Chapter 370: Traces of the Northland Wolf! (Happy New Year!)

After dawn, Jier, who had not slept all night, woke the young Hunter, and he carefully packed the lizard's head and claws into a bag.

The lizard's head was not yet dead, and as Jier packed it into the bag, it still tried to open and close its mouth to bite him. How could Jier possibly be bitten by such a clumsy attack?

Although it looked quite frightening, the white-scaled lizard, now reduced to just a head, could not hurt anyone. After staring at it for a while, Jier, unable to outlast the Monster's patience, gave in and packed the whole thing into the bag.

After a night had passed, the lizard's self-severed tail was still hanging in the air of the carriage, twisting incessantly. If you poked it, it would wiggle back and forth energetically.

After eating some simple food, Jier removed the Muan from the horses and connected the Jiansheng to the other two horses pulling the carriage. With the Muan, Backpack, and weapons thrown into the carriage, Jier lay down in the carriage wearing his armor and fell asleep, swaying gently.

Before falling asleep, he reminded the young Hunter to wake him immediately if anything unusual occurred. Because in the latter half of last night, Jier had noticed several pairs of beast eyes reflecting the campfire light, quietly watching the two of them from the snowdrifts in the distance.

"Could it be scouts from that Wolf Pack?" the young Hunter asked, feeling uneasy, especially since there were only the two of them and they were carrying an important mission.

"Whatever they are, since they didn't attack us last night, they won't have a chance during the day. Don't stop on the road; whatever they are, they won't be able to catch up!" Jier said decisively, pointing toward River Mouth Town to the south.

"Alright, I'll listen to you. Giddy-up!"

The young Hunter cracked the horse whip, driving the three horses forward.

Having slept groggily in the bumpy carriage for half a day, Jier woke up feeling refreshed around noon.

He lay in the carriage, looking at the lizard tail hanging in mid-air, rubbing the short stubble on his chin, wondering what he was thinking about.

"I wonder if this thing would be quite potent if soaked in wine?" he muttered nonsensically.

After letting his mind wander for a while, Jier climbed up and patted his companion.

"Awake, Jier? I reckon we're almost at River Mouth Town." The young Hunter was driving the carriage quickly along the road they had come by.

"Very good! Did anything happen on the road?"

"When we first started running, there was a round of wolf howls behind us. But we shook them off quickly. Haha, we're an empty carriage! We're running like we're flying! Look!" The young Hunter pointed excitedly at both sides and the back of the carriage.

Once the three horses started running fast, their twelve hooves rose and fell, kicking up large patches of loose snow from the ground.

The snow drifted and scattered behind the carriage, not settling for a long time.

Jier stood in the driver's seat, gripping the carriage canopy, looking behind him. He felt the carriage was very imposing at this moment, as if thousands of troops and horses were following behind.

Sitting down, he signaled his companion to slow down: "We've run for so long, let the horses rest."

They gradually slowed down, then Jier and the Hunter wiped the sweat off the horses, and Jier even fed the three horses the beer he hadn't finished.

After drinking some beer, the horses seemed very excited. The two then covered the horses with Linen Cloth covers to protect them from the cold.

This time, after they set off again, they slowed their pace. They were already close to River Mouth Town, and the terrain had flattened out; although there were no fields yet, presumably there was no more danger in the surroundings.

Halfway through the afternoon, they finally arrived outside River Mouth Town. There was some trouble when entering the town; the Militia guarding the north gate did not want to let the two and the carriage in.

To these Militia, few people entered or left the north side of the town in winter, let alone a carriage coming from the uninhabited area. They saw Jier riding on the horse and expressed great wariness of the weapons and equipment all over Jier's body.

"We are subordinates of Knight Lanisha, and we left the town just two mornings ago! We are not some unidentified dangerous people," Jier said loudly.

But the Militia above retorted: "You say you're the Knight's subordinates, then where is the Knight? Where is the Knight?"

Jier said the Knight had other important matters and did not come along. But the Militia did not accept this explanation at all.

"What should we do? It seems like nothing we say works now. How about we use some coins to see?" Jier complained to his companion.

The young Hunter looked hesitant: "Is that a good idea? We often dealt with them in other seasons before, but it was always the old Hunters in the team who were familiar with them; I've never said a word to them anyway."

Jier rolled his eyes: "How about this, there happen to be two old Hunters in the town, how about we let them find the old Hunters to prove our identities?"

"Let's do that."

"Hey! We really are the Hunter team under Knight Lanisha. If you don't believe us, you can go into the town now and find our old Hunters to prove it. We are at..." At this point, Jier whispered to his companion: "Where is our Jiedian in the town again?"

The companion gestured: "Opposite a tavern with a barrel of fresh fish painted on the sign."

"Right, we have a house opposite a tavern with a barrel of fresh fish painted on the sign. You send someone over to ask, and it will prove our identity. Please, go verify it, I'll give you money." After shouting, Jier took a handful of Iron Coins and copper coins from his money bag and scattered them toward the top of the gate.

"Hey, Jier!?" The companion was about to stop him, but Jier had already scattered the money: "What if they take the money and don't find anyone?"

This remark from the companion was heard by the Militia scrambling for the coins above: "Bullshit! Are we that kind of people? We'll go find someone after taking the money."

After saying that, two Militia withdrew their heads, ran down the wooden gate tower with a thud-thud-thud, and went to the place Jier mentioned to find someone to verify.

The other Militia, having received the money, were no longer so harsh in their tone, turning instead to praise Jier for being generous.

Jier rolled his eyes under his Helmet Faceplate, but he did not intend to spend any more money. If he gave too much money, it wouldn't be good to arouse greed in the Human Mind.

After a while, the sky gradually darkened.

If they were in the wild mountains and forests, it would probably get dark very quickly at this time. But near the flat River Mouth Town, the darkness at dusk seemed to slow its pace.

Urgent footsteps sounded from the other side of the wooden gate, followed by an argument containing curses. Immediately after, the sound of the Militia apologizing came over.

The town's north gate opened quickly.

Five Hunters carrying bows and arrows walked out quickly, followed by several Militia who kept bowing and apologizing.

"Jier! Feike! It's good that you've come. Was the road safe?" an old Hunter walked over and asked.

Jier jumped off the horse and hugged his companions: "On the way there, with Knight Lanisha present, it was very safe. But on the way back, while camping at night, we were attacked by a fierce Monster."

"Monster? What kind of Monster? Are you hurt?" the companions asked hurriedly.

Jier smiled and pointed to the lizard tail hanging in mid-air in the carriage that occasionally swayed: "It was a white giant lizard with very tenacious vitality. Although it had a hard suit of scales, it was still defeated by the two of us. However, we couldn't keep the guy's body, and only cut off the head and the abandoned tail."

Jier's words confused everyone; what did he mean by cutting off the head but failing to keep the body? Was the body and the head not from the same family?

That was exactly right; this lizard with tenacious vitality could actually move without its head, and Jier was caught off guard and let it escape.

The Hunter team walked toward the town while talking about their respective situations after parting.

The Militia guarding the gate awkwardly covered the money bags inside their clothes, and Jier did not mention the money to them either.

After returning to the Jiedian, the old Hunters rented the front yard of a resident nearby, which was just enough to put down the horses and the carriage, without having to disturb the town's manager when there was no female Knight.

Whatever they could solve themselves, they solved themselves; there was no need to use the Knight's connections.

There was nothing in the carriage, so after parking and feeding the horses, Jier and the young Hunter Feike who accompanied him followed the group back to the Jiedian.

While eating, the old Hunters showed Jier and the other two the food, supplies, and other consumables they had purchased over the past few days.

Everything was packed into sturdy sacks, full to the brim, so they could be quickly loaded onto the carriage early tomorrow morning and then set off together to leave this place.

Jier and Feike also talked about their experiences on the road.

"Since everything is going according to the previous plan, let's get some rest early. But since Jier and the others encountered what might have been the vanguard scouts of a Wolf Pack when they returned, we must all stay alert once we set off tomorrow!" an old Hunter said.

The group shouted in unison, and after finishing their meal, they checked the weapons and equipment they had already checked several times over.

Jier had the most gear on him, so he checked his weapons repeatedly before going upstairs to rest.

Early the next morning, the Hunters brought over the carriage and horses. For renting the courtyard of a civilian house for just one night, the old Hunters had only spent five Iron Coins; they were truly skilled at bargaining. Jier felt ashamed; his money came easily, so he hadn't been very calculating when spending it, never imagining one could save money like this.

The group worked together to carry heavy sacks filled with food and load them onto the carriage. One Hunter stood inside the carriage box, and another stood on the driver's seat, receiving the supply bags handed out by the group and passing them to their companion inside the box.

Just like that, through the collective labor of the seven of them, they moved all the prepared supplies onto the carriage in the time it takes to eat a meal.

The old Hunters went upstairs to the Jiedian to check, ensuring that no one had left anything important in the rooms and also ensuring there were no safety hazards like open flames in the house.

Only then did they close the sturdy wooden door of the Jiedian house and fasten a metal Lock onto it.

"Let's go!"

The group set off, with Jier still riding his horse alone, while the others all sat in the carriage.

Two people sat on the driver's seat, while the others were squeezed into the carriage box, commenting on the lizard tail still hanging in the air. They were betting on whether eating this lizard tail would be beneficial to the human body.

Some said this lizard tail had an eerie vitality, and they didn't even want to touch the thing. Others felt that since this lizard tail had such vitality, eating it would surely extend the lives of those suffering from serious illnesses or the elderly.

However, these were all guesses; none of them had much knowledge or education, and encountering this strange thing, no one could say for sure. So, they unanimously decided that once they reached the Supply Point Camp, they would find Knight Lanisha to identify it.

Knight Lanisha had studied and read books in a big city, so she would surely know what this thing was.

Jier was in the camp that believed the thing was beneficial to people, and the reason was simple: this was something he and Feike had defeated and obtained together. If it were identified as beneficial, the two of them had the right to decide how it was used.

Jier had secretly asked Feike, and Feike said he wanted to take it home for his parents to taste. His very young sister at home was also in poor health, and perhaps she could improve her body and grow up healthy by eating this.

Jier's reason was much simpler; he would just eat it directly, and if everyone wanted some, he could let them all have a taste. However, he would definitely eat the large portion himself. Having come to this different world, if one didn't count Mushrooms, this would be the first time eating such strange food.

After leaving the city, everything was calm at first. It seemed all the animals had been subdued by the winter snowfall, each one secretly hibernating to avoid some hungry predators.

Although the old Hunters' physical functions were not as good as the young ones', their many years of Hunting life gave them a vigilance far exceeding that of ordinary people. On the carriage, the two of them noticed some tracks that others would not have discovered.

"Jier! Come here, come here." An old Hunter who was taking his turn sitting on the driver's seat called over Jier, who was following behind the carriage.

Jier spurred his horse to catch up to the slowly moving carriage: "What is it, Uncle?"

The old Hunter was caught between laughter and tears: "What 'Uncle'! My grandson is about your age."

Jier chuckled: "Then what should I call you? Grandfather?"

"I'm just a hunter, how could I dare to be called by such an honorific? Let's talk business. The snow on the small hill to the side looks a bit off. You ride over and take a look. Be careful, and keep your weapons ready at all times." The old Hunter pointed to a hill on the front side, not far from the path left by their carriage.

Jier looked in the direction indicated by the other, but at first glance, he didn't see anything wrong.

"The snow on the trees!" the old Hunter pointed out.

Jier suddenly realized; compared to the snow on trees in other places, the snow on the trees on this hill was too sparse. It looked as if something had brushed against the trunks, causing much of the snow to fall from the branches and leaves, revealing the winter-evergreen flat needles.

Jier nodded, tapped his horse to signal it to speed up, and quickly arrived at the foot of the hill ahead of the carriage.

It wasn't easy to climb this ten-meter-high hill on horseback; after all, you didn't know if beneath the snow was a rocky base, grass, or perhaps a depression.

Jier dismounted and climbed up with his wooden Long Spear slung over his shoulder.

On the other side, the carriage also slowed down, waiting for Jier to signal that it was safe before they would pass through.

Jier poked the snow with the butt of his Long Spear to check if it was safe to walk, while carefully observing everything on the small hill.

He sniffed and vaguely smelled something.

He lifted his Helmet Faceplate, exposed his face, took a deep breath through his nose, and then sniffed left and right.

A smell of blood.

He stopped, closed his Faceplate, removed the Shield from behind his left shoulder, and gripped it on his left forearm in preparation.

When he climbed halfway up, he seemed to hear some heavy breathing. It sounded like a broken bellows; it certainly wasn't a sound a human could make.

Beneath the Faceplate, he curled his lips. He raised his Long Spear and rotated it by the middle of the wooden shaft.

The action had no specific meaning, but on the carriage behind, the Hunters stopped the vehicle and each quietly took out their bows, Arrows, and Daggers. One climbed onto the sturdy roof of the carriage, crouched down, and nocked an Arrow to the Bowstring.

Two people jumped off the carriage and stood on both sides, keeping watch.

One person untied the thick Linen Cloth tightly closing the back of the cargo carriage and carefully watched their path.

The two Hunters sitting on the driver's seat stood up, also ready for battle.

Jier lightened his movements, trying his best not to make any sound other than the crunching of his feet on the snow.

When he reached the top of the hill, he saw messy depressions in the snow and small mounds where the snow had been pushed up by things hiding underneath.

"Hmph." Jier glanced at the large tree at the top of the hill, and through the gaps between the leaves and branches, he locked eyes with a pair of cruel beast pupils.

"It's a wolf!" Jier shouted, simultaneously lunging forward, his Long Spear thrusting straight at the wild wolf hiding in the tree.

The opponent was more agile than he had imagined; it pushed off with all four paws against the branches, leaped, broke through the leaves and snow, and landed directly on the snowy ground to the side.

The soft snow left it unharmed, so as soon as it landed, it let out three consecutive urgent, short howls.

"Woo! Woo! Woo-ooh!" As the creature's cry ended, the wild wolves that had been lying in ambush under the snow on the north side of the hill shook their heads, shed the snow from their bodies, and suddenly charged out from the ground.

However, the carriage was not in their path; it was still stopped in front of the hill.

"It's a Northland Wolf! I can tell the moment I hear that sound! Jier! Retreat! We'll cover you from here!" the old Hunter roared, calling for Jier on the hill to pull back.

Upon hearing this, Jier abandoned his opponent, tossed his Long Spear down the hill, turned, and jumped down.

The small hill wasn't very high; after jumping down, Jier rolled twice in the snow, quickly stood up, scanned left and right, and found his Long Spear.

The Northland Wolf on the hill that had been directing the others also let out a howl and jumped down.

But it was hit in the body by two Arrows while in mid-air; it was the old Hunter with amazing archery skills who had fired.

However, at over fifty meters away, the sudden shot had accuracy but lacked force. The old Hunter had been anxious to shoot and released the Bowstring before it was fully drawn.

Therefore, the Northland Wolf, hit in the body, only stumbled upon landing, let out a hiss, and continued to pounce toward Jier.

"Well come!" Jier wasn't afraid of it; it was just a single wolf. Besides, he wasn't the same person he had been back in Doraerlin Village.

Jier stood firm, held his Shield up squarely, and waited for the Northland Wolf to pounce.

He wasn't worried at all that this creature could knock him to the ground. The food and training of these past days had made him grow rapidly, and his body had become much sturdier. At the same time, he was wearing thick winter clothing underneath, his Hard Cowhide Full-Coverage Armor on the outside, a Long Sword and Dagger at his waist, a Shield and Long Spear in his hands, and a heavy axe on his back.

These things, added to his body weight, had long since exceeded one hundred kilograms.

For this wild wolf, which weighed no more than fifty or sixty kilograms, to pounce and knock him down would not be easy. If it had been pouncing after accelerating over a distance, it might have been possible, but that wolf had just been wounded in mid-air; now that it had landed and was pouncing again, it was hard to say if its force was even half of its full-strength strike.