The group of hunters have been walking for over six hours since they left the village. The sun had started to move downwards in the sky. Within a few more hours it would begin to fully set.
During that time, Ian had deskinned, gutted, and chopped up the rabbit he killed. Due to the amount of hunting he's done, he has learned to do all three while on the move.
The whole scene was amazing for Emmett and Kevin. They knew Ian had gone hunting a lot to test his skills and learn new ones, but they never imagined he'd learn something like this.
He had done it so effortlessly that it looked like he was juggling the pieces as he did all three.
"How the hell did you learn to do that?" Kevin asked Ian. He was eating a piece of jerky as he walked next to Ian.
Ian was messing around with his dagger as he said, "It wasn't easy. I first had to learn how to do all three of them while standing still. After mastering that, I had to find myself in a situation where a creature was chasing me to get my kill. I wasn't going to fight it nor was I going to give it my kill, so I started to process my kill on the run. It took a few attempts but eventually, I learned how to."
Both Kevin and Emmett found the explanation hard to believe but after seeing what Ian did they had to accept it.
"You guys should try it out sometime. It's not only helpful but also fun to do," Ian said with a big smile on his face.
Kevin gave him a weary smile and said, "I think I'll pass. I'm not big on learning hunting skills."
Kevin and Emmett weren't like Ian when it came to training. While Ian would go out hunting to train and learn new skills, Kevin would focus more on meditating and honing his perception. This allowed him to see things before most people and Identify danger, weaknesses, and other things more easily. He would also train with his element so he can have more control over it.
Emmett on the other hand focuses on pure offensive power. He would go into the forest not to hunt but to destroy large rocks and trees. He tries to make his fist as strong as he can even with his limited strength. At the same time, he would use his element to help him increase his destruction power. That's how he learned to make stone gauntlets when fighting.
Even though they all train differently and have different fighting styles, they can easily work with each other. Each one of them can cover the other's weaknesses.
However, Ian wasn't the best since he couldn't use his full power. He always found himself in trouble and would need saving from the others. But now that he has the gauntlets, he might stand a chance to fight on his own.
After traveling for two more hours, Erik stopped the group. He turned to everyone and said, "Alright everyone, we've arrived at our destination. The den is a fifteen-minute walk north from here so be on guard. We will set up a small base of operations here before we head out to the den. As soon as we start our attack, we'll have only two hours to hunt down all of the wolves and destroy the den before the sun sets. You all have thirty minutes to prepare."
Once Erik finished talking, everyone began to unpack and set up tents. They planned to stay for one night before heading back.
Ian, Emmett, and Kevin were going to share a tent so they worked together to set it up. Once they finished, they grabbed their weapons and threw their bags inside. They still had a few minutes left before they headed out so they began to eat some of the food they brought.
After their time was up, Erik called for everyone and said, "Alright everyone, we'll be heading out now. Remember to stay in your groups, return here in two hours, and call for help if you need it. Happy hunting."
After Erik finished, he bolted in the direction of the den. One even had time to react to him. Since he was the only crystal rank there, no one could keep up with him. After everyone processed what Erik did they all activated their powers and ran towards the den.
Ian and his group stayed behind a little bit longer. They wanted to wait for everyone to leave and where they would go so they could go to a different area to hunt for wolves.
After waiting for a few minutes, the three of them ran north towards the den but in a slightly different direction. After traveling for a few minutes they could hear the sounds of fighting. But upon a closer listen they could tell that it wasn't fighting they were hearing, it was a slaughter they were hearing.
The sound of multiple wolves being killed throughout the area filled the air. Along with the sound of dying wolves, they could hear explosions from the different elements colliding.
Ian, Emmet, and Kevin were smiling at the sounds. They thought they would only find a handful of wolves and not be able to kill one. But the constant sound of wolves dying gave them hope.
After running for five minutes, Ian, Emmett, and Kevin found their first wolf. It was trying to run from the chaos but they were able to intercept it.
Based on the look alone, they could tell that it was a silver rank. The wolf was medium-sized with gray fur. It was smaller than the described gold-rank wolves, but it was larger than a copper-rank wolf. Knowing this they all ran towards it to engage it.
The wolf noticed them and tried to run but then a wall appeared behind it. Emmett used his earth powers to create the wall so it couldn't escape. With nowhere to go, the wolf decided to fight them instead.
It opened its mouth and launched a gust of wind to send them flying away. But Kevin immediately intercepted the attack using his wind powers and canceled it out. Afterwards, he sent a compressed ball of air at the wolf, blasting it against the wall.
Seeing that the wolf was being badly suppressed, Ian decided to go in for the kill. He ran around behind the wolf and when it got blasted again by Kevin, he jumped on its back.
The wolf tried to throw Ian off but he held on to its fur tightly. Once Ian stabilized himself on the wolf, he took aim and stabbed it in its head. Ian's dagger pierced through the wolf's skull, killing it instantly.
The three of them cheered once the wolf fell. It was their first kill of the day and they took it out easily. Three of them started laughing and high-fiving each other for a few seconds before checking the wolf's body and stamping it so others could know they killed it.
Once they made sure it was dead and stamped, they continued into the forest. After traveling for a few seconds, they came across five brown fur-colored wolves.
The three of them knew that they were copper-rank wolves so they didn't hesitate to attack. Emmett crushed the heads of two of them with his stone gauntlets. Kevin used wind blades to slice one into pieces. Ian used his dagger to stab the last two in the neck. They quickly killed the five wolves, marked them, and continued moving forward.
The three of them traveled for almost thirty minutes. As they traveled, they killed twenty-seven wolves. Five of them were silver rank while the rest were copper rank.
Eventually, they encountered a group of three silver-rank wolves. Emmett and Kevin were excited to encounter them but Ian wasn't.
The past six silver wolves were each killed as a group, but now they each had to fight one. Ian wasn't sure if he could kill it so he looked towards Emmett and Kevin for help. But Kevin said, "Sorry man, we have our own to take care of. But we'll leave you the weakest one."
After Kevin finished, he pointed at one of the gray wolves that had bits of brown fur. This indicated that it had recently become silver rank and was not as strong as the others. Ian wasn't confident in his power but he would try his best.
Kevin and Emmett were fully engaged with their opponents. Emmett was using his stone gauntlets and earth powers to fight his wolf, while Kevin kept launching wind blasts and wind blades at his wolf.
In turn, the wolf that was facing Emmett used water powers against him. It blasted him with powerful jets of water, but Emmett easily pushed through them to land his attacks.
Kevin's wolf, however, was using wind powers against him. But it seemed that Kevin had better mastery over the element and would be able to defeat it fairly easily.
Ian had no Idea what element his wolf would use. Due to that, he had to take a more defensive stance.
The wolf he was up against seemed a bit skittish. It knew it could run but it didn't seem to want to fight. It just kept staring at Ian, waiting for him to make a move.
Ian had played this game before and wasn't interested in repeating it. He dashed at the wolf hoping to kill it quickly. But the wolf reacted in time and dodged his attack. Ian didn't care, he just as fast followed the wolf making sure to not let it out of his sight.
Even though the wolf was fast enough to dodge Ian's attack, it wasn't fast enough to dodge and counterattack. Ian seemed to know this as well. He kept chasing the wolf for a few minutes until he backed it up against the side of a cliff. Now that the wolf had nowhere to go, it would have to fight.
Ian didn't waste any time, he ran towards the wolf with his dagger ready to stab. He was aiming for the wolf's heart so he could end it in one hit. But when he was only a few meters away from the wolf, it opened its mouth. From it, a gust of wind came rushing out.
The wind hit Ian, stopping him from moving forward. However, the wind was not strong enough to push him back. He just couldn't move forward.
Knowing that the wolf could use the wind element, Ian had to start fighting around it. But after getting hit by the attack, he understood that the wolf's control and power with the wind element were weak.
He did not take any damage from the attack but it was able to stop his advances. That would be troublesome for someone like Ian.
Unlike most people, Ian could not use his newfound power for as long as others. Though the five crystals on each gauntlet looked full, the fifth one's light was starting to dim.
He had been hunting for around forty minutes and thanks to the crystals on his gauntlets, Ian could guess he was at around 90 percent power left. Even if he had enough power left, he didn't want to waste it on a single wolf.
By this point, Emmett and Kevin had finished fighting their opponents. Emmett had successfully managed to crush the skull of his wolf while taking minimal damage. It had only taken him a few minutes.
Kevin however, was able to kill his wolf fairly quickly. With his greater mastery over wind, he was able to slice his wolf into pieces using wind blades.
Now that they were finished, they decided to watch Ian fight from a distance. They didn't want to intervene but would stay on standby in case something happened.
Ian had been trying to stab the wolf from different angles but was stopped each time. No matter how he tried to approach the wolf he would always get hit by a wind attack to slow him down.
Eventually, Ian got fed up with the wolf and decided to use one of his hunting skills. Ian exited his attack stance and took a more casual standing position. He started walking around the wolf while keeping his gaze firmly on the wolf's face.
The wolf was a bit confused but did not let its guard down. It followed Ian as he walked around it, not wanting to let him out of its sight.
Kevin and Emmett were also watching Ian carefully. They wanted to know what kind of skill he would use.
Ian knew Kevin and Emmett were watching him so he had to make sure they were facing the same direction as the wolf for his skill to work. He kept walking slowly around the wolf, making sure he did laps around it. On the third lap around the wolf, he slowly walked behind a large tree while still making eye contact with the wolf.
The wolf, Kevin, and Emmett all watched as Ian walked behind the tree but did not emerge from it. The three of them waited for him to walk out from behind the tree, expecting him to launch an attack from it. But after a few minutes, the three of them got a feeling of danger.
The wolf could feel an intense amount of blood lust but it could tell from which direction. No matter where it turned it felt like there was danger coming behind it.
Kevin and Emmett could feel a similar thing. But they knew the sense of blood lust was coming from around the wolf and not around them. Even so, they still felt like something was going to crawl up behind them.
Whatever skill Ian was using, it was a chilling one. They had all lost track of him and were sure if he was still behind the tree or not.
The wolf kept turning in circles trying to find Ian. Eventually, its eyes landed on Kevina and Emmett. Seeing them standing in the distance, the wolf knew its companions were defeated.
The wolf and Kevin's eyes met. Kevin knew the wolf was afraid for its life but when their eyes met, it felt like the wolf was pleading to be left alone. Kevin didn't say anything, he just gave the wolf a face that said, "We will not attack you," while also nodding.
As Kevin did this, his eyes seemed to meet with something else. He immediately gained a shocked look on his face. Emmett followed his gaze and was also surprised by what they saw.
The wolf noticed their stares and turned to its left to see what they were looking at. But as soon as it started to turn, its front left leg was cut off. The wolf stumbled back due to the pain and turned to see what had attacked him.
Standing next to where it stood was Ian. he was covered in mud and leaves. He stood perfectly still staring at the wolf. His breathing was also perfectly controlled, making it difficult to notice him. He was more like a muddy statue than a person. No one had noticed the moment Ian appeared next to the wolf.
But the wolf didn't have time to be amazed. Seeing how close Ian was, it immediately opened its mouth to launch a wind attack at Ian. However, as soon as it opened its mouth, Ian slashed at it. His dagger made contact with the wolf's lower jaw, cutting it off.
Kevin and Emmett were astonished. Not only had Ian managed to close the gap between him and the wolf, but he had also managed to land massive blows.
The wolf was no longer able to run or use its wind powers. All it could was stare into the eyes of death.
Ian lifted his dagger and began slashing at the wolf. It took a few hits but he was able to cut off the wolf's head. With that, he could claim to have killed a silver-rank wolf.