*Crunch...*
*Crunch...*
*Huff...*
*Crunch...*
I was walking through a thick snow layer, which had a height of almost 40 centimeters. It was very difficult to move in this thick layer of snow. Right now, I was in the middle of an open field, following what seemed like a pathway.
I listened to the sounds of people fighting with beasts coming from far away. Soon my eyes were drawn to the traces of wolf paws left on the snow. Considering the traces hadn't disappeared despite the raging snowfall, it was a sign that a pack of wolf was near.
*Whoosh...*
I suddenly snapped my head towards the sound of a wolf beast passing behind me. I could see gray entities moving around, so fast that they only left a blur behind them. There were only three wolves, ranging from (G-)-rank to (G+)-rank. I was pretty confident I wouldn't face any problem while dealing with them.
I pulled out my daggers from its sheaths and got into position.
"Shadow Slash..."
My daggers were covered with the familiar pitch-black shadow essence. Sensing the presence of this dark energy, the wolves stalled for a bit. But their instincts led by immense hunger forced them to ignore this sinister aura.
The wolves had a full gray furry with gray eyes. A single blood-red horn was rising from their heads.
The three wolves gradually narrowed the circle and approached me. All three of them jumped on me all at once, attacking me from all sides.
I rolled out of their reach and dodged their attack. I rushed at one of the wolves and let the blade pierce through his eyes, crushing its brain along the way.
*Thud...*
The other wolf tried to bite my arm off. But I easily paired its razor-sharp fangs by crossing my two daggers to pull off a defensive move. I shoved the wolf with all my might, making it fall on its back.
Before I could finish the vulnerable wolf, the other one came to rescue, preventing me from striking the final blow. Yet, it was a huge mistake to face me head on. I quickly put my right dagger back into my sheath.
'Body Enhancement'
The cracking of lightnings filled the air as my right arm was covered in high-voltage. I swung my arm as it penetrated through the air. It was so fast that the wolf couldn't react in time. I grabbed its horn and ripped it off from its head. All the blood gushed out of the hole in the middle of its head, onto my clothes.
The last wolf, out of desperation, swung its claws towards my chest area. Before it could reach me, I swiftly threw my dagger, aiming at its exposed throat. The blade coated with darkness penetrated its throat, killing it after a few seconds of struggle.
I retrieved my dagger and proceeded to cut open the lifeless bodies of the three wolves. If I was lucky, I might find a core in them, though it was not likely since they were only around (G)-rank, which was quite low to be honest.
*Sighs...*
"As expected..."
I searched all the corpses but found none. I needed to lower my expectations. With disappointment, I once again started to walk down the pathway. I could see the pathway was connecting to another forest.
I looked up only to see the moon rising into the sky gloriously. Unfortunately, I had wasted a lot of time. Although it wasn't a big problem since the time in the dungeon flow slower compared to the real world. I assumed only a couple of hours had passed outside since I entered into the dungeon.
"I have to find some kind of shelter to spend the night inside."
During the nights, the beasts enter into some kind of berserk mode, which enhances their bloodlust greatly. It was wise to avoid wandering around when it was dark outside.
I started to run towards the near forest. I figured I would be much safer up on the tree than on the ground. However, I stood aghast midway through the forest as I heard the horrifying howling of wolves.
One after another, the howling became louder as more wolves joined. After a while, the howling became growling. It sent shivers down my spine. My instincts were screaming to run as quickly as possible. However, I realized I was already surrounded by a massive pack of wolves, their numbers ranging from at least 15 to 20. Their ranks, just like the previous three, were between (G-)-rank and (G+)-rank. It was an unexpectedly great number of wolves that almost nobody would have come across in a (F-)-rank dungeon. I had nowhere to run. I could only fight.
'I should have gotten away from those three corpses as soon as I could have. How could I forget that the blood of their brothers would warn the entire pack of my presence.'
The dim light coming from the moon illuminated the gray eyes of the wolves. I quickly drank a low-level mana recovery potion to help me during the upcoming battle.
I was nervous. Yet, I still forced a smile. I wasn't allowed to die yet, not after dying once quite recently.
Everything became clearer, I could feel the presence of every wolf around me. The location of each wolf had become obvious to my eyes, or rather to my mind. My senses were abruptly enhanced.
Following this, my pupils turned into slits, just like the surrounding wolves. The red hues started to appear in the distance.
My daggers became so dark that it didn't even reflect the light coming from the moon. The shadow essence swallowed all the light like a black hole.
Finally, my body was coated with half lighting and half flame. Boosting both my strength and speed.
As my presence was slowly erased due to my passive ability, the last thing the pack of wolves saw was the slit gray eyes that shined under my hood, resembling that of a wolf.
"Let's see who is the apex predator now..."
The wolves seemed confused as my presence vanished before their eyes. What they didn't know that I was already behind a wolf. I pierced its skull with the blade, killing it instantly. Noticing one of their allies died all of a sudden, the wolf became alerted and more confused. They were trying to comprehend what was happening. But it was in vain.
*Thud...*
*Thud...*
*Thud...*
*Thud...*
*Thud...*
*Thud...*
*Thud...*
*Thud...*
One by one, I killed the wolves before they knew it. My daggers coated with shadow essence would either kill the wolf, hitting its vitals or made them suffer towards an unavoidable death. A deep cut was enough for shadow essence to inflict a deadly injury which ate away its life force.
*Thud...*
*Thud...*
The cracking of lighting and flames combined filled the air. I approached another clueless wolf from behind. I penetrated my dagger deep inside a wolf and made my mana, fused with fire attribute, flow into it through the blade, blowing the wolf from inside. The pieces of meat and blood flew into the air, creating a rain out of its remains.
*Thud...*
*Thud...*
*Thud...*
*Thud...*
*Thud...*
After a few minutes of slaughter, I realized that the remaining 5 wolves had started to get a hold of my presence. I figured that it was because my entire body was covered in their brothers' and sisters' blood that they could smell me. Also, the ones which were still alive were mostly (G+)-rank, meaning they had a better chance at sensing my presence.
However, since I had used up most of my mana reserves, I wasn't going to be able to keep coating my body with mana. I decided that I would only use
I rushed towards one of the wolves. Since they were still stunned at how fast almost the entire pack was killed, the remaining wolves were disorganized, making them an easy prey for me.
The front legs of the wolf were glowing red. I dashed at the wolf, to which the wolf responded by attacking me head on. As it struck down with his claws, I didn't even make an effort to dodge it. I just horizontally sliced, chopping off its front legs. The wolf fell onto the ground face down, stopping just right next to my feet. The wolf struggled a few seconds to get up, but before it succeeded its horn was already chopped off.
*Thud...*
Suddenly, I sensed a wolf ready to attack at me from behind. But I was too late to react to its attack. I tried to create a barrier around the area the wolf was going to strike, only to realize I hadn't even had enough mana.
I felt an intense pain which struck my leg. I turned my head around and saw one of the wolves biting down to my thigh, piercing through my muscles. Due to the force of the impact, I fell onto the ground on the back, with the wolf's fangs still glued to my thigh.
"Aghhh!"
My slit eyes turned back into circles as the effects of
I, without thinking, swung my dagger with all the power left in my arm, aiming to wolf's head. The dagger penetrated its eye. I didn't stop there and fused the blade with lighting attribute, frying its brain with electricity. After I was sure the wolf died, I pushed its corpse away with my other leg.
I gulped down my only middle-level healing potion before getting up. The injury on my thigh started to heal immediately. I observed my surroundings. Though it was the middle of the night, I could see everything. I realized the wolves were somewhat aware of my presence, but they couldn't completely detect where I was.
I slowly took silent steps towards the 4 wolves, which had formed a circle to defend themselves from this invisible man.