CH 33

Episode 33 – Angry Wolf

There was no time to spare. THINK!

I was frantically trying to come up with a way to defeat the Angry Wolf. My heart was pounding violently in my chest, and each beat was a thunderclap in my ears. However, I hadn’t fallen into a state of panic. On the contrary, my mind was working with unprecedented clarity, showing me the details of the surrounding terrain, the position of the enemy, and the enemy’s status, which were normally unseen.

Perhaps, in this state, I could defeat this Angry Wolf.

As I drew my dagger from the scabbard on my back and crouched into a battle stance, the Angry Wolf, which was still slowly prowling and pacing around me, stopped.

At that moment, it let loose an ear piercingly terrifying roar that violently shook the air and rattled the branches of the surrounding trees. Shaken by the roar, my entire body stiffened and it felt like my heart would come to a stop. I was shivering from the depths of my soul, and the inside of my mouth went completely dry.

Its bright silver fur shimmering as it reflected the pale moonlight, this creature was the domineering powerhouse that ruled over this land. Cowed by its devastating roar, I was instantly made self-aware of just how small and insignificant of an existence I was in comparison.

I can’t defeat this monster.

I will die here.

I am going to get eaten.

Predator and prey. As if I had finally realized my position, my mind that was working in such clarity earlier froze, and a maelstrom of pessimistic thoughts began streaming endlessly into my head. I gradually began to tremble as the dagger that I had just drawn fell to the ground with a soft thud.

Maybe it was really all in vain.

Just when I was about to genuinely resign myself to those thoughts, for some reason, I realized that one word was continuously resounding through my mind.

“…Pre..da…tor…? —-PREDATOR!!”

That’s right, a predator! This Angry Wolf was not going after me with the intent to kill me, but with the intent to prey on me and eat me. Due to that fact, my state of panic began to fade as the cogs of my mind began to revolve in renewed normalcy. I could see the means to counter this situation. While the act of eating was wonderful, it went hand in hand with pain and agony. As someone who had eaten Magical Grass and suffered such a penance, I knew this best. Defeating this Angry Wolf might be difficult for me, but I didn’t want to be eaten alive. If I believed in myself, I could do it.

In my right hand, I immediately synthesized a Magical Grass and a Bomb Grass. As soon as it finished synthesizing, I clasped my hand closed with all my might, which caused a shock, igniting the Bomb Grass in my hand. A sharp, searing pain flashed through my palm, but this level of pain was hundreds of times better than being eaten alive.

Alright… it was going well. I succeeded in igniting the Magical Grass that was within my grasp along with the Bomb Grass. If you were to ask me what on earth I was trying to do, well…

“…EUGHHH! AGHH!!”

With this, the Angry Wolf, too would….

“OUUEEEE!! BLEECCCH!!”

Smelling this harrowing stink made me have horrific flashbacks to the time I made the Wild Boar Steak à la Grilled Magical Grass, and by reflex, my stomach began churning violently in protest. But the Angry Wolf, who was downwind of this natural disaster, was already writhing on the ground in agony. The intimidating roar from before was sounding closer to a shrill, high-pitched whimper for help. Sure enough, there was probably no living being that would enjoy this smell.

However, even if it didn’t like the smell, it still wasn’t making any actions to flee. If I just stand here while letting the Magical Grass burn out, it’ll eventually lose its effect. Since I still hadn’t tested how much it cost to make Bomb Grass, I didn’t know if I could synthesize another Magical Grass and Bomb Grass combo.

In order to make its poor situation even worse, I brought my hand that was carrying the burning Magical Grass closer to the Angry Wolf. Then, I reached into my bag and took out the bottle of Slime liquid which had Angel Grass soaking in it. I had only ever used the Slime liquid in the past for healing ointments, so this was my first time experimenting with this. I theorized that if Slime liquid could extract positive effects, it could also extract negative effects such as poisonous effects from a highly poisonous plant like Angel Grass. If that was the case, I could turn this Slime liquid into a vial of deadly poison.

The Angry Wolf was still on the ground, flailing its head back and forth while screaming. I proceeded to throw the vial of Angel Grass-imbued Slime liquid at the Angry Wolf. It sailed majestically through the air, shattering directly upon the forehead of the Angry Wolf.

Liquid dripped and flowed down the confused Angry Wolf’s face, but there was no reaction. Was it a failure? Just as I thought that, something strange happened.

It began furiously swinging its head around, madly rampaging about while rubbing its head against the ground. I caught a whiff of a burning smell, which indicated that the vial of Angel Grass-imbued Slime liquid was indeed highly poisonous.

It seemed to be working pretty well, so all that was left was to give it a finishing blow. I thought about running away for a moment, but I ended up picking up the fallen dagger and quickly closed the distance with the Angry Wolf.

While it was still rubbing its face on the ground, it fainted in agony and I took this chance to thrust the dagger into its neck as hard as I could. I was worried that the blade wouldn’t go deep enough, but it pierced straight through the skin at the base of its throat and struck right to the bone. Enraged, the Angry Wolf immediately started rampaging and convulsing with renewed madness. Since the dagger was stabbed deeply into its throat, I could only hear a hoarse wheezing sound as it tried to wail out in miserable pain.

It couldn’t smell due to the combination of its naturally acute sense of smell and the crippling stench of the Magical Grass. It couldn’t see either thanks to the well-placed corrosion of the poisonous Angel Grass-imbued Slime liquid. With the dagger stuck firmly into its neck, it tried to feebly wobble and totter away, but to no avail. It slowly buckled and fell to the ground with a thunderous crash, where it drew its last breath.