Chapter 11: Night Wolf
Before the mountains, there's a mixture of many different kinds of green trees occupying a very wide area. When in the middle, a new ordinary adventurer could easily be lost, as one would see that the woods stretch to all horizons. For adventurers, this is the first place to suffer when traveling to the deeper regions of the Great Woods. Although, demon beasts are not too abundant here, the paths are quite tricky, and following a straight path is impossible: Most of the time, thick bushes and vines covers the paths, forcing the people to take too many detours.
This region is often called "the trial of the Great Woods" by many old people with great experiences. Basically, if one can't survive here or get lost easily, then one shouldn't dream seeing the regions behind the first few mountains.
It's the third day since Glin left Stonewill city. They were no longer very far from the first mountain after the lowland forest. The Trial of the Great Woods should only be at least 100 kilometers across but since they took countless of detours, reaching their current location was like traveling at least two times the distance. They were indeed very slow, but how could an adventurer complain?
It was almost lunch. Glin went around to catch meat and fill his belly. When he did, the people who saw him were astonished by his hunting skills. This young guy caught a swift-running rabbit without bow and arrows. He made it only by throwing a small knife.
"What a skill! Teach me how to do it," Timothy shouted excitedly. He saw Linares caught the rabbit.
"If you want to learn it, take a knife, learn to aim and hit that tree from where you stand," Glin pointed a finger to an average-sized tree ten meters away, while walking towards where everyone has just gathered, holding on the long ears of the brown rabbit. "Hit a certain mark precisely fifty times a day… and maybe after a few couples of months, you'll master it."
"That's… hard, how long is 'a few couples of months?'" Timothy immediately complained when he heard Glin. Everyone laughed at him.
"I'll keep the watch," Xanus, the oldest, suddenly spoke, finally finished grilling a bird.
In the team, Xanus was the most experienced. He immediately caught a bird which happened to pass high above his head when everybody decided to rest. His use of shadow magic was rather skilled judging how he hit a flying bird using black needles he made from it.
"Okay, tell us when you see something," said Gayne. He took a bite from a whole toasted rabbit. Just like Glin, he also caught one. But his way was a lot quicker, and the rabbit was ready to be eaten before it even reached his hands. The guy actually has fire affinity; he just threw a basic fireball and the rabbit was instantly roasted.
After Glin skinned the brown rabbit and removed its internal organs, he first made a few cuts on the rabbit flesh. After that, he poured some kind of viscous golden liquid all over, in and out, the skinned rabbit. Everyone wondered what it was and couldn't help but ask.
"This is a special syrup secreted by a kind of tree I found. I just happened to encounter one yesterday so I extracted a few bottles."
After preparing the fresh meat, Glin finally grilled it on the fire. Not long after, a sweet aroma spread around the fire and the tempting sweet smell lingered in everyone's nostrils.
"Ah, I think I'm hungry again!" Timothy exclaimed when he realized the source of the pleasing sweet smell. He stared at the rabbit meat being grilled and getting oily; his saliva almost poured out of his mouth. Unfortunately, he has already eaten the meat for himself and it was too late to add some special syrup into it. He quickly turned his glance to Glin, hoping the latter will understand from his face how shy he is to ask for a slice.
Glin did indeed understand but more unfortunately for Timothy, he only took out another bottle of special syrup and gave it to everyone, hinting that he won't share his meal. The size of the rabbit he caught was not really much. The rest of the people also understood it and it was indeed embarrassing to act greedily this time; not everyone was like Timothy.
Timothy doused a finger into the special syrup, smelled it then licked it. When everyone saw him, they immediately scolded him. Obviously, they were also looking forward to adding it to their food later.
"It's really sweet but its aroma is far less than that," Timothy pointed at Glin's food, not minding his colleagues' scolding, still wishing he could have a bite on the oily delicious-looking meat.
...
After eating, Glin continued to chat with everyone, especially about food when in the wilderness. But soon, Xanus hurried returned back to the gathering spot. He wasn't far from his team, but he seemed to have noticed something nearby.
"It's a Night Wolf," Xanus said to everyone.
"A Night Wolf? Impossible, how can those beasts appear in this area? Are you sure?" Larvel on the side was surprised, couldn't believe. There are many kinds of beasts that can be found inside the region of their current location, but Night Wolves aren't included.
"I saw it clearly, there's no mistake. It seems to be going towards this place sneakily."
"How far?" asked Ron.
"Less than 100 meters," answered Xanus.
"It noticed me, so I rushed here," he soon added.
"So, what do we do? Run or kill? I suggest we run," Timothy suddenly said.
"Idiot! You run, you're dead!" Ron scolded Timothy's ignorance.
"A Night Wolf is a very agile demon beast with very sensitive nose and ears, we can't outrun it easily. If we ran, we will certainly get separated from each other, giving it more opportunities. But if we fight it together, we can beat it even if it is agile. Fortunately, we encountered it on daytime, otherwise one of us might be really dead!" Gayne explained hurriedly to Timothy, the newbie.
"It's not called 'Night Wolf' without a reason," Larvel added.
"It's here!" Xanus hurriedly warned everyone. He jumped from the tree branch where he stood went beside Gayne.
"Everyone, get to formation!" Gayne hurriedly ordered. He was the team's strategist, so he knew what to do.
After his words, everyone followed. Larvel climbed up the big tree behind the team for high vision, while Ron hid and crouched near another tree. Timothy also climbed a tree a bit farther; he was not experienced so he has to keep distance and hide. Meanwhile, the other three people, including Glin, stayed in their positions, surrounded by trees and weeds, all looking in one direction.
"Kid, you stay farther behind," Xanus warned when crackling sounds were heard a bit farther ahead of him.
"I'm fine," Linares draw his sword. It wasn't his magic relic but his old sword.
Suddenly, a black figure jumped out from behind the bushes.
A giant black wolf appeared. It was very big that when it stood on its four feet, it was taller than a six-foot man. Its furs were very black and plain and there will be no doubts if it's not seen in dark night. It was quite domineering, and its red eyes and sharp claws adds to the scary appearance of the demon creature.
Upon its arrival, it growled as if declaring that everyone is its prey.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Moon_Eater_Serpent
Moon_Eater_Serpent Don't hesitate to add this story to your library, if you have good expectations. Thank you :)
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