Chapter 13

The location of the extermination request was in the mountainous region of the eastern kingdom.

Leaving the capital, it took them four days by carriage to arrive at a place that could be described in one word as "gray."

Bare rocks were scattered everywhere, and in the distance, something like steam was rising. It was a far cry from the deep green mountains that Node would imagine upon hearing the word "mountain."

"To think they would live in such a place... I wonder what they eat to survive."

Following Node, Elsa got off the carriage and muttered this observation as she looked around at the scenery.

"They make their homes here but hunt down in the foothills."

The only green visible in the mountains was the occasional low-growing shrubs, and as Elsa said, there was no sign of any prey. If there were any, they would be small field mice at best.

Node was able to answer Elsa's question thanks to the information he had gathered from adventurers.

The rock wolves that lived near the mountain's peak reduced their vulnerability to predators by living in an inconvenient place—a survival strategy that an adventurer had explained to him with a smug look.

"The rock wolves form small packs—squads—to hunt, which compensates for their poor hunting efficiency compared to other wolf-type monsters."

"Indeed... Alright...! Alright, this is the last one, right?"

With a determined voice, Elsa unloaded the last of the luggage from the carriage.

The carriage arranged by the Adventurer's Guild would move on to the next destination immediately. If they had rented it exclusively, they could have left their luggage on the carriage, but unfortunately, Node and his companions, who were just starting out, didn't have the funds for that.

The carriage that had brought Node and his companions grew smaller with the sound of its wheels. They had already informed the driver of their return plans, so they needed to complete the extermination request by then.

"Alright... Let's do this!"

After unloading a large amount of luggage, Elsa raised her voice to muster her courage and planted the butt of her spear into the ground. A gust of wind passed through, rustling Elsa's crimson hair.

§

There are two major differences between rock wolves and forest wolves.

The first is the armor of the rock wolves.

The hard, armor-like fur, which is a result of their body hair changing, provides significantly more defense compared to the ordinary fur of forest wolves.

The second is their hunting behavior.

Rock wolves establish their homes at high altitudes in mountainous regions. While the number of predators is low in these areas, securing food is challenging. Therefore, they primarily descend to the foothills to gather food and then return to the mountains.

As a result, their hunting efficiency is worse compared to other wolf-type monsters, but to compensate, rock wolves form small squads and hunt in a dispersed manner.

These squads typically consist of about five individuals, which is fewer than the ten or more individuals (or the entire pack) that forest wolves hunt with.

However, even in small squads, rock wolves use their armor for defense, leading to a higher success rate in hunting compared to forest wolves.

This is why rock wolves are recognized by the Adventurer's Guild as more powerful monsters than forest wolves.

"–Huff!"

With a determined cry, the spear thrust pierced the rock wolf's body. The strike, aimed at the gaps in the rock wolf's armor, penetrated its body, slicing through muscle and eventually piercing its heart.

With a squelch, the spear was pulled out, and the wolf, killed by the single strike, collapsed to the ground.

Already, five bodies, including those killed by Node, lay scattered around.

"There's no sign of reinforcements."

"Alright, let's start skinning them."

Node and Elsa, keeping their weapons at the ready, scanned the surroundings for any other enemies. Once they confirmed there were none, they put away their weapons and spoke to each other.

(To think it would be this easy...)

Node thought to himself as he began the skinning process for the umpteenth time.

When Node considered fighting rock wolves alone, the thing he was most wary of was "reinforcements."

Rock wolves hunt in small squads, but if they encounter a strong enemy, they engage in a delaying battle using their armor. While their squad mates distract the enemy, one of the wolves will howl to call for reinforcements. Then, nearby rock wolves will gather and attack the enemy with the full force of the pack.

Therefore, the most crucial thing in a battle with rock wolves is to prevent them from calling for reinforcements.

However, if one fights a rock wolf alone, even if the squad consists of only five individuals, it takes time to eliminate them. If too much time is spent, reinforcements will gather from the surrounding area, overwhelming the lone fighter with sheer numbers.

This was why Node had concluded that he couldn't defeat rock wolves alone.

But, how different it was now.

With just one person, Elsa, joining him, Node had easily succeeded in exterminating the rock wolves.

Of course, they didn't fight blindly.

They positioned themselves downwind to ambush the rock wolves.

Node, with his superior defense, acted as a decoy to draw the rock wolves' squad. Once the battle began and Node engaged them, the agile Elsa would attack from behind. By timing their actions, Node would defeat the first rock wolf while Elsa simultaneously took down the one behind.

The individual that would call for reinforcements—the squad leader—would howl from a distance. Therefore, Elsa would target and defeat this individual, causing the other rock wolves to panic, allowing them to press their advantage.

They also prepared a powder mixed with tear-inducing plant dust in case the ambush failed, effectively using the information Node had gathered.

However, the extermination was progressing much more smoothly than Node had anticipated.

Node easily plunged his dissection knife into the body of the rock wolf he had just defeated.

Starting from the thin part of the armor at the neck, he skillfully cut the fur. Finishing with a vertical cut down the center of the belly, he could then cleanly peel off the rock wolf's fur.

Elsa, who had just finished skinning another rock wolf, began to dissect the last one.

Node, now free, kept watch while admiring Elsa's skill.

Elsa was an excellent adventurer.

She was about the same age as Node and had registered as an adventurer around the same time.

However, her spear skills, which rivaled Node's sword, and her agile movements that utilized her mobility, were superior to even the Geniuses he had previously teamed up with.

Elsa's spear skills, demonstrated in the recent battle against the rock wolves, were extraordinary.

The armor of rock wolves is thick. For younger individuals, the smaller surface area of the armor makes it easier to find gaps to attack.

However, the squad leader, being one of the strongest and oldest rock wolves in the pack, had thick armor with few gaps.

Honestly, Node lacked the confidence to target these gaps. If it were him, he would wait for the rock wolf to stop moving after taking a hit and then target the unarmored parts.

Elsa was different.

She aimed for the gaps in the moving rock wolf's armor, targeting vital points with her spear. In the three battles so far, she had never missed.

–Is it a difference in talent?

If Node were to fight Elsa, he would probably last three rounds at best. Node analyzed the difference in talent between himself and Elsa this way.

However, strangely, there was no jealousy in Node's heart.

Instead, he was grateful to have teamed up with her by chance.

Node couldn't help but laugh at himself for thinking such thoughts after the battle. It was just as Elsa finished skinning the last rock wolf.

§

The first day of extermination went smoothly, thanks to Elsa's performance.

Node, who almost let his guard down, re-mustered his courage and approached the extermination for the following days, but the teamwork with Elsa continued to function effectively.

"Maybe we didn't need such a big load of luggage, huh?"

Elsa's joke was so true that Node almost agreed.

While the number of rock wolves was more than expected, the extermination progressed smoothly. Due to Elsa's skill, the fur they could strip from the rock wolves was mostly in good condition.

Rock wolf fur, though not expensive, is in demand as a material for armor, providing a good source of extra income. Node was pleased, thinking that at this rate, he could pay Alek the commission with plenty of time to spare.

However, this ease was about to be shattered.

On the fifth day of the extermination, Node and his companions were once again engaged in battle with rock wolves.

While they encountered rock wolves three times on the first day, they only fought once on the second and third days. On the fourth day, they saw a small pack from a distance but did not engage in any battles.

Still, they had completed the extermination of twenty-five rock wolves, more than the number reported in the request. As they encountered fewer and fewer, they thought they would finish the extermination in another two or three days.

They had been discussing this with Elsa at the campsite.

–But how different it was!

Node and Elsa were fighting back-to-back against the rock wolves.

They were already being attacked by a pack of over thirty rock wolves.

They had already defeated several, and their bodies lay scattered on the rocky ground, but the number of enemies showed no sign of decreasing.

"Damn it!"

Node cut down a rock wolf with his sword, but the blow was shallow. The tip of his sword only scratched the armor of the rock wolf, which had jumped back, causing no significant damage.

Taking advantage of this, another rock wolf on the opposite side leaped at Node.

Anticipating the attack, Node used the shield on his off-hand to knock the rock wolf off balance.

With the unarmored part exposed, he quickly swung his sword and defeated another one.

At that moment, he caught a glimpse of Elsa out of the corner of his eye.

She was using her spear skillfully, adding to their battle results in a well-coordinated offensive and defensive battle.

However,

"This place is bad! We're going to be surrounded!!"

Elsa shouted to Node.

They had been lured out.

Chasing after what they thought was a small squad of rock wolves, they had ended up in an open rocky area, which turned out to be a trap.

They had been lured into a large pack of rock wolves that had been hiding skillfully in the shadows of the rocks.

(I was too careless!!)

The fact that they had already exterminated the number of rock wolves reported in the request had made them assume that there were almost none left.

They had no idea that the pack would be this large—though it was possible.

There were many cases where the number of targets for extermination differed greatly from the initial information, and Node had heard about such instances from senior adventurers.

The place they had been lured to was a space on the mid-slope of a rocky mountain.

It was on a large flat rock, with a cliff-like drop to the base, but there were paths leading to the space from both sides. They were near the entrance of the space, halfway up one of the paths.

Fortunately, Elsa had noticed the presence of the hidden wolves early, preventing them from being completely surrounded, but it was only a matter of time before they were.

"Alright... Elsa! We're going to use it, can you run!?"

"Yes, I can...!"

Node and Elsa attempted to flee from the rock wolves.

First, Elsa cleared a path by defeating the rock wolves on the path. Node intercepted the rock wolves that tried to attack the vulnerable Elsa, slamming them to the ground.

"Alright... Go!"

They ran down the rocky mountain.

While being attacked by rock wolves, they sometimes slashed with their swords, sometimes stabbed with their spears, sometimes hit with their shields, and sometimes used the butts of their spears to fend off the pursuing rock wolves.

However, it was obvious that humans would be caught by wolves. Especially, Node, with his heavy armor, was slower than Elsa.

Therefore,

"Ugh... Hah!"

With a loud thud, Node fell to the ground, rolling down the slope and hitting his body.

The impact was somewhat absorbed by his armor, but the combined weight of the armor and his body was considerable.

The air was knocked out of his lungs, and pain shot through his body.

"Node!?"

The culprit was, of course, a rock wolf.

The one that had leaped at Node's shoulder had succeeded in knocking him off balance.

"Damn... Sorry"

Elsa's assistance prevented the rock wolves from attacking the fallen Node. Suppressing the pain and cursing, Node stood up again.

Taking advantage of Node's fall, the pack of rock wolves caught up to them. They growled ferociously, as if to say, "You've caused us a lot of trouble."

Unlike Node and Elsa, who were exhausted from running on the unfamiliar rocky mountain, the rock wolves seemed to have no trouble running down the mountain. It was probably like running around their own backyard.

"But, finally...!?"

"Node!!"

Once again, Node and Elsa formed a defensive position, protecting each other's backs like a dancing couple. At that moment, Elsa's voice took on a tone of alarm.

Following her gaze, they saw a large wolf emerging from the pack of rock wolves.

This individual was more than twice the size of the other rock wolves.

With wise eyes, a mature face, and most importantly—armor that was jet black and different from that of the rock wolves.

"...Worst case!"

"...Exactly..."

It was the first time Node had heard Elsa swear since they teamed up, and he agreed.

Armor Wolf.

That was the name of this individual.

The armor of rock wolves is a result of their body hair changing, becoming thicker and covering a wider area as they age.

This is true even for the experienced individuals who lead the pack, but the Armor Wolf is particularly noteworthy.

Its thick, darkened armor is harder than rock, almost like iron. The armor covers from the face to the tips of the limbs and even the tail.

The thick armor that covers the body like a suit of armor is why it is called an Armor Wolf, a higher form of rock wolf.

And here's the important part.

The Armor Wolf is treated as a separate entity from the rock wolves due to its strength.

Its difficulty level is so high that it is specified in requests for promotion to Crystal-class adventurers.

The adventurer who told him this information had said, "Well, you don't have to worry, since they're rarely seen, hahaha," with a red face, but they were now facing exactly that situation.

The Armor Wolf, like a king leading a pack of rock wolves, was surrounding Node and his companions.

"Oh well. What bad luck."

Node and Elsa, unable to resist the pressure of the pack of magic wolves led by the Armor Wolf, grimaced and retreated.

"Yes, exactly. Really."

Their retreat ended with a light thud.

–Grrrrrr!!

The growls of the pack of magic wolves echoed louder through the rocky mountain, as if to say, "We've finally cornered you."

Node and Elsa stood with their backs against the steep rocky wall. They stopped back-to-back and stood side by side against the rock.

"I didn't think we'd have to use it..."

With that, Node pulled the rope he had been holding behind his back.

In the next instant, the pack of magic wolves surrounding Node and Elsa was engulfed in a vortex of flames.

The next part will be the conclusion of the rock wolf extermination mission. This will bring them to Adventurer Level 2.