Return of the Runebound Professor
Chapter 256: Wylf (The actual ch256 this time)

Noah left Olive’s shop – a surprising thirty minutes later – thoroughly impressed. When the Imbuer had pulled him into the back, Noah had fully expected to get questioned for ten hours straight. That seemed to be how these things always went.

But, to his surprise, Olive had picked every single thing he wanted apart in just half an hour. Even though Olive hadn’t seemed too excited about the project at the start, Noah could have sworn that the Imbuer knew more about what he wanted than what he knew himself.

One thousand five hundred gold and he gets to keep any scraps from the pelt. I’m pretty sure he got the better end of the deal, but he’s damn good, so I don’t mind. I’ve got about six hundred gold, so I just need to get nine hundred more.

I’ll avoid the temptation of snagging those gemstones Lee is carrying around and just handle things myself. A job with the Adventurer’s Guild should get everything dealt with pretty quickly if I can get one that pays well.

With that in mind, Noah set off once more. He left the hide with Olive so the Imbuer could get started on working with it. With any luck, Olive would be done by the time he got back that day.

It would have been more than a little awkward if Noah stumbled into Moxie and Lee on his way to get a job, but he was lucky enough to avoid detection. After a short look through the quest board, he spotted one that paid seven hundred gold in exchange for killing and collecting some Sand Wylf teeth to the south of the city.

From the description, Sand Wylves were pack animals that strongly resembled – as the name suggested – wolves. They were small and lean, but the job warned that they often had Poison Runes. He wasn’t sure where the sand part of their name came in – but the job didn’t mention it and he didn’t really care enough to search for more information.

Killing the wylves wouldn’t quite get him everything he needed, but selling the extra parts he got would probably make up the last of the difference. With that in mind, Noah set off, hopping onto his flying sword as soon as he was out of the city limits.

The pack of Sand Wylves wasn’t too hard to find. They were a three-hour trip away in an area of the mountains that were more densely populated by thick, bushy trees. Noah landed in a clearing and picked a direction at random.

With my luck, I don’t imagine it should take too long before I run into something. As far as forests go, this one seems nice enough. Shady, comfortable temperature, and it isn’t full of ash. What more could someone ask for?

Noah wasn’t wrong. After just a few minutes of walking through the dense forest, his tremorsense picked up on a group of monsters prowling through the trees behind him and tailing his steps.

He stopped walking, choosing an area without too many densely packed trees so he could have room to dodge. His tremorsense picked up on flashes of movement as the monsters prowled around him.

It was a fight to see which of them was more patient. Noah was pretty sure the smartest move would have been to sit back and wait for one to attack him first.

Noah, unfortunately for the Sand Wylves, was not nearly patient enough for that. There wasn’t anyone around to worry about, so he decided to fast track the whole thing. He drew power from Natural Disaster and thrust his hands forward, sending a twister of violent wind swirling from his palms.

It crashed through the trees and into the path of one of the monsters, which let out a startled yelp a moment before Noah’s magic slammed it into the ground and shredded it to pieces.

The rest of the pack let out yelps and dashed at Noah, launching themselves from the shadows between the trees in a coordinated attack. They were honestly closer to wolverines than wolves, with catlike bodies and long, stringy tails. Their teeth took up a disproportionate amount of their mouths and they had large, bulging eyes.

God, they’re hideous. I’m not going to feel bad about this at all.

Noah ripped more power from Natural disaster and a sphere of wind swirled to life around him.

It wasn’t strong enough to actually cut into anything, but that was more because Noah wasn’t completely confident in his fine control of Natural Disaster – there was always a chance he made the sphere a bit too low and ended up mistakenly cutting off his own head.

Instead, he just threw the Wylves around him, tossing many of them high into the air. As the wind dissipated, Noah pulled moisture from the air around him and sent several lashes of water flying out at the plummeting monsters.

The wylves twisted, trying to squirm out of the way of the magic hurtling in their direction, but they evidently didn’t have any Wind Runes of their own. Their struggles quickly ended as Noah’s magic carved them apart, proceeding to rain blood and guts down on Noah’s head.

His eye twitched as he leaned back, avoiding another Sand Wylf as it leapt, trying to rip his throat out. Before his dodge had even finished, his tremorsense blared a warning and Noah dropped to the ground.

A second wylf flashed past him, its jaws snapping shut on nothing but air. Noah rolled to the side, sent a wave of lightning roaring out from his body and into his surroundings. Several Sand Wylfs yelped in pain as they were flash-fried.

Noah dove to the side as three more of the monsters leapt from the trees. They were pretty easy to kill, but they were relentless. It was like a swarm of rats – and he was made out of cheese.

Energy slipped into Noah from all the monsters he was killing, but he didn’t have the time to properly assess it. There were just too many of them coming at him from too many different angles.

Cursing under his breath, Noah barely managed to avoid another one of the Wylves by setting off a powerful blast of wind beneath his feet. It threw him into the air, giving him a better view of the situation.

There were already nearly a dozen dead monsters scattered across the clearing beneath him, but there were easily twenty more of them swarming through the trees. Noah’s eyes widened at the size of the horde.

The hell is this? The job said they traveled in packs, not swarms.

Noah slowed his fall with a gust of wind, then sent a wave of energy into the ground as soon as he touched down. Spikes ruptured the earth all around him, rising up like a wave and impaling several of the wylves in one fell swoop.

Another four of them flung themselves at Noah with such reckless abandon that it almost felt like they were trying to get themselves killed. Noah raised his hand and met their attack with a series of lightning-charged wind blades, carving the monsters apart – and once again spraying himself with blood.

Noah spat as some of it splattered across his face. The swarm was starting to dwindle now, but the crazed little monsters showed no signs of any self-preservation. They flung themselves at him again and again, effectively blending their own ranks apart until Noah was left standing alone, breathing heavily and surrounded by piles of dead wylves.

He’d killed all of them normally but the last, which had met a grizzly fate at the hands of Sunder. The Wylf had a Rank 1 poison Rune that Noah promptly deposited on Dayton’s scroll. Noah wiped the blood from his face and steadied himself. The fight hadn’t been difficult, but it had been surprisingly intensive.

Those little shits were fast. The way they fought definitely makes me think that there’s a Great Monster somewhere in the area. Nothing is stupid enough to just kill itself like that unless their brains are all scrambled.

Noah quickly checked on his Runes and was pleased to find that Natural Disaster had gone up by another few percents. It was making good progress for not going through any major monster fights.

It’s too bad I can’t go kill another big ole monster. Great Monsters just donate their Greater Rune when they die, so I don’t even need to Sunder them.

As Noah reached down to start collecting some teeth from the wylves, he paused.

Wait. Why can’t I kill the Great Monster here? As long as I actually check up with Dawnforge to make sure it’s not protected or anything, shouldn’t it be totally fine?

He thought about it for a little longer, but there genuinely wasn’t any reason he could think up as to why he shouldn’t hunt the Great Monster if Dawnforge wasn’t trying to keep it around. It was just a free Master Rune that he could either keep, give away, or sell.

Not to mention all the juicy energy I can get from killing it. That’ll be a good side project. The wylves were stronger than the small monkeys in the Scorched Acres, but I wouldn’t say they were any more dangerous than Slashers. I’m not sure how much that correlates to the Great Monster, but it can’t hurt to find out.

Noah grinned and accelerated his pace, gathering more of the monster teeth and stuffing them into his travel bag. It was tempting to go hunting for the Great Monster now, but he controlled himself.

He’d paid the price for that particular brand of impatience already. A few hours of travel wasn’t worth getting an entire city up in arms at him.

A few minutes later, Noah was done. His bag brimmed with bloody teeth and his clothes were completely ruined. He looked like he’d just walked out of a badly directed slasher film, but all he could think about was how much money he was going to get when he sold the extra teeth. Sᴇaʀch* Thᴇ NʘvᴇlFire.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

And maybe this’ll give the asshole that put this job up a bit of a scare. Seriously, how was that a few monsters? Idiots.

Noah hopped onto his flying sword and shot away from the forest, fully planning on returning the following day if he could confirm that the Great Monster was free game. It had been a while since he’d hunted a powerful monster, and part of him was looking forward to the experience.

But first – he had some jobs to turn in and gifts to acquire.

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