Kai remained still behind the stone.
He slowed his breathing to a quiet rhythm while waiting for the apex predators to finish their gruesome business.
The giant bear eventually dragged the rest of its meal deeper into the dark woods, snapping branches as it walked away.
A few tense minutes later, the Red Python uncoiled its spotted body from the tree branch and slithered silently into the dense underbrush.
'I am definitely not ready to mess with level fifty monsters,' Kai thought to himself, slowly letting out a breath he had been holding in his chest for too long.
Fighting those massive things right now was a guaranteed death sentence.
So instead, Kai turned his back on the clearing and sneaked away, choosing a completely different route through the dense foliage to avoid any lingering attention.
He walked carefully, testing every footstep before putting his weight down in the dark.
The sun finally rose after a long, stressful night of hiding in the branches of a tall trees.
Bright beams of morning light filtered through the thick above, signaling the start of a new day.
Kai spent his first full day navigating the untamed forest, making sure to actively avoid the main dirt roads where desperate bandits or aggressive vampire scouts might be patrolling.
The air was cool and crisp, carrying the pleasant scent of pine needles and wild grass.
This long trek was the perfect opportunity to test out his newly upgraded body.
Hitting level nineteen after the alley fight and absorbing the stat boost from Greta had fundamentally changed how he moved through the world.
Stepping over a fallen tree without breaking his stride felt effortless.
Pushing off his back foot, Kai launched himself over a wide, rocky ravine and landed silently on the other side.
The new agility points made his footsteps incredibly light and precise, while the extra strength made his canvas rucksack feel completely weightless on his shoulders.
He sprinted through a cluster of bushes to test his endurance limits.
The minor restorative touch passive he gained at the Hollow Moon Inn worked wonders.
His lungs barely burned, and his heart rate remained completely steady even after a long run.
By the time the afternoon sun started setting behind the tall trees, he had covered a massive amount of ground.
He was making excellent time toward the hidden lake shortcut.
Travelling entirely off the beaten path always carried significant risks, but his elevated stats made the wilderness feel like a playground rather than a death trap.
While stopping near a shallow, running stream to refill his sturdy water skin, the short hairs on the back of his neck suddenly stood up.
The forest grew unnaturally quiet around him.
The normal sounds of chirping birds and rustling squirrels vanished entirely.
Kai capped his water skin and stood up slowly.
He rested his right hand firmly on the leather grip of his Fang Sword.
Six pairs of red eyes emerged from the shadowy brush directly across the water.
They were Corrupted Timber Wolves.
They stood at least twice as tall as normal wolves, with grey fur that looked patchy and diseased, as if dark magic were rotting their bodies.
Black, toxic drool dripped from their exposed fangs, sizzling quietly when it hit the wet rocks below them.
They fanned out in a wide, tactical semicircle, trying to surround him against the running water.
Three days ago, a coordinated pack of six mutated beasts would have forced Kai to drop his bag and run for his life.
Today, he just cracked his neck and drew his weapon.
The clean steel blade caught the fading sunlight as it slid smoothly from its leather sheath.
The largest wolf in the pack howled loudly and leaped right across the shallow stream, aiming its powerful jaws directly at his throat.
Kai did not even flinch.
Channelling a small fraction of his expanded mana pool, he raised his left hand.
A spear of solid ice materialised in the empty air and shot forward.
The frozen projectile pierced the lead wolf straight through its chest while it was still airborne.
Seeing their pack leader fall did not deter the rest of the mutated animals.
The magic boiling in their blood made them overly aggressive and completely devoid of basic survival instincts.
The remaining five wolves charged him all at once from different angles.
Kai stepped right into the chaos with a calm focus.
He swung his Fang Sword in a wide, horizontal arc, letting his enhanced strength do all the heavy lifting.
The blade sliced cleanly through the thick neck of the closest wolf, severing its head before the creature could even snap its jaws.
Another wolf lunged directly for his thigh.
Kai simply pivoted on his heel, dodging the clumsy attack completely, and drove the heavy pommel of his sword hard into the beast's skull.
The bone cracked loudly under the sudden impact.
Two more wolves tried to flank him from his blind spot on the left.
Kai dropped his sword hand low and channelled his freezing magic straight into his boots.
He stomped hard against the rocks. A smooth sheet of ice instantly spread across the ground, completely freezing the muddy edge of the stream.
The charging wolves slipped on the sudden ice rink, losing their footing and tumoring over each other in a messy pile of fur and claws.
Stepping forward with perfect, precise balance, Kai drove his blade down into the ribs of the first fallen wolf.
Then, twisting his left wrist, he formed a dense ice dagger in his free hand and buried it deep into the neck of the second struggling animal.
The final remaining wolf skidded to a sudden halt.
It watched its entire pack get dismantled in less than thirty seconds. For a brief moment, the corrupted creature seemed to realise it had made a terrible mistake by picking a fight with this human.
It tucked its tail between its legs and turned around to run back into the dark woods.
"You don't get to walk away," Kai said out loud.
He raised his hand and fired a quick volley of three sharp ice shards.
The frozen needles buried themselves deep into the running wolf's back, dropping the beast instantly into the dirt, where it stopped moving entirely.
Kai let out a relaxed sigh.
He flicked his sword to the side, throwing a line of dark blood off the steel blade before sliding it safely back into the leather sheath at his hip.
He walked over to the running stream and washed his hands, feeling completely energised despite the brief combat. The fight was so incredibly fast that his heart had barely even started racing.
'These wolves would have killed me three days ago,' Kai thought to himself, shaking his head in mild disbelief at his own rapid progression.
'Now they are just free experience points.'
[Enemy Defeated: Corrupted Timber Wolf Lvl 12]
[Enemy Defeated: Corrupted Timber Wolf Lvl 12]
[Enemy Defeated: Corrupted Timber Wolf Lvl 12]
[Enemy Defeated: Corrupted Timber Wolf Lvl 12]
[Enemy Defeated: Corrupted Timber Wolf Lvl 12]
[Enemy Defeated: Corrupted Timber Wolf Lvl 13]
[Experience Gained]
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]
[Level Up!]