Surrounded by Wolves

Ryuji messily cut the first rabivore carcass who was missing a leg. He had hit or miss with the cuts with the unlocked knowledge from his previous life as if he were butchering a pig. Though their anatomy and physiology are different from domestic farm animals back on earth, he still followed the principles of butchering the meat slabs like he was dealing with cattle or pork. It was not easy to unlock and assimilate the knowledge of butchering with his past life. He asked Pyun-Pyun to watch over the meat from the first rabivore as he will deal with it later to cook. "Don't let flies get over to our meat." Ryuji warned. Pyun-Pyun obediently followed his master. He released two tentacles like forms and made an oblivious expression, but Ryuji understood his pet's intention to guard the meat fiercely.

Ryuji let the second rabivore bled while the slime guards the first rabivore meat like a dragon fiercely guarding its treasure. Due to the smell and aroma of blood and raw meat, the site became the attraction of insects at first. He looked to Pyun-Pyun and saw his tentacles swatting the insects who wanted to land on the meat slabs. The goblin used his skill.

Hearing this Ryuji was appalled and disgusted. Who uses the maggots to mana potions? 'If I were to reach town, I will avoid getting mana potions.' The goblin shuddered. Ryuji is a goblin yes, but he still remembers his preference back on earth and he was never a fan of such exotic dining. It was an eye opener here in Zariya when he ate insect and snakes which is back on earth will never do it in his life. Despite the fact that he ate insects at first which he had forced himself before just to survive, he was accustomed to urban life and the more opportunity to hunt bigger animals the better which was the norm. If possible, he will not go back eating insects and snakes again unless it was the only thing available.

At first a fly was actually able to land near the meat and the slime was only able to ward it off. It was a stalemate at first, but the slime was watching as if it will not let the fly to succeed its goal. The fly on the other hand as it hovered around the meat not taking the slime seriously as it wanted to suck off the juices of the meat available. After a great deal of time, was successfully defending the pile of meat slabs against the fly. Pyun-Pyun caught the offending fly and jiggled in success. However, it was short-lived as more flies claim to taste the meat which the tentacles that his slime was using seemed not enough. The slime was learning to be faster in reacting to where these flies land and predicting their next step.

To help ward off these insects, Ryuji thought of building a fire as his common knowledge back on earth. These small insects detest too much heat. He went to a nearby group of trees to pick some firewood while waiting for the rabivore carcass to bleed out. He went to a tree that has several branches while on the way he picked up some dry twigs and branches that had littered the ground. he also foraged some herbs along the way. He went to a sturdy looking tree that had a lot of branches.

The goblin tried to cleave some of the branches off using the sinister looking cleaver as if it would do the job. But it took about an hour had passed just to trim and get some decent sized firewood only armed with a creepy cleaver. Good thing is, even how many times it he used it, he really wished an axe at that moment or a chainsaw. However, the has not changed into an axe form. He only has two forms for this divine weapon, a sword, and a cleaver for now. The sword is kind of useful when he wished it to change but it was awkward in slashing to the branches. "It seems that there are conditions to unlock some of the forms…" He muttered to himself and gaze on the sword. Impatience got the better of him and he used to cut some branches but to his mistake it rained down leaves and bigger branches which he could not take further. "I'll try another trip later." Ryuji sighed and realized his mistake and gave a defeated look at the litter of branches and leaves.

After two hours of cutting and picking up what he could carry with his small lanky body, Ryuji quickly rushed back to the site where they were butchering. He realized that they have not had their lunch yet and he felt the sun is no longer above them which means it got past midday and he has not yet finished the slaughtering three more carcasses. When he got back, there was a gathering of brown wolves surrounding the site where they were butchering. It was dangerous that this kind of creature showed up.

"Oh shit!" Ryuji cursed himself for being careless. He has to remind himself from now onwards that he is no longer on earth but in Zariya. Never leave meat lying around and also the blood scattered on the site since he was letting it bleed may attract more predators in the area. He also was worried, up until now, he only fought with rabivores and those sinister vipers in heat. He had yet to deal with bigger creatures still and he felt really lacking with his fighting skills. He grew up in harsh urban Tokyo and it is illegal to bring weapons. It is also different from swinging a real sword from the keyboard in games, up until now he was not used to it. These concepts made Ryuji really worried. He approached the site carefully and saw that there were seven surrounding Pyun-Pyun and two already hauled the second carcass he left to bleed earlier. His heart broke seeing his slime being surrounded by these creatures. He must not let his genius pet be harmed. He immediately cast on one of the brown furry wolves surrounding the site.

"Wow! A bullshit of a creature." Ryuji muttered to himself and snorted in disdain after hearing the prompt. What type of animal is that? It wants to get their food and if they attack to retaliate against them, they will become vengeful hounding the offender to death. He gave a malicious glance to these creatures. "We will add wolves to our menu." The goblin gave an evil smile. 'I must kill these creatures before they kill me and Pyun-Pyun.' He thought glaring at the brown furs in the area.

Ryuji quietly set the branches aside and summoned the . He will make these wolves pay. He silently climbed to a low-lying branch carefully creeping not to attract attention, but he retained his vigilance to the wolves.

Ryuji noticed why it was only nine as the echo of the world was heard earlier. One of the wolves already died at the back of the slime. It looked like a tug of war for free meat lying on the ground and the wolf that is already dead had become one of those 'meat' that they are fighting for.

"Ohhhhh!!!!" The goblin said in a low voice and became excited. He did not expect that his precious Pyun-Pyun had taken down one of the wolves by himself. He was proud like a parent seeing his child standing up on his own. But his happiness is short lived. He saw three more wolves trying to creep up to the slime. One at the left of Pyun-Pyun suddenly lunged at the slime. He could not help but panic and shouted to warn his adorable pet.

"Pyun!!! Look out!!!!"