I'm not a goblin Frankenstein's monster.

With the predator dealt with, the remaining hyenas either died or escaped with the help of the group, temporarily eliminating the threat, but at a heavy cost.

Four members of the caravan were left behind in this forest forever. The leader, Kejin, was wounded in the arm; Eileen was pale from exhaustion of magic; and the most seriously injured was Jimmy, who lost an arm and bled too much.

With his wounds bandaged, Kaijin recounted to Xia Lin what had happened after they left.

The convoy hadn't gone far when it was intercepted by another pack of hyenas that had been lying in ambush.

They were able to hold on at first, but when the carnivorous gnoll joined the battle, its powerful strength instantly shattered their defenses.

Kakin and his men struggled to deal with the hyenas, while Eileen provided support from the vehicle with her dwindling magic. Jimmy and several experienced veterans fought desperately to hold off the gnolls, hoping to delay until reinforcements arrived. However, they did not expect the carnivorous gnolls to be so powerful.

As he spoke, he glanced at Jimmy, whose face was still pale, in the carriage, and then at the gruesome corpse of the gnoll on the ground. Cold sweat broke out on his back.

If it weren't for the timely return of this excessively young yet terrifyingly powerful adventurer, their entire team would likely have been wiped out.

The look in his eyes as he looked at Xia Lin was filled with gratitude.

Xia Lin listened, but his gaze kept sweeping back towards the dark path they had come from.

"Guts hasn't come back yet?"

Kaijin shook his head: "No. We were surrounded by a pack of hyenas for a long time and haven't seen him."

Before the words were finished—

"Awooo!!!"

A completely different, longer, and more violent wolf howl suddenly erupted from the depths of the forest!

The voice contained astonishing penetrating power and oppressive force, as if it could directly grip the heart, causing everyone who heard it to instantly feel their hair stand on end, and several injured men even collapsed.

Woody, perched on Xia Lin's shoulder, flapped his wings uneasily: "There's another one... much stronger than the one on the ground! It's very likely the gnoll leader!"

After hurriedly giving instructions to everyone, Xia Lin worried that his bloodthirsty impulses might cause unexpected casualties to the caravan.

Without the slightest hesitation, Xia Lin turned around and rushed towards the direction from which the howl came!

Guts faced the wolf pack led by the gnoll chieftain alone, his fate unknown.

The enhanced state had not completely subsided, and the bloodthirsty restlessness within him was still coursing through his veins. He quickly pulled out a small, dark blue bottle from his pocket, tilted his head back, and gulped it down.

A chilling sensation, like an icy line, slid down his throat, forcibly suppressing the bloodlust brought on by his berserk state and clearing his mind.

The wound on my left shoulder has stopped bleeding and closed under the continued effect of the treatment, and I feel a tingling or itchy sensation.

At the edge of her field of vision, a newly emerging line of text was flickering slightly: [Bloodlust Tracking (Green)].

[Bloodlust Tracking (Green)]

Effects: Slightly improves the ability to detect tracking clues such as bloodstains, footprints, and scents; slightly enhances movement speed and stamina in the wild when tracking an injured target.

Description: The gnoll scouts' innate hunting instincts allow them to pinpoint wounded prey by the slightest traces and relentlessly pursue them until their last drop of blood is drawn.

Review: A very practical wilderness tracking technique, especially adept at "taking advantage of your weakness to kill you." Remember, when you use it to track prey, be careful not to become prey yourself.

This is the ability I obtained after killing the carnivorous gnoll.

At this moment, with the help of this ability, the originally mixed scents in the forest seemed to be instantly analyzed and layered.

The earthy, pungent smell of soil, the fresh scent of grass and trees, the lingering stench of blood from afar... and, most intensely pungently, the most pungent smell of blood, like a mixture of rust and decay, was wafting continuously from somewhere in the forest.

That's it!

Xia Lin pushed off with his feet, and his figure shot into the dark forest like an arrow.

The wind whistled in my ears, and branches crackled against the tattered armor.

Following the bloody guidance, he swiftly traversed the gaps in the forest, with only one thought in his mind.

Faster...faster!

Hopefully, it's not too late.

......

Young Enzo stared in shock at the black-clad swordsman who had come to his rescue.

The man's chest heaved violently, each breath tugging at the newly added claw marks under his ribs.

Fresh blood meandered down the grooves of the black armor, dripping into the muddy ground beneath their feet, a mixture of soil, bits of flesh, and wolf blood.

The remains of at least a dozen hyenas were scattered around, most of them cleaved and split open by the massive sword with its brute force. The strong stench of blood and entrails from the hyenas almost froze the air.

At this moment, his single eye was fixed on the burly figure ten meters away.

That was the true gnoll leader, nearly three meters tall, with muscles as bulging as granite, covered in dark red fur, and with mottled bone ornaments.

It was carrying a terrifying, giant bone-spiked iron hammer.

Unlike the "carnivorous" gnolls, this leader's eyes held not only cruelty but also the cold-blooded ruthlessness of someone who had been through countless battles.

At this moment, a hint of surprise and doubt also appeared in the leader's fierce, brown eyes.

Its most elite squad of hyenas was completely wiped out by the one-armed human's fierce counterattack.

What puzzled it even more was that this human was clearly covered in wounds, his armor was damaged, and even his left arm was a prosthetic, so why did the power of the giant sword he wielded not only not diminish, but instead seemed to be growing more ferocious and violent with each battle.

It was as if the pain and blood were merely fuel, making the killing machine within him burn even brighter.

We can't delay any longer!

Just as it was poised to launch a new, even more deadly attack, its head suddenly turned toward the dark woods to one side.

"Whoosh—Pfft!"

A round, hairy, blood-stained thing was thrown out of the darkness and rolled into the open space between the two.

It was the head of a gnoll.

The eye sockets were empty, the face was distorted by extreme fear before death, and the neck was cut off in a jagged manner, clearly indicating that it had been violently severed.

The gnoll leader's pupils suddenly contracted, and a sharp howl, a mixture of shock, anger, and rage, burst from his throat!

At that moment, it recognized that it was its most capable hunter!

Immediately afterwards, a figure covered in blood but with an unusually steady gait slowly emerged from the direction from which the flesh-eater's head had flown.

He wiped the blood splattered on his face, his gaze sweeping over the horrific battlefield and the hammer-wielding behemoth before finally settling on Guts.

"Xia Lin, there's someone even fiercer than you." Woody said, looking at the coyote corpses on the field whose bodies had been "separated".

Looking up at the enraged monster opposite him, Xia Lin grinned and spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva:

"You bastard!"

The situation reversed instantly, turning from a one-on-one death match into a two-on-one encirclement and hunt!

The gnoll chieftain was enraged; the challenge to his dignity and the shock of his subordinates' deaths made him abandon his last shred of caution.

It roared and ignored Gus. The huge iron hammer, accompanied by a fierce wind that could shatter mountains and split rocks, smashed down first on Xia Lin, who had just appeared and seemed to be seriously injured!

If that hammer blow lands, it's enough to tear a person to shreds!

However, a darker, heavier "evil wind" arrived first!

It's Guts' black greatsword!