After a while, Seth, Matthew, Leon, and the two hunters buried the sharpened thick branches they had collected into the ground, angling them towards the grass. Any wild wolf stumbling through the grass would either fall into the trap or impale itself on the sharp branches, as thick as an arm.
After setting up these traps, Seth felt a slight digestion of the 'Hunter' potion. It was an indescribable but wonderful feeling.
At that moment, a faint stench wafted from the mountain forest in the distance. His keen sense of smell alerted him to leave quickly.
They continued down the mountain, setting up simple but effective traps using materials they found. Seth even left items with his scent, such as hats or handkerchiefs, to lure the wolves into the traps.
As time passed, Seth noticed, through the feedback of smell and sound, that the wolves' scent was gradually weakening, and their sounds were becoming fainter. This indirectly confirmed that their traps were working, and the number of pursuing wolves was significantly decreasing.
When Seth emerged from a clump of grass, he saw the dark blue sky of early night and the faint lights of the logging camp in the distance. They had escaped from the Abury Mountains.
"It worked," Leon said, panting and laughing with relief.
"We're free from those horrible things."
Seth was about to respond when he heard a strange sound of wind and caught the fishy smell again. Then he saw three black shadows emerging from the grass not far before them, their eyes glowing with green flames.
Three strange male wolves with green fire in their eyes sprayed hot air from their nostrils and let out low, threatening growls as they cautiously approached, surrounding the four of them.
"Damn!" the bearded man cursed, raising his shotgun. Before he could shoot, the wolf he aimed at jumped away.
Under the wolves' gaze, Seth felt a sense of danger, which puzzled him. These abnormal beasts threatened ordinary people, but as a 'Hunter,' he didn't think three wolves could pose a threat.
Where was this sense of danger coming from?
Seth remained alert, asking Matthew to hold the torch high. He had his revolver, checked the cylinder, and saw four bullets left. He made some adjustments before aiming at the nearest wolf.
A male wolf charged tentatively, and Leon shot at it. The wolf cleverly dodged two attacks before Leon and the bearded man finally killed it.
The remaining two wolves immediately launched an attack. Seth was ready. After a slight misstep, he used three bullets to end their lives.
With the final shot, he fired an extra round, but the revolver clicked—the magazine was empty.
Just then, a shadow rushed from a nearby bush towards Seth.
He sidestepped and retreated three steps, widening the distance, causing the thing to miss him.
There was no time to study what it was; Seth only knew this shadow was the source of his sense of crisis.
After backing away, he closed the distance again. With one hand already on the knife handle, he drew the sharp machete borrowed from Leon. The blade reflected the firelight, sliced through the evening wind, and created a beautiful light arc, hitting the shadow.
"Ah!"
A scream sounded from the shadow as it retreated violently. Seth turned, raised his arm, and used the momentum to throw the knife like a spear.
The shadow that had just landed on the ground suddenly changed direction mid-air, avoiding the machete, and fell to the other side, rushing forward like a cannonball.
Calmly, Seth raised the revolver and pulled the trigger. The muzzle flash illuminated a bizarre face.
The figure didn't look very old, but his face was wrinkled, with black bristles on his lips and chin.
The figure didn't expect that Seth's revolver, which seemed empty, could still fire and was caught off guard. The shot hit its chest, causing it to spatter blood and fly backward.
When it fell into the grass, it moved swiftly, running like a wild beast, and disappeared in an instant in the direction of Mount Abury.
Seth felt a shiver, and a wave of fear rose in his heart.
This was his first planned and purposeful fight!
In this battle, Seth used three 'traps.'
Sensing the danger, Seth had adjusted the order of the bullets in the magazine, setting an empty round. When he killed the wild wolves, he deliberately fired the fourth shot to make the pistol appear empty. This was his first trap.
This trap successfully lured that thing out. Then, during the fight, he threw the machete, giving the opponent the illusion that he was out of weapons, which was the second trap.
The final trap was the fourth bullet in the pistol, which managed to injure the unhuman thing.
It was a pity that, being his first battle, Seth was still too nervous to raise his arm high enough when shooting. Otherwise, the bullet would have penetrated the opponent's head instead of the chest.
Seth felt that the 'Hunter' potion had digested more as if he had used the 'trap.'
Additionally, the movement and figure of that thing reminded Seth of the murder that happened in the alley near the memorial square a few days ago. The figure he hit with his cane then seemed similar to the strange thing just now.
"What was that?" Leon asked, coming over and looking at where the strange thing had fled.
Seth shook his head; he didn't know. At this moment, a fire gradually emerged from Mount Ebury, and some hunters escaped.
Back in town, it was already dinner time. When Seth walked into the hall, Dolly saw his torn coat, the mud on his shoes, and his face, which was still stained despite scrubbing.
Mother Anilu lightly covered her mouth and whispered, "Seth, where have you been?"
Seth coughed dryly, "It's nothing; I was out hunting."
"Go clean up, then come to the dining room for dinner."
Seth nodded and quickly took Matthew back to his room. After washing and wearing clean clothes, he walked into the dining room and saw his father, Byson, talking to his mother.
"In the afternoon, Hal ranted to me. He complained that the Corn Act should not have been abolished, forcing him to lower the price of grain to compete with imports from southern countries like Feneport, Marcy, and Lemburg."