The night in the forest was like an abyss that devoured the light. Although the campfire burned beside Kalle and Allen, beyond the firelight, the darkness seemed to be staring at them, hiding unknown dangers.
Allen leaned weakly against a withered tree, breathing rapidly, his chest heaving violently. His face was covered with cold sweat, and his pale face looked even more haggard under the illumination of the firelight.
Kalle squatted beside him and silently bandaged the wound on his chest. Those scars seemed to be caused by sharp claws. They were deep but not fatal, yet they carried a strange black mark, as if they had been corroded.
"Allen, what on earth did you encounter?" Kalle asked in a low voice as he wrapped the cloth strip.
Allen opened his eyes, and a trace of fear remained in his pupils. He swallowed and said hoarsely, "I... when I was going home last night, I heard the sound of a horn coming from the forest. I wanted to see if someone was causing trouble. But when I reached the edge of the forest, I saw a black wolf standing outside the town. It... it looked at me, and its eyes were like ghost fires..."
"And then?" Kalle's hand paused slightly.
"I turned around and tried to run, but that wolf suddenly pounced on me." Allen lowered his head, his voice trembling. "It was so fast that I didn't even have time to react. I was dragged into the forest. I struggled desperately, and somehow, it suddenly stopped, as if it had been summoned by something, and it left me and ran away..."
Kalle frowned even more tightly. "Are you saying that it spared you?"
Allen nodded, his face full of confusion. "Yes, but... before it left, I vaguely saw a dark figure. It was a person wearing a cloak. He stood in the distance, seemingly... commanding those wolves."
"A person wearing a cloak..."
Kalle's heart sank suddenly, and the image of that mysterious woman who had saved him last night emerged in his mind.
"Allen, did you see what that person looked like?"
Allen shook his head. "It was too dark. I could only see a vague outline."
Kalle pondered for a moment, then patted Allen's shoulder. "You rest first. It's still not safe in this forest. We must leave here before dawn."
Allen nodded reluctantly, leaned against the tree, slowly closed his eyes, and gradually fell into a light sleep.
Kalle held a short dagger and walked alone beyond the campfire, staring at the pitch-black dense forest.
What on earth were those black wolves? Who was controlling them?
The crackling sound of the campfire burning was particularly clear at night, but Kalle could feel that in the darkness, some malicious gazes were quietly watching them.
Late at night, the campfire gradually went out.
Kalle's eyelids gradually became heavy, and a sense of fatigue spread throughout his body. Just as he was about to close his eyes, a faint sound of footsteps came from not far away, stepping on the fallen leaves and making a rustling sound.
Kalle suddenly opened his eyes, gripped the short dagger tightly, and stared fixedly in the direction from which the sound came.
In the woods, dark shadows flitted. A huge black wolf slowly emerged from the tree shadows, and its blue eyes were particularly striking at night.
However, behind this black wolf, there were also two tall figures—they were wearing tattered cloaks, their faces hidden in the shadows, and each of them was holding a rusty long knife in their hands.
Kalle was instantly alert. He drew his bow and set an arrow, aiming at one of them. "Stop! Who are you?"
Those two cloaked men did not respond. Instead, they slowly approached, their footsteps extremely heavy in the darkness, as if carrying endless killing intent.
Kalle gritted his teeth and shot an arrow, aiming straight at the chest of one of them.
However, that cloaked man just slightly shifted his body and easily avoided the arrow. Just as Kalle was about to shoot the second arrow, the black wolf had already lunged at him with a growl!
Kalle quickly rolled to avoid it. The wolf's claws passed by his side, kicking up a cloud of dust.
"Damn it, they were prepared."
Kalle steadied his stance. The cold light of the short dagger flashed, and he suddenly stabbed it into the front leg of the black wolf. Blood spurted out instantly. However, the black wolf did not fall down. Instead, it became even more ferocious and opened its fangs to bite at Kalle's throat.
Kalle gritted his teeth and kicked the black wolf in the abdomen, kicking it back a few steps. However, those two cloaked men had already circled around to Allen's side and were coldly looking down at him as he slept.
"Stop!"
Kalle roared and swung his knife to slash at one of them. The blade cut through the air and almost struck the other's neck, but the cloaked man just stretched out two fingers and actually easily clamped Kalle's blade.
Kalle's heart sank. Just as he was about to pull out the knife, the cloaked man had already backhanded him and sent Kalle flying several meters away, slamming him into a tree trunk.
"Cough..." Kalle fell to the ground, his chest aching terribly, and blood trickled down the corner of his mouth.
The cloaked man slowly approached, and a deep voice echoed in the night. "Mortal, don't meddle in matters that don't concern you."
Kalle gasped for breath, but there was no fear in his eyes. "Do you want to take Allen away?"
The cloaked man sneered. "He has already been cursed. Sooner or later, he will turn into a wolf."
"Cursed?" Kalle's pupils shrank slightly. He looked at the black scar on Allen's chest and finally understood why those black wolves had suddenly let Allen go.
"He already belongs to us." After saying that, the cloaked man slowly raised his long knife and aimed it at Allen's neck.
"Don't even think about touching him!"
Kalle forced himself to get up and rushed towards the cloaked man again. However, at this moment, a silver light sliced through the darkness. A dagger accurately stabbed towards the cloaked man's wrist, forcing him to take several steps back.
"It's her..."
Kalle looked in the direction of the silver light. At the edge of the forest, that woman wearing a gray cloak stood quietly under the tree shadows, holding a dagger that glinted coldly in her hand, her gaze as cold as frost.
The cloaked man narrowed his eyes. His gaze met the woman's in the air, and then he snorted coldly. "We'll spare you tonight."
Before the words were even finished, he turned around and quickly disappeared into the forest with the black wolf, as if they had never been there.
Kalle gasped for breath and slumped to the ground. The pain in his chest gradually became numb.
The woman slowly walked over and looked down at him, her voice indifferent. "I warned you not to approach the forest at night."
Kalle looked up and looked into her cold eyes. "If I hadn't come, Allen would have died."
The woman was silent for a moment, put away the dagger, and said softly, "He's still not out of danger. The werewolf curse has already invaded his body. If you don't want him to turn into a monster, bring him to me after dawn."
"Come to you?" Kalle frowned. "Who on earth are you?"
The woman turned around and walked into the darkness, leaving only a sentence echoing in the forest.
"A hunter."