Chapter 457 – The Lame Old Wolf

Chapter 457 – The Lame Old Wolf

“I truly can’t figure out how this ability came about.” Lilith had analyzed every tube of blood drawn from Greta, yet couldn’t find the root of this ability in her bloodline. Clearly, it did not originate from bloodline at all.

“There is said to be a type of gift that stems neither from bloodline nor from the soul itself, but rather from world consciousness bestowing a boon upon select beings on a whim. However, when it gives something, it often takes something away as well.”

Mo Lan said, “She’s probably one of those cases—blessed with luck, but stripped of her sense of direction.”

“Having no sense of direction puts her in danger, and luck pulls her out of it. Hard to say whether that’s fortunate or unfortunate,” Vasida remarked.

Greta really did stay flat on the ground, motionless, until that dangerous feeling of dread finally faded. Only then did she cautiously rise and turn to run without the slightest hesitation.

She ran in one breath until not a single blade of green grass was visible anymore before she finally let out a sigh of relief and collapsed to the ground. “What am I supposed to do now? There’s a terrifying giant bird over there!”

Faced with the choice between the correct direction and her life, Greta chose life without hesitation.

After resting for a while, eating some food, and meditating wrapped in her grass netting, she set off directly northward this time.

This time, she walked all the way until the evening of the next day without encountering any danger.

“I should be far enough from that giant bird by now, right?” Greta still wanted to get back on the correct path.

Under the cover of darkness, Greta once again made her way onto a lush green meadow and even came across a clear little stream. She cupped the water in her hands and drank several large gulps without any concern for appearances.

Then she peeled off her clothes one by one to scrub and wash them, gave herself a proper bath, and materialized a {Garment Card – Shoddy Mage Robe}.

Only after wrapping herself in the dusty, coarse cloth mage robe did she finally look somewhat like a proper person again.

She spread her freshly washed clothes out on the grass to dry.

She didn’t even dare light a fire, afraid it might attract some formidable magical beast.

“She really knows how to walk—threading right through the gaps between several magical beast territories without disturbing a single one. But up ahead, the magical beasts are much more densely packed. No matter how lucky she is, she can’t just ‘happen’ to dodge them all, can she?” Lilith said.

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that.” Mo Lan watched as the grime carrying Greta’s scent drifted downstream with the current.

At a spot downstream—not too far, but not exactly close either—a lame wolf drinking water twitched its nose and looked upstream, a green gleam flickering in its eyes.

“Is that… an old wolf cast out from its pack?” Vasida’s eyes went wide. “It’s found Greta!”

Sylph looked at Greta, who was sitting on the grass waiting for her clothes to dry, still remembering to keep herself draped in her grass netting, a dagger gripped in her right hand, a staff in her left, and a card pouch tied at her waist.

“It’s just a scrawny ordinary beast, and a lame one at that. Greta should be able to handle it in a fight, right?”

Mo Lan cast her Fortune-Telling Spell to divine the outcome.

“What’s the result?” Vasida asked.

“Ill fortune,” Mo Lan said, somewhat surprised. “She should survive, but she’ll likely sustain significant injuries.”

“You can’t be serious! Against a lame wolf? Her Metal Needle can practically be cast instantly now, can’t it?” Lilith looked downstream. “Wait—that wolf!”

Though the old wolf was lame in one leg, it was by no means slow—one might even call it agile.

Rather than following the stream directly upstream, it kept to the deeper grass not far from the water, its body slightly lowered, rapidly closing in on the upstream position. It circled around behind Greta and waited for its opportunity.

Though it was old, it was still a masterful hunter.

“As expected, any creature that can survive after being cast out from its pack is a force to be reckoned with!” Vasida said. “Now Greta’s in real danger.”

Greta sensed the danger too, though it wasn’t as intense as last time.

She looked around in every direction but found nothing unusual.

Yet the uneasy feeling in her heart persisted. She felt as though something dangerous was lurking nearby, watching her, and she was growing too unsettled to stay.

The clothes on the grass were still only half dry, but she couldn’t wait any longer. She got up and started toward the grass to collect her spread-out clothes—but the moment she stood and took two steps, a dark shape burst out from behind her, lunging with clear intent at her lower leg.

Having been on the run for so long, Greta’s reflexes were quite sharp despite never having specifically trained for combat.

She threw herself into a roll on the ground, dodging the old wolf’s teeth—but not its claws.

With a pained grunt, the pant leg of the Shoddy Mage Robe she had just put on tore open, and blood seeped through.

The old wolf’s ambush having failed to finish her, it quickly attacked again.

But Greta had rolled to the base of a small hill with nowhere left to go. Her lower leg was injured, making it hard to get up quickly. Gritting through the pain, she forced herself upright, one hand gripping the dagger and the other clutching her staff.

When the old wolf lunged for her throat, she blocked with the arm holding the dagger. Then, in the brief moment when her arm held the wolf’s jaws at bay and its forward momentum stalled, she channeled her psychic power, amplified through the staff, and gathered metallic elemental force into a single metal needle, driving it viciously through the wolf’s eye and into its skull.

The searing pain and the ebbing of its life caused the old wolf to bite down with savage force, no longer deterred by the dagger’s obstruction. Greta’s right arm was bitten clean through, and the wolf’s claws sank deep into her abdomen.

Fortunately, the metal needle had struck a vital point, and the old wolf soon collapsed on top of Greta.

Having survived by a hair’s breadth, Greta had no time to cry out in pain. Clenching her teeth, she pried the wolf’s jaws open and shoved the carcass off her, then quickly fumbled for her healing cards. She used two {Magic Card – Heal Serious Wounds} and one {Magic Card – Heal Moderate Wounds} before the injuries to her right arm, abdomen, and lower leg finally closed and healed.

She then hurried to the stream to wash the blood from her body, changed into the clothes she had just washed—still only half dry—rewrapped herself in her black robe and grass netting, and hurried westward with quickened steps.

She didn’t even dare retrieve the old wolf’s carcass, afraid it would attract more wild beasts.

Only after stepping back onto the barren, desolate ground did she finally feel safe again.

“Fierce, and brave too. But you can tell she hasn’t had a single lesson in hand-to-hand combat,” Vasida said. “Didn’t she attend the Temple Preparatory Acolyte Class? The Yala Empire trains Acolytes without teaching them any combat skills at all? That wolf was a bit clever, sure, but its body was already very weak!”

“Humans have short lifespans to begin with. Spending every possible moment raising their energy rank to extend their lives is what they care about most. Generally, only those without any talent for Magic waste time training their bodies to become warriors or knights,” Mo Lan said.

“So in the storybooks, when they say a mage always travels with a group of guards—those guards really are there to protect the mage?” Sylph exclaimed in surprise.

She had always assumed it was just a pretentious habit that mages inherited from the nobility!

“Mage apprentices really are quite weak. Low-level mages at least have some ability to defend themselves,” Mo Lan said. “But only just barely.”