Taking roasted wild boar meat from my inventory, I divided it into three portions on clay dishes. Since eating only meat can be bad for the body, I also added some fruit for myself and Rin.
"Here it is, a portion for each."
Unlike Kurama, Rin has not even started to eat and is already looking at me with hungry eyes.
"Don't worry, you can eat as much as you want when we get back to camp."
Feeling relieved at my words, she began to devour the food.
Still mulling over my disappointment of a few hours ago, I also started to eat.
At the moment I am very frustrated, and the reason is simple. After thoroughly searching the goblin lair from one side to the other, I have found nothing of value.
In fact, I didn't even find anything I could call loot. All I had were bones, and not even that many, since goblins eat bones too.
Saddened by my fruitless search, I wanted to find some more goblins to make up for my frustration. But after exploring a bit more of the surroundings, all I found were a few more wild boars.
Even though we had already picked up a bunch of them, since nothing rots in inventory, I didn't let them get away.
As it was almost noon after we finished our hunt, we moved away from the stench and here we are now having our lunch.
Despite the frustration, I cannot say that our hunt was bad, in fact, it was quite fruitful. I accumulated a considerable amount of essence.
Even if my desire is to distribute everything immediately, this is not yet the time to do this. I have some very plausible reasons for this.
What we need now is not an immediate increase in power, but to learn to control what we already have.
Although it doesn't seem really necessary, considering that we can always leave it for later, I still prefer to do it now.
When fighting the goblins, Rin made a few slip-ups due to not being used to her greater-than-usual strength. When she is giving her all, she has trouble keeping her body balanced with each blow.
Since we were fighting goblins, which we are used to, everything ended well. But nothing prevents the worst from happening when we are fighting a stronger monster.
Any carelessness can be fatal.
The same applies to Kurama and me, but since we are more careful, nothing serious really happened.
As a matter of curiosity, I had to put a top on Rin.
Although her breasts are quite small, when she makes sudden movements, they jiggle a lot. Even if it's not enough to affect me, it's better if she wears the right clothes, right?
With the old leather I got from another goblin, I tore it a bit and after a few knots, tied it around her chest.
Unfortunately, the subject in question did not share my opinion. Due to her refusal, I had to force her to wear it, which consequently put her in a bad mood.
To compensate for this, I used a low blow again. After massaging her shoulders and whispering in her ears, she easily agreed to wear the top.
This is a very effective strategy against her that I will probably have to use a lot against her.
Leaving that aside, after level 10 I noticed that my stamina increased considerably even without me allocating essence to this attribute. Even after several fights and still walking at a fast pace, I didn't feel such a big impact.
This could be either due to the fact that I have passed the level 10 bottleneck or it could also be an effect of the physical improvement caused by Self-Evolution, that said, I have no way of knowing which it was.
Well, it could be the effect of the two together too, but it really doesn't make any difference, the important thing is that I am getting stronger.
Just a short break to eat and drink a little was enough to get you ready to start hunting again.
Since we still have plenty of time before nightfall, I have decided to extend our path on the way back to camp.
I intended to explore a bit more of the forest and see if we can find any more goblins.
If possible, I also want to take the opportunity to catch the wolves. After that massacre with the goblins, they must also have considerably reduced their numbers and have some wounded among them.
Should I encounter small groups of wolves, I now have the confidence to eliminate them with the element of surprise.
Wolves are intelligent, so they attack only when they have the advantage. Since they will think we are weaker than they are, we are certainly quite attractive.
However, it's not as if I have lost my fear of wolves. It's just that it's different now. If there are a lot of them that we can't handle, we can just climb a tree, wait for them to get away, and then escape.
As I've proven, I know that Rin can climb with relative ease, and although Kurama can't do the same, it's easy for me to climb with him.
***
It really didn't take long before we found a group of six wolves while we were exploring.
As I watched them from behind a tree, I felt uncontrollable anger growing inside Rin. Along with this, her will to advance on them was increasing just as rapidly.
It seems that I am not the only one who holds a grudge against them.
Putting my index finger over her mouth, I stopped her from making any noise. Although it's a number we can handle, I still want to watch a little more just in case they have reinforcements nearby.
Peeping, even after a few minutes, all we could see was that they were eating a deer and nothing else.
Although no other wolves appeared, those who were feasting on the carcass seemed to have noticed us.
Since wolves have more sensitive hearing and smell than goblins, I already expected this. But although they noticed us and looked in our direction, they showed no sign of wanting to attack us.
Since this is the case, it looks like we will be the ones going to them.
"Let's go," I said quietly.
Walking slowly, we went towards them. Although they were cautious and stopped eating, the wolves didn't run away.
When we reached the two-meter mark, the wolves showed us their prey while growling. Despite this, they didn't show the slightest sign of attacking.
Are they wary because we come to them carelessly?
With them that way, it is a good time to see the effectiveness of the Calm Down sub-skill, but at the moment, I believe they are not the best guinea pigs. Because the wolves are loyal to the alpha of the pack, they may not be completely on my side.
With that said, let's eliminate them.
Trying to provoke them, I took a rock from my inventory and threw it in their direction. Due to the short distance, the rock reached its target quickly.
*Grunt*
Although it was not my intention, I ended up hitting the rib of one of them.
Seemingly no longer tolerant of our presence, the wolves began to move.
Acting with the same formation they used last time, the wolves began to surround us.
To their misfortune, we are not the same as last time. Spreading out like this was a very bad move on their part.
"Kurama, it's your time to shine," pointing to the wolf in front of us, I continued, "Get him!"
Without any hesitation whatsoever, Kurama used his Sprint skill as he lunged forward.
Since we were very close to the wolves, Kurama's speed gave the wolf no time to react.
Using his other skill, Violent Bite, Kurama aimed his target's neck. Showing the power of his jaws, he easily lacerated the wolf's throat.
Instigated, the wolves on both sides attacked, but I had expected this.
With Rin intercepting the three coming from our rear, I instructed Kurama to go to the one on the right and I intercepted the one on the left.
Without being able to catch up with my sword draw, I easily broke the wolf's torso.
As for Kurama, despite being slightly smaller, due to the level difference, he was completely dominating his opponent.
Turning around, Rin had already taken down one and incapacitated the second while holding the neck of the third one.
"Wait!" I yelled, before she tried to kill that wolf in her hands. "We're going to need it."
Although she didn't understand my motives, she didn't deliver a final blow, but as the wolf was struggling, she threw it to the ground and stepped on its neck.
While I was admiring how cool she looked, Kurama came over to me while rubbing himself against my legs.
"Although that was considerably easy, I still prefer dealing with the dumb goblins."
As I rejoiced in our victory, the wolf again struggled and grunted under Rin's feet.
"Let him go," I said.
Confused, Rin looked at me.
"We need him alive to lead us to the others. Unlike goblins, wolves are not the type to fight blindly to the death. When outnumbered, they will run away, and that's what we want."
Although reluctantly, Rin kicked the wolf that rolled away, but soon it stood up and ran through the forest.
The direction he ran off to was completely opposite our camp.
"Kurama, follow his trail. It's time for our revenge."
***
Keeping a considerable distance, we followed the wolf using Kurama's nose. After a few minutes following him, we arrived at what appeared to be a cave at the foot of a mountain.
Due to the wolves' sense of smell, we didn't get as close as we did last time. But even from a distance, I could see the arrival of the wolf at the cave entrance. Coming to meet him, the other wolves came out from inside and started sniffing him.
As far as I could see, there were about twenty-one normal wolves and the giant black wolf.
Apparently, when the goblins chased them, their numbers were reduced significantly.
That's going to be hard...
Even if we are stronger, trying to face so many is suicide.
Trying to deal with them the same way we used to kill the remaining goblins in the lair probably won't work. Given their speed, it's likely that Kurama won't be able to separate them.
Among the wolves there is also a different factor, the giant wolf. I don't know yet the limits of its strength and speed, so it's better not to risk Kurama's safety.
That said, I still need to study their behavior to create a plan.
Searching the ground, I easily found a stone the size of a fist.
Since the distance is great, I positioned myself well and used all the strength of my arm to throw the stone.
*Plack*
Unfortunately, due to my horrible aim, the stone hit a tree before it even traveled one fifth of the distance.
Due to the loud sound of the impact, the wolves became alert. However, instead of running carelessly, some wolves began to approach carefully as they continued in packs.
Trying to separate them before they arrived, I threw another rock at another tree in a different direction.
Although they took a while due to caution, some wolves started to approach the site of the second stone.
"hooowwwl~~"
Standing at the entrance to the cave, the giant wolf howled and all the wolves stopped.
It seems that he is cautious because of yesterday's battle.
Taking advantage that they were not looking in my direction, I copied Rin and used heavy blow to throw another stone.
Although my target was one of the wolves, the result was no different from the other pitches.
Acting contrary to my intention, the wolves became even more cautious and on the giant wolf's command, they returned to the cave.
"That will be even harder than I thought..."
With temporary failure in hand, we started our way back to the camp.
But this is not the end yet, I already have an idea of how to deal with the wolves.
For the sake of this plan, I have ordered Kurama to look for rabbits.