Chapter 63: Betrayal of Comrades

Hina-nee led me through the forest, using her Sonar Pulse again whenever it was ready to confirm that our targets, the snowolves, were still in one place and not moving. If they began running away, that would be troublesome. Luckily, it seemed that the two trouble-makers Ichigo and Horiya had not disturbed the pack yet. With any luck, they were probably now stranded in the forest somewhere, completely lost.

"We're getting really close," Hina-nee whispered and slowed down her pace.

And then, I saw them. About 100 meters in front of us, a whole pack of snow-white wolves lay, as if resting. I counted - there were eight in total.

"I'll take the four on the right, you take the four on the left," I instructed.

Hina-nee nodded firmly. "Got it."

We split up slightly in order to attack them at different angles. I began crouching, moving slowly as to not alert the pack, while Hina-nee did the same.

Slowly, we crept closer, not daring to get impatient and rush ahead like Ichigo and Horiya had done. If we did that now, the snowolf pack would be alerted and they would run away faster than we could catch up.

From what I could see, the snowolf pack appeared to be sleeping. Wolves back on Earth were nocturnal creatures, and these snowolves seemed to be the same - hence why they were napping during the day. In other words, this was the perfect time to strike. If we waited until night to fall, they would all wake up… and being nocturnal animals, they would have the advantage if we were to fight.

50 meters away. I was almost within range to cast a hidden art. So close - just a few steps more…!

But then, I stepped on a twig. I cursed. Both because this may alert the wolves, but also because my LUC stat would be going down again after this incident.

Hina-nee and I both froze as we concentrated on the snowolf pack. One of them woke up from the noise I had made and looked around for any sign of enemies - in other words, us.

I didn't dare to move an inch, hoping that even if they saw me, they would just think I was a really short tree or something. But after a while, the snowolf slowly went back to laying down on the grass, and I let out an inaudible sigh of relief. After exchanging glances with Hina-nee to confirm that everything was okay now, we continued moving, slowing creeping closer to the sleeping snowolf pack.

Once I was within range, a hologram appeared in front of me.

[NEW SPECIES ENTRY]

[Name: Snowolf]

[Type: Magic Beast (Mammal)]

[Weakness: Hidden Arts (Luxomancy)]

[Resistance: None]

After dismissing the hologram, I motioned for Hina-nee to get ready, then raised up my arm, pointing my palm outwards towards my target.

"Basic Luxomancy Art - Luxostrike."

The reason I chose this hidden art out of the seven I had was because it was extremely wide. My goal here was to hit as many targets as possible, after all. Not only this, but the light from this spell will blind the wolves momentarily, allowing for Hina-nee and I to get closer - hence why I chose Luxostrike instead of Umbrostrike.

And of course, because it clearly said on the new species entry that they were weak against Luxomancy hidden arts.

Two seconds after I finished my quiet incantation, a wide crescent-shaped blast of light energy shot out of my palm, expanding as it traveled. It aimed it perfectly so that it didn't hit any trees, which would've made noise and alerted the pack. The blade of light flew towards the snowolves at 'light' speed (not really).

Before they could even react, the crescent cut through three of the seven beasts, before sending the rest flying after exploding against the tree behind them.

"Now, Hina-nee!"

"On it!"

The two of us leaped out of the cover of the forest and onto the path the snowolves had been napping on.

'Vanishing Clouds.'

Both of us used this skill at the same time, closing the distance between us and the startled snowolves in an instant. Both of our weapons were already equipped, so we just took hold of them and attacked without any hesitation.

Hina-nee managed to slay one of the four still-alive wolves instantly with her surprise attack. I tried to do the same, but the one I was facing seemed to be the leader of the pack, the 'alpha'. Naturally, this meant he was a lot stronger than the others. He blocked my strike with his teeth, biting down hard on my dagger, before throwing me onto the ground using it.

"Ngh-!"

The snowolf immediately capitalized on this and jumped on top of my body, pinning me to the ground and attempting to bite my head off.

"Kaze-kun!" Hina-nee cried out in worry.

"I'm fine!" I quickly shouted back as I held the snowolf back. "Focus on your own targets!"

Hina-nee looked worried still, but she did as I told and began facing off against the other two snowolves while I struggled against the alpha.

I had been in this situation before - my first fight in this world was with a sickleboar. At the time, it had pinned me down like this as well. However, back then, my weapon was within reach. Now… the snowolf had spit it out, far away from me. There was no way I would be able to reach it. Hina-nee was busy with her own two targets, so I couldn't rely on her to help me.

But while the situation wasn't as favorable for me as back then, I had grown a lot - not just in terms of levels, but also in terms of battle experience. This strategy may have not worked back then, but it was certainly possible now.

"Tch… get… off of me!"

I brought up my knee and struck the snowolf's underbelly with all my might.

"ROAR!" it growled in pain, but still didn't get off of me and instead attempted to bite down on my body even harder. I gritted my teeth as I held it back, and brought up my knee once again, hitting the same spot as before.

It howled in anger again, but I didn't relent. I struck the snowolf once more, and this time, it finally got off of me, rolling around on the ground in pain. I took this chance to hurriedly get up before it could recover. If it weren't for my STR stat of 80, this snowolf would've killed me a long time ago. But it was exactly this thrill of being near-death that spurred me onwards.

Knowing that this 'game' was really not only served to make this even more exciting.

Both of us were now on our feet, and we circled each other slowly. It glared at me with hatred for slaughtering his family, but I felt no emotions of pity or guilt in me. This snowolf pack was merely a variable that needed to be terminated, in order for me to get my money. That is all, nothing more.

"Come at me," I taunted, smiling sadistically.

The snowolf growled and leaped towards me, trying to pin me down again. However, that wouldn't work a second time. I still didn't have my weapon as it was laying a short distance away, but that wasn't a big deal. I tilted my body slightly to avoid the snowolf's attack, before suddenly reaching out and wrapping my arm around its throat, putting it in a headlock.

The snowolf howlwed and attempted to struggle, which caused both of us to crash onto the ground once again. However, I didn't let go, and instead tightened my grip even further so that it couldn't howl anymore. I attempted to choke it to death, but at this time, one of the snowolves fighting Hina-nee turned in this direction and saw that its leader had fallen in trouble.

Immediately, it began rushing over, and I cursed.

"Oh, no you don't-!" Hina-nee used 'Vanishing Clouds' once more and instantly appeared directly in front of the beast, before kicking upwards below its chin. The snowolf was sent flying backwards, away from me.

"Kaze-kun, take this!" she shouted, throwing me one of her Sai.

While one of my arms were choking the alpha snowolf, I caught the weapon with my free hand before quickly returning to my original position using both hands, lest the snowolf break free. Even though my STR stat was 80, this wild beast had extremely high raw muscle power, and I had already expended a lot of energy earlier trying to get it off of me.

However, its life wouldn't last much longer.

I stabbed the Sai Hina-nee threw me directly into the snowolf's throat.

"ARWHOO!" the beast howled in agony.

And that, would be the last howl it would make in its life.

*****

After confirming that the snowolf wasn't just playing dead, I relaxed my grip on its throat and let it collapse to the ground, taking Hina-nee's Sai back out. I looked over and saw that she was finished with her two targets as well - as expected of her, taking on two enemies at once and still winning.

I handed Hina-nee her Sai back and picked up my own weapon from the ground. It was coated in the snowolf's saliva. I cringed in disgust.

"Alright… that's all of them," Hina-nee said, putting her weapons back in her inventory and clapping happily.

"Thanks for the help back there," I said, scratching my cheek awkwardly as I stored everything as well.

"Mou, we're family, remember?" Hina-nee giggled.

"Yeah…" I turned to the seven corpses on the floor and quickly took out my guild card from my pocket. I faced it towards the corpses for a few seconds, and the card began shining green.

Soon after, the corpses disappeared in a shimmer of light, turning into XP for Hina-nee and I.

"What was that for?" Hina-nee asked as we began walking back.

"I read in the Hunter's manual that the guild card also served as evidence for our completion of the quest," I explained. "After killing or capturing our targets, we're supposed to take out our guild card and face it towards them until it started glowing green. Apparently, doing so would save a 'picture' of the scene to be used as evidence by the Hunter's Guild so that we can receive our due rewards."

"Oh, so it's like a camera from our old world?"

"Somewhat. We can't actually see the pictures, but the guild has some sort of system that lets them view it."

"Hm… do you think they managed to make something like this using hidden arts?" Hina-nee inquired curiously.

I nodded. "Definitely. The 'hidden arts' in this world are basically magic. There's nothing they can't do, though I believe the only hidden arts available to us players are all combat-related."

"If that's the case, then… the natives of this reality plane can use hidden arts as well?"

"Yeah. At least, I'm 99% certain. I'll have to confirm with A.R.X.A. later though."

There was also something else I wanted to ask her… though it was unrelated.

"Alright!" Hina-nee cheered. "Let's head on back and claim our rewards!"

I smiled wryly, remembering Ichigo and Horiya's poor souls.