บท 24: Wolves can be Pretty Dangerous
At least, he planned to. Isaac knew better than to bite off more than he could chew, so he wouldn't go charging into a pack of 12 beasts, each of which could kill the average person.
Of course, he wasn't an average person. He was a cultivator. He was a very intelligent cultivator who still didn't want to fight 12 wolves if he didn't have to!
It had been raining on-and-off since he accepted this mission, and it was doing so right now. In fact, it was pouring down quite heavily, helping wash away his scent. He knew the wolves hadn't noticed him yet and he would use that to his advantage, attracting the attention of a smaller group rather than all 12 of them.
He'd already double, triple and quadruple checked that none of the wolves were wild beasts. He was also certain there weren't more wolves patrolling or in other areas of the territory. Isaac knew himself and he knew his enemy, so this should be easy.
A plan formulating in his mind, he walked a short distance away and found a branch fallen from one of the pine trees. It was a rather thick branch, so he held both ends of it and put his foot in the middle. Then he used the leverage of his arms pulling up and his foot pushing down to break the branch with a loud *Snap*.
Isaac couldn't see them, but he assumed the wolves had all perked their ears up and were looking in the sound's direction. Isaac knew some of the wolves would come to investigate, so he clambered up a nearby tree before they got there.
Sure enough, after 5 minutes of waiting, he saw a group of 4 wolves beneath him.
Isaac frowned slightly. 2 or 3 wolves would have been ideal, so he wanted to split this group up even more.
He swept up some of the snow on the branch and made 4 snowballs. Then he threw them in different directions.
There was a succession of crunching sounds as the snowballs landed on the snowy forest floor. The wolves looked around in confusion, but seemingly didn't want to split up.
Showing an unusual amount of comradeship for animals, they stayed together and walked to each snowball's landing spot.
Isaac didn't have any way to split them other than by throwing things, so he was forced to make a decision: take on this group of 4 or don't. Isaac chose to fight; he was already confident of winning, he only wanted to split them to make the fight less dangerous.
In fact, Isaac had already planned for this and thrown the snowballs so his tree was between the 2nd and 3rd snowballs. Isaac waited, spirit sword in hand, until the wolves were passing below him.
After deciding to attack the wolves, Isaac made another snowball. This time he didn't throw it. He dropped it right below him and waited for the wolves to come and investigate it. When the wolves were all in positioned directly underneath him, Isaac jumped out of the tree.
His ears were filled with the sound of air whooshing by, as the ground rushed up to meet him. However, he stayed focused on the wolves, readying the blade in his hand.
The wolves didn't hear him drop, and the wolf below Isaac was utterly unaware of the reaper aiming a scythe at its neck. And it remained that way until its head was cleanly separated from said neck.
As the head fell, Isaac also crashed to the ground. The snow helped soften the 5-metre drop, but his knees hurt like hell and he heard a faint *Crack* upon landing. Thankfully, he hadn't done any damage and his knees only felt stiff when he stood up straight.
The wolves heard a loud crunch as Isaac landed in the snow behind them, and turned around simultaneously. They were shocked to see a man standing there, blood dripping from his fiery orange, semi-transparent sword. Then they saw their friend collapsed on the ground, head and body in separate piles.
The wolves growled ferociously – one of the wolves' eyes even went bloodshot with anger. That wolf leapt directly towards Isaac while the other 2 circled around to surround him.
Isaac wouldn't just let himself get surrounded, so he stepped towards the pouncing wolf. He used the edge of his blade to deflect the wolf's swipe. Then he slashed upwards towards the wolf's chest, trying to deal with it before the other wolves got into position.
However, he was too far away from the wolf and his sword couldn't inflict a deep wound. He left a long cut from the bottom right to top left of the wolf's chest, but it was mostly superficial.
The wolf howled in pain, but wasn't seriously injured. It backed off slightly to stay out Isaac's sword range and prepare to pounce again.
As it did this, one of the other wolves leapt towards Isaac from his left, while the 3rd wolf was still trying to get behind him. Again, Isaac dashed towards the wolf in front of him.
He avoided the attack to his left while closing the distance to the injured wolf. The wolf was now too close to jump at him but too far to bite, so it swiped again with its other paw.
Isaac wouldn't make the same mistake twice. Instead of deflecting the paw, he used the sharp edge of his sword to block it. Of course, when something soft collides with something sharp, it gets cut. Isaac's sword tore through the wolf's leathery paw, embedding itself deep in its bone. Then Isaac took a long stride forward and slashed at the wolf's chest again.
The wolf was helpless as its paw was dragged along with the sword, and it couldn't prevent the blade penetrating its chest. This time Isaac was definitely close enough, as his sword punctured both of the wolf's lungs and it slumped to the floor lifelessly.
He thought both the remaining wolves were somewhere behind him, so he jumped over the dead wolf while pulling his sword out of it. He landed on the other side of the wolf in a low defensive stance, his sword ready to reap another life at a moment's notice.
He had to be ready, since a wolf came leaping over the dead body behind him. Its mouth was wide open, ready to tear into Isaac with its ferocious fangs.
Its sudden approach left Isaac only half a second to turn and deliver a straight thrust with his sword.
The wolf, stuck in mid-air, could only open its eyes wide with fear. It couldn't change its course or dodge, so Isaac's blade pierced the roof of its gaping mouth and exited at the back of its head.
However, the wolf still had all its momentum. Its dead body crashed into Isaac, bowling him over. He was forced to let go of his sword as was knocked to the ground, the wolf's face pressed up against his. He could see its dead, glassy eyes which were filled with terror – and inside its mouth, where its tongue had been pierced by the sword and stapled to the roof of its mouth.
Isaac hurriedly pushed the gruesome corpse away. He hadn't seen the 4th wolf since the fight started. It might've run away, but it could also be lurking behind the trees.
Isaac scrambled to his feet, trying to spot the danger in this dark forest. However, he saw nothing. He only heard a snarl followed by the crunch of paws in the snow behind him.
He immediately rolled forwards, but it wasn't enough. A set of claws raked down his back, shredding his coat and tearing the skin beneath it. He was sent tumbling and ended with his face in the snow.
Isaac ignored the pain and quickly flipped over onto his back. He saw the wolf looming over him, ready to bite a chunk out of his sweet, juicy neck.
He had no time to think. He instinctively angled his wrist upwards and activated the Spirit Sword Anima.
In an instant, a sword was created in his hand. The grip was created first, then the hilt and then the blade. However, it all happened so quickly that it looked like the sword appeared all at once.
The wolf stopped, inches away from his neck. It quivered, then collapsed to the ground as blood splashed from its own neck, staining both Isaac and the snow red.
As it was created, Isaac's sword had pierced the wolf's jugular and killed it. It had nearly missed; just an inch to the left and the wolf might be feasting on Isaac right now. But it hadn't missed, and the wolf was dead, so it was pointless to think about that.
Isaac slowly stood up. His coat was in tatters and his white inner robes were now a muddy red. His face and hands were covered in sticky blood, and that same substance dripped from his sword. His icy blue eyes conveyed endless determination and will to survive, and his demonic appearance destroyed his handsome appeal, making him look feral and monstrous instead.
However, Isaac paid no attention to his appearance or demeanour. He simply took the hunting knife from his belt and started harvesting the fallen wolves' valuable parts.
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