Before the day get completely clear, we left the camp and headed downstream. I planned to avoid the forest and again go to the vicinity of the goblin lair to hunt. Despite the risks, at the moment, this was the best place for me to strengthen myself.
For about an hour we had a quiet and uneventful walk, that is until I spotted a herd of deer drinking water in the river.
Since the wind was in my favor, they couldn't smell me, and because this stretch of the river is a closed forest, they couldn't see me.
Although animals are not a good source of XP compared to monsters, every source of it is always welcome.
Instructing Rin to stay hidden until I told her to come out, I went deep into the forest with Kurama. Trying not to make any noise, we slowly approached the rear of the herd.
Watching the deer that were still quietly drinking water, I hid behind a tree.
Taking Kurama in my arms, I turned him toward the exposed flank of the herd of deer and pointed with my index finger.
"Go get them, buddy!" I said in a low voice.
Dropping Kurama to the ground, he immediately left. At the same instant, I also sent an order to Rin, making her expose herself to the herd.
Just as I expected, when they spotted an approaching goblin, the deer went on alert, turning their heads to check their surroundings.
Even if they discovered it now, it didn't matter, there was no way the plan could fail anymore.
I picked up a rock from the ground and threw it over the deer, causing it to fall into the river.
The sudden noise startled them, causing those who were in the river to rush out of the water.
"Guiiii!"
Doing her part, Rin advanced towards them while shouting.
Kurama, although not a frightening scream like Rin's, his presence was soon noticed.
With enemies on both sides and something having spooked them in the water, the deer had only one escape route, behind them. More precisely, the place where I was hiding and ready for ambush.
As I expected, they came at full speed towards me and without missing an opportunity, I cut off the first two that passed me.
After seeing their compatriots get knocked down, the deer tried to avoid me, but that was not enough to stop me.
While I managed to take down three more, Rin was doing her best as she passed me chasing the deer. Because we hadn't hunted anything for the past two weeks, she was excited to get some prey.
Since I was also a bit excited to get rid of the accumulated angst and stress, I also chased them into the forest.
Even though my level was more than double theirs, the disparity in our speed was enormous.
While not even ten seconds had passed since the beginning of our chase, I heard the shrill cry of a non-Rin goblin coming from the direction in which the deer were heading. At the same instant, the herd changed its direction.
"Stop!"
I ordered Rin and Kurama to cease the chase.
"Come over here."
Although I was used to hunting goblins and wanted to gain XP, I needed to be cautious.
Seconds after the first scream, I heard more screams again, but unlike what I expected, they were not getting closer. Due to my experience in hearing goblin screams, their number was probably between two and four individuals.
This was a number we could easily handle. However, since they were shouting menacingly without approaching from our direction, they were probably dealing with some enemy.
Hiding among the trees, I walked carefully, heading in the direction of the goblins with Kurama and Rin coming up behind me.
After walking a few meters, the scene I came across made my heart almost jump out of my chest.
Although there were only three goblins, not far away from them were nine wolves showing their sharp fangs.
If five had already been a problem for us, I don't even want to imagine what nine could do.
Fortunately, as far as I could tell, they were ready to fight the goblins that were standing next to the half-eaten carcasses of three wolves.
Looking carefully at the surroundings, I noticed that there were four dead goblins on the ground. From the wounds on their bodies, it seems that they died not long ago fighting the wolves.
Judging by the current situation, what was about to happen was the second round when more wolves arrived to disrupt the goblins' meal.
Even at a three-to-one disadvantage, with the goblins' hot blood coupled with their inability to feel fear, it didn't take long for the fight between the groups to begin.
As this was the second time I had witnessed such a scene, and adding the dead goblins and wolves on the ground, it was likely that conflict between the two races was common in the region.
In the end, as I expected, it was a complete victory for the wolves. While all three goblins died, only two wolves seemed slightly injured.
Unfortunately, because I was too far away, I did not get any XP for the dead goblins.
I have great confidence in my hunting plans, but while other animals were easily fooled, wolves are a tough nut to crack even for human intelligence.
Although I am eager to level up, the safety of my teammates and myself comes first.
Just as I was ready to turn around and sneak away, more goblins appeared as they emitted their war cries.
This time it was a group of six, they were probably nearby and were attracted by the cries of those the wolves had killed.
While I postponed my retreat and continued to hide and wait for a fight to break out so that I could reap the rewards, the wolves retreated. Although they kept their distance, they didn't run away and just kept watching from afar while howling.
It seems that they don't enter combat if it seems disadvantageous to them.
As the goblins were tearing the three dead wolves to pieces on the ground, four more goblins arrived. Ignoring the carcasses of the wolves that they already owned, they went straight for the goblin corpses and started devouring them.
The fact that goblins are cannibals was something I already knew after reading the glossary. Although they don't actively kill their compatriots, if they are already dead, goblins don't let food be wasted.
While the goblins were getting fed up, their numbers were not the only ones to increase. Cautiously scanning the surroundings, I noticed that a few more wolves had arrived. But despite their numerical advantage, they continued to watch from afar.
The more time went by, the more wolves I could see, there were at least twenty-five.
What the hell is this?!
Why are there so many wolves around here?
As more wolves were constantly arriving, I knew that staying here was not a good idea, so I moved away as quickly as possible.
***
"Damn! Why are there so many wolves here?"
It seems that when we were confronting the wolves, my choice to act fast when they howled was a good idea, otherwise we wouldn't be here to tell the story.
With so many wolves like this around the area, it was lucky that I didn't run into more of them earlier.
Given the circumstances, I seriously considered going back to the cave, but I couldn't stay stuck there all the time. If I did that, it would only be a matter of time before the wolves find me.
Of course, this situation also made me realize something, and this seems like a great opportunity.
If I can't go head-to-head with the wolves, I can simply get them killed by fighting the goblins. After all, according to my understanding, they seem to be the biggest predators in the area and lucky for me, they easily come into conflict.
Although I didn't know if it would work, I opted to put a plan in action instead of hiding and just waiting.
From my explorations, I knew that the lair infested of goblin was not far away, and it was near there that I would execute my plan.
Acting as quickly and discreetly as possible, I went deep into the forest and then made my way back in the direction of the river while passing a few hundred meters away from the goblin lair.
Obviously, I didn't risk it for anything. On the way back, I scattered most of the viscera and all the blood that I had stored in the inventory.
After that, I moved away a little, but not too far, and stayed in standby mode.
Of course, since it was quite risky, I didn't stay on the ground. I climbed a tree with many branches and dense leaves. Although it was a bit laborious, along with me I also brought Rin and Kurama.
While I was prepared to stay here for at least a few hours, my wait did not last long.
Going far beyond my expectations, the number of creatures that gathered was far beyond what I expected.
The number of wolves that appeared was enormous. The euphoric way they moved made it hard to tell the exact number of them, but it was at least a hundred. As they were howling, I believe that number would increase constantly.
As for the goblins, their numbers didn't seem smaller. But unlike the wary wolves, they just started eating all the entrails scattered on the ground.
However, this didn't last long. After the amount of wolves increased considerably, and their numbers became clearly bigger than that of the goblins, the confrontation became inevitable.
Watching everything from a safe place while hoping they would kill each other as much as possible, I noticed a wolf with a darker coat. Even though I say darker, while the others are gray, he was completely black.
It was at least twice as big as a normal wolf. According to the Glossary, it is classified not as an animal, but as a monster.
It was a level 10 species called giant wolf. While I was anxious to see the feats it could do at the level I was aiming for, I tried to find something like a goblin king, but there was nothing of the sort on the goblin side.
Standing completely still in the treetop, I watched the place turn into a bloody battlefield.
In less than ten minutes, more than half of the wolves and goblins that were fighting fiercely were already dead.