Chapter 126: The Giant Knife

Nuan sprinted fast through the dead woods, keeping her eyes sharp.

Even though Kael had sprinted far ahead and disappeared into the bleached tree trunks, she could easily pinpoint his exact position in her mind—just like watching a blip on a mini-map radar.

Thanks to her upgraded Pack Sync skill, her stamina felt bottomless, and her senses were dialed up to maximum.

From up ahead, a chaotic symphony of panicked barks, vicious growls, and pain-filled whines erupted across an open patch of the dried forest.

Seems like he just went straight for the kill instead of issuing a simple warning, Nuan thought dryly, drawing her bowstring taut. Welp, at least I sharpened a few of these arrowheads while I wait to forge actual steel tips onto the rest.

She aimed high and released. The arrow zipped through the air, embedding itself cleanly into the shoulder of a coyote trying to sink its teeth into Kael’s back while the alpha dragged down two others.

Without missing a beat, Nuan pulled another arrow and let it fly, hitting a second coyote square in its hind leg.

"Ah, seriously, so many of them surrounded him..." Nuan grumbled under her breath, pulling a third arrow. He’s easily overpowering them alone, but he’s way too careless about taking bites just because he knows we have whiteclaw herbs back at camp!

Nuan let fly her third arrow. Her main goal wasn’t a massacre—she just needed to make sure these at least twenty-five coyotes there to realized fighting a suicidal wolf alpha backed by an invisible sniper wasn’t worth the paycheck.

The sudden barrage of arrows from an unseen attacker sent the coyote pack into a full-blown panic.

Kael had already brutally laid out six of them, and with three others limping away on three legs due to Nuan’s precise shots, the remaining scavengers turned tail and fled toward the dense green jungle on the other side of the border.

"Pheww... good, nobody died," Nuan exhaled in relief, stashing her bow back into her inventory as she walked over to Kael.

Without hesitation, she gave his big wolf head a solid smack. "Idiot! Stop taking minor injuries like a punch-bag, even if we do have a mountain of whiteclaw herbs!"

With a soft poof of white smoke, Kael shifted back into his human form. He wiped a streak of dirt off his chin and chuckled with arrogant pride. "It’s my duty as Alpha to keep our territory uninvited, even if it overlaps with mere peasants!"

"Yeah? Agreed, but still! Take care of yourself," Nuan huffed, scanning his muscular frame. "At least you don’t look seriously hurt... Okay, good. Let’s just quickly chop down a tree and head back before more show up. I’ve already lost three arrows in the brush!"

"Haha, sorry!" Kael laughed, casually waving his hand toward the vast graveyard of sun-bleached, leafless trees around them. "Pick whichever one you want."

Nuan walked up to the nearest trunk, running her hand along the rough texture. Her jaw slowly dropped. "Oh wow... wait... aren’t these all freakin’ OAK TREES?!"

She gasped, her eyes lighting up with unholy joy. "Oh my god, I couldn’t ask for better timber than this!"

"Which one should I cut, which one... hmm..." Nuan darted around like a kid in a candy store, inspecting trunks until she stopped right in front of a magnificently thick, perfectly dry oak tree. "Talk about the ultimate candidate for slaughter!"

She circled the trunk, squinting up into the bare branches. "Hmm, perfect... no birds living here, no active nests, and no hollow pockets made by woodpeckers. Yep, I’m taking this one down!"

Kael stepped up beside her, crossing his arms as he looked at the massive trunk. "How are you going to cut this giant thing down? With that tiny tool knife of yours?"

"Hmm? No! Not a tiny knife!" Nuan smirked, her face twisting into full cartoonish pride.

With a dramatic flourish, she pulled the heavy, gleaming Broad Axe straight out of her system inventory, raising it high above her head like Thor summoning stormbreaker.

"With my stormbreaker! The Broad Axe!" she announced, striking a dramatic pose like Doraemon pulling a game-changing gadget out of his pocket.

"Whaa... giant knife!!!" Kael gasped, his golden eyes going wide in shock as he stared at the heavy metal head.

"Hehehe, right?! It’s called an axe!" Nuan grinned, adjusting her stance with a proud flourish. "It’s a super dangerous tool—it can easily behead a heavy predator in a single good strike if landed perfectly!"

Kael nodded slowly, taking in the heavy steel blade.

"Step back, boy! I’ll show you how a professional does it," Nuan declared.

Kael took a few cautious steps back. Nuan scanned the surrounding dirt, pinpointed the exact direction she wanted the giant oak to fall, and positioned her feet firmly in the soil.

Gripping the smooth wooden handle with both hands, she swung and struck the thick trunk with a steady, calculated impact.

Thwack!

She pulled the wedged blade free and struck again, and again, and again, establishing a rhythmic chopping pace.

As the blazing afternoon sun beat down on the clearing, fine beads of sweat quickly coated her skin, making her honey-toned complexion glisten under the bright light.

A gentle gust of wind whipped across the dead woods, giving Nuan a refreshing chill against her warm skin as she wiped her brow.

But downwind, that exact same breeze carried her sun-warmed scent straight into Kael’s sharp nostrils.

The silver alpha swallowed hard, his mind suddenly short-circuiting as his wolf instincts went completely haywire.

Kael shook his head violently to clear his foggy thoughts and cleared his throat. "C-Can I try this giant knife?"

"Hm? Oh, yeah! Sure! Just please don’t break it, okay?" Nuan said, wiggling the axe free from the deep notch she had carved.

She handed the handle over and stepped out of the splash zone.

Kael mirrored her exact stance, gripping the handle with both hands just like she had shown him.

Then, with the terrifying, ungodly strength of a giant wolf beastman, he took one massive swing and slammed the blade into the trunk.

CRACK!

The entire broad axe head buried itself clean into the center of the solid oak trunk, getting stuck tight.

"Whaaaatttt!!!! The fuck did you just do, you idiot!!!" Nuan shrieked, her hands slapping over her face. "What are you, a literal bulldozer?!"

Ding!

[ He is a beastman, Host. Technically, yes. ]

Shut up, bad system! Nuan aggressively swiped the floating blue screen away.

"Ugh, seriously?!" she groaned, pointing wildly at the wedged tool. "How do you even manage to use so much raw force that you bury the whole axe head straight into the center of a solid trunk?! Now pull it out! We don’t chop randomly around the whole tree. We make the first cut toward where we want it to fall, then cut from the opposite side."

Kael nonchalantly placed one hand on the wood, gave the handle a quick yank, and effortlessly popped the axe free. "Understood!"

"Sigh... okay, listen to me," Nuan instructed, stepping closer and pointing her finger at the wood. "If you want to help, you strike here with normal force, then after a few chops, you move slightly here and do the exact same thing. Got it?"

"Okay!" Kael nodded obediently.

He took his position and swung again—this time carefully controlling his beastman power, landing clean, precise chops that threw thick wood chips into the dirt.

"Whoa, let me back up even further before you accidentally open my guts!" Nuan said, hurriedly taking five huge steps back.

Kael kept up a steady, rhythmic assault on the tree, completely pouring his energy into the timber to keep himself thoroughly distracted from Nuan’s captivating look and irresistible scent.

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