell and his team were harried by predatory wild animals and monsters of every kind. Just before reaching the temporary shelter, they encountered the Blood Hounds, monstrous wolves that hunted under the cover of darkness.

Unlike werewolves, Blood Hounds lacked human intelligence but made up for it with incredible speed and stealth. They could melt into the shadows of the night, and they often lurked in the deepest parts of the forest near caves, striking when prey least expected it.

Although Blood Hounds were weaker than werewolves, they were far from harmless. Their natural habitat near the Golden Hue Pack had been disrupted, forcing them to migrate, and they waited in a safe place near the border of the biochemical mist to continue migrating until nightfall.

By chance, they came across Maxwell’s team, who were already covered with the blood of other predatory animals and monsters. The scent of blood overpowered Maxwell’s natural werewolf scent, and the Blood Hounds instinctively attacked.

Maxwell’s team, exhausted from running and fighting throughout the night, was caught off guard. Several were injured, not fatally, but enough to slow them down. Even as they healed, the relentless onslaught from the Blood Hounds left them with fresh wounds. The attacks came in a chaotic, whirlwind-like frenzy, striking from all sides and giving Maxwell and his team little time to regroup.