12 The Hunt Continues

After taking care of the bodies saving everything that can be useful Z decides to use the meat to bait more of the pack into a somewhat better area with another two story home. Of course it actually takes a lot of work to do this while not being suddenly attacked by other monsters but he successfully did it though it took most of the afternoon. The reason was when he was investigating the wolves he had hid in a house nearby that had a freezer.

After that though Z had a few problems to figure out with the baiting plan. The biggest one is how to guarantee that it would be the wolves that came and not something else. The only real solution that he could come up with was get lucky and be a little closer to the pack. Sadly unlike some games you can't just attract a certain monster with a certain bait. Also he wasn't one hundred percent sure that the wolves will eat wolf meat but hopping on it. Well as long as death bird doesn't get attracted it should be fine, right?

The second problem that Z was facing was a much more controllable one though, where to set up. He had a few ideas from when he was observing the pack but he wanted to search in case somewhere even better. Ideally being some place that allowed him to safely attack without risk of being caught or attacked back. Of course a tree would be a good but the squirrels made it risky to just be in an open tree. Though now that he thinks of it he really hasn't seen any for a while, weird. Anyways Z decided to search around the area where the bait was being stored since he would have to carry it to set up the trap.

After a little less than a day Z actually found a perfect house about a block away from where he was storing the meat. It was a house with an in-ground pool and a tree house. This wealthy family neighborhood was kind of pissing him off. But he is no longer human so why let that bother him, much. Of course before setting up the bait Z checked on the tree house itself and to his surprise found nothing. Like literally nothing, it was completely barren inside except a crapload of dust. The wood wasn't looking that great either it must have been a long time since it was used even before shit got monstrous. At least that's what Z thought but he wasn't a woodworker in any way.

Well after that he moved most of one corpse into the pool from a non-elemental wolf and even scattered some of the pieces towards the main pack. After that he waited while having to occasionally killing a rabbit that was getting to close but he just added their meat to the pile while keeping the useful parts. He also made a few more arrows while waiting since he had the time and started sharpening some of the bones from that earth wolf. Sadly he didn't finish making it into a proper weapon before the sounds of a hunting party drew near.

Five wolves slowly moved toward the bait cautiously but no more than the last one. Apparently nothing changed in the pack's actions after the last hunting party disappeared, gotta love the monster life. Of course Z did not immediately start shooting since he wanted them closer so he had time in case they ran. Also the fact that this time the ice wolf was leading this group and it was bigger than that earth wolf. There was also a wind wolf and a water wolf alongside two non-elemental wolves.

The scary part was that the two non-elemental wolves were being forced to go first while the other three stayed close together. It was like some underworld boss forcing some low level lackies to risk themselves while he and his body guards waited safely to reap the benefits. Well gotta reduce the numbers anyways.

Z quickly took aim at the ice wolf since killing the leader in any group was always the right decision. Though when he let the arrow fly right as it was about to hit something unexpected happened. The ice wolf grabbed the wind wolf, which was the smallest of the three, and used it as a shield resulting in it dying for its boss. Apparently they were on higher alert than he thought.

Thankfully the wolves had no idea where it came from and frantically started searching the ground. Well except the ice wolf it just stood still ready to react to anything that might happen. Sadly the next thing it registered happening was a non-elemental wolf yelping and collapsing on the ground dead. With that the wolf decided it wasn't safe enough anymore and tried to get the other two to group up and leave the area. Of course Z wasn't going to take that lying down to he shout a third arrow. Sadly this one wasn't a true shot because he rushed it and while hitting the water wolf it wasn't fatal just hitting it hind leg on the left side.

Sadly for Z the ice wolf finally realized that whatever was attacking was doing it from the tree and decided to take care of it. With a loud howl a blizzard left its mouth freezing the tree that Z was hiding in before the non-elemental wolf charged it with its horn. This resulted in it splitting the frozen trunk knocking the tree house down. However Z saw this coming so he had already had a horn knife ready jumping out as soon as the wolf hit the tree and stabbing it as he landed on top, killing it instantly. Now a new problem arose from this where a angry perfectly fine wolf that breaths ice is glaring at him.

As Z gets ready to counter thinking it is gonna leap on him something even more unexpected happens. The water wolf soaks the ice wolf with its own water breath. Of course before Z could even try and register this the soaked fur of the ice wolf begins to freeze over into a beautiful ice armor. It was at this moment our wonderful skeleton knew he done fucked up.

It was a two versus one situation where even if one was injured they both have range attacks that complemented each other so Z did what he had to. He quickly ran towards the house. The ice wolf charged him of course not letting Z get a chance to do what he wanted but right as it leapt at him Z changed directions. Pulling out his bow and knocking an arrow Z shot at the water wolf that was already unable to move that well at managed to pierce right between its rib as it tried to dodge delivering a soon to be fatal wound. This made the ice wolf somehow even angrier as the ice on its body turned red.

"Oh great its going berserk," was the only thought Z could have before having to quickly jump off the ground as the entire backyard froze over. Of course when he landed he slide right on his ass and as a result managed to lay down and slide under the pouncing ice wolf. This did show that the underside of the wolf was not covered in ice or at least it was thinner since Z could see its fur when he slid. The next time he gets a chance he will have to risk it.

Getting another horn ready to stab sliding his bow off to the side to keep it safe he tried to stand up and ready himself. The wolf didn't even register the movement of the bow dead set on killing these bones that took its minions from it. This time it howled at Z trying to freeze him as Z quickly leapt to the side to dodge sliding extra feet from the ice. Thankfully Z didn't register hot or cold but he could see that frost was gathering on his body he needed to end this soon. So in an attempt to bait the wolf into leaping at him he tried and create more distance while throwing one of his spare rabbit horns at the wolf. It only bounced off the wolf but did successfully make it angry causing a blizzard like aura to surround it as it leapt at our skeleton ready to break him.

Z waiting for this opportunity used the horn from the earth wolf and stabbed it right in the chest of the wolf. However, he suddenly felt a chill cover his entire body before everything went black. Of course once he pushed the corpse of the wolf off of him light soon returned. However looking at his completely frozen hand that was stuck to the corpse of this wolf he understood what that chill was. Its blood was so cold it instantly froze his arm. Thankfully he was able to unattached himself after a bit by starting to carve up this wolf. His hand was still frozen but he could see water forming on it so he figured it would melt in time.

So after a fun time using his offhand to harvest what he could Z decided that this was not a good plan as he first thought. So he just left all the meat from the wolves in the pool and looked for somewhere to rest. He felt tired and needed his arm to thaw out so he grabbed everything, including his bow, and went to find a decently safe place to rest, until the next batch of wolves.