novelraw Chapter 111: The Wild Dogs' Lifelong Enemy
Chapter 111: The Wild Dogs' Lifelong Enemy
"Guest, do you still need other weapons? Or excellently crafted feather arrows? We also consign prime Eagle Feather Arrows from the master bowmaker Flo here, as well as various standard feather arrows and hunting arrows. However, if you wish to purchase a bow, you'll have to go to Flo's Bowyer Workshop."
"Consignment? Forget it, give me some hunting arrows. I've accepted a task from the Tax Collector to hunt the wild dogs outside the city."
With tremendous willpower, Li Wei restrained his desire to continue buying.
Because after buying this two-star dagger, and deducting the expenses for purchasing Table Salt and staying at the inn, he didn't have many gold coins left. He didn't even dare to go to the master bowmaker Flo's Bowyer Workshop, because even if he went, he wouldn't be able to afford anything.
Especially since he had also pre-ordered a matching spearhead for that one-star Wooden Spear.
Ordinary hunting arrows were much cheaper; one silver coin could buy ten. Li Wei bought 50 arrows in one breath.
Of course, each one had to be inspected. Li Wei wasn't an artisan, but his ability to appraise feather arrows was still quite good.
Emerging from the basement, Li Wei paid 15 gold coins in one go. That's right, forging the spearhead for the Wooden Spear cost 4.5 gold coins, since it required Refined Steel, as well as counterweight balancing. Additionally, it needed to be wrapped with a certain type of anti-corrosive, waterproof threading on the surface and painted, making the price a bit more expensive.
Consequently, Li Wei very readily—yet painfully—paid the full amount. At this point, he was left with 20 gold coins and 1 silver coin in his hands. Deducting the 6 gold coins and 3 silver coins he would have to spend over the next three days, he actually only had 13 gold coins and 9 silver coins remaining.
His pockets suddenly became embarrassingly empty.Not even daring to look at the other shops, Li Wei dejectedly took his Table Salt and exited the city to hunt wild dogs.
Right now, many people were waiting to watch him hunt wild dogs—oh, no, waiting for the scene where he gets chased around by over a hundred wild dogs...
Therefore, Li Wei didn't dare to be too perfunctory, because today, even those honest-looking militiamen came over to greet him.
There were also militiamen imparting their experience to him.
"Lord Hunter, you need to be careful. These pups are incredibly cunning. We tried using traps against them before, but they quickly stopped falling for it. These pups eat anything and breed fast. Unless the knight lords easily wipe them out, there truly isn't any better method."
Li Wei humbly received the teaching. Then, under the gaze of the public and the vigilant stares of those wild dogs, he passed through the makeshift chevaux-de-frise and left the area patrolled by the militiamen.
"Woof, woof, woof!"
Instantly, rising and falling dog barks resounded across the wilderness. Packs of wild dogs reacted to the news and moved, regardless of the circumstances, paying their respects by barking first.
However, not a single pack of wild dogs dared to step forward; they all hid over a hundred meters away, barking madly.
Now this fucking wasn't fun anymore. With so many people watching, if you guys don't chase me, how will I amuse everyone, and how would I have the nerve to go bury the salt!
Thus, Li Wei began to jog.
If the wild dogs didn't come chase him, he would go chase the wild dogs.
Whoosh—packs of wild dogs behaved like ripples in a stinking puddle, constantly scattering outward with Li Wei at the center. Unexpectedly, this actually possessed quite a comedic effect. The lords in the audience over there laughed uproariously, rocking back and forth.
This wouldn't do. Li Wei estimated that if this went on any longer, in a few days, noble ladies would come running out to spectate the magnificent scene of him chasing dogs.
Would he get the nickname 'George the Dog-Chaser' in the future?
Li Wei was very helpless. He could only chase dogs while running circles in the direction of the Abandoned Farmstead.
Then, those wild dogs paradoxically refused to go along with it: If you don't chase us, then we will chase you!
Woof woof woof, woof woof woof!
The barks rose and fell. Wild dogs joined in pack by pack, as lively as a country fair.
Running at a steady pace in front, Li Wei simultaneously kept observing these detestable wild dogs, attempting to pick out a dog king.
But after an interval of observation, he very helplessly accepted a reality: there might be many minor leaders among this gang of wild dogs, but there was no unified dog king. Their behavior was more like a subconscious, collective stress syndrome!
Therefore, it was quite tasteless.
If you said you would painstakingly scheme to deal with them, it was too troublesome, with virtually no profit to be gained!
The knight lords were individuals with status and face. Riding warhorses, holding Cavalry Lances, chasing and killing wild dogs on the wilderness?
They might end up getting dubbed 'Wild Dog Knight' by their mistresses.
Moreover, this gang of wild dogs bullied the weak and feared the strong.
When bumping into tough cookies, they would at most bark madly a few times, maintaining their distance while chasing for a stretch before giving up.
When bumping into those they could bully, wow, their petty intelligence would flare up. Harassing, ambushing, ganging up, probing, repositioning—their movements were incredibly flexible.
With Kakh City, they had truly exploited a bug to carve out an ecological niche for themselves.
To tell the truth, despite Li Wei being a Two-Star Hunter, he was also somewhat at his wits' end.
At this time, he was rapidly approaching the Abandoned Farmstead up ahead. This was the maximum boundary of the wild dogs' activities. Once past here, these wild dogs would turn back without leaving a single one behind, showing off their might as they returned.
Li Wei stopped at this moment. The wild dog pack over a hundred meters behind him also stopped uniformly, barking incessantly, but in reality, they were incredibly guilty. As long as Li Wei dared to pull out his Two-Star Composite Bow in his next move, they wouldn't hesitate to scatter like birds and beasts immediately.
However, this time Li Wei genuinely wanted to kill a few wild dogs and practice his archery.
What excellent moving targets!
In the next moment, Li Wei placed his backpack on the ground. Acting as if no dogs were around, he nocked the Two-Star Composite Bow, then drew five ordinary feather arrows from the quiver. They were very ordinary, but the arrowheads were iron, the arrow shafts were carved reasonably to standard, and most importantly, the feathers were pasted and trimmed quite nicely.
While Li Wei was fiddling with these things here, those wild dogs had already slowly retreated more than ten meters. Their tactical literacy was beyond words; truly, what wildly repositioning wild dogs.
However, Li Wei suddenly tossed his backpack, grabbed the bow with his left hand and the five arrows with his right, and turned his head to run toward the Abandoned Farmstead.
This run of his seemed to trigger some sort of stress switch. Countless wild dogs subconsciously pursued him immediately. Hehe, they possessed this exact temperament. You run, I chase; you chase, I run. Call me a rascal or a petty scoundrel, but I still say 'humans are bad, dogs don't love them'.
In the blink of an eye, Li Wei ran out more than forty meters, while the wild dog pack, driven by their collective stress syndrome, chased forward over twenty meters. Just look; totally and supremely cunning!
But at this moment, Li Wei abruptly turned his head and spun around with extreme speed. Then, exerting force with his feet, he bent his body, and his entire person instantly entered a hundred-meter dash state.
Yes, this transition was too fast, and exceptionally smooth. Starting and accelerating were Done in One Breath. By the time those wild dogs reacted, Li Wei had already entered a state of uniform acceleration.
This instantly seemed to explode the pack. The wild dogs whined, no longer daring to act fierce, and each habitually turned to flee. But at this time, a minor situation that had never appeared before occurred.
In the past, when Li Wei turned around to chase, his speed wasn't fast, giving the wild dogs ample time to react, so they wouldn't block or collide with each other.
But this time Li Wei didn't respect martial ethics; the speed of his turnaround strike was too fast. This sense of crisis simultaneously caused many wild dogs to sharply heighten their stress states and react even faster. Consequently, this gang of pups ended up in a traffic jam and collided. More than one wild dog crashed face-first into the dirt.
Then they became even more frantic, kicking their four legs desperately, letting out shrieking howls. The scene devolved into a complete mess.
Although in reality, it would take at most a few seconds for this chaos to clear up—after all, they had four legs and ran quite fast.
However, Li Wei steadily decelerated at this moment, rapidly nocking arrows and drawing the bow, firing five consecutive shots!
At a distance of approximately one hundred and twenty or thirty meters, under normal circumstances—even with the Two-Star Composite Bow—when faced with pups that would immediately take clever evasive actions to retreat the moment they saw you pull out a bow and arrow, Li Wei could do nothing but sigh!
But right now, the pups were stuck in a traffic jam. When they bumped into each other, that truly formed a massive doggy bullseye!
In the blink of an eye, five feather arrows landed precisely in the doggy bullseye. The tragic houls shook the heavens. The pups were terrified out of their wits, their gallbladders shattered. Howling frantically and tucking their tails between their legs, they actually managed to produce special effects akin to a thousand riders sweeping across a flat ridge. In a puff of smoke, they all ran right back, no longer daring to linger.
Li Wei laughed heartily, tears almost streaming down. Firing five arrows and hitting four, he had finally vented an awful grudge.
But next time, it wouldn't be this easy.
Next, he slung on his backpack and headed straight for the mountain pass. He had been delayed for too much time by these wild dogs, and the commotion was loud. If the Witch's crows came out to scout at this time—
Oh, it seemed that black-robed Witch who could control crows and wolves was injured. Never mind then.
Still, he had to be careful.
When he made it to the mountain pass area, Li Wei specifically took several loops inside the mountain forest before digging up the dirt and putting the newly purchased Table Salt in. Very good; last night's rain had not affected the deeply buried Table Salt.
After burying the Table Salt and eating a full meal, Li Wei lingered in the mountain forest until around three in the afternoon, before leisurely returning to Kakh City. He was coming back a bit early today just because he wanted to keep killing some more wild dogs.
These dog bastards were too in the way.
If the grand dog-chasing drama was staged again tomorrow, he felt his Kakh City Reputation would have to keep rising.
Yes, it was quite horrifying. He hadn't done anything today, yet as of right now, his Kakh City Reputation had already risen to 132 points.
Fuck!
If his uncle found out about this, wouldn't he hack him into pieces and feed him to the wild dogs!
If one were to say Li Wei truly harbored no thoughts of wiping out these wild dogs before, right now, for the sake of his reputation, for his little life, and for his task, he wouldn't be returning to the city tonight!
Kill the dogs!
All the way back to Kakh City, those wild dogs watched Li Wei from two to three hundred meters away, immediately tucking their tails and fleeing.
However, exactly as the saying goes, a dog cannot stop itself from eating shit!
Small packs of wild dogs fled upon seeing Li Wei. Even twenty or thirty wild dogs were likewise frightened. But once the number of wild dogs exceeded fifty, sigh, they became spirited, energetic, and exhilarated!
Woof woof woof!
Truly, their barking filled the skies!
In the blink of an eye, the wild dogs from all directions moved upon hearing the sound, swiftly transforming into a wild dog army of over a hundred once again. Their arrogant vigor instantly went off the charts. Though they still didn't dare approach within a hundred meters of Li Wei, they'd disgust you, disgust you unconditionally—come hit me, come chase me!
Atop Kakh City's walls, and at the foot of the walls, a large crowd of spectators and idlers gathered again. Everyone was waiting for the highly anticipated famous scene: the legendary bounty Demon Hunter chasing wild dogs!
Hahaha!
However, Li Wei didn't chase the wild dogs. Instead, he headed straight into the city to Flo's Bowyer Workshop, where he bought fifty ordinary feather arrows in one breath and picked up some food along the way.
When evening fell and the city gates were about to close, Li Wei walked out with a calm expression.
The sun was setting in the west, the evening glow blazing like fire. The soldiers on the city walls wore intrigued expressions, the Tax Collector yawned, and the refugees in the shacks beneath the walls stared numbly at the fading daylight. The militiamen had chopped sufficient firewood; they had to light bonfires at night, lest those damn wild dogs approach in swarms.
Compared to rotting takeout, they still preferred fresh takeout!
But the knight lords were holding banquets, promulgating, and conceptualizing far harsher and more exquisite laws.
They absolutely wouldn't care about the ripples caused by measly wild dogs.
However, they actually quite enjoyed watching the absurd comedies of hunters chasing dogs, or dogs chasing hunters, to win a smile from a beauty.
Unfortunately, there wouldn't be a single spectator tonight, because certain things were meant for certain times.
With brilliant lights, flushed with wine, weren't young maids more fun than this?
The dogs' barking grew louder.
The militiamen doubtfully watched Li Wei's figure disappear in the distance, but didn't think much of it either. Countless people came and went through Kakh City; regardless of their status, it had nothing to do with them.