An Unusual Wolf Pack

With his previous experience, Sifa now knew what that rank, musky smell meant.

It was the scent given off by wild wolves!

Now that smell was so intense. How many wild wolves would it take to produce such a stench?

Sifa immediately drew the Serpent-Scale Revolver from beneath his arm. His action visibly startled Leon.

"Move!"

Sifa shouted, "A large number of wild wolves are coming this way."

Leon froze as well. Before he could say anything, he heard rustling and saw the grass ahead shaking.

The Hunters stopped what they were doing, raised their hunting rifles, and aimed them at the grass.

Without warning, a black shadow lunged out from the woods on the left. It was so fast that the Hunters could not react in time. Even Leon only managed to shift his gaze toward where the shadow had appeared.

Under the sunlight, an adult male wolf opened its bloody maw. Its gleaming white fangs, spattering saliva, bit toward the bearded man.

The wolf's shadow had already enveloped the Hunter. The bearded man stood beneath the shadow of death, unable to respond.

Bang!

A deafening gunshot exploded beside them. The male wolf's head jerked sharply aside. Fur flew as a bullet hole appeared in its skull, and it died before even hitting the ground.

Still carried by inertia, the wolf's corpse slammed into the bearded man. The powerful impact knocked the Hunter to the ground with the corpse in his arms. When he climbed back up, he saw that Sifa had somehow arrived at his side.

The young baron stared sharply ahead, his arm holding the revolver extended steadily. With the blazing sun behind him, he seemed gilded in gold, like a deity descending upon the world.

Before the Hunters had recovered, two more male wolves pounced from the grass in front of them. Baring their fangs and claws, green light glowing in their eyes, they charged the crowd.

Bang! Bang!

Two gunshots rang out.

Sifa's revolver and Leon's hunting rifle fired at the same time. The heads of the two charging wolves exploded midway through their rush. Their bodies rolled several times from inertia before coming to a stop near the clearing.

Only then did Sifa have time to examine the male wolves. He discovered that these wolves were somewhat larger than the gray wolves they had hunted before.

The muscles in many parts of the wolf corpses seemed to have swelled explosively in an extremely short period of time, leaving those areas without any fur. This rapid growth was also evident in the one or two bones that had burst through their skin.

The reason they protruded from the bodies was likely the same as the muscles.

Their claws and teeth were sharper and longer than those of ordinary wolves. Their teeth in particular faintly curled outward, forcing the flesh around their mouths upward into several distinct folds.

"What's going on?"

Unease was plainly written across Leon's face. "I've never seen anything like this."

"Whatever they are, there should be quite a few more nearby." Sifa warily scanned their surroundings. Although he saw nothing unusual, faint sounds reached his ears from nearby.

There were quite a few more of these frenzied wolves. They were circling around without rushing to attack, but the oppressive feeling in the air was impossible to ignore.

"Fall back into the cave first!"

Leon directed everyone to retreat into the cave. With only one entrance to defend, the pressure would be much lower.

After everyone had retreated into the cave, one sturdy male wolf after another emerged from the grass and woods around the clearing. These clearly abnormal beasts did not rush to attack or howl. They merely watched the cave with their green-glowing eyes.

Then several male wolves stepped forward, picked up the corpses of their kind from the ground, and tossed them into the pack.

The wolf pack erupted into a frenzy. Blood splashed everywhere as some of the wolves actually tore into and devoured their own kind. The gruesome sight left the Hunters dumbstruck.

Suddenly, an unusual cry sounded from behind the pack. "Huh, huh huh huh—"

It did not sound like a wolf howl, but more like a human imitating a beast's call. At that moment, two male wolves charged toward the cave entrance. Without needing Leon's reminder, the Hunters raised their guns and fired.

The thunder of hunting rifles echoed through the mountains. The two male wolves were instantly riddled with bullets and collapsed in the clearing.

"Huh huh huh."

The strange sound rang out behind the wolf pack again. Like a command, it urged another male wolf to fearlessly charge the cave. Naturally, it met the same fate as the ones before it.

"Something's wrong!"

Leon cried out, pressing down the hunting rifle of the companion beside him. "Those beasts seem to be deliberately wearing down our ammunition."

His words were like a bucket of cold water poured over them.

Sifa instinctively felt around in his pocket. When he had left home today, he had only brought three cylinders' worth of bullets.

He had used five rounds to demonstrate his marksmanship at the logging camp, then fired two more just now. He only had eleven bullets left!

The others did not have many bullets remaining either. Looking back, their barrage against the charging wolves had been terribly wasteful.

The bearded man swallowed. "You're joking, right? Wolves are smart, but they can't be clever enough to use tactics, can they?"

Leon did not answer, because the facts were right in front of him. He crouched at the cave entrance, observing the wolf pack as he said worriedly, "They aren't in a hurry to attack. It seems they want to trap us here."

"By nightfall, when we're hungry and exhausted, death will come for us."

The bearded man pulled a bottle of liquor from his pack and took a swig, using it to ease his frayed nerves.

Sifa walked over, took the bottle, and sniffed it. The liquid inside had a strong smell and seemed to be hard liquor. An idea flashed through his mind, and he called out, "We can use this to hold off the wolf pack for now, then take the chance to leave."

Without waiting for Leon's response, Sifa tore off a corner of his shirt and ripped it into a strip of cloth. He dipped one end into the bottle and shouted, "Quick! Someone start a fire."

The bearded man immediately took out some flint, picked up a branch, and started a fire.

Sifa lit the cloth at the mouth of the bottle, then rushed out of the cave and hurled the improvised "firebomb" toward the wolf pack with all his strength. Hunter's strength allowed him to easily throw the bottle in front of the pack. It shattered against the hard rocky ground, and the alcohol-fed flames formed a band of fire that separated them from the wolves.

Seeing this, Leon shouted, "Run!"

The Hunters rushed out of the cave and sprinted toward the forest on the other side while the flames held the wolf pack back.

Sifa and Matthew stayed close behind Leon. They were unfamiliar with Awwabergen Mountain, and getting lost in the mountains would be a serious problem.

Perhaps they had run too hurriedly, or perhaps the trees in the mountains were too thick. A short while later, Sifa discovered that aside from himself and his servant, Leon, and the bearded man, the other Hunters had vanished.

They slid down a grassy slope. As they emerged from the brush, Sifa called out to stop the two Hunters who were about to rush onward.

"Wait!"

He ran toward a large tree nearby and tore down several thick, tough vines. "Those things have a keen sense of smell. They'll catch up with us sooner or later. We probably can't outrun those four-legged beasts in these mountains, so we need to make trouble for them."

Sifa slipped into the grass and used the vines to make several "tripwires." This trap-making knowledge came from the potion. Even though it was his first time making them, he handled it as skillfully as if he had done it hundreds of times.

Seeing this, Leon called to the bearded man, "Animal trap!"

Understanding immediately, the bearded man placed the animal trap outside the grass. If the wolf pack came after them, any wolves tripped by the wires would fall into it. Unfortunately, they had brought only one; otherwise, the trap would have been even more perfect.

After thinking for a moment, Sifa called out, "Matthew, gather some branches nearby. Thick ones. Mr. Leon, do you have any knives? The sharp kind?"