บท 32: Getting Closer!

As Ark pondered, his stomach suddenly started to loudly grumble. Ark hadn't eaten in a couple of days to be completely honest. But there was just so much stuff going on that he couldn't find the time to think about food. As this loud rumble suddenly broke the silence, Thufrat burst out into laughter. Ark was a bit embarrassed, but he still stood up, and he was about to leave when he suddenly turned around and shot a glance at the dwarf.

"You're going to hunt right? Is it okay if I join you?"

As Thafrut said this, his stomach rumbled as well. Like it was making some sort of statement by doing so. Ark smiled a little as he nodded his head at the dwarf, it would be kind of awkward to just leave him here after all. As Thafrut saw this, he got up to leave as well. He didn't really feel like staying all alone inside of a tree with nothing better to do.

As they went about their hunting, the atmosphere was a little awkward at first, but they slowly grew more comfortable around each other. Thufrat didn't really know if he was supposed to speak or not, but since they were hunting, he decided against it, what if he scared away the prey after all? As they were on the hunt, Ark suddenly caught a whiff of blood. As soon as he felt it, he suddenly stopped for a second, and exaggerated a sniff, to show the dwarf that he had caught a scent.

"You find something?"

Ark just nodded his head as he started following the scent. Thafrut followed quietly behind him, as he controlled his breathing. Ark just did it naturally at this point, and he didn't activate his stealth skill, it did consume Mana after all, and he didn't really believe it to be necessary since it didn't matter if he used it right now. Because if Thafrut was found out, he would naturally be found out as well.

As they went on along their path, the scent got stronger, and they soon ended up alongside the same stream that was flowing outside of the tree. Drinking from the stream was a huge silver-grey boar. The boar had obviously been in a fierce battle, as it had a lot of bloody scars crisscrossing over its entire body. There was an arrow stuck in its left eye, and it didn't seem to be far from death's door.

As Ark saw this, he instantly shot out from the underbrush and went in for a killing strike, as he charged out, he activated his stealth skill and managed to stay undetected as he slit the boar's throat in one swift motion. Since there was nothing for him to do, Thufrat just went along with him and gave him a pat on the head as to commend him for his good work. Ark was weirded out by this, he wasn't some normal animal, but it did feel pretty good, and he didn't really care too much, so he just let it slide.

As they were about to haul the spoils back to the tree. They suddenly heard a lot of footsteps, unfortunately, they didn't get the opportunity to get out of there before the footsteps arrived.

A group of five hunters emerged from behind some trees, obviously on the lookout for something. As they spotted Ark and Thufrat standing by the stream, they grew vigilant, but as they saw the dead boar, they instead turned angry. They had been chasing this boar for hours after all and fought a fierce battle in order to kill it. Only to find it in the hands of some random dwarf and his mount.

"Hey, you!"

One of the experienced hunters stepped forward to talk.

"Me?"

Thufrat was a bit surprised by this series of events, but he could guess what was about to come.

"Who else?"

[No need to be so rude] Thafrut thought to himself as he answered a bit snappily this time.

"What do you want?"

"We've been hunting that boar for hours, and we were the ones who injured it!"

"And?"

"What do you mean [And?], hand it over"

"You have no evidence that you did, in fact, hunt this boar, so the answer is no."

Thufrat didn't show any weakness in front of people like these, even if he was pretty sure they were telling the truth, they were way too rude, and they should have at least offered them some benefits in exchange, or at the very least asked nicely.

"Just because you have a nice mount, don't think that you can fight as by yourself, just hand it over!"

As Ark heard this, he was infuriated! He didn't want some random nobodies to randomly come here and act like they owned the place, and then call him a mount. As he thought this, he let out a snort. Accompanying this snort was an incredible amount of ice Mana that swept through the surroundings. The ground was suddenly completely frozen, and the hunters could feel chills run down their spines.

"I'm so sorry, we didn't mean to disturb you at all!"

One of the hunters bowed down and said before he started to quickly run away. The rest of the hunters were dumbfounded before they abruptly turned around and followed him as quickly as they could, this wolf was trouble after all, and something they couldn't deal with.

As Thufrat saw this, he started to feel a little better and started to laugh loudly as he watched them run away in horror. He gave the wolf a thumbs up before they went on their way back to the tree again.

It didn't take them long to get back to the tree, but they stopped outside of it since they had to skin the boar as well as process the meat and make it ready for cooking. As Thufrat was about to take a step forward and do all the work, the boar suddenly started to float as the ice Mana in the surroundings went to work. Ark was finished in less than a minute, and the meat had a glossy look to it as Ark started to light a fire. Thufrat secretly wished that he could do something like that since it would be very convenient in his opinion.

Even though the boar had been through a tough battle, Ark still managed to make the skin into something you could use as a blanket or a quilt. Ark made this for Thufrat since it didn't seem like he would be leaving for the time being, and Ark was quite glad to have some company, it was actually a lot more pleasant than being all alone by himself. Thufrat didn't seem to mind that he was a wolf either, and Ark commended his character. At least the parts that he had seen.

Thufrat didn't have fur like Ark, and even if he slept right next to a campfire, he would still feel cold, therefore he was really happy when he got something to cover himself with, he was also a bit moved by the thoughts of this wolf that he had encountered in the dungeon. If he could, he would definitely want to adventure the world with this wolf, if only it could speak with him, he was sure they would become good friends.

For now, though, he intended to stay here for a while and ask if the wolf would want to explore the dungeon with him since the wolf was very powerful after all, and he liked the company it provided. They were both loners and had been loners for quite a while. Ark's thoughts were pretty similar, if he could have company, then he would be very glad, he could also use someone who is originally from this world since he had no idea about practically anything when it came to this place, he didn't even know where he was right now.

Thinking similar thoughts, they both enjoyed the smell of cooked food that wafted through the air as the meat was barbequed over the small campfire...