Jackson broke out into a cold sweat as he felt the gaze of the wolf in the lead of the pack linger on him, there was tangible tension in the air as even the slightest movement caused the wolves surrounding him to growl in preparation to pounce at him.
"Awoooo!" (AN: Yes I finally realised that "Howwwlll" was not what a wolf sounds like leave me alone! ;P)
Jackson did well to avoid direct eye-contact with the wolf in the lead as he looked over its body; compared to the other wolves this one was at least thrice the size of the largest of them, its mane was snow white and completely spotless like fresh snow.
Out of the corner of his eye he could see it staring directly at him as if waiting for him to make the first move before it pounced at him, as fortune would have it in this situation he discovered that as long as he didn't directly focus his eyes on the wolf [Gaze of the King] wouldn't activate.
While it was useful to know, especially for future battles, it was no use to him currently. He bit his lip in frustration as he tried to think of a way to escape using the increased mental speed that his E+ Intelligence provided he went through a number of ideas in his head but none of them had optimistic outcomes.
"Roaaaar!"
They were suddenly interrupted by an enraged roar coming from behind him, Jackson turned his head to see one of the bears that had been attacking the Hunters' had split off after hearing the howl earlier to investigate and had found both Jackson and the wolves facing off against one another.
The bear must have taken him to be another one of their prey that had gotten away because it tried to claim his life as soon as it saw him, even its massive body was still dwarfed by the size of the White Wolf but that didn't seem to phase it as it only had Jackson in its eyes.
"Awoooo!" The White Wolf let off another howl as the pack behind it suddenly advanced and ran past Jackson to intercept the bear, a few were reluctant as they tried to attack Jackson as well but those of them that tried found themselves on the other end of the White Wolfs' claws as they limped off with red blood covering their black fur.
"Awoo..." The White Wolf let off another, smaller, howl suddenly as it returned its attention to Jackson. From behind it another Wolf walked out of the forest into the opening, it was pure white like the White Wolf but in its jaws was the head of an animal that Jackson clearly recognised.
"The Panther?" He asked in shock as he realised what it belonged to, he was even more confused than before as he wondered what the Panther had to do with any of this. Had the White Wolf tracked him down to take revenge? Or had it simply tracked his scent on the corpse?
'If that's the case why hasn't it killed me already?' He thought silently, his thoughts were interrupted however by the bear behind him crying out in pain suddenly, the wolves were slowly beginning to gain the upper hand as more and more wounds appeared on its body and it cried for help. Its cries for help naturally called away more of the bears surrounding the Hunters' that destroyed the encirclement on them as two bears moved to help.
"What the-" The White Wolf suddenly snapped its jaws at him, barely missing him by a hairs breadth as he bent his body back to avoid its sudden attack, "Fine, if that's how you want to do this." He gritted his teeth as he pulled the knife from his belt and held it in front of him.
The White Wolf towered over him instilling a sense of fear in him as it took several steps forward slowly, as if mocking him. The moment he pulled out his knife Jackson could feel a distinct change in its attitude, its breathing grew heavier and its steps heavier as if it was excited.
It bared its teeth before disappearing from sight, Jackson dropped the Armadillo corpse in his arms as he pulled his Knife up to defend himself.
Cling!
The sound of metal on claw rang out as he felt his feet dig into the ground from the force of the blow, simply keeping hold of his knife made him feel as if he'd almost broken his hand.
[Wind of the Wanderer]
He willed his only skill to activate as he felt a sudden burst of energy fill his body, kicking himself off of the ground he rushed in to attack while it was still recovering itself. He stabbed towards its neck without hesitation only for it to disappear suddenly again, "Dammit!" Jackson cursed.
A sudden chill came from behind him as he turned in time to see the jaws of the Wolf opening as they threatened to take a chunk out of him, Jackson threw the knife without hesitation into its open mouth only to see the knife shatter into pieces as it bit down. Shards of the knife flew everywhere as he quickly fished another one out of his backpack to replace it.
The wind whistled as the White Wolf attacked with its left claw, Jackson dodged it effortlessly and stabbed his knife towards its paw. It didn't even damage the White Wolfs' pelt as it made contact with its skin, there was nothing he could do about it- the knives he had were simply too fragile to work against higher-ranked beasts
He didn't know if he was imagining the look of disappointment in the Wolfs' eyes as he saw the knife do nothing to it, "Tch, don't look down on me." Jackson mumbled as he backed up to a distance, he'd swapped places with the Wolf in that exchange and could see the plains behind it.
He sighed as he saw the Hunters' safely beginning their retreat, only one of the bears was still harassing them as the other five were busy handing the wolves that had them both outnumbered and encircled. They were getting a taste of their own tactics as the wolves slowly began to wear them down bit by bit.
As the Hunters' were beginning to get further and further away he knew his chances of finding them again were beginning to dwindle drastically with every second, "Fine, you want to fight me? Lets fight."
He rushed forward carelessly, he didn't have to act to show the Wolf that he had no idea what he was doing; just as he got within a meter of it and it began to bare its teeth in preparation to take him down with a single bite he looked up for the first time to meet its eyes with his own.
[Gaze of the King]
Thanks for the chapter!