The Bard is Fantasizing Again

"Roar——"

When Tang Qi glimpsed the figures emerging from the thin mist and saw they were moving on all fours, he first breathed a sigh of relief.

Previously, Father Lynn had mentioned that Lord Merle had once been frightened witless by a werewolf that had wandered to the forest's outskirts, causing him to flee in panic and abandon his subjects.

This wasn't something incomprehensible.

Werewolf, wolf—these weren't just separated by a single character.

Just as he couldn't call everyone with short legs a dwarf—they could also be halflings or gnomes—many people confused them together.

Fortunately, what lurked in the fog were merely eight [Dire Wolves] traveling as a pack.

These beasts that frequently appeared in the jungle were distinct from ordinary wolves. Their torsos and limbs were noticeably shorter, thicker, and sturdier, with broader shoulders and large, heavy heads, which made them somewhat slower and less enduring.

But correspondingly, they possessed superior bite force and robust physiques.

Even a single wandering dire wolf could ravage a small village of a dozen households, let alone a pack.

If they cooperated, an ordinary low-level adventuring party would likely only end up crushed between their fangs.

Tang Qi took a deep breath, gripping his curved blade tighter, then looked toward Stonecrusher:

"Still got strength?"

"Who do you think you're talking to?"

Stonecrusher pounded his chest twice. Tang Qi noticed a faint green spiritual light suddenly emerge from his body.

[Second Wind]—one of the most common and standard combat techniques for warriors, allowing them to recover some expended energy during battle.

Almost at the same moment he beat his chest, several robust dire wolves howled as if starving.

They kicked off with all four legs, suddenly bursting forward. As they charged fiercely, their bloody maws opened wide, revealing their wild and sharp fangs!

……

Killed them all.

Dire wolves working together could easily crush a low-level adventuring party.

But clearly, with Stonecrusher leading the charge, this team couldn't possibly be that low-level.

He used his tower shield to block in front of Tang Qi and Kuru, standing firm as a city wall, blocking all the dire wolves' attacks.

And Kuru only needed to use Ray of Frost to slow the dire wolves' movements, then Tang Qi's 'Snake's Kiss' was unstoppable.

"But why did one more charge in midway?"

Tang Qi lifted the corpse of the last dire wolf—

That one had been discovered by Kuru toward the end of the battle.

It had been lurking in the mist. Fortunately, Ray of Frost had frozen its ankles, allowing Tang Qi to rush over and easily slash its back.

Now, Tang Qi casually tossed it into the pile of dead wolves.

But he quickly noticed something off in the comparison:

"Wait, why is this one a bit... thin?"

"Probably malnourished."

Stonecrusher actually couldn't tell the difference between dire wolves and wolves. When the old ranger Mark Twain used to explain natural lore to the team, he mostly dozed off on the spot.

But Tang Qi walked closer and squeezed both creatures' bones:

"It's not a developmental issue. Its bones are just more slender."

"What does that prove?" Stonecrusher asked doubtfully.

"It proves it's a wild wolf?"

"But it's still a wolf, isn't it? Just like gray dwarves are still dwarves."

Stonecrusher didn't understand why Tang Qi would focus on such inconsequential details. He busied himself taking out an exquisite skinning knife from his waist—

Any adventurer would keep one handy, convenient for collecting spoils of war.

But he wasn't exactly professional, so his skinning technique was somewhat crude, taking extra time on the steps of separating hide from flesh and removing fascia.

However, he was surprisingly focused.

After completely peeling off a wolf hide, he turned around somewhat proudly, displaying the gray fur in his hands:

"Ha, Black Snake, look—my craftsmanship is no worse than Mark Twain's!"

But when his gaze crossed over the wolf hide and saw Tang Qi before him with that hesitant expression, that surge of excitement instantly vanished, his smile freezing on his face.

Tang Qi snapped back to attention and vigorously slapped Stonecrusher's shoulder in praise:

"Right? I'd say you're more like an old ranger!"

Stonecrusher followed with hearty laughter:

"Why don't you try learning too? There are still eight wolf hides. Skinning them is too troublesome."

"Then I'll give it a try."

Thinking this was an essential skill for adventurers, Tang Qi was quite curious.

But just as Stonecrusher was about to imitate the old ranger and instruct Tang Qi in skinning, both their ears simultaneously caught a calling voice:

"Wolf! Wolf!"

They both turned around and immediately spotted a blurry figure in the white mist.

Tang Qi immediately drew his curved blade and shouted:

"Who goes there? Stay where you are—don't move!"

The danger of Dawnmist Forest was self-evident. They couldn't relax for a moment, especially when encountering intelligent beings.

The figure in the mist seemed startled and quickly raised both hands:

"Hey, relax, I'm human—human!"

He shuffled forward out of the mist so Tang Qi could see clearly. This was a middle-aged man wearing brown leather clothing, gripping an oak longbow in his hand, with a quiver and dagger at his waist.

Disheveled hair, a full beard—classic old hunter attire:

"Sorry, I didn't expect to run into other people here. But I'm just looking for my Wolf—have you seen a gray little wolf?"

Tang Qi and Stonecrusher exchanged glances, then simultaneously thought of the ninth one they'd just killed.

The dwarf spoke somewhat awkwardly in a low voice:

"Alright, poet, you really should pay attention to those details."

"Don't come one step closer!"

Tang Qi nonchalantly rolled the wolf hide into a bundle.

While shouting, he quietly instructed Kuru:

"Bury it, bury it."

Kuru blinked and quickly waved his wand, using the surrounding dirt and sand to cover that mangled corpse.

"I mean no harm, really."

The other party was quite obedient, only continuing to explain,

"I'm just a hunter living in the forest. Earlier my Wolf heard some commotion in the distance, so I sent him to check what was happening.

But the link between us seems to have some problem. Just now, I lost track of his direction..."

"See, I told you that you made too much noise."

Tang Qi glanced at Stonecrusher, then shouted toward the distance,

"An ordinary hunter wouldn't live deep in Dawnmist Forest!"

"This is somewhat complicated to explain..."

The other party seemed hesitant,

"I can tell you the reason, as long as you promise not to harm me."

"I won't promise anything to strangers." Tang Qi shook his head.

"Alright."

The man reluctantly sighed, put down his longbow, and removed his gloves.

Tang Qi saw that the hair on the back of his hands was as thick as the wolf hide just peeled, growing densely.

His nails had elongated into claws, which likewise confirmed his identity:

"My name is Malone. Many years ago, I also lived in a village outside the forest.

But due to some... accident, I suffered certain trauma and was infected with the curse of beastification.

To avoid bringing disaster to the townspeople—well, actually they were somewhat afraid of me, so I could only leave the town."

Tang Qi and Stonecrusher exchanged strange looks, almost simultaneously thinking of that story Father Lynn had told.

Then they said in unison:

"The town you mentioned...

it wouldn't happen to be Starberry Town, would it?"