The Villain's Sword Is Sharp

Isaac didn't want to let the Sarcevic Wolf escape, but that wasn't a priority right now. Instead, treating Abbie was more important. To be honest, Isaac probably could've left her die – that way the mission reward would be split between 3 people instead of 4. However, she was one of the valuable team members he'd picked out after sifting through all the data. It'd be hard to find a replacement with similar skill, so the ability level of the team might decrease. Furthermore, the others would lose trust in him as a team leader and the team might start to become dysfunctional.

Isaac had never been the type to sacrifice long-term benefits for the sake of short-term gain. He made it an absolute priority to make sure Abbie was okay before they chased after the Sarcevic Wolf.

He walked over to Johan's side to watch how the treatment was going. Abbie's bleeding had slowed down after pressure had been applied for a long time. Johan slowly took the bits of cloth out of her wounds. They were drenched in blood so he threw them to the side and looked at the wounds more carefully.

Then he picked up 2 handfuls of snow and rubbed snow around the wounds. This was to clean them and reduce the chance of infection.

The coldness of the snow also caused a process known as vasoconstriction: the blood vessels in the cold areas constricted and got smaller, reducing the flow of blood to Abbie's wounds and slowing her bleeding down even more. Johan didn't know this was happening, but it was. And it was very helpful.

When he was satisfied the wound was clean, he spoke to Isaac,

"Unfortunately, I'm not a doctor – there's not much more I can do."

"Is her life in danger?"

"No. But if that wound's exposed for too long, she could still get frostbite."

Isaac thought for a moment before calling Eva over.

"Eva. I want you to take Abbie back to Kirk Village and make sure she gets treated by their best doctor. Oh – and please lend her your coat."

Eva's gaze turned slightly stern. She didn't want to be stuck with babysitting duties. She wanted to be at the heart of the fight!

"What'll you and Johan be doing? Why can't he take Abbie back instead of me?"

"As a trained melee fighter, you're physically stronger and quicker than him. Abbie needs treatment as soon as possible and it'll be easier for you to carry her back to the village. Besides, I need Johan to help track the Sarcevic Wolf, and a duo of one melee fighter and one ranged attacker will be better in combat than 2 melee fighters. Furthermore, we're both middle stage cultivators and the strongest in the group."

Eva was almost buried under Isaac's avalanche of reasons. She had no comeback so she was forced to reluctantly accept her role. She nodded with a slightly sullen expression,

"Okay. I'll bring Abbie back."

She walked to Abbie's side and looked her over twice. The sullenness in her expression was gradually replaced by a serious demeanour – Eva always took the attitude that if you were going to do a job, you might as well do it properly. This was no time to sulk or be downcast; she just had to get on with her task.

She picked Abbie up and Isaac helped her move the girl into a better position. She ended up carrying Abbie on her back like a backpack. Abbie's arms were draped over Eva's shoulders and Eva could see the girl was barely conscious. She realised that another person's – a fellow teammate's – safety was now in her hands. She took that responsibility with the utmost seriousness.

Her face was filled with determination as she left. Isaac and Johan bade her farewell and good luck, then returned to their job. It was a job which was undeniably more interesting than carrying an injured person; they had to track down the Sarcevic Wolf!

The 2 of them both went to the spot where the fight had occurred. This was the obvious place to start since the wolf's traces were everywhere.

They quickly identified 3 main areas: the area Isaac had first fought the wolf, the spot where the wolf had attacked Abbie, and the place where Eva and Isaac had confronted the wolf.

The third spot was the most important since the wolf would've left a trail leading when it ran away. Isaac and Johan went over to investigate.

The whole area – which was about the size of a person's garden – was a mess. Snow had been kicked everywhere and blood was splattered all over the place. It was hard to make anything out. There was only one clear clue: a set of paw prints leading away from the scene and into the forest. Alongside the paw prints were trails of thick blood which had soaked into the snow.

Johan knelt down beside the prints.

"Its gait is irregular – it appears to be limping. And these blood trails show it's received heavy injuries in multiple places."

"Yes. I injured its flank, chest and forelimb rather seriously."

"Good. Following the footprints would've been difficult in the dark, but an obvious trail of blood like this will make it rather easy to track."

Johan was about to set off in pursuit of the wolf, but Isaac stopped him,

"Wait. Help me take care of this body first."

Isaac pointed towards Guðmundur's corpse.

When Johan heard this, he adopted a slightly puzzled expression,

"Is that necessary?"

"If we don't move it, the villagers will find it eventually. Then they'll question why we used one of them as bait to lure out the wolf and it'll cause some tension between the village and the sect. That could cause our mission grade to decrease."

"Will they really care? He was just a beggar anyway; nobody in the village will miss him."

"Whether they care or not, its better to move him than to leave him here. Come on, we'll just dump him somewhere in the forest where the beasts can eat him. It'll only take a minute."

Johan nodded. He went to grab Guðmundur's feet while Isaac grasped the body's arms. The two of them lifted him and moved him about 100 metres into the forest, where they dumped him in a bush.

Then they returned to the path where they'd fought the wolf.

"I'll follow your lead."

Isaac let Johan track the wolf while he followed behind. They traced the blatant blood trail into the forest, where it weaved through the trees and led into the unknown.

The forest was eerie at night.

The heavy silence was only occasionally broken by a noise: sometimes by the cry of an owl or nightjar, sometimes by the loud crack of a branch which had been stepped on. A strange sense of foreboding filled the night. Anything could be lurking in the darkness, ready to jump out at the pair. Anything at all could be hiding behind the veil of night...

But nothing happened.

They followed the blood trail for 10 minutes, constantly on high alert.

But still nothing happened.

They continued to follow the trail, going even deeper into the deadly forest.

And then everything was silent – no more birds called. This lent the forest a certain lifelessness. It felt as if nothing lived here, as if everything had been scared away by some apex predator.

*Crraaack*

The silence was shattered by the loud sound of something breaking. Isaac looked at what he'd just stepped on – it was thin, long and porcelain white. It was a bone. He looked to his right and, amidst the darkness, could make out a mangled human skeleton. It lay there, resting against a tree, mostly destroyed. Only the legs were fully intact.

Isaac shook his head and walked on. 10 paces later,

*Crraaack*

This time it was Johan who'd stepped on a bone. These bones must've been quite weak to break under a person's foot. Isaac wondered why these bones were so peculiar and why they were here.

However, they continued to walk on. Soon they reached a small clearing which was filled with skeletons. Most were human, but there were several wolves too. Isaac didn't check thoroughly, so there might've been more species amongst the mess as well.

In the centre of the clearing, surrounded by the skeletons, was an unassuming hole – about a metre and a half wide. The snow around the hole had been cleared away and it was circled by a halo of dirt. Along the dirt ran a trail of blood. The trail disappeared into the dark hole.

The hole's entrance was pitch black, like a gate which led directly into hell. It was the Sarcevic Wolf's den, living place, and current location.