The light grey wolf is currently biting and tearing apart the deer's meat and eating it. It took a huge bite especially at the belly part where the meat is most tender and tasty. And after eating about a quarter of the whole deer, the wolf then went back into the forest. Matthew, who has seen the whole thing from beginning to end, of course, decided to follow the wolf deeper into the forest.
Although he will be venturing into the deeper parts of the forest and he doesn't know how far he will go, he still has the minimap that recorded all the places that he has been to. But he also needed to be careful since he also doesn't know what kind of beast or creatures that he will meet in the deeper parts of the forest. Matthew made sure to remind himself to not do something reckless since a single mishap may cost him his life.
As usual, Matthew's venom worked slowly, taking its time. The wolf seemed normal and it didn't feel anything weird after eating the deer's meat until suddenly it felt its joint start to get hurt as he was walking, and after another five minutes, the wolf started to feel that its body was heating up until the wolf felt dizzy from the heat. As time goes on, the wolf doesn't feel that its body is getting any better but instead, it gets worse. The wolf is barely able to walk now, its breathing got very rough that it is huffing and puffing non-stop every second it took a breath, his head felt nauseous and every step that he took is making his joints ache even worse.
Looking at the wolf which is in a very vulnerable position, Matthew is very tempted to just go in and kill the wolf quickly. With its current condition, adding another dosage of venom or tearing the wolf's neck is not a hard feat to do. But remembering that he is in an unknown territory right now, Matthew decided to stay put and followed the weak wolf from a distance, since the wolf will die sooner or later because he ate so much poisoned deer meat anyways. And Matthew thought that it wouldn't make much difference and it isn't worth the risk just to kill it sooner with the consequences of revealing himself.
After enduring the intense pain for quite a while, the wolf finally gave up walking and let its weak body fall down to the ground.
'Is this it? Will it die slowly from this?'
But as Matthew is starting to consider just killing the wolf right now since it didn't have the strength to lead Matthew back to its nest, and prolonging the wolf's suffering is not Morally right in Matthew's mind, the wolf suddenly let out a loud howl that resounded throughout the forest.
Hearing the wolf's howl that seemed more like a cry for help, Matthew decided to keep staying at the back first and observe what will happen next.
And Matthew's decision turned out to be the correct one. Not long after the howl echoing all over the forest, Matthew saw the pack of wolves come running from the direction of where the injured was going earlier. Led by the white wolf, they ran swiftly to the howl's direction.
'It seems that the other pack members are already at their den waiting for it. But, it defied its alpha and ate the deer's meat regardless of the warning the white one gave it. Well, that's what you get for not listening to your elders.'
Matthew then looked at the pack of wolves who are currently looking at their friend that is lying lifelessly on the ground and seeing its condition, it seemed really close to death's door by its disordered breathing and limp body that barely moved except for its chest area that is moving up and down rapidly from the rough breathing.
The white wolf is the first one to examine the light grey wolf's body from top to bottom, then it looked at the limp wolf and growled.
'It seems pissed that one of them is defying its order, what will it do then? Will they eat the injured wolf just like the crocodiles do or will they search for the one who has done this to him and will take their revenge just like the deers did?'
The white wolf then looked to his other packs and barked at them a few times. After the white wolf finished giving his command, the black wolf went away into the forest and the others seemed to be in a circular formation with the injured light grey wolf at the center as if they were protecting their injured kin.
'Why are they protecting the injured wolf? What are they trying to do? Are they just waiting for the light grey wolf to die? And where does the black wolf go?'
Matthew tried to figure out what they are trying to do, but he couldn't come up with anything that makes sense when seeing the current situation.
But after waiting for about 15 minutes, Matthew finally got his answer.
The black wolf came back to the pack and he brought something that looked like a bundle of leaves in its mouth. With Matthew's eyesight, he is able to see the shape of the leaves. The leaves looked like an ordinary green leaf with the commonly seen leaf veins that can be spotted on the leaf's body, and the only different characteristic from an ordinary leaf is that it has rough and slightly sharp edges all around the leaf instead of the smooth one.
'What are they trying to do with that leaf?'
The white wolf then took the leaves from the black wolf and started chewing on them until the leaf turned to a paste and then giving it to the injured light grey wolf and commanded it to eat the leaf paste.
'Wait don't tell me…'
After swallowing the paste, the poisoned wolf's condition seemed to get better. Although it is currently still laying on the ground with its four limbs still leaning on the ground, its rough breathing is starting to get steadier.
'IT IS A MEDICINAL HERB!'
Looking at the light grey wolf pain is alleviated after consuming the leaf paste, Matthew is pretty sure that what the white wolf just gave him is some sort of medicinal herb that serves as an antidote for poison.
'But that's cheating! I don't get a guidebook that says such things exist!'
But after thinking about it, it makes sense that the wolves that had been living in the forest for Matthew didn't know how long, knows a remedy to a poison. Although Matthew is amazed by the white wolf, right now, he is warier about the white wolf than before.
First, it has an aura ability that boosts all the members of its packs and can lead them to defeat the defense of 4 boars that used their aura abilities on their own. Second, it can also sense and detect the poisoned deer meat and saves the whole pack from being poisoned to death, except for the one that rebelled and didn't hear its warning and now received its punishment. And third, it even knows a cure for the spider's venom.
Realizing all of this, made Matthew consider messing with them for a second time. And he started to think if the wolf pack may actually be harder to deal with than the crocodiles at the lake.
'But I can't back down from this! If I want to climb on top of the food chain ladder, I also need to go above them!'
Matthew then tried to think of a strategy and tried to find any gaps from the wolves' behavior or activity that he can exploit to bring them down.
And such opportunities appeared now right before his eyes. The leaf paste from earlier certainly worked, but it seems that the black wolf didn't bring enough and now, the white wolf told it to bring back more. The black wolf then runs out to the forest to fetch the herbs.
The pack then goes back to protecting their still injured friend. But now, they are less wary, knowing that their friend is going to be alright and back to full health. The only thing that they needed to do right now, is to only wait for the black wolf to come back and bring the medicinal herb. But even after waiting for about an hour,
The black wolf never comes back.