Chapter 12: Hunting!
After traveling for around an hour, Aakesh reached the location specified in the quest.
He felt a rumble coming from his stomach, as he had been in the game for quite a few hours now and he still hadn't eaten anything.
Since Aakesh's attributes here allowed him to stay hungry longer than he could in the real world, Aakesh decided to control his hunger and eat it after completing the quest.
Aakesh returned his focus to the surroundings in front of him. The area was eerily quiet, with no sign of the wolf pack he was supposed to catch.
"Where could they be?" Aakesh muttered to himself. His eyes scanned the surrounding forest for any sign of the wolves. He had expected this to be the situation since an exiled group wouldn't stay close to the original group.
Suddenly, he heard a faint growl from behind the nearby bushes. Aakesh tensed up as he instinctively took two steps back. If not for his exceptional attributes, Aakesh would have failed to hear the growl.
After taking a deep breath, Aakesh slowly crept toward the tree. His heart was pounding in a mixture of fright and excitement.
It was a large forest spanning several hundred miles. Countless trees of various sizes and large bushes covered the entire land. It was heaven for the beasts.
Since Aakesh was only in the outer areas of the jungle, he didn't worry about coming across high-level beasts. But since anything could happen, Aakesh was slow and as silent as he could in his steps.
As he rounded the large bush, he saw the wolf pack, their yellow eyes glowing menacingly in the dim light. He raised his eyes in surprise, as he didn't expect to find the wolves so easily and quickly.
The pack consisted of three newborn cubs, two young wolves, and two mature wolves, as detailed in the quest.
The three newborn cubs were lactating; the father and the two young wolves were growling toward Aakesh, killing intent clearly present in their eyes. The mother also growled after seeing a stranger come this close to the group.
The newborn cubs, who hadn't even opened their eyes, seemed to have no reaction as they peacefully drank the milk.
Aakesh knew he had to act quickly. The father and mother were both Level 3, which was clearly a level higher than what the quest's details stated. The young wolves were both Level 1, no concern for Aakesh, so he ignored them for the moment.
Since the mother also couldn't charge up to Aakesh immediately, the only opponent that had a slight capability to hurt Aakesh was the father and the leader of the group.
Aakesh focused on the father and lunged at it.
At the same time, the wolf also acted since it could sense danger from the stranger.
The wolf growled at the two young wolves and then lunged back at Aakesh, its powerful jaws narrowly missing Aakesh's arm.
Aakesh hadn't been to battle, so he flustered at the end, giving up his chance of attack and backed away.
The wolf thought the stranger to be backing away, so it growled menacingly and charged at him once again.
Aakesh's attributes were high, but since his body had never been in a fight, it wasn't accustomed to such strength. Aakesh backed further and further, only to stop when a tree blocked his way.
The wolf seemed to be in no mood to enjoy the hunting since it had its children to protect, the wolf lunged at Aakesh, aiming at his throat.
Thud!
A loud sound rang in the area as Aakesh moved away at the last second, the wolf's jaws clashing with the tree.
The insane power of the jaws presented itself as the wolf bit a chunk of wood from the tree. Aakesh had no mood to care about the situation as he was slowly getting in rhythm.
His movements were getting quicker and in his control. Aakesh didn't even sense the injury on his shoulder.
The wolf was slowly getting tired. It then looked behind at its family, an intelligent emotion passing through its eyes as it howled at the two young wolves whom it had ordered to stay away from the fight earlier.
The young wolves growled back, but the wolf had already turned around and decided to put everything into the next strike.
Aakesh didn't know what had happened as he suddenly sensed extreme danger from the wolf.
Aakesh decided to attack this time and not only defend, as he turned his right hand into a fist and charged at the wolf. The wolf also lunged at Aakesh as its last attempt.
***
Growl! Growl!
The two young wolves growled at their mother wolf. It howled back as if it couldn't accept what the young wolves were saying.
Growl! Growl!
The young wolves growled again and looked back at their father's silhouette. They seemed to have made up their minds as they rushed toward their mother and grabbed a newborn cub each by the scruff of its neck.
The mother wolf growled in anger, but the two young wolves seemed to feel no fear as they began running from the area.
The mother growled again and again, but she seemed to get no reaction from the two young wolves. At that moment, she seemed to have made up her mind as she also grabbed the last remaining newborn using the scruff of its neck and stood up to follow the two young wolves.
***
Aakesh, who seemed to have forgotten everything around him and was completely immersed in the battle, didn't notice the two young wolves and the mother leaving.
Whimper!
Suddenly a whimper rang in the area, breaking Aakesh out of his concentration.
When he looked at the source, he saw the mother wolf pleadingly looking at him. When he looked at the ground, he found the father wolf lying on the ground, gasping for breath. When he looked at himself, he found his hands in the form of a fist.
Aakesh felt his entire back wet with sweat, as he had lost himself completely in the battle. At that moment, he seemed to be completely unaware of his surroundings.
If the mother wolf were to attack him at that time, he wouldn't have died due to his large HP, but a grave injury would have appeared across his body.
At the same time, Aakesh was also surprised by the intelligent look in the mother wolf's eyes.
Aakesh seemed to struggle at that moment, as he didn't know whether to kill the wolf or not.
Aakesh wouldn't have struggled if he was also like other adventurers and thought of the creatures here as nothing but a program. But he knew that this world was real, as were the beings living in it.
***
A/N: What do you think Aakesh would choose?
Aakesh is a selfish character, so many of the things he would do would be hypocritical for others, but for him, they would be right.