Chapter 51: Like a Hawk
As the wolves searched the area with agitated movements, they soon split into smaller groups under the direction of their alpha and scattered into the forest.
"I’m lucky their sense of smell isn’t that sharp," Adyr muttered with a smirk as he watched the wolves divide into pairs and head off in different directions.
He had noticed this trait during his observations the day before. Unlike ordinary wolves, they didn’t mark their territory with urine. Instead, they relied solely on visual claw markings.
His theory had been confirmed during the slaughter in the cave. The cave’s natural ventilation should have helped carry his scent deeper inside, making it even easier for the wolves to detect him—if their sense of smell had been sharp. Yet despite that, the usually alert and territorial creatures hadn’t noticed him until he stepped into view.
He still didn’t know what kind of evolutionary shift had dulled their sense of smell, but it worked in his favor. Had these wolves retained the olfactory strength of normal ones—said to be a hundred times more sensitive than a human’s—and combined it with their enhanced power, the hunt would’ve been far more difficult.
After mentally noting the direction each wolf had taken, Adyr climbed down from the tree and began tracking the pair that had headed toward the most isolated area.
From the beginning, he had never intended to face the entire pack. To defeat a predator pack, one had to think like a predator—and Adyr possessed an exceptional talent for that kind of empathy.
After tracking them for a while, the pair of wolves reached a small pond beneath a sunlit waterfall. Clearly, the hunt followed by pursuing Adyr had worn them down—they had stopped for a drink. That worked in his favor.
As the wolves took turns drinking and keeping watch, Adyr moved behind a tree and quietly unfolded his wings.