Fortunately, his skills did not have the typical cooldown period usually found in games, otherwise he already would have been caught long ago.
However it seemed the two ELITE Watermelon Wolves were not doing any better than him, in fact it appeared they were doing a bit worse than him. Although the two ELITE Watermelon Wolves had managed to follow him easily enough, they were now starting to show signs of weakening.
Unlike him, they had climbed to this height using purely their own strength, lacking the convenience of a skill like [Blink]. This had rapidly exhausted their stamina, which could clearly be seen from the slowly widening gap between them.
Inch by inch, second by second, seeing the distance between him and the two ELITE Watermelon Wolves grow wider as they grew weaker, Salvatore felt a malevolent grin appear on his sweat streaked face, as he gleefully thought, "Finally, I knew they couldn't keep this up forever, stupid tree climbing wolves."
Now, having climbed more than 600 ft above the ground, as they neared the top of the Stony Bark, while the number of branches began to increase, their thickness similarly began to decrease, shrinking from the width of several feet, to several inches.
Apparently, having raced to the top of the tree like a madman had paid off, now with the increase in foliage, climbing became easier for the thin Salvatore, while the two ELITE Watermelon Wolves, with their massive frames had to struggle to continue climbing, their progress slowing to a crawl.
Now with more than 100 ft between them, Salvatore paused for a second atop a foot wide branch, opening his [Spatial Storage], he retrieved a few items and made some final preparations to deal with the two ELITE Watermelon Wolves.
Seeing him pause, the two weary ELITE Watermelon Wolves suddenly growled with joy, thinking they had finally worn out their prey, and felt a burst of new strength, as they redoubled their efforts, quickly shrinking the distances between them.
Sensing the two incoming ELITE Watermelon Wolves, Salvatore quickly stood and threw something at the leading ELITE Watermelon Wolf before dashing off once more.
Instinctively, the ELITE Watermelon Wolf lashed out violently towards the projectile, biting into it viciously. Much to the ELITE Watermelon Wolfs surprise, it discovered that the projectile was in fact a piece of delicious meat.
Chuckling to itself, the ELITE Watermelon Wolf laughed, believing its prey was cornered, and was sacrificing parts of its body to try and distract them. However this stupid weak prey had only made the ELITE Watermelon Wolf hunger for more of its delicious flesh.
In fact, now that the ELITE Watermelon Wolf was becoming tired, it craved raw meat to recover its strength quickly.
Tossing another piece of meat at the other ELITE Watermelon Wolf, it also reacted in the same manner as its fellow ELITE, ferociously chomping down on the piece of meat he threw.
Now confident in the stupidity of both these two ELITE Watermelon Wolves, Salvatore began to toss meat at random intervals, while he climbed, making sure to time each throw, so that each pieces arrived perfectly in front of an ELITE Watermelon Wolf.
Now less than 100 ft from the top, Salvatore tossed the 10th piece of meat towards an ELITE Watermelon Wolf as he stopped upon a wire thin branch, examining the two relentless ELITE Watermelon Wolves that had doggedly pursued him to a height of over 800 ft.
As the piece of meat landed precisely in front of the ELITE Watermelon Wolf, exactly where he had aimed, he heard the systems sultry feminine voice.
"DING!"
[System Notification: Skill Experienced Reached. Skill [Basic Throwing Technique] Acquired.]
[Basic Throwing Technique][Lv. 1] - All thrown items gain a 10% accuracy bonus. Accuracy bonus effects only a single thrown item.
Type: Passive.
Exp. 0\1.000
Glancing at the skills description, he dismissed it with a thought before closing his eyes in order to listen to the sound of the gentle breeze flowing through the treetops, which caused the topmost branches of the tree to rhythmically sway back and forth, producing a natural harmony, comprised of the purest essence of nature.
Immersing himself in this song of life, he quickly centered himself, becoming one with his surroundings as he slowly began to sway along with the treetops, feeling the cool breeze flow across his skin. After several minutes he calmly opened his eyes, exuding the air of a stalwart tree branch, that could be swayed by the wind but never broken.
Looking down, Salvatore patiently watched the two struggling ELITE Watermelon Wolves, that would growl angrily at him, whilst they continued to slowly climb towards him.
Occasionally, he would toss a piece of meat with a flick of his wrist towards one, timing his throw to cause the piece of meat to fall directly into one of the ELITE Watermelon Wolves mouths, exactly when they opened them to bark an growl at him menacingly.
Each time the ELITE Watermelon Wolves would foolishly chomp down on the meat and swallow it whole, completely oblivious to the fact that they were inviting their own doom.
Tossing the 20th piece of meat with learned practice, Salvatore's eyes were filled with a mischievous glint, tinged with a glow of disdain as he watched one of the ELITE watermelon Wolves greedily devour the piece of meat. He had now feed both of the ELITE Watermelon Wolves an even portion of exactly 10 pieces of meat, more than enough to accomplish his insidious purpose.
As the ravenous ELITE Watermelon Wolf swallowed the last bite of the meat Salvatore had thrown, it tentatively shifted its weight to a higher branch. Savoring the flavor of the piece of meat, it stared at Salvatore, becoming excited at the prospect of finally being able to sink its teeth into the juicy flesh of the strange prey it had chased for so long. As it contemplated devouring Salvatore, its drool began to overflow, seeping out from its fanged maw.
Slowly, yet inexorably, the two ELITE Watermelon Wolves ascended the tree, driven by malevolently ravenous thoughts, as they gradually shrunk the 100ft gap between them and Salvatore.
80ft..
70ft...
50ft....
30ft.....
20ft...
10ft....
Now less than 10ft away, the two ELITE Watermelon Wolves howled excitedly as they struggled to climb higher on the swaying tree.
8ft.......
6ft........
"Just a little more" they both thought as a sudden breeze caused the scent of meat and blood on Salvatore's hands to waft towards them, strengthening their will, as they struggled higher.
4ft......
"I can smell its fear."
3ft..........
"I can see its pale flesh."
2ft...........
"I can almost taste its meat."
1ft.........
"Time To Eat!"
Now literally within paws reach, they stared at the strange pale prey practically within reach who seemed frozen in fear at their might, like so many other prey which they had cornered before killing.
However, they suddenly sensed instinctively that something was wrong. Unlike any other prey they had hunted, this one did not exude the familiar scent of fear.
Instead they could smell joy, while its eyes were two seas of pure serenity, that shone with the familiar radiance of a supreme predator staring at its weak prey?