Chapter 79 - 74

It was a bright and lively morning! And upon noticing the buzzing sounds of the residents that were all seemed busy preparing for something, I couldn’t help but smile. 'What a lovely day! Seriously, I missed having such a peaceful sleep!' Amidst all my joy, I could even hear the vigorous sounds of explosions from afar. Honestly, it was probably an alarm that was telling the residents to start preparing for the day! More than that, there was also this faint smoky scent in the air as if someone was trying to burn something down…

'Wait… Huh?' Waking up from my stupor, I immediately realized that something was amiss. 'Ugh! What the heck? My head hurts!'

For some unknown reason, I started to feel a little bit dizzy the moment that I came to my senses. If I wasn’t mistaken, this feeling should be somewhat similar to having a hangover. 'Damn it! Did they put something on that meat?!' I couldn’t help but suspect.

'That said, something wrong is definitely going on outside. Is this lair under attack or something?' To check what was happening in the vicinity of my shelter, I activated and enlarged the radius of my radar-like ability. I chose to do this instead of going out because it would be too dangerous to do so in case this lair was indeed under some assault. After all, in the worst-case scenario, I could just run away whenever things went south.

With the aid of my perception skill, I discovered the restless movements of the wolves all around. But from how it looked, it didn’t seem like the lair was under attack. From what I could tell, it was more like them preparing for the worse because of that unknown commotion from afar. In other words, they were all just confused just like me. The problem was, I still had no idea what had happened to me just now. For all I know, these wolves and their alpha might have colluded in trying to poison me, so I was quite reluctant in going outside.

'Seriously, I didn’t even detect anything wrong with that meat. If they indeed put something in it, then that is even more worrying because I couldn’t even detect the substance.'

In a bid to calm down, I took a long deep breath. 'Now that I think about it, why would the wolves choose such time to assassinate me? Is it because of what happened yesterday? But if so, wouldn’t that be too much of an overreaction especially since my actions didn’t really put any of them in harm? Besides, judging by the personality of the Lightning Wolf, it is hard to believe that he would plan such a sloppy assassination.'

Since the Lightning Wolf didn’t know anything about my other abilities, he should have at least been cautious about any skills that negate the effect of poisons. It was even more so because he was aware that I came from a different area. In short, if it was really an assassination attempt, the chance of Lightning Wolf's involvement was very low.

'Well, even if the chance is low, there is still a chance regardless. But one thing is for certain—I didn’t wake up normally today. Most likely, someone from this lair had tried to kill me, but it failed due to my skill. And the prime suspect is that delivery wolf from last night.'

About two minutes had passed, and I finally made up my mind. With utmost confidence, I strolled out of my shelter acting as if I didn't notice the abnormality last night. The goal for this act was to sound out every suspicious wolf hiding nearby. Using this, I should be able to get some reaction from the culprit especially since I came out unscathed despite all his efforts to assassinate me. Though of course, the prerequisite for success was to notice any subtle hints from every wolf around. To do this, I had to remain focused and alert whilst analyzing the reaction of everyone who was looking at me.

So far, I hadn't seen anyone making such suspicious reactions. From what I observed, it seemed like everyone here was either curious or worried about that commotion in the forest. In fact, most of them didn’t even bother looking at me, and this was they were busy staring at that black smoke coming from the forest. And though the uproar wasn’t happening near the lair, it still wasn’t that far that they could just ignore it either.

As for my destination, my initial plan was to go straight to the Lightning Wolf’s place. But upon seeing the commotion in the forest, I instead decided to head to the lair’s entrance. Because judging by the impact of this disturbance, I had a nagging feeling that the Lightning Wolf would check on the situation himself. In that case, there was a higher chance of finding him on the entrance rather than his shelter. And given that it was still too early, I was certain that he still hasn’t left. Furthermore, there was also a chance that this was just a diversion so he couldn’t just leave like that.

'There he is.' Just like what I expected, the Lightning Wolf was still on standby at the entrance of the lair. And around the alpha, his subordinates were standing there on guard as if they were always ready for a fight. 'They’re really quite prepared.' I thought as I gazed at the wolves one by one. 'Seems like that delivery wolf isn’t present here.'

For now, I decided not to talk about that possible assassination attempt and simply gauged out the reaction of the Lightning Wolf and wolves around first. But as far as I could tell, all the wolves that had noticed my presence didn’t seem to react in any suspicious way. Though probably because of that incident yesterday, most of them were acting a lot more cautious than before.

'Well, at least they aren’t openly being hostile. Though this is just probably them trying their best to control themselves because of the presence of their alpha.'

The Lightning Wolf, on the other hand, remained in character as the ever-stoic leader. As a matter of fact, he didn’t even show any reaction even though he was the first one to notice my presence. 'Yep. I almost forgot. As a matter of fact, he didn’t even show any reaction even though he was the first one to notice my presence. Even if he is the culprit, I got a feeling that he would react the same.' I couldn’t help but sigh.

Ignoring the annoyed and cautious gazes of the wolves, I stood in parallel to the Lightning Wolf. And while looking in the direction where the smoke is coming from, I asked in a casual tone. 'So, what’s the situation?'

'I see.' I said while stealing a glimpse to the side. 'Any idea who's he fighting against?' I followed up.

“None…” He apathetically answered.

'In that case, I will head there to check the situation.' I stated with a firm tone. Of course, in this case, I wouldn’t take a no for an answer. This was because my relationship with the Lightning Wolf was still that of an equal so I technically didn’t need his permission. The only reason why I said this to him was so that he wouldn’t further suspect me of anything. More than that, I also wouldn’t let this chance passed by because this was a good opportunity to gauge the strength of another alpha. As for who he was battling against, I actually have a rough idea.

Upon hearing what I said, the Lightning Wolf glanced in my direction. And after pausing for a bit, he said in response, “… I’ll also… come… Wait for… a bit…”

Following that, the Lightning Wolf turned to look at his subordinates. Then, he made an announcement to gather every wolf that could fight and told his subordinates to work with everyone in tightening the security of the lair. In addition to that, he also said that they shouldn’t allow anyone to leave or enter the lair until he comes back.

This command sparked a whole lot of reactions from the wolves. Although most of them were in sync that the Lightning Wolf needs to take some guards with him. According to them, this was a precaution in case he was ambushed along the way. Though of course, the implication was that I might pull some trick against their alpha. Unfortunately, for them, both the Lightning Wolf and I knew that they would just be an additional burden. And even if I did try to pull something off, even a few couples of Great Wolves wouldn’t be much of a threat to me.

As I expected, the Lightning Wolf denied their proposal and insisted that he could fend for himself. And before his subordinates could even argue back, we were already on the way towards the source of the disturbance.

Unlike the hunting expeditions, the Lightning Wolf and I didn’t even bother to conceal ourselves. Instead, we chose to prioritized reaching the epicenter of the commotion using our speed. Along the way, the two of us passed by some fallen or burnt trees. And as the sound of battle became louder and louder, so was the damage dealt on our immediate surroundings. From what I could tell, it seemed like the two combatants were moving through the forest whilst throwing off their skills.

By following that trail, the two of us managed to catch up to the battling monster. Unsurprisingly, we saw a wolf covered in fiery-red fur running around emitting flames from his body. Not too far from him, there was a huge humanoid monster covered in pitch-black fur.

'Yep. It really is that Ape.' I jested inside.