Chapter 1458 - 939: Wilds Tracking

Chapter 1458: Chapter 939: Wilds Tracking

"Howling Wind Valley... over there."

He referred to the place names mentioned in the notes and the rugged terrain before him.

Quickly and accurately determining the direction.

The northeast, where the wind is stronger, mixed with faint wailing sounds, the terrain steeper and deeper.

There wasn’t a hint of impulsiveness.

Legolas slipped into this familiar yet dangerously unpredictable "hunting ground" like a drop of water merging into the sea, quietly and silently.

His footsteps were as light as a ghost in the forest, every step precisely placed on thick moss, exposed sturdy tree roots, or stable rocks, minimizing noise, as if his soles were padded with velvet.

His body leaned slightly forward, center of gravity lowered, muscles taut like bowstrings, maintaining a perfect posture for both sudden speed or instant concealment.

The longbow was not taken down, but his right hand always hovered at the edge of the quiver, slender fingers poised to spring into action, ensuring he could execute the deadly draw-and-nock move within a heartbeat.

The tracking, officially began.

His gaze was as sharp as that of an eagle, meticulously and greedily scanning the muddy, damp ground, the lower part of tree trunks with fresh, mottled bark scraped off, and the edges of shrubs with branches bent by heavy bodies.

Soon, on a moist area exuding the fresh fragrance of earth, he discovered the critical traces left by the prey — several deep, clear three-toed footprints, stamped like branded marks in the soft mud.

The soil at the edge of the footprints was still fresh, with slightly turned damp clods, not yet fully hardened nor covered by morning dew or fallen leaves.

"Very fresh... not more than half a day old, the earth still retains warmth."

Legolas squatted down, nimble fingers accurately measuring the depth and span of the footprints, with cold data perfectly corroborating the notes’ description.

"Incredible power, each step as steady as a mountain... the direction of movement is also northeast, heading straight into the heart of Howling Wind Valley."

He whispered, the sharp glint in his eyes growing even fiercer.

He cautiously and swiftly tracked along the winding path suggested by the footprints.

The elf’s innate affinity with the forest combined seamlessly with the supreme tracking skills of a top-notch hunter, allowing him to move like an invisible phantom in the peril-laden, branch-entangled darkness of the woods.

At times, he stopped, fingertips brushing against the fresh, mottled bark on tree trunks scraped by tremendous force.

At times, he bent low, nose almost touching the ground, taking deep sniffs of the increasingly strong scent in the air, a blend of iron rust and wildness.

The deeper he ventured, the taller and denser the trees became, with twisted branches, and the light grew dimmer and gloomier, as if twilight had arrived early.

Cold wind howled from the valley’s depths, bringing a biting chill and clearer, ghostly wailing sounds — perhaps this is how "Howling Wind Valley" got its name?

Legolas’s heartbeat was steady and powerful, like a precise pendulum, but his Spirit was taut to the extreme, like a bowstring drawn to its limit.

He knew, he was getting closer and closer to that heart-stopping terrifying prey.

The moment to test the true soul of a Hunter was about to descend.

He silently drew a cold, heavy armor-piercing cone-tipped arrow, his movements as fluid as a dance, securely nocking it to the taut bowstring.

The metallic, icy sharp touch of the arrowhead sent a faint, awakening sting to his fingertips, igniting an even hotter, purer fire of hunting in his eyes.

The supreme glory of the Hunting Arrow Ribbon must be demonstrated with a truly Legendary hunt.

In the forest’s shadows, the deadly dance between hunter and prey was about to unfold.

Legolas, like a wisp of shadow blending into the sea of trees, silently traversed beneath the dense canopy of Howling Wind Valley.

His eyes, as keen and sharp as the most Elite eagle, missed no suspicious land or abnormal foliage, Spirit was highly focused.

The starting point of the tracking was that series of clear three-toed footprints, deeply embedded in the mud, like prints stamped by an invisible Giant Hammer.

He crouched down, fingers lightly touching the moist soil at the edge of the footprint — the cool touch indicated it had not yet fully hardened, showing the footprint was fresh, formed no more than half a day ago.

The footprint’s span was huge, with each step easily covering a distance equivalent to three steps of an adult male, silently testifying to the prey’s enormous size and alarming Power.

Legolas moved slowly along the direction suggested by the footprints, each step precisely landing on moss or tree roots, avoiding any minute noise.

Soon, he discovered more alarming clues.

Beside a low shrub, scattered remains of animals devoured clean — the skeleton of a full-grown deer, with the flesh brutally torn away, leaving only stark white bones and scattered patches of fur.

The break points of the bones were jagged and serrated, remarkably similar to descriptions in the notes of "thick hard wood bitten off easily as thick as a bowl’s mouth."

Legolas leaned in to take a close sniff, the air was laden with a strong scent of blood, mixed with a barely there but strikingly pungent scent of glandular secretion, akin to the stench of iron rust and decomposing soil fermenting together, exactly the distinctive odor repeatedly emphasized in the notes, now invading his nostrils.

His heart tightened, and his muscles instantly tensed: "The prey has fed here, its Power enough to tear apart medium-sized animals instantly, and its alertness extremely high — the remains were not completely devoured, indicating it maintained high vigilance while feeding, ready to retreat at any moment."

The tracking continued to deepen.

Legolas keenly noticed the scattered droppings: black as charcoal, as large as fists, with a texture hard as stone, mixed with undigested bone fragments and hair.