Chapter 3

Collecting his backpack, Nicholas made his way stealthily towards the territory of the Red-eyed wolves. He had marked them beforehand. This group of Red-eyed wolves had 10 members with 3 F-ranks among them. The rest the adults were weaker than F-rank. There were also 3 young cubs. This area was also not very far off from the guards patrol route.

Nicholas felt that his odds were good. He should be able to survive long enough to catch the attention of the guards.

He carefully made his way as he passed through the Iron-horned Buffalo territory. This group of monsters lived in a large group of around 30. But according to their routine they should be around the lake now. Dipping inside the lake to protect their bodies from the afternoon heat. Nicholas had a good knowledge of the habits of monsters that lived around his area. Just as he thought he didn't find any Iron-horned Buffalo in the area. He directly passed through the middle and entered the outskirts of the Red-eyed wolves territory.

Now, Nicholas took steps extremely warily, listening to any sounds and trying to make as less sounds as possible. He tried to keep close to the bushes and avoided stepping on dry leaves lest it gave away his presence.

After some time, he spotted a Red-eyed wolf about 30 meters in front of him. The land was sloping downwards here and the wolf was on lower ground. It had not spotted him yet. Nicholas quickly ducked his head behind the bush without making any noise.

Nicholas thought that the wolf must be the scout looking for any intruders on their territory. It should continue on its scouting mission if it didn't notice anything amiss. So, he sat absolutely still while breathing in a controlled and noiseless manner.

After a minute, he heard the soft sounds of the wolf moving away.

Nicholas moved deeper into the Red-eyed wolves territory. After another kilometer or so, he discovered the main herd of the Red-eyed wolves. Three of the wolves appeared to be sleeping. Two of the sleeping ones were F-ranks. It was easy to identify them by the deep red stripe that went from their forehead to the middle of their backs. There were another two wolves that were awake and looking casually at the four cubs that were playfully biting and nibbling at each other.

It meant that there was another F-rank wolf that was missing here. It could also be scouting around like the the wolf that he had encountered earlier, or he could be anywhere. He could only hope that his plan would not be too much affected by that wolf. For the time, Nicholas decided to hide here and wait. There was still another hour before the guards started their evening patrol. Too early or too late might mean that he could actually lose his life today.