Chapter 17: A Hunting Party

The alpha wolf barked at the intruder, its eyes glowing a menacing red.

It growled weakly before pouncing at the new threat.

Sam gripped his Eclipse sword and adopted an offensive stance.

He pressed his foot into the ground, grinding it for traction before sprinting forward at full speed.

Yuki felt a gust of wind blow past her face, and suddenly, Sam was already in front of the wolf.

She was surprised to find that he was much faster than her, nearly matching the alpha wolf's speed.

The wolf could sense his emotions; it knew Sam wasn't afraid or intimidated by it in the slightest, which annoyed it greatly.

Sam didn't hesitate as he closed in on the wolf.

As he approached its mouth, the wolf tried to crush him with its elongated red fangs. 

Just before the fangs could tear him apart, Sam sprinted and ducked, slipping between its legs.

Using the brief opening, Sam swung his Eclipse sword and made a deep slash on one of the wolf's left front legs, right at the joint.

The alpha wolf's wounded leg buckled under its weight, causing it to limp and growl terribly in pain.

Sam wasn't about to take a break.

Utilizing his speed, he continued without pause, targeting the joints of the wolf's remaining legs. 

He didn't use excessive movement or strength, relying purely on his extreme speed to move and focus his attacks on the alpha wolf's weak points, especially its legs.

The wolf's greatest asset was its speed, and Sam aimed to restrict its movement before confronting it head-on.

Though its movements were compromised, the wolf remained tenacious. 

With bloodshot eyes, it pounced on Sam, but its attacks were slow and sloppy, unable to match its previous agility.

Sam flashed like lightning, appearing randomly around the alpha wolf, delivering swift slashes to its massive body. 

He wanted to conserve his strength for the beast hunt, so he used the most efficient means to deal with the alpha wolf without expending too much energy.

Each slash was not too deep but deep enough to cause continuous bleeding.

He moved constantly, evading the wolf's relentless attempts to attack him. 

Despite being in pain and bleeding profusely, the wolf behaved like a rabid dog, blindly attacking anything in front of its eyes.

Soon, the wolf became visibly slower. 

Within minutes, under Sam's continuous assault, its fur was covered in thick red blood, and numerous deep cuts marred its body. 

The once formidable alpha wolf was now a staggering, blood-soaked shadow of its former self.

Sam covered his Eclipse Sword with dense heroic energy and stabbed it deep into the creature's neck. 

With a swift pull, he drew the blade out, forming an arc as the heroic energy spiraled from within, separating its head from its body.

Calmly, Sam walked up to the severed head, made a small hole at the top, and extracted a handball-sized beast core. 

He then made another incision on its forehead and removed a crescent-shaped crystal that looked markedly different from the beast core.

Smiling to himself, Sam stored the crescent-shaped silvery crystal into his storage ring and then approached Yuki. 

She watched in a daze as Sam slowly walked towards her, her heart beating faster as everything seemed to slow down—time, the wind, everything. 

She suddenly became acutely aware of her surroundings.

'Did she get hit in the head or something?' Sam wondered, noticing her dazed expression.

Sam was always passively using his charm and knew she was experiencing some strange emotion. 

He ignored it, attributing it to the injury she sustained from the alpha wolf.

Since she wasn't particularly expressing any specific emotion, to Sam, it seemed like she was in a state of confusion.

"Give me your hand," he said.

"Huh?" Yuki, too focused on analyzing his face, didn't understand what he said.

"I said, give me your hand."

"My hand? Oh," she replied.

Sam helped her stand up and then showed her the alpha wolf's beast core.

"You don't mind if I take this, do you?" he asked with a small smile, his eyes drawn to her shoulder-length white hair, disordered and dirtied by the fight with the alpha silver moon wolf.

"You killed it, so you should have it," Yuki said, reverting to her cold demeanor.

Suddenly, before Sam could reply, Yuki slashed at his throat with her sword but stopped just before it touched his neck.

"What are you doing?" Sam asked with a stern face.

He could sense she had no killing intent, so he knew she wasn't going to harm him.

But what was she doing pointing her sword at his neck?

"You... form a hunting party with me," she said in a cold tone, as if commanding him to obey or she would cut his throat, though in reality, she had no intention of harming him.

Sam was bewildered. "Okay... can't you ask that in a normal way?"

Seeing her not lower the sword, Sam sighed and agreed. "Yes, yes, I was about to ask you to be my partner myself."

Only after hearing the answer she wanted did she lower her sword.

[Time Remaining: 18:30]

Five and a half hours had passed since the beast hunt began.

Sam sighed again before observing Yuki, who had turned away, focused on clearing the dust off her clothes and hair. 

Watching her ruffle her milky white hair, her blue eyes, similar to his own, scanning her clothes for dirt, Sam had to admit she was a gorgeous woman. 

He wouldn't mind forming a beast hunt party with her or watching over her. 

You couldn't blame him; he was a very healthy young man at the start of his carnal prime. 

Of course, he would want to get close to a beautiful girl if he could.

"So, how many beast cores have you got?" Sam asked casually, trying to strike up a conversation.

Yuki glanced at him for a couple of seconds before replying, "Thirty-five lower-level beast cores and twenty-five cores from beasts around my level."

"In just five hours? That's impressive," Sam nodded and said, though it didn't bring any expression to her cold face.

He then noticed she was still looking at him without saying anything. 

Realizing she was waiting for him to share, he added, "Oh yes, I have collected forty lower-level cores, thirty cores from beasts at my level, and eight higher-level beast cores, including the Alpha wolf I just killed."

"Mm," was Yuki's only reaction. 

She didn't respond to his accomplishment, which was definitively greater than hers. 

Yet, Sam could sense she was actually quite impressed and also... happy?

"What is she happy about? Is she pleased that I hunted more beasts than her? That doesn't make sense," Sam thought, confused. 

Yuki's face revealed nothing, but it was fortunate for Sam that she didn't know he had the ability to sense the emotions of others.

"This emotion-sensing ability is kind of a pain in the ass," Sam thought to himself, shaking his head.

[A/N: If you liked this chapter, don't forget to donate some POWER STONES. Thank You]