Chapter 108
Leaning against the tree trunk, Veronica watched as the masked man walked further and further away. In the end, stimulated by a strong desire to survive, she stood up and followed step by step behind him. They were in the wilderness, and it was getting dark soon. If she really were to stay here alone, she didn‘t know what she would be facing. However, she didn‘t want to die.
Upon hearing the sound behind him, the masked man walking ahead looked back to see Veronica stumbling after him, and a hint of surprise flickered across his eyes. He didn‘t say a word, but he slowed down his pace a lot. This woman is amazingly tough, eh?
They walked for a while until dusk deepened and they couldn‘t see any path at all. Only then did they find a suitable place to rest and take shelter from the rain. It was a cave, though. If a mudslide occurred, the mouth of the cave could be sealed at any time, burying the two of them alive. Sitting against the wall, Veronica looked weakly at the masked man with pale lips, asking, “Are you sure it‘s safe in here?”
“You can go outside if you want.” The man darted a look at her. Then, he searched for some firewood and lit a fire with the lighter–
Having walked for a long time, Veronica felt cold and tired, and she shivered with cold. When she finally felt a trace of warmth, she fell asleep on the spot.
The man sitting across from her prodded her with a stick. Realizing that she was already out cold, he turned to look at the wound on her arm. After hesitating for a moment, he walked up to her and touched her forehead, only to realize that she was having a high fever, which was most probably caused by an infection in the wound on her arm. After finding the dagger on her, he examined her wound, hesitating whether to treat the wound for her. In the end, however, he didn‘t do anything. He merely mumbled, “I‘m kind enough not to kill you.”
It was already noon the next day when Veronica came round. Even though she was still feeling dizzy, her fever had gone down. Her arm was bandaged with a strip of fabric, and her wound had been treated. She knew it was the masked man who had done these.
Luckily, the mouth of the cave didn‘t collapse either.
She sat there, yelling, “Hey, is anyone there? Are you there, masked man?”
Aner nou getting any response, she decided to stop yelling. Seeing that the rain had stopped and the sky had cleared up, she dared not waste time any longer. Immediately, she got up and headed outside the mountain.
The deep mountain forest was dense with brambles, making it difficult for her to move even a step. Not only that, but she was also starving. After dragging herself through the woods for an entire day, she found some wild fruits to allay her hunger and drank some water from a mountain spring. Only then did she manage to hold out for a day.
That night, she found a big tree. She climbed up the tree to sleep lest she had nowhere to escape when attacked by wild animals.
As Veronica had expected, she really heard the cries of wolves late at night. Her heart shuddered with fright, and she was panic–stricken. The only thing she could use to defend herself was the dagger that the masked man had left her. At the moment, her life and death depended entirely on luck.
Being wide awake, she leaned against the big tree while trying her best to hide her presence. However, the wolves‘ cries slowly approached, making her feel unusually insecure, especially because she was in a thick forest located deep in the mountains. It could be said that she would be up the creek without a paddle in the face of danger.
Suddenly, a wolf craned its neck and howled. “Owooooo!” Its voice sounded very close and unusually distinct.
Veronica tensed up; she didn‘t feel secure in such darkness at all. Just then, she vaguely noticed a few glittering spots, but when she looked closely, she couldn‘t help but feel a chill running down her spine. It was because… the glittering spots were actually several pairs of eyes!
It was the wolves! They seemed to be heading her way directly after smelling her odor.
Veronica was sleeping on a three–meter–tall tree, but she noticed twelve greedy eyes. There were six wolves in total. How am I supposed to deal with these wolves? She felt like crying. F*ck! Am I gonna die here?
The bright moon hung in the sky and spilled moonlight on the earth, making the earth seem like it was covered with a layer of white gauze as everything was faintly visible.
Knowing that the wolves must have realized where she was hiding with their keen sense of smell, she climbed to the top of the tree in the moonlight. Although she had
dabed to a high place, she heard the sound of the tree trunk being scratched. The wolves were clawing at the tree while howling repeatedly, as though to summon other wolves.
Veronica felt like she had used up her entire life‘s worth of bad luck this year, for she encountered one misfortune after another. She vowed that once she left Almeida and returned to Bloomstead, she would definitely go to the Church of Heavenly Yew right away to visit a priest.
As a result, Veronica didn‘t sleep the entire night, while the hungry wolves waited under the tree all night.
However, it wasn‘t until dawn the next day that Veronica got a good look and realized that the number of wolves had increased from six to ten. Not only that, but these wolves had no intention of leaving at all. Sitting on top of the tree, she looked at the sky hopelessly. “Is this gonna be the end of me?”
Since the wolves didn‘t leave, she couldn‘t leave either, resulting in a war of attrition between the two parties.
Being sleepy, hungry, and thirsty, Veronica knew that if this went on, she would end up being eaten by the wolves. Sitting on the top of the tree, she cut off some branches with her dagger and sharpened them into sharp weapons. Then, she used the bark to make a rope, tying the sharp sticks together and carrying them on her back. After that, she began starting a fire on the tree with some twigs. Luckily, one of the tree‘s branches withered after being infested with bugs. After finding a spot to put the excess bark and twigs together, she groped for the lighter and set fire to them. She was grateful for the masked man, who left the lighter and dagger for her, but resented him at the same time for forcing her into such a perilous situation.
The fire was lit, producing puffs of smoke. Watching the fire with great care, Veronica kept the fire burning with some difficulty without letting the burning twigs fall from the tree branch. As wisps of smoke curled upwards, she snapped the branches while keeping the fire burning to produce even more smoke.
She waited from morning till evening. The smoke she had produced failed to attract any help, but it managed to reduce the number of wolves from ten to four.
Knowing that this was her only chance, she climbed down from the top and stood three meters above the ground with her dagger in one hand and a sharp stick in the other. While the wolves weren‘t noticing, she jumped right away onto one of the wolves, stabbing the wolf on the spot with the dagger and the stick.
“Owo0000…” The wolf howled in pain as the remaining three wolves lunged at her
right away
Reacting swiftly, Veronica rolled away from the wolf to the tree trunk. After standing up, she drew another sharp stick from behind her and looked at the wolves before her, who were circling around her while waiting for the right moment to attack. One of the wolves looked the strongest, and it held its tail‘higher than the rest of the wolves, so Veronica deduced that it had to be the alpha male wolf that led the wolf pack, the Wolf King. Having settled on her target, she made the first move and immediately dashed toward it.
However, the wolf‘s reaction was even swifter than Veronica‘s. After dodging her attack, it bit into her injured right arm right away.
Veronica gritted her teeth in pain as the Wolf King‘s teeth sank into her skin with a strong bite force. In an instant, however, she thrust the stick in her left hand into its eye. “Go to hell!”
“Owoo00o…” The excruciating pain caused the wolf to howl in pain and let go of Veronica‘s arm. The next instant, she swiftly thrust the dagger in her right hand into its right eye.
The Wolf King howled and writhed on the ground in agony as it couldn‘t see anything.
