The adventurer at the bottom is fantasizing again.

Chapter 123 Hunter? Or Prey? (4K)

Lorraine frowned, folded the parchment back up, and looked up at him: "We're not here to take your life, we just need a guide familiar with Frozen Lake Town, and Mr. Barto said you're the most suitable person."

"Frozen Lake Town?" Olaf glanced at the three of them. "You're here for the wolves too?"

"To be precise, we came for the winter wolf. But... have other people been here?" Lorraine said.

"Ha, Winter Wolves, just you guys?"

Olaf exhaled a puff of white air upon hearing the name Winter Wolf. He shook his head, slung his longbow back over his shoulder, and leaped backward from the rooftop.

A moment later, he emerged from behind the wooden house, dragging the carcass of a gray wolf.

The wolf was quite large, and a long arrow was piercing through its side, where it should have been its lungs; the arrow's fletching was stained red with blood.

Olaf dragged the wolf carcass past them, saying as he went, "A group of professional hunters came by the day before yesterday: two warriors, a rogue, an archer, and a mage. They received some kind of joint extermination order to hunt down that winter wolf."

"A whole team of fully-fledged professionals? Are the mages included?"

"At least that's what they say."

"And then?"

"And then? Heh..."

Olaf tossed the body next to the drying rack, then drew a bucket of water from the well in front of the house, pulled a skinning knife from his waist, and squatted down to begin processing the wolf carcass.

"They found the wolf around Frozen Lake, or rather, the wolf came after them. In just one encounter, the mage died there, one warrior stayed behind to cover their retreat, and the rest of them ran away."

"You were there too?" Lorraine watched as he skillfully sliced ​​open the wolf's belly, separating the fur from the muscle.

Olaf didn't answer his question. He glanced at the three men while fetching water and said, "You haven't even assembled a full squad. A warrior, a mage, and a girl who looks to be under twenty, and..."

'

His gaze lingered for a moment on the formal barbarian badge hanging on the short man's chest.

"There is also a dwarf barbarian."

I promised Barto I'd repay him with my life, so I'll take you to find Winter Wolf. But you must know, I don't think you'll come back alive.

After saying that, he stopped talking and silently dealt with the wolf carcass, his movements as practiced as if he had done it many times before.

Lorraine wasn't too bothered by his curt attitude; after all, the other person probably thought that the three of them were just there to take him to his death.

The fact that Olaf didn't just tell them to get lost shows that he truly values ​​promises more than life itself.

He always maintains a minimum level of respect for such people, regardless of their attitude.

"We got some information about the Winter Wolf from the Adventurers' Guild," Lorraine relayed the information she'd received from Eileen and Vanessa. "Do you have any additional information to add? Its habits, weaknesses, fighting style..."

'

Olaf shook his head upon hearing this and sighed, "You adventurers always think that monsters fight according to what's written in the encyclopedia, and that you can win by rushing in and randomly hacking at their weaknesses."

This might be enough for most mindless beasts, but the winter wolf is certainly not that kind of fool.

He stopped what he was doing and after a long pause, continued, "That winter wolf has been roaming around Frozen Lake Town for at least two winters. Do you know why the guild is only now issuing a bounty?"

Lorraine was stunned.

Two winters?

"We really don't know this information, so why?" Lorraine said.

"In its first winter, it would only steal livestock from remote villages at night and would almost never attack people unless you happened to run into it."

Olaf paused for a moment before continuing, "So the patrols and guards from the surrounding towns all thought it was just a cunning gray wolf and didn't take it seriously. Until the following winter, it brought a pack of wolves."

"It will actively hide itself?" Lorraine frowned.

"Not only that... it will ambush, lure, and deliberately leave wounded wolves on the snow as bait. When you go to check the body, you will find that you have been surrounded by wolves."

I have personally witnessed it luring an entire patrol from Frozen Lake Town all the way to the cliffs to the north, and then having the wolf pack block their retreat.

You cannot treat it as a "beast"; it is more like a treacherous and cunning person than a wild beast or monster.

Olaf's words sent a chill down the spines of all three of them.

They knew from all intelligence sources that the Winter Wolf was intelligent, but they only thought of it as a clever beast and never considered it as a human being.

If such a situation of luring the enemy deep into their territory were to occur, the three of them would likely be separated by the wolf pack, leaving Eileen, the mage, behind and isolated.

By then, the wolves will swarm in, and Eileen might not even have a chance to cast the spell.

Lorraine exhaled, calming his thoughts, and looked at the old hunter before him, saying, "Do you know how to deal with it?"

Olaf hung the completely skinned wolf pelt on the drying rack, rinsed his hands with some water, and sat down on the ground.

"It won't give you a fair chance to fight back; it will only let the wolf pack exhaust your strength and energy, and then find an opportunity to launch a sneak attack."

Therefore, you can only proceed cautiously to eliminate all the wolves before trying to find a solution to this one.

Lorraine nodded; he hadn't intended to lure it out and beat it to death in the first place.

However, the Winter Wolf's fighting style is quite comfortable for him, since he can rely on the wolf pack to stack the rekindling effect first, but he has to be careful that it doesn't choose to ambush Eileen.

So he had to pretend to be a weak mage first, and then provoke the other party with profanity. Maybe he could get Eileen to bring a spare sword to pretend.

"Winter wolves prefer to attack spellcasters first, so someone needs to keep an eye on you while clearing out the pack."

This young female monk.

Olaf glanced up at Lorraine and Piper, who had somehow pulled out a piece of bread and was munching on it, before finally looking back at Lorraine.

"You're the warrior, so you're responsible for protecting her. The dwarf will hold off the pack of wolves alone; letting one or two escape occasionally is fine, but the warrior must never leave the mage's side. When the winter wolves can't resist coming out to ambush the mage..."

"Actually..." Flames erupted from Lorraine's palm, "According to our original plan, I was the mage who was supposed to be the bait."

"What the hell?"

Olaf looked at Lorraine's flaming hands, then at the longsword at his waist and the shield on his back, and seemed somewhat bewildered.

"So your sword and shield are... just decorations?"

"No... I can actually be a warrior too."

An awkward silence fell over the area.

Olaf hesitated for a long time before finally managing to say, "You want to pretend... no... act like... no... anyway, let the Winter Wolf ambush you first, then you take out your sword and shield to withstand its attack, and finally seize the opportunity to kill it?"

Lorraine nodded: "That's what we initially thought."

"No, no..." Olaf shook his head. "Its attack is very fast; you might not have time to switch to sword and shield..."

'

"I have a spell that allows me to instantly leave the place I'm in."

"What if it takes advantage of your distance..."

'

"I have a spell that can instantly close the distance."

"What if it attacks your teammates..."

'

"I have a spell that can instantly protect my teammates."

"If you have two spellcasters, how can you be sure it won't choose to attack..."

'

"I can curse it in Winter Wolf language."

Olaf believes he has wasted over forty years of his life as a hunter on dogs.

As a veteran ranger who had reached the "Formal" rank for over twenty years, he had seen countless spellcasters.

There are cowards who know to hide behind their teammates and throw fire arrows, and there are also strong men who put on blade protection, grab a big knife, and charge straight at the enemy's face.

But he really couldn't understand how this young man could relate to all the things he was talking about.

And what does it mean to curse it in the language of the winter wolf?

"Fine... I'll take it as you're telling the truth."

Olaf eventually gave up thinking about it. In any case, it was a good thing that the young man was confident.

"If you're really going to do that, you'd better make sure you catch the winter wolf after it pounces. If its first attack fails, it will immediately retreat behind the pack, leaving them to wear you down," he said.

"Leave it..." Lorraine turned to the silent red-haired mage. "Eileen, do you remember the frost spell we used to deal with the rock salamanders? Is there anything similar, just with a different effect?"

Eileen nodded: "Okay, I brought all the spell materials I could use this time, but we need to choose the location in advance and complete the setup."

She hesitated for a moment, then added, "Besides, it's far smarter than a rock-dwelling salamander, and I can't guarantee it will come to the designated location as we intend."

"Yes..." Lorraine frowned.

He could lure the winter wolf as a spellcaster and have it lead the pack to chase him to the trap, but he felt he might not be able to outrun the wolves, and if he were surrounded beforehand, he would be doomed.

Olaf, his back hunched and looking tired, rubbed his face with both hands, finally letting out a relieved sigh, and said, "I'll take it to the trap."

"You?" Lorraine asked in surprise.

"Um...me." Olaf nodded, his eyes calm and unwavering as he looked at Lorraine. "Don't worry, it will definitely come with me."

Lorraine glanced down at him, then at the wolf carcass on the ground, and he immediately understood where Olaf's confidence came from.

"Mr. Olaf, do you have any good ambush spots to recommend?" he continued to confirm.

"There's a hilly area between Frozen Lake and Greyhorn," Olaf blurted out. "That's a terrain they really like, so they're more relaxed and vigilant there. I know a relatively flat area that's good for preventing attacks from the Winter Wolves."

"A flat area?" Lorraine frowned. "Is this suitable? It has so many wolves with it; what if it gets surrounded?"

The short guy nodded in agreement: "Yeah, yeah, are there any places with only a narrow gap, where only one wolf can squeeze through at a time?"

Olaf chuckled and said, "There are some... but do you think that with the Winter Wolf's wisdom and cunning, it would be willing to go to a place like this?"

Fighting it in open terrain is the best option, at least you don't have to worry about its sneak attacks, since the winter wolf itself is the biggest threat.

Besides, if you can't even handle those wolf packs, you might as well just turn back now.

That makes sense... If that winter wolf could come up with a way to lure the enemy deep into its territory, it would definitely be very wary of an overly obvious trap.

Lorraine pondered quietly for a moment, then finally nodded: "It's settled then. We'll go to that place and set the traps tomorrow when the sun rises. By the way, do you have any extra cloaks? Have Eileen wear one tomorrow to conceal her mage characteristics."

"have."

"That's good." Lorraine looked at Olaf and added one last thing: "If we successfully kill the Winter Wolf this time, its head will be yours after we collect the bounty."

"It belongs to me?" Olaf asked incredulously.

"Didn't you want revenge?"

"How...how did you know?"

"Because you know everything about it."

"Just because of that?"

"Isn't that enough? What kind of power would drive a prey to relentlessly hunt a hunter far stronger than itself? Only hatred."

"Prey... Hehehe... You're right, I am indeed prey." Hatred and excitement intertwined on Olaf's face, causing his expression to gradually become somewhat crazed. "Thank you for your generosity, I will bring it over, young man."

Lorraine smiled. "Just as I will kill it."

The crowd fell silent for a while.

Olaf's emotions gradually calmed down. He swayed slightly as he stood up and turned to walk towards his cabin.

The three watched as he closed his door.

Eileen suddenly spoke up: "The head of the Winter Wolf is also a magical item, very valuable..."

'

"Please don't tell me the price," Lorraine interrupted her expressionlessly. "Besides, I would be very grateful if you could tell me earlier next time."

"Regret it? It's not too late to catch up now."

"No, consider it his share of the compensation."

"Hehe..." Eileen chuckled softly, tapping his shoulder with her staff. "Let's go, find a room and get some rest."

"One night's sleep; tomorrow will be a very tough day."

"Pip can't understand what you're saying..." The short man had already packed his things and followed them into the adjacent wooden house.

As usual, Eileen and Lorraine took the first watch.

The little guy's snoring soon followed.

Lorraine placed her backpack in the corner, took out the nearly empty jar of sword oil, sat down silently, and applied it to the blade of the rusty throat.

"Lorraine," Eileen sat down beside him, turning to look at him, "Be careful tomorrow."

Lorraine looked up and met her bright eyes, then smiled and ruffled her hair: "You too."

"Don't rub my head!"