The Divine Wolf... or?

Well, Ark knew that this fight was pretty much lost if he fought with the old man using conventional methods. Since that was the case, he feigned fear and trauma for the old man, trying to get the old man to lower his guard a little.

Seeing the wolf so scared, naturally, the old man felt better, he wouldn\'t need to try so hard if he just acted like he was going to capture the wolf instead of killing it right? "If you just come with me obediently, you won\'t die at the very least, the prince isn\'t done with you yet!"

Though this method of his would probably have the opposite effect on most people, for the cowards who would do anything to survive for even a second more, it would prove to be sufficient. And in the old man\'s opinion, this wolf was probably the latter. Ark responded by lowering his head as he started to trudge his way forward on the small path. The old flashed a cruel smile while waiting impatiently.

He was fidgeting a little from the excitement of killing this wolf, he looked forward to the expression it would show him as he watched it bleed to death, betrayed by its expectations.

As Ark neared, he didn\'t dare accumulate even a single speck of mana, even though people normally wouldn\'t notice, this person in front of him was significantly stronger than him, and he didn\'t want to alert him since it would completely ruin his plans.

The old man was thinking along the same line, he didn\'t really know what species this wolf was, but if it was particularly sensitive to mana, which it seemed like it was, then he wouldn\'t get as much enjoyment out of it, since the wolf would be aware of his intention to kill him off. Since that was the case, he put one of his hands in his pocket, where he had a small spatial bag.

Though the spatial bag didn\'t hold much, it was still the home to the old man\'s favourite sacrificial knife. He had used this knife to commit his first murder, and he had kept it with him ever since, it had a special place in his cold, rotten heart. If he ever decided to commit suicide one day, then this knife would definitely have a special place in his heart, through it.

He didn\'t bring it out immediately though, instead, he just waited patiently for Ark to come closer and closer...

"Swish!"

In the blink of an eye, Ark was suddenly in front of the old man\'s face, baring his sharp teeth. The old man was just about to make his own attack and was thus stunned by these developments as a result, and he wasn\'t able to react in time. Ark had learned from his past mistakes, and instead of using his mouth, he made use of his long and sharp claws to swipe the man at his waist.

Once again, not much resistance was shown, but instead of only leaving a deep wound, Ark directly managed to cleave the skinny old man in two.

Though surprised, he knew the old man wouldn\'t just die from this injury, since he seemed to possess some weird magic which interlinked with the way he experienced pain and damage to his body. Ark just let the rage consume him, and his orderly attack instantly devolved into chaotic onslaught.

The man\'s upper body was ravaged by both claws as well as bombarded by magic until there was not even a speck of dust left of his body. Ark wasn\'t done venting his anger though, and he redirected his attention on the man\'s lower body. Not only after it was completely gone did Ark calm down a little, and he slumped down on the ground in exhaustion.

His consciousness was starting to sway a little, but he tried his hardest to stay awake. When he was on the absolute verge of collapsing entirely, Ark suddenly heard abrupt laughter next to his ear. "Kukukukukuku..." He instantly swung his head around to look, only to be left dumbfounded, there was nothing behind him.

He was sure that he had heard the old man\'s ghostly laughter just then, and he was sure that it wasn\'t some illusion.

But after seeing absolutely nothing in his vicinity, Ark felt that it was all a little surreal. The old man didn\'t even have a sliver of fear or resignation on his face as he died, and after hearing that laughter, Ark was sure that there was more to it than met the eye.

He didn\'t have the mental capacity to think about it right now though, and he decided that he would stay here and rest for at least five minutes, there was no way for him to keep moving otherwise.

5 minutes passed by in the blink of an eye, and Ark felt that his body had regained some of its strength, but only enough to run for around 30 to 60 minutes, which wasn\'t too shabby, this mostly attributed to his mana recovery though, since the two went hand in hand now that his physique was refined by mana.

His mana recovery would thus affect his physical recovery as well, which was pretty sweet in Ark\'s opinion.

He quickly worked up a sweat as he ran, but all the sweat quickly evaporated into steam, before it diffused completely into the air. If life was only this convenient in his previous world... After 45 minutes of straight running, Ark\'s stomach was killing him.

Some bloodlust still remained after "killing" the old man, and Ark made short work of a poor boar that happened to roam the area before he just ate it raw. Life in the cell had changed him a little, and raw meat was an acquired taste. Though he would probably still prefer it roasted or cooked if he was in his human form.

The blissful taste of raw meat filled his entire being, and he savoured every single second of his meal, even so, it wasn\'t nearly enough to satisfy his hunger at this point. Before long, 5 boars disappeared from this part of the forest, and one wolf was every bit happier because of it.