"The first priority should be finding shelter," he murmured as he moved forward. While food and water were important, considering the dangers outside, searching for those things in complete darkness was foolish. So, it was best to find shelter and wait until dawn.
Of course, finding shelter wasn't a simple task either. Something like a cabin or similar structure was clearly out of the question, as the chances of such things existing here were low. So, he had to settle for something like a crevice in the ground where he could hide and rest.
Another option would be sleeping in the trees, but since he didn't know how to climb and was afraid of falling in the middle of the night and making noise that would attract predators, that option was discarded.
Building an improvised shelter was also an option, but as before, he didn't know where to start and didn't have much time either. Truly, his options were extremely limited from the outset.
"In the worst case, I could hide in a thicket and wait for dawn," he murmured as he moved.
He walked for a few minutes before stopping.
"Crap," he muttered under his breath, immediately taking cover.
In the spot he had just left, a group of monsters appeared. They had four legs and elongated snouts, with slender, muscular bodies covered in thick gray fur. Their ears were erect, their tails bushy, and their teeth were white and sharp. Their yellowish eyes scanned the surroundings; due to the lack of light, their gaze was even more terrifying than it normally would be.
There were five in total, and one of them was taller and had thicker fur than the others. The largest one, who seemed to be the leader, let out a low, rough growl.
I swallowed weakly, keeping my presence as low as possible to avoid being noticed. But, as if I weren't even their target, they turned to the side and continued as if searching for something else.
He sighed in relief as he stood up. "What could they be looking for?" he wondered. Since he wouldn't get an answer, he simply continued on his way.
The relief from the wolves moving away didn't last long. In this increasingly dark forest, every shadow or noise was terrifying and seemed to invite monsters to come and harvest their lives. So, he had to move more and more carefully, paying attention to the sound of his own footsteps and the noises around him. Maintaining constant vigilance was mentally exhausting, but he did it anyway, preferring a headache to dying from carelessness.
He continued walking. A while passed quickly, and then a foul odor hit him.
He instinctively covered his nose and frowned at the fetid smell. "What is that? It smells like rotten meat," he murmured to himself. The thick, cloying air made him gag.
He walked toward the source of the foul odor. What he saw surprised him.
"A mass grave?" he asked himself as he looked at the hole in the ground. Inside were countless corpses of both humans and goblins; the number was impossible to count at a glance, there were simply too many.
"How horrible," he said, looking away. He didn't know if this had been done by goblins or humans, but it was a scene he never wanted to witness again.
Looking more carefully, he noticed a light layer of dirt; it seemed they had tried to cover the hole, but something had stopped them.
"Better to leave this alone," he murmured as he retreated from the spot. There was nothing good about staying there, especially considering that smell would attract scavengers. He moved on and quickly walked away, as if fleeing from the unbearable stench.
He walked a little further, quickening his pace to distance himself from the source of the foul odor, but a strange noise made him stop dead in his tracks. It wasn't a small or imperceptible noise at all. It was more like sharp, small squeals mixed with guttural growls.
Something he hadn't noticed due to the foul smell was that mixed with it was the acrid scent of fresh blood.
It didn't take him long to consider one possibility. "Could humans be fighting?" he wondered.
The idea of encountering a group of humans was too tempting to ignore, but in case he was wrong, it was better to be cautious. He lowered his presence as much as possible, regulating his breathing, and slowly moved toward the origin of the sound.
The distant noises quickly intensified; the battle seemed to be entering its final phase, where nothing was held back. So, he hurried his pace to get there.
Finally, between the gnarled trunks and thick undergrowth, a clearing was revealed.
As expected, two groups were engaged in a deadly dance, though it wasn't what he had hoped for. They were three gray wolves with ashen fur. What stood out most was that their size was several times larger than the ones he had seen before. They seemed to be giant wolves.
They were fighting a group of goblins. Seven of them were still standing, while several more were on the ground. They weren't the only ones, as further away from the rest, there was a wolf bleeding profusely; it was hard to tell if it was alive or dead.
The goblins were armed with swords, spears, axes, and clubs. Combined with their numerical advantage, one would expect them to have the upper hand.
But that was far from the truth.
One wolf charged a goblin that was trying to attack its companion. The wolf caught the goblin, who dropped its weapon, opened its maw, and grabbed the creature's neck. With a simple, sharp CRACK! of its neck breaking, the goblin died.
The wolf stood up and, with the corpse in its jaws, threw it aside as if it were a discarded rag. The body bounced several times on the ground.
Similar scenes repeated. Although the goblins outnumbered the wolves, their weapons and attacks did no damage to the wolves, who could easily dodge them, and even a direct hit barely affected their tough hides.
The goblins understood that a frontal battle was foolish, so they quickly began trying to retreat. Some managed to climb trees, but the poor unfortunate ones who couldn't were caught, and their lives ended under the fangs of the giant wolves.
The sight was impressive in every sense, as the goblins that had caused so many problems for humans were being hunted with surprising ease by the giant wolves.
The wolves began to move around the tree where the goblins were, waiting for them to come down.
He watched this for a while, then retraced his steps. He had seen enough. And the best thing was to leave before they detected him.
Grrrr...
Or perhaps it was already too late for that.