Dead Harvest Wolf

The chirping of the morning birds started to sound, signifying the start of dawn.

Han did not sleep a wince throughout the night, instead he was reflecting upon the battle he had.

There were moments where he had nearly lost his life and cold sweat dripped from his forehead when he thought about it.

He went back to the ground and started stretching himself, his muscles that were still taut after the fight began to loosen up, enabling blood to circulate easier in his body.

His initial confidence that completing the mission would be a breeze started to collapse, he started to become cautious. As he made his way deeper into the forest, he began to realize that this forest was a lot more perilous than he had imagined.

Habits that were detrimental to him, like not putting his guard up started to change.

After several small snakes sneaking attacks at him from atop trees, Han began to slow his pace and carefully trekked around the forest, as his awareness of his surroundings began to heighten.

...

He found his target after searching for a few hours.

The wolves that were mentioned in the mission were known as the Dead Harvesting Wolves.

With behavior similar to a vulture, it prefers to scavenge for corpse to eat and are usually in a pack, numbering around 4 to 5 per pack.

Each wolf was decently sized, it was tall as up to the waist of a adult male and had long limbs which allowed them to move around faster, most likely a physical trait that they were born with so to get to corpses quicker, before it was snatched up by other beasts.

This particular pack he saw was behaving somewhat leisurely, relaxing along the brooches of the river and play biting at each other. They did not seem alert of their surroundings.

Han knew that although the pack of wolves seem to be relaxed and might not respond in time to an attack and that he could deal with a lone wolf easily. He still could not make his move.

Each wolf might be weak when they are alone, but when they came together, the fighting prowess they had were certainly not something to be looked down upon.

If he decided to attack now, the wounds that had barely managed to heal themselves might be re-opened and the smell of blood might attract other beasts nearer to him, it was not a situation that he wanted to put himself into.

Let's wait for a wolf to lower its guard and separate from its pack.

Han decided to wait, it was now a test of patience.

He climbed up a nearby tree and hid among the clump of leaves, observing the wolves and noting down the alpha wolf of the pack.

His wait did not last long, a wolf that had been snapping gently at his mate felt that it needed to release itself and barked at them, letting them know that it needed to be away for awhile.

Light barking noises sounded across the area, as the wolf got its acknowledgement from its mates, it jogged away to find a suitable spot.

Chance!

Han's eyes lit up, he lightened his foot steps and tailed behind the wolf. Stealthily making his way past the pack.

Hrm.

The alpha wolf snorted and looked towards where Han previously was, after thinking that it was just its imagination and making sure nothing was there, it had his attention taken by a wolf mate that was biting at him, it then begin to tussle with it.

...

The wolf soon found a spot that it liked, it was several hundred meters away from the pack.

It raised its lower hind leg and trembled slightly, piss began to start flowing and trickled at the bark of the tree.

Han saw the vulnerable state that the wolf allowed itself to be in and his body flashed forward with [Mirage steps], drawing his sword and activated [Quick Draw Blade] and sliced towards the neck of the wolf.

After battling with the panther, Han came to realize that instead of dragging a fight and exhausting himself, it was preferable that he dealt a fatal blow and had the opponent killed in a single strike.

It was much more efficient and quicker. The him that was scared to even kill a chicken, now resembled a death god. Intending to reap away a life as though it was a usual routine to his life.

What he did not notice that after the previous near death experience he had, he had came to shed away feelings of unneeded kindness and sympathy. It was too late for regret if he died due to his naivety. Thus he became slightly more cold blooded and collected throughout this hunt.

By the time the wolf realized that it was being attacked, a sword light flashed and a thin red line could be seen forming at its neck. It could only let out a helpless yelp before drawing its last breath, tumbling onto the ground and becoming a cold body.

Han glanced at the corpse and stared at it , without a tint of fear or emotion in his eyes.

He then took his sword and started to cut at the tail of the wolf, he needed a trophy to act as evidence and show to the people in charge of the mission.

2 more, he thought.

He then cleaned up his body and rid himself of any blood stench, leaving the scene of crime quickly.

...

The alpha wolf and the rest of the pack started to become anxious, it was taking too long for their mate to come back. They started to bark restlessly, in hope that their mate could hear them and come back to them quickly.

Each pack of wolves were like family, hunting together, sharing happiness and woes with each other.

Each one of them was an invaluable member of the family. If a family member went missing, the rest of the family would become anxious and worried.

Han heard the cries of the wolves and his eyes grew colder, it seemed like things had just gotten slightly more complicated. He was the only living being that was close to the wolves in an area of about 1km. The very first suspect that the pack of wolves will have would be him.

He focused on his right eye, on the top side corner, there was a mini map. On the mini map was 4 red dots split up that were moving about at high speeds. This was the mini map function that he had unlocked when he had fought against the panther, against a situation like this, he undoubtedly had an advantage.

Moving his body nimbly around the forest with [Mirage Steps]. He rushed towards the single red dot that was more isolated from the other dots that were flashing on the mini map.

He soon found another wolf sniffing in the air, barking and making rounds around the perimeter that it was sent to scout.

A body flashed, a sword fell and a head flew.

Another dead wolf.

'Ding'

'Host has kill a Dead Harvest Wolf, experience gained... EXP+'

'Host has reached Qi Refining Stage 2'

As the amount of inner qi grew in his body, Han cut off the tail of the wolf and disappeared from his spot.

...

Smelling a heavy scent of blood, the alpha wolf which was closer to the recently killed wolf got agitated. It began to speed towards the source of smell and soon saw a headless corpse laying on the floor, with its head not far from its body.

HOWWWWWWWWWL!

The alpha was enraged, its brother which it had just been playing with is now dead, its eye reddened and an aura of savageness burst forth from within its body.

It began to howl several more times and soon, other howls from other areas began to sounded out.

The alpha heard the howls and became frenzied. They had found the other family member, it too, was dead.