'Did they go nuts or something?' Rudra asked himself as he looked at the goblins. They were very out of their character, he couldn't wrap his head around what was going on, a the goblins started bickering among themselves as they looked at the mutilated head. However, this didn't last long as suddenly all of them stopped and started heading towards the tree where they usually kept the heads.
'What just happened? Why did they stop fighting? Dammit, I shouldn't have used the head for my trap.' thought Rudra as he looked at the goblins. It didn't seem like they would be fighting anytime soon. This made Rudra frustrated, as just this one decision of his made everything he had done until now worthless. Rudra started to think about what he should do next. As this plan failed, he knew that fighting them head-on would never be an option.
'Maybe I should ambush the goblin that is left alone. That way I might be able to at least...' As Rudra was strategizing his next move, he suddenly heard something that shook his heart. It was a loud howl; he could tell that the sound didn't come from very far away. He wasn't able to see it himself, but he was instantly able to tell that the sound came from the
'Fuck, just my luck...' Rudra thought as he finally figured out the reason why the goblins were acting that way. The heads were meant to be for offering; the goblins weren't playing to some gods, they were just making sure the predator in the area didn't attack them. The goblins didn't go to patrol the area; rather, they went out on a hunt. If they found something, they would offer its head as an offering. They weren't dead already, because the predator wanted them to bring food to him.
"KIK KIK KIK" All three of the goblins came back running as one of them threw the head on the ground. They were headed straight to caves; you could tell just from their faces how scared they were at that moment. Just when they were about to enter the caves, something flew in and landed in front of them. All of the goblins didn't even have the chance to do anything as they fell flat on their backs.
"kriiii kriii" The goblins started to wail, almost as if they were trying to beg for forgiveness. They just sat on the ground, as they didn't have any strength left in their legs. Not just the goblins, even Rudra felt scared after looking at the creature that stood before the goblins. He just silently watched as he didn't dare to move an inch.
'How could this thing be here? Am I even supposed to leave this place alive?' Rudra questioned himself as he stared silently at the creature just stood there as it looked at the goblins very disdainfully. Rudra knew exactly what the beast was; the creature was called the wind wolf. These wolves, in particular, are blessed by the wind elemental spirits from birth, so they are usually able to wield wind magic. Although the wolf's size was the same as a normal adult husky, this wolf in particular was just in his adolescent phase. Even a high circle apprentice magus might face difficulty facing an adult wind wolf, so Rudra was thankful it wasn't an adult.
"Grrr," The wolf growled at the goblins.
Wolf raised one of his paws and swung it in the air. What followed that was the sound of the wind howling. Rudra's forehead became covered in cold sweat as he saw the bodies of two goblins being cut in half, both of their internal organs spewed out, and covered the entire area with green squishy substance. Only the goblin with the head in his hand was spared; he could do nothing as he watched in horror. This time, the goblin didn't celebrate the death of his comrades; this time, all he could feel was fear, fear of knowing that he would be the next.
"Grrr," Growled the wolf as he used his paw to point at the hands of the goblin. It took a while for the shocked goblin to react. However, when he understood what the wolf meant, he lay his head on the ground. As soon as he did that, he suffered the same fate as his comrades suffered.
'I hoped that the wolf didn't know how to use skills just yet. This is going to be a nightmare,' Rudra thought as he looked at the wolf, who was enjoying the heads of the goblins he had just killed. According to his estimates, he had calculated the strength to be around that of a 3rd circle Apprentice magus, facing something like that with the power of a 1st circle apprentice was akin to committing suicide.
'First things first, I need to get out of here; however, I cannot move until the wolf goes away. If I need to kill this thing before I can escape, so be it, I will come up with something.' Rudra started brainstorming as he wanted to devise a plan where he would have a better chance of killing the wolf.
CRRRAK
'Ah shit,' Rudra suddenly exclaimed in his heart, trying to be as still as he possibly could have been in the situation so that he didn't make any noise. However, it seemed fate had a different plan in mind as the branch he was sitting on suddenly made a cracking noise, as it seemed like it could break any moment. The wolf had exceptional hearing, as it instantly picked that noise up and looked straight at the location where Rudra was positioned. Looking at the wolf's eyes, Rudra couldn't help it as he cursed himself.
The wolf didn't instantly move towards Rudra as it stared in his direction for quite a while. That's when Rudra realizes something, so he doesn't move and just sits quietly. He remembered that these wind wolves didn't have that good of an eyesight, so he believed that the wolf was still unaware of his presence. Rudra kept watching as the wolf only ate the flesh on the faces of the goblins it leaving everything other than the face alone.
It was like he was watching an ASMR video, like back on earth; however, here he was stuck between life and death while watching. This was the first time Rudra felt like vomiting while someone was eating, as he felt disgusted.
It didn't take long for the wolf to finish his 'meal'. As soon as he finished eating, one of his paws went up just like earlier. This time, once again, the wolf was staring at the location where Rudra was sitting. Rudra's heart dropped as he saw this. He didn't dare to waste any time, as he knew what came next.
"Ahhhhh Fuck... Was it just playing tricks with me until now?" Rudra cried in pain as he fell to the ground. It seemed like he had hurt his leg in the process of jumping from the tree. Right after he landed on the ground, he had to move instantly from there as the entire tree fell to the ground. The tree had been cut into many pieces as the wolf's skill 'Wind slash', ripped through it like a hot knife slicing through a stick of butter.