When Kayn woke up the next day, he decided to review the details about the ranking mission. It was only required that he bring back the tails and claws for proof of completion, but Kayn wanted do his best at bringing the entire body back to sell it.
Thinking along these lines, he decided he would use the same tactic that he had when hunting deer, with the only difference being the killing blow would be performed with his swords instead of magic.
Kayn informed Elder Loren that he may be gone for a couple of days in search of medicinal herbs and to not worry about if he was going to disappear on her or not. The old healer just nodded her head and told him to be careful as a few dangerous rune beast packs had been spotted in the forests near the village.
Before Kayn left town, he decided to rent a hand drawn cart so that he wouldn't have to somehow drag or carry his kills back and could just put them on the cart and wheel it around with him.
Kayn traveled into the forest while on the lookout for the plants he needed for his six gathering missions as well as any herbs that could be used medicinally for healing tonics rather than using spells. Although magic was always the quicker way, most could not use anything besides basic healing spells to cure cuts or small wounds. Healing magic was more complex than other fields simply because of the understanding required to successfully use the spells.
Kayn had brought along some food with him so that he wouldn't have to hunt as well, even if it would be easy. Elder Loren was nice enough to share some bread and other vegetables that came from her garden since Kayn had shared a lot of fresh meat.
The day passed with Kayn wandering around the forest searching for the wolves with no luck. In fact, the only wild life he spotted was a couple of chatty squirrels who ended up throwing acorns at him when he got too close to their tree nest.
He set up camp for the night and cooked some of the meat and vegetables he brought along into a stew before going to sleep.
…
The next day he awoke and continued where he had left off. By now he only had to collect a special fungus and then he would complete all six of the gathering missions.
By midday he finally found the fungus and while he was collecting it, he managed to spot some telltale signs of the passage of wolves nearby. He followed the signs until he came upon two two-tailed wolves who were slumbering under the shade of a tree.
Two-tailed wolves weren't much more dangerous compared to normal wolves, except for that fact that they could use mana to imbue the rune on their tails with a type of wind magic that would then act like whips.
'Wow, what luck!' Kayn thought to himself as he manipulated the shadows to restrain both wolves. He had practiced a lot with this skill once he discovered it, so while he wasn't masterful, he was proficient enough in it for his current needs.
As they felt the pressure around their bodies they woke up and began to growl, but no matter how they tried, they weren't able to get up from their spots.
Kayn withdrew one of his swords and slowly approached his prey. Since he wanted to have their bodies in the best condition to sell, he needed to kill them in the cleanest manner possible. However, he also didn't want to reveal all of his elemental aptitudes by leaving traces on the wounds, so using his sword to cleanly chop off the head was what he decided on.
In two swift movements, both wolves had lost their heads. Kayn didn't want the blood to ruin their pelts or meat, so he hung both bodies by the tails and allowed the blood to drain.
While he didn't exactly need to rest, Kayn appreciated it since manipulating shadows drained his mana at a much faster rate than other spells. He wanted to be at his peak in the case he found the D-class alpha wolf.
Kayn was positive he could deal with it fairly easily, but he decided to try and not underestimate his enemies. Since he promised his mother that he would be safe, he always had to take the right precautions and go above and beyond with his preparations.
After the blood was fully drained from both bodies with a little help from water magic, Kayn placed them onto the cart and began to wheel it toward his next area of search.
…
It wasn't until several hours later and a lot more wandering before Kayn spotted evidence of the pack again. However, he didn't just see it, he could hear it. Jumping out from behind the cart push bar, he climbed a tree and traveled across branches to reach the place where he could hear fighting.
Once he arrived, he spotted three wolves feasting upon the body of what Kayn could only guess was a man in his later teenage years. The body was almost too mangled to tell who or what it belonged to.
What alerted Kayn the most was that three other E-class wolves and the D-class alpha had surrounded a young woman. There was a broken bow on the ground near her and she was wielding what was left of a shield, currently trying to defend from the wolves.
She was doing her best to fend off the wolves and block their advances, but she had several wounds on both limbs and looked like she was about to run out of energy. There were also three dead wolves on the ground in the area, possibly defeated before her partner was killed.
For Kayn, he wanted to save her, but he also wasn't supposed to reveal his full strength. Thinking so, he decided the elements he would reveal would be earth and wind as these two were good for restraint and attack combinations.
Kayn focused on the group of four before focusing on the group of three that were currently feasting. He assumed that they wouldn't interrupt their meal just to go kill another prey when they had one in front of them. However, he did subtly use shadows to bind their feet just in case, even if it was taxing on his mana pool.
As Kayn jumped from the tree he was in, he used an earth spell which made the ground sand-like in order to sink the wolves' paws and legs into the ground as much as possible while also using a wind spell that created a downward pressure.
Unfortunately for the young woman, both spells were area of effect spells so she began to sink into the ground as well, so she voiced her opinion. "Are you crazy! What's wrong with you??"
Kayn remained silent as using multiple spells at the same time was straining his core, especially the shadow manipulation. He rushed forward while sending multiple wind blades towards the three wolves in his line of sight, but he couldn't use them on the alpha who was behind the woman.
The wind blades hit the three wolves on their limbs, easily separating their legs from the bodies. While they weren't dead, they didn't pose a threat anymore unless he stepped near their heads.
However, as he ran by one of the disabled wolves to reach the alpha with his swords, he was whipped in the back of the legs, which caused him to be sent flying forward for a few meters and right into the biting range of the alpha.
The alpha sunk its teeth into Kayn's left forearm before he could get out of the way. Luckily the fangs were only able to puncture the material of his long shirt and didn't rip his arm completely apart. His father did tell him cut resistant, not puncture resistant.
Unluckily, his arm was broken due to the strength of the bite. Since the wolf's feet were still sunk into the ground and Kayn was still trying to get back on his feet with his arm in the wolf's mouth, he used his right sword to stab into the wolf's skull.
The alpha immediately went limp, but the strength of its jaws didn't decrease as it still held onto Kayn's arm. He had to drop his sword in his right hand to open the jaws off of his left arm.
Kayn released both the earth and wind spells he had kept active to allow the girl to regain her freedom. He then picked up his left sword with his right hand and sheathed it before once again wielding his right sword.
"I'll tend to you once I finish off these last few," Kayn said in a monotone voice while looking at the wounded woman.
Kayn quickly dispatched the three disabled wolves and walked towards the other three who had been looking in his direction for a while now. They still weren't able to move due to the shadows, and to cover that up, Kayn once again deployed his earth and wind spells.
He was disappointed with himself and he was done underestimating these wolves, so he just summoned earth spikes to stab through their heads from the ground.
He knew he had to deal with his broken arm, but he couldn't use healing magic in front of the person he just saved. So, he simply grabbed a couple of sticks and splinted his arm after putting the bones in place.
Kayn then helped the young woman out of the sunken earth and had her sit down. He sat next to her as he began to pull several bandages and herbs he had just collected out of his bag.
Mixing a few of the herbs into a poultice, he packed each of her wounds with it before wrapping them up to the best of his ability with his limited mobility in one arm. She had several deep gashes on her abdomen, arms, and legs. So, Kayn had to mix the poultice several times to cover all of her wounds.
The woman passed out during this process from the pain and exhaustion. Kayn couldn't just leave her out in the open, so he placed her on his cart as well as the bodies of the wolves and began to look for shelter for the night.
…
Fortunately, he was able to find a cave and he brought the corpses and girl inside of it and barricaded the entrance with the cart.
He didn't forget to grab the adventurer's plate of the dead guy, but he didn't want to bring a torso with only a head back with him. If he was important to the girl she could go back later on.
Kayn placed a couple bedrolls on the ground, as he always carried an extra one in case of bad weather, and laid the girl on top of it. While he was carrying her, he noticed she had similar pointed ears as himself. She didn't fully look like how an elf was described to him, so he assumed she was probably a half-elf.
'D-rank and her name is Kinzie huh?' Kayn glanced at the bronze plate that was hanging from her neck while laying her down and ensuring her comfort before moving with his own bedroll to the back of the cave.
He was physically exhausted, but he needed to deal with his arm before the tissues got worse or he got an infection. He had to use almost all of his remaining mana on a personal healing spell of his to mend the bones back together.
It took a mixture of the dark element to clean the broken areas of any debris, earth to bring all the necessary elements for bones into the proper areas, water to flood the tissue with blood, and light to grow new bone and mend the broken parts back together like new.
He didn't have enough mana left over to heal the bruises or puncture wounds and his spell only focused on the bones, so he rewrapped his arm and decided to get some well-deserved sleep.