Chapter 4: Taking Advantage of the Situation

In the quiet forest, the sound of battle can clearly be heard with the clashing of metals and the sound of arrows flying. If we look closer we can see that the battle is between a group of 7 goblins armed with iron weaponry like swords and daggers, and some bows and arrow while surrounding two towering figures. Although these two figures are outnumbered they show no signs of fear or panic, instead they only show contempt at their enemies' pitiful act. These two figures composed of bulging dark muscles, covered by a simple loincloth, standing 5 meters high with a single horn protruding from their forehead, carrying huge and thick clubs in their arms that can squash any unlucky prey they find, are known as 'Ogres'.They are high class monsters that take pride in their monstrous strength in exchange for speed and agility, due to their thick muscles they are resistant to sword and arrow attacks with only their eyes as a weakness. And right now, these two creatures are sneering at the pointless struggles of a bunch of preys that they encountered, knocking them down with their clubs and devouring their smashed corpses in their own enjoyment. Despite the useless struggle, the group of goblins stay strong and still continues to strike the ogres down.

In the distance, watching this battle closely is a being that is seemingly made up of leaves and greeneries, fascinated by the event before its eyes. This being is Jacob camouflaged with his ghillie suit after crawling and running around towards the source of the roar.

"Crikey! Look at the size of those two, are those what they call 'Ogres'? Looks like this just turned into a serious problem." Jacob said as he was facinated by size of the two humongous figures bullying a bunch of small fries.

"They have some thick bodies I see, heh well then, let's test if they can feel pain from their first experience with lead. Distance, 150 meters, I'm expecting a good show." Jacob smirked as he planned on playing with these two bastards.

Aiming on the chest of the ogre at the left busying itself from a bunch of goblins, Jacob let loose three shots as he saw the ogre recoil from the three shots in surprise.

The ogre in question was shocked as it felt its chest hurt from the pain, enraged it set its sights at a bunch of goblins that it thought where the attack came from and swung its clubs at them. Some of the goblins got out of the way except for a single one that was too slow to react before getting squished to a pulp. Meanwhile, the ogre that swung its club half-kneeled and is panting heavily as it felt difficulty in breathing. The other ogre, seeing its companion's state went toward it to see what's wrong, however at this moment, Jacob smirked evily as he lowers his aim on the other ogre right between its legs before pulling the trigger.

*bang* *bang* The suppressed gunshots is still relatively loud but the the ogres didn't notice it as the one at the left is still gasping for air like there's no tomorrow while the other one is down on both its knees as it felt its manhood while screaming in pain. *ROAAAAAAARRRRRR!* Producing a roar stronger than the one Jacob first heard, the now Eunuch Ogre's face twisted in pain and angrily looked towards the surviving goblins blaming them for its miserable state. The 6 surviving goblins, wondering what happened to their mighty foes, stood shocked at a moment before charging at them with renewed vigor, with their remaining bow goblins now resorting to daggers. Finding a newfound strength, the eunuch ogre swung its club as hard as it can while in a kneeling position managing to kill 5 while the other ogre squished one goblin with its hand. Seeing that all enemies are dead, the two lowered their guards while feeling angered after remembering that a group of goblins, whom they thought were trash, managed to turn them into their current state.

At this moment, a bunch of quiet explosions sounded and suddenly, the eunuch ogre saw its companion fall on its back. Shocked, it went to see what was wrong despite the pain on its schlong and it saw that it's companion's head is beyond recognition from all the holes that riddled its head, suddenly it felt a pain behind its head after hearing another batch of quiet explosions before falling on its face with darkness consuming its vision.

*DING* +1000SP, *DING* +995SP

"*Exhales* Well that was amusing to watch, bastards didn't even know what killed them he he. And whoa! I almost earned 2000SP from just killing two of them, that's basically a fourth of my earning from my 3 hour hunt! Hmmm, should I switch to ogres for my farming method now? No, no, no, I shouldn't let this get to my head, I was only lucky that they were too distracted on their battle that they didn't focus on their surroundings. I should focus on getting stonger first before dealing with them, anyway let's see their cores! They're definitely worth more than goblins!" Excited, Jacob went to loot the two ogres' core, however the moment he tried to harvest the core he encountered a new problem, "Shit! Their bodies are too hard for my bayonet to pierce, much less slice open! What am I gonna do now?"

Feeling at a loss on what to do, Jacob feels hopeless before he had an idea and looked at his System's 'LOGISTICS' category. "Oh found it! *click* let's hope it works, fingers crossed!" *STAB* *SHHUUNK* *SHIIIING* "HAHAHAHA! I knew it would work!" Shouted Jacob as what appeared in his hand is a dagger that looks rather frail from its thin appearance but managed to pierce through and cut the ogre's body like hot knife through butter. After harvesting the two cores he sold them and got 3000SP for the two cores.

The dagger he brought is a 'Mithril Dagger', a rare metal that is sharper, stronger and lighter than steel, although Jacob felt happy that he can now cut through ogre hide he felt his heart bleed as he used up a whooping 8000SP points for it.

"Ah fuck it, you win some, you lose some. Who cares if I had more loss than gains, I can just earn them all again. Well, whatever, time to get back to camp it's about to get dark." Seeing the sun setting, Jacob decided it was a good time to return back to camp.

After the unexpected event, Jacob proceeded to light a fire with his new lighter, which he should've bought in the first place rather than rubbing dry grass over firewood at first, took out the ramaining deer meat and other ingredients and prepared for another steak dinner. After another hearty meal, he removed his gears, bought casual clothes for 5SP, a 3-Person Dome Tent (Camo) for 60SP and a Sleeping Bag for 10SP, he also bought Thermal Night Vision Goggles for 750SP as preparation for night combat. Feeling satisfied, he decided to prepare for the night but not before setting all his five mines 10 meters away from each other at the North and West side and about 50 meters away from his camp in places where it is most likely to be crossed by hostiles, should those fail to activate he can let his mini-map notify him of any hostiles that got through, it helps that there's a big stream a few meters deep at the East making a curve to the South so he doesn't need to worry about those place being overrun by hostiles. When everything is done, he decided to hit the hay after replenishing all his ammo by refilling all his spent mags by 110SP in total. Resting his weary body, he went to dreamland soon after.

In his dreams, he saw a bunch of red orbs floating in front of him while making a beeping sound non-stop, as he watched longer he heard the beeping sound grow louder and louder before suddenly waking up in a shock. What greeted his vision, is his mini-map showing 8 hostiles 200 meters away at north and they seem to be headed to his location at a moderately fast speed.. He looked outside and he saw everything in black, not wasting any moment longer he equipped his thermals and headed outside to face the incoming hostiles. As he looked outside he calculated that it must be a little over modnight as he managed to see two moons with one red while the other blue but he quickly stopped thinking about it and activated his thermals looking at the direction the hostiles ate coming from. Through the black and white vision, he can see living beings in bright white color and the surrounding plants in black and dark grey, when he focused 150 meters ahead he can make sense on the shape of a bunch of four-legged creatures that looked like wolves, only these wolves looked bigger than the ones on his previous world. At this moment his System's notification suddenly sounded.

//EMERGENCY QUEST: SURVIVE THE WOLF ATTACK!//

[BECAUSE OF CONTINUOUS AND RECKLESS HUNTING, PREDATORS OF THE NIGHT APPEARED ON YOUR DOORSTEPS. DUE TO VARIOUS MONSTER CORPSES NOT BEING PROPERLY DISPOSED OF PREDATORS MANAGED TO SENSE THEIR ROTTING SMELL, AFTER FOLLOWING YOUR TRAIL OF DEATH THEY HAVE DISCOVERED YOUR HIDEOUT PREPARING FOR A CHALLENGE. FATE FAVORS THE STRONG, SHOW YOUR MIGHT BY SURVIVING THIS ONSLAUGHT!

REWARDS: WOLF HIDE ARMOR SET, SKILL: TRACKING, 1000SP

QUEST COMPLETION: ELIMINATE ALL WOLVES (0/8)

QUEST FAILURE: DEATH, FAILURE TO ELIMINATE ALL WOLVES]

"Fuck! My previous actions are coming back to kill me! This is definitely a countermeasure for excessively farming players! Sniper rifles are good at long range, it's definitely not ideal for close range I should buy a gun that's good at close range, has high round capacity and has good penetration, I only have somewhere between 7000 and 8000SP let's see what I can buy" Jacob quickly searched for a gun that meets his requirements and he found just the one.

"This is perfect! The 'FN P90 TR' with red dot sight, it costs 900SP but I'll take it." After he bought the P90 TR, he stored his M14 along with its magazines and equipped the loaded P90 with three extra magazines as a bundle with his purchase. Hyping himself up for his first real battle where he could get killed, Jacob aims his SMG at the wolves.

"Damn it, if only the mines are a little closer at the center. System, is there any way to rearrange the mines without moving away from my position?

[RESPONDING TO HOST. IT IS POSSIBLE TO STORE NONLIVING THINGS WITHIN A 50 METER RADIUS AND REARRANGE THEM IN ANY MANNER YOU DESIRE WHEN YOU DROP THEM OUT OF INVENTORY.]

"Fuck! Again with the non-disclosure of important information that I should definitely know! If I knew that monster corpses attract unwanted guest I would have fucking stored all of them! System, from now on tell me something I don't know and stop acting like a silent emo teen before you get myself killed!" howled Jacob as he found out two important information at the worst possible time.

[ACKNOWLEDGED, HOST. GOOD LUCK.] was all the System could say.

"Shit! Okay, I can see five smaller blue dots in the mini-map, it must be showing any traps set up by me. Let's just store all of them first *click* and arrange them in zigzag patterns focusing on North with 5 meters of distance from each other stretching into a 25 meter ambush line. Equip three of my grenades at my chest, bayonet and mithril dagger at the sides, M1911 on my right holster, store the ghillie since I doubt that's gonna be of use and done. Fuck, I swear if I make it throught this..."

As Jacob finished whatever preparation he needs, he saw the hostile pack 60 meters away and, by the look of their actions, saw him too. There they were, 7 wolves standing as high as his waist and about 2 meters long with a single wolf at the back that is clearly bigger than the rest of them, standing as high as his neck and about 3 meters long. These wolves are considered huge if they can reach up his waist and neck considering that he has a height of 5 feet 11 inches. Both sides stared at each other, waiting on who'll make the first move. After 5 minutes of intense staring, the wolf pack acted first with the biggest in the pack that is definitely the alpha howling as a command to attack. *AWOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHH!*

And just like that, the 7 wolves under its rule charged through the forest terrain showing great speed and agility. They also seem to have a great sense of cooordination as three wolves charged at the center, acting as a vanguard in a triangle formation with two wolves flanking both the left and the right side. Seeing this, Jacob focused harder as he prepared for the incoming shockwave. Unsurprisingly, because the wolves were focused on their charge, they weren't aware of the traps hidden beneath them. *BOOM* *BOOM BOOM BOOM* *BOOM* Due to the high pressure exerted on the ground because of their combined charge, it triggers the landmines to explode killing a few wolves while immobilizing some of them. In this extremely loud surprise attack, 3 wolves died from the explosion and the other 4 were heavily wounded after having their limbs blown off and their insides turned to mush, taking away their ability to move. After the explosion, Jacob finished off the wounded wolves to end their suffering.

The Alpha wolf, seeing its entire pack was obliterated, howled in anger with its bloodshot red eyes seemingly glowing in the dark of night, but Jacob didn't see it due to his thermal goggles however he did sense a powerful bloodlust emitting from the Alpha that he actually backed away a few steps out of fear. Seeing this, the Alpha wolf rushed into Jacob at lightning fast speed that shortened the 60 meter distance in a blink of an eye which made him unable to aim in time as the Alpha exerted its speed and agility far greater than its underlings. Seeing that he won't be able to shoot it in time and that he felt great danger as the wolf was now a feet away from him, Jacob sidestepped as fast as he can to the right avoiding death by a few inches as it saw the Alpha aiming for his throat. However as he managed to avoid death, he noticed that he wasn't completely scot-free as he saw a huge chunk of his upper arm bitten off with his bones visible.

"AAAAARRRRGHHH! FUCK!" Assaulted by the pain, Jacob screamed as it was the first time he was injured to this state. In a panic, he tried to take out one of the healing potions provided by the System however due to his shocked state he failed to see the Alpha preparing to make another charge at him eager to end this annoying prey of his after what he did to the pack it worked so hard on to train. Seeing the fast approaching figure, Jacob tried to shoot everywhere hoping to hit the Alpha, however it managed to avoid all the rounds with only a few grazing its skin and prepared to bite off its prey's neck. Jacob, in an adreanaline rush, managed to see time move a little slower and felt his body become lighter than before as he quickly jump away at the side and increased the distance between the Alpha.

"Hah, Hah, Hah, Hah, System! If you can automatically use the potions without taking them out and manually applying it to heal myself then now is a good time to do it!" Having returned to his senses, Jacob bets on his System to help him with his injury while focusing on the Alpha, not daring to leave his eyes away from it.

[HOST, ACKNOWLEDGED. AUTOMATICALLY USING BASIC HEALING POTION TO HEAL YOUR INJURIES.]

Sure enough, his bet was spot on as he heard his System reply in a positive manner and felt a warm feeling enveloping his body as saw at the corner of his eyes that his wound is healing at a visibly rapid rate. Calming down a little, he's still at a loss on how to deal with this fast and agile enemy bent on killing the hell out him.

*GRROWWLLL* As he was contemplating, the Alpha continued its charge, leaping side to side at an extremely fast pace before pouncing at Jacob again. Jacob quickly sidestepped to the right, out of harm's way, however, at this moment the wolf suddenly bent its body and spinned around in mid-air like a disc amd managed to hit Jacob with its tail as it extended its body, knocking Jacob back a couple meters making him fall to the ground. *CRACK* Jacob heard something crack as he felt that his left shoulder was dislocated from the tail spin attack before his System used up another potion to heal him. At this time, as Jacob was still down the Alpha charged again hoping to pin down its prey before it can get up. Acting quickly, Jacob managed to raise his P90 and opened fire, he was lucky as it looked like the Alpha Wolf was hit as six bullet sized holes appeared on its left side before dodging the rest of rounds when it jumped away to the right. *BABABABABANG* *BABABABABABABANG* *clink clink* Having run out of bullets Jacob quickly reloaded his P90 while the Alpha Wolf put a distance between them and took a breather while looking at the six gunshot wounds that hit its side, *grrrrroowwwwl* emitting a low growl it stared intensely at Jacob. For the first time in its life, there was actually something that managed to make it feel pain it never felt before and the pain is a bit numbing that makes itself now unable to exert its true speed else it might further aggravate its wounds.

Meanwhile, Jacob was glad that he finally managed to hit this monstrous beast and managed to come up with a plan. Every time he dodged the incoming attack, the Alpha slides a few feet for 1 second before it prepares to charge again, all of these happen within 2 secon, 1 second for attacking and another 1 second for maintaining its balance before striking again. Taking advantage of this 2 second window, he plans on tossing a grenade that explodes right at its face. This plan is extremely risky as he needs to pull the pin and hold the grenade without holding down its safety lever for 2 seconds while dodging the Alpha Wolf's attack, after that he needs to quickly throw the grenade while distancing himself as fast as he can and dropping for cover with only a few meters separating him and the live grenade before it explodes after 4-5 seconds. He only has one chance, as he knew that once the Alpha Wolf saw his strategy once then it knows what to do next as a countermeasure. The fact that he was now also exhausted both physically and mentally didn't help because if his plan failed then it will be a battle of attrition, a battle he cannot hope to win against a monster that has not only high speed and agility but also high endurance.

Betting everything on this plan, Jacob slung his P90, took one of the M67 grenade at his chest and waited for the Alpha to pounce once again before pulling the pin and waiting for the window. He stood there in anticipation as he felt his heart beating faster and faster by the second for the incoming attack. Meanwhile, the Alpha Wolf felt its side become even more painful as time passes but is still tolerable, it needs to finish this prey off as soon as possible so that it can recuperate from its wound and try to make another pack by challenging other Alphas or adopting rejected pups from other packs. As it thought this, the Alpha went beyond its limit, charging with speed faster than the one it used to bite off a part of Jacob's upper arm before pouncing with great strength, however this time it plans on biting Jacob's entire head off as it opened its jaws as wide as possible that an entire watermelon can fit in there with a few extra room to spare. At this moment, Jacob pulled the pin off his grenade and slid down under the pouncing wolf in a quick manner, "1" he said as he managed to get behind the wolf unscathed and tries to raise his body up, "2" the Alpha was surprised by its prey's sudden movement and lost its balance as it landed with its front legs, aggravating its wound and falling hard on the ground while rolling out of control without getting up, "3" seeing the Alpha Wolf fall down without getting up Jacob revelled in joy as he quickly tossed the grenade at the Alpha Wolf's direction, "4" seeing as the grenade didn't explode yet he ran as fast as he can to increase the distance before jumping forward as hard as he can and ducked for cover. *BOOOOM* A loud explosion resounded in the dark, quiet forest once again, *whoosh whoosh* after hearing some shrapnels flying overhead Jacob quickly set his eyes and gun on the Alpha Wolf.

After the explosion, Jacob can see the Alpha Wolf lying down weakly and whimpering in pain with a horribly disfigured face that its previous high and mighty figure now seemed like an illusion. Not daring to underestimate it despite its state, Jacob spent an entire magazine on his P90 on the Alpha Wolf's head, only stopping when he heard a clinking sound indicating that he ran out of ammo. Panting heavily and ascertaining that there are no hostiles withing his mini-map, Jacob relaxed as he felt extreme fatigue wash all over his body falling on his back in the process.

*DING* +500SP, +479SP, +483SP, +491SP,....+1300SP

*TARARARARA!*

//EMERGENCY QUEST: SURVIVE THE WOLF ATTACK! COMPLETED!//

[REWARDS: WOLF HIDE ARMOR SET, SKILL: TRACKING, 1000SP]

The last thing Jacob heard before he fell unconscious was the notification of the System as the tranquillity of the forest returned.