Chapter 13
Chapter 13: I Seem to Have a Fate With Wolves……
It wasn't until dusk that the full moon appeared in the sky above.
With the moonlight falling upon him, the "Child of the Moon" Trait took effect, and Li Kainan's stats across the board received a substantial boost.
Li Kainan geared up fully—knight's sword at his left hip, battle axe and knight's hammer at his right, hunting bow and arrows hanging from both sides of his horse's flanks—and set out for the cursed castle!
Branny had originally planned to come along, and now that she had officially set foot on the path of a witch, she carried quite a number of magical items her grandmother had given her for self-defense—items that could genuinely be of help to Li Kainan.
But for safety's sake, Li Kainan still chose to leave Branny in the town.
The situation inside the castle wasn't entirely clear yet, and Li Kainan would be more mobile operating alone.
If the monster turned out to be too powerful to fight, it would also be easier for him to run……
……
When Maurice had escaped in the daytime, he had already been planning to come back with people to rescue his daughter, so he had left clear markings along the way.
Following the markings he had left behind, Li Kainan made his way smoothly into the forest.
At first there was nothing unusual—the forest that outsiders dared not enter wasn't nearly as mysterious as rumor made it out to be.
However, as he pressed deeper in, the temperature inside the forest began to drop in an unsettling way.
By the time he reached the depths of the forest, snowflakes were even drifting down from the sky above.
The vegetation around him had all withered and died, and the bare, leafless trees were twisted into bizarre, grotesque shapes. Scattered white bones picked completely clean could be spotted around him at every turn—it was as though he had suddenly wandered into some forbidden dead zone!
By this point, the horse beneath him had grown increasingly restless.
Sensing some danger, it was even unwilling to press forward.
Li Kainan narrowed his eyes, then suddenly reached out and took down the hunting bow hanging at his side, aimed at what lay ahead, and loosed an arrow.
Having witnessed firsthand what terrifying strength Li Kainan possessed, the old hunter had sent over a specially made hunting bow.
A heavy hunting bow of large size with large limbs—and even the arrows were the heavy variety, thick-shafted with wide broadheads, the kind that could pin prey straight to the ground with a single shot!
The heavy arrow Li Kainan loosed tore through the air with a shrieking whoooosh—and the 2 white wolves didn't even have time to cry out before they were skewered together and pinned dead to the ground!
With that arrow loosed, the withered tree line erupted into chaos at once.
Wolf howl after wolf howl suddenly rang out, and pair after pair of eerie green-glowing eyes emerged from the darkness.
The horse beneath Li Kainan began to whinny incessantly, its 4 hooves pawing anxiously at the ground as it tried to back away.
Li Kainan held the reins firm, keeping it under control, his brow shifting slightly.
Huh—I really do seem to have a special fate with wolves.
Barely 2 days since transmigrating, and he'd already run into this many wolves……
Li Kainan surveyed his surroundings with a calm expression, then fixed his gaze on the most powerfully built white wolf on the hill ahead—the one standing at the high ground, surveying the situation below.
The pack leader!
Having identified his target, Li Kainan calmly raised his heavy bow again and loosed another arrow at the white wolf.
The white pack leader on the distant hill sharply sensed the danger—its fur bristled as it tried to dodge.
But the next moment, a shrieking whoooosh sounded right at its ear, and before the white pack leader could even react, its massive body was pierced clean through by the heavy arrow!
The pack leader's dying wail of agony instantly threw the surrounding wolf pack into confusion.
These creatures—no small measure of intelligence to them—immediately understood just how terrifying Li Kainan was the moment their leader fell. Without the slightest hesitation, they tucked their tails and fled in a frantic scramble!
The human remains he had seen scattered along the way made Li Kainan disinclined to let these fleeing wolves escape.
Li Kainan forced his horse forward, then pursued the wolf pack with his heavy bow raised, shooting until every last arrow in his quiver was spent before finally stopping.
Of the wolf pack that had originally numbered over a dozen white wolves, at most only 2 or 3 managed to escape by sheer luck.
The rest—including the largest, the pack leader—had all been shot dead on the spot by Li Kainan!
Looking at these white wolves—smaller than the werewolf, but far larger than ordinary wild wolves—Li Kainan's expression turned thoughtful.
The people who had entered the forest and completely vanished had clearly not disappeared due to any magic. Far more likely, they had encountered this pack of beasts and been devoured without a trace……
There was one thing that struck him as odd, though—how had Maurice and his daughter been able to enter the castle unharmed before?
The question crossed Li Kainan's mind, but he didn't dwell on it.
Better to push through the story than sit here speculating……
Li Kainan immediately stepped forward and retrieved his heavy arrows one by one.
When he came to the hill where the white pack leader had been pinned dead by his arrow and looked at the already lifeless wolf, Li Kainan's first reaction was actually a flash of mild regret.
The heavy arrow had shot clean through the wolf's body—the fine white wolf pelt was ruined……
Li Kainan bent slightly and pulled his heavy arrow free from the ground.
And it was at that moment that something around the white pack leader's neck caught Li Kainan's attention.
He tilted his head, then used the heavy arrow in his hand to lift aside the wolf's head—and saw clearly that it was wearing a leather collar around its neck.
This wolf had an owner.
Was it raised by the monster lurking in the castle?
Li Kainan considered this briefly, then wiped the blood from his arrow and continued deeper into the forest.
It didn't take much longer before the towering castle came into view ahead.
It was a castle with high, solid outer walls built from massive gray stone blocks, imposing castle gates, a courtyard filled with blooming roses, soaring towers that pierced the sky, and a sprawling complex of buildings!
Though years of neglect and insufficient upkeep had left this towering castle looking somewhat dilapidated, the grandeur and opulence of its former glory could still be clearly seen!
A prince's castle—a scale like this was only fitting……
For Li Kainan, the intelligence he had obtained from Maurice was insufficient, and the combat strength of the monster lurking inside the castle was still unknown.
So he maintained his caution and had no intention of striding through the front gate in plain sight—he didn't want to be detected ahead of time.
Concealing his presence, Li Kainan used his extraordinary physical capability to climb up along the castle's outer wall, then slipped silently into the courtyard.
Looking up at the rooms of the castle, the only one with candlelight was a single room—and he could make out a figure moving within.
Li Kainan narrowed his eyes and instinctively raised the heavy bow in his hand.
But just as his hand reached out to touch the quiver, he caught himself and stopped abruptly.
The silhouette cast by the candlelight was slender and willowy—with unmistakably feminine curves……