Jin slowly advanced in the dark forest. He spotted his target a couple of trees further down. The mutated wolf looked big and menacing. There were veins protruding from the skin, the wolf's eyes glowed red, and it was two times the size of a regular wolf.
When he was close, he darted out of cover and dashed towards the mutated wolf.
"I'll draw attention! Please cover me! [Spear Thrust]!"
He thrusted his spear towards the wolf's eye before it could turn. However he missed and ended up grazing the wolf's cheek instead.
GGRRROOOAAA!!!
The wolf felt the stinging sensation as it raised it's paws to strike down Jin. He was ready as he raised his shield while side-stepping.
Becky appeared at the wolf's blind side after using [Shadow Step]. "[Dagger Thrust]!' She stabbed one dagger into the wolf's side, aiming for the lungs. "It's bloody tough! I can't pierce it!"
Sebastian rushed towards the wolf's snout as he slashed the face with one sword. The wolf instinctively turned its head to avoid further damage from the slash. Seeing an opportunity, Sebastian stabbed into the wolf's throat with his other sword!
'[Augment] Reinforce leg muscles.' Sebastian immediately withdrew from the exchange. When the wounded wolf attempted to bite Sebastian, Jin was already drawing attention again.
"[Shield Bash], [Spear Thrust]!"
This time his spear thrust found its mark as he pierced through the wolf's eye. He didn't stop there as he thrusted his spear deeper in the wolf's skull.
Seeing her chance, Becky kept stabbing her dagger at the wolf's other eye. "[Dagger Thrust]!"
With a yelp, the mutated wolf fell down.
Jin breathed a sigh of relief as he pulled the spear out of the wolf's skull with a sickening crunch.
"Don't let your guard down! 3 more by that tree!" Becky signaled with urgency as she prepared her daggers again.
"[Heal]. Jin you should be good to go now. Don't overdo it. You too Sebastian." Rivie was a few steps behind the party as she oversaw the entire battle, focusing on healing and supporting only when needed as per their strategy meeting yesterday.
"Whew. The morning went by so fast. I'm a little bit hungry now. What do we have for lunch?" Jin slowly walked back towards the party.
"Have you removed their mana stones already?"
"Yes, I have already done my share. Here's 3 mana stones for the loot. That was a lot of mutated wolves in our assigned area."
"That was just in our assigned area. In other areas it could be higher than that. Considering how close we are to Wildecross City, you all can understand why this was a C rank quest." Rivie was calmly preparing a fire to warm the soup and the hard bread from their rations.
"Wait, did you also remove their pelt? We can't eat their meat, but pelt can be sold for good money or fashioned as good armour." The image of Becky bloodied from skinning a mutated wolf while holding her two daggers looked intimidating enough.
"Uh, I thought we only wanted the mana stones. I'll go skin them again. If someone's free, please help me. Sebastian please help me." Jin slowly backed away from Rivie as he prepared to skin the mutated wolves.
Sebastian dipped his hard bread into the soup again. He'd done it so many times by now it almost seemed like instinct at this point. They were having meat stew with their hard bread today. While waiting for the bread to soften, he opened his question to the group. "What I don't understand is why have the mutated wolves become so aggressive to the point they are near the city? Is that a usual behavior for a mutated beast?"
"Actually no. They are aggressive, but they don't go near the general populace. They know that they will be hunted immediately. Also what makes this situation strange is that they are active even during the day. Wolves and mutated wolves are generally more active during the night." Rivie was calmly waiting for her soup to cool down as she answered Sebastian's query.
"So that means that these mutated wolves aren't normal? But you mentioned before that there were usual quests that help cull down mutated beasts' population? What happened to that?"
"Leo actually posted several quests to help control the wolf population, but few parties came back alive. We didn't expect that either the wolves have mutated or they were wiped out by the mutated wolves already."
"Does that mean that the mutated wolves devoured everything even the normal wolves?"
"We're actually eating you numbskull. Have you no manners?" Becky couldn't hold it back as she glared at Sebastian. Jin was simply smiling beside her, although nobody was eating at this point.
"Ah, I'm sorry for spoiling your appetite. It's just that mutated beasts are already foreign to me, now we have erratic mutated beasts as well. I'll shut up now." Sebastian hung his head as he munched on his hard bread dipped in soup.
***
"That makes 11 in total for today. This is a lot of mutated wolves. We've even stopped skinning them because we don't have spaces in our rucksacks already." Jin leaned on his spear as he took a few deep breaths.
"Let's rest for a while? I'll try to [Augment] my senses so we can detect if there are enemies near us while we rest."
"That's actually a good idea. Let's catch our breath here everyone." Rivie was the most senior adventurer in the group, however she never decided for the team, instead allowing them to make their own decisions.
"Okay, I'll begin. [Augment] Steel body and mind, hyper senses."
Sebastian closed his eyes as he focused his hearing to detect any unusual movements in the surrounding areas. 'Hmmm?'
"There seems to be an intense fight nearby. At this point I can't tell if they need assistance or if they are handling it well. Should we check?"
"If it's nearby then doesn't it mean that it is in their assigned territory? Perhaps we will overstep our boundary literally then." Rivie for the first time raised concern regarding their decision.
"However they are still adventurers. Even if we go there and they don't need help then we can just resume patrol in our area. If they need help then our presence might be the difference between surviving and being wiped out for them." Becky seemed to be fixated on helping the other adventurers.
"In this case, shall we take a vote? For me personally, I would like to resume patrol in our designated area only. They should be able to handle them." Rivie remained steadfast in her concern.
"I vote to help them out." Rivie glanced at Jin and Sebastian next.
"I vote to check on them as well. It wouldn't hurt anyone." Jin also had his own convictions it seems.
"Actually I want to help them as well. Like what Becky said, we can always assess the situation. If everything's all good, we can just go back to our area. If not, then we can help out. It's better than leaving them to the unknown." Sebastian felt a bit awkward as he tried to rationalise why he wanted to help them out. However he knew that it would leave a bad taste in his mouth if he didn't try to do anything at this point.
"I see, then in that case I will respect the majority's decision. Please lead the way Sebastian as you were able to detect them earlier."
"Thank you. Please follow me. The fighting sounds came from this way." Sebastian kept using his [Augment] skills as he traced where the sounds originated from.
***
"Ravi! Take point! How is Melissa's status?" A dwarf with a sword and a shield was barking orders as he faced off against a mutated wolf. Both showed signs of an intense fight with scratches here and there, but it seemed that nobody had the upper hand.
"Not good! She's actually bleeding bad, I need to stabilise her wound! [Heal]!" The healer of the party, an elf, was holding a human swordswoman named Melissa on her lap. Her arm was badly mangled as a mutated wolf chomped down on it.
"I'm going to need help sooner or later! I can't hold this wolf on my own!" Ravi, who was a beastkin using a metal staff, was trying hard to hold another mutated wolf away from the healer and the swordswoman, but he was being pushed back.
"Shit! We won't have any choice at this point. Me and Ravi will try to hold these two bastards back. Ellie, you take Melissa and run. Go back to the city walls or find another party! Hurry!"
Ellie was still applying pressure on Melissa's arm as she kept casting [Heal]. She understood what Morgan meant. They had decided on this strategy as a last resort, but using it in an actual battle was understandably difficult for her.
"I'll quickly go but I'll come back once I find help. I'll cast [Signal] so the others will know where we are -"
"Don't! If you cast [Signal] the sound and light might also draw the other mutated wolves in the area. Just run! Our lives literally depend on it!" Morgan was still unable to shake the mutated wolf in front of him, however he was slowly getting tired. He was seriously considering dropping the shield and focusing on his sword instead.
"[Shield Bash], [Spear Thrust]!" Jin suddenly appeared beside Ravi as he drew the wolf's attention. His spear found it's mark this time as he pierced the wolf's eye. The wolf was caught with a surprise as it yelped in pain. Seeing an opportunity, Ravi pommelled the wolf's head and throat.
BAM! BAM! CRRAACK!
The wolf coudn't even let out a whimper as its head was crushed by the metal staff while Jin's spear held it in place.
"I don't know who you are, but bloody good timing!" Ravi was seriously elated as they drew their weapons back. They quickly looked at each other before nodding and heading towards Morgan.
"[Rock Kick]!" Becky appeared on the wolf's blind side as she kicked its side. She learned from their previous hunts as she relied more on kicks instead of thrusts.
"Good show!" Morgan continued using his shield to press the wolf while he was slashing to keep the wolf's attention. His mana was spent so he couldn't use any skills at this point.
"I'll take over the vanguard role! You step back and rest. Our other party members are behind you!" Jin directed Morgan to step back to where Sebastian and Rivie was.
"My name is Sebastian and I'm an adventurer like you. Let me look at your member's wounds."
Sebastian quickly ran beside Ellie as he looked at Melissa's wounds. 'Crushed right arm. Deep lacerations all throughout her bicep and tricep muscles. The mutated wolf tried to bite and yank her arm away. Brachial artery has been nicked, it's bleeding nonstop. She's lost a lot of blood already.'
Sebastian tore off a piece of clothing from Melissa's shirt as he placed a small wooden stick inside it. He placed it around her armpit area, while he kept turning it around - creating a makeshift tourniquet. 'It should stifle the bleeding from her artery for now.' He looked at the ever calm Rivie beside him. "I'm controlling her bleeding now. Her breathing is shallow so she's lost a lot of blood. She'll go into shock soon. Please cast a strong [Heal]."
Sebastian appeared calm, however his eyes kept darting back and forth. The unwanted memory of his death on Earth and the first adventurer he met on Kalonia was slowly coming back to him. He felt his stomach acid creep up.
"I understand, please continue to do so. [Exalted Heal]" The warmth from Rivie's hand could be felt even by Sebastian as her energy coursed through Melissa's battered body.
He could see in real time as the bleeding slowed to a stop, the muscles were being repaired, and even the skin started to close.
Ellie gasped as she couldn't help but be surprised at the sight in front of her. "It's a high-tier healing spell!"