Chief pushed forward on his own, leaving his goblins to do what they did worst: staying out of his way. They proved him correct at every turn too as he pushed a goblin out of his path and moved on to follow some rather obvious tracks. Obvious enough that Chief assumed it was a trap or a dead end. Didn’t matter either way.

I'm probably not going to outsmart Chef, but the goblin can't know just how durable I've become. Really, I need to thank him for the stats I've gained from his cooking. But first, that little shit's gonna learn the hard way that he’d have an easier time taking down a bear.

Entering the next clearing he saw a small pack of wolves eating a bear.

Well, that’s disconcerting.

Seven wolves in total, with three obvious dead on the side, but each one ignored him. The three on the ground had an excuse at least, but for the other seven to ignore him it must be one hell of a bear. One of the wolves was even missing a paw and bleeding badly as it devoured the corpse of the bear in front of him.

The goblin tracks continued right up to and presumably past the bear’s corpse. No choice then.

Chief pulled out his war hammer as he approached the carnivores. Stretching his neck, he began to activate his skills, becoming stronger and faster.

“Sorry lads,” he spoke slowly as he approached the mindless beasts before him. “You’re in my way.”

An overhead swing left the first wolf headless as brain and bone both splattered the ground. The others finally looked up and began to take better positions, but not before Chief got another swing in at a second wolf. the sickening crunch of bone echoed through the clearing as the wolf collapsed on its demolished leg, crying in pain.

Chief didn’t let up though, springing forward and finishing the thing before it could recover. You never knew if the wolf in front of you was just a regular wolf or some strange subspecies that was secretly ten times as powerful. The safest thing to do then, was always swing first and investigate later. He’d know which was the strongest when they settled in his stomach.

The other five were moving on him now, encircling him quickly before going for the kill. A wide smile crept over his face as a surge of speed took him right past the wolf approaching from the front, swinging as he went. The momentum of his attack was minimal, so it only made sense that the damage was similar, but he achieved his goal of escaping their encirclement regardless.

He let go of his hammer with one hand, using the newly freed up limb to grab the wolf’s tail as he broke the circle. Swinging with all his might, he threw it into the second nearest wolf, the one that wasn’t already injured, and approached the third. It stepped back but not fast enough. He painted the forest floor for the third time today and wheeled around to observe the final four.

They weren’t escaping which was odd, unless one of them was superior to the others. He watched more closely as they reestablished their perimeter. He couldn’t tell which was the leader even now, so he’d need to even the fight.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

“Goblins! To me!”

Minor as it was, the distraction cost him as a sloppy dodge left blood flowing down his thigh. He had limited time as his skills would wear off soon too, so he ignored the injury to pay back the wolf that scored the hit. A leg for a leg.

Chief didn’t slow down either, advancing on the next nearest wolf while his buffs lasted. He missed twice before a third strike found purchase on a forward haunch. It crumpled and Chief made a hard decision. Ignoring the uninjured and two injured wolves as they approached, he crushed the skull of the weakened foe before him.

Jaws closed on both thighs and his right calf, failed to tear, and then retreated before he could counterattack. He willed his status to the surface as he glared back at the three wolves hovering around him. All three had injured him by now and one was as healthy as it could be. He stared at the one that he had yet to hit and felt his veins turn to ice. That one was the leader, and it wasn’t done with him yet.

Moving backwards, he glanced back towards his Status. That red bar was going down all right, but he’d survive so long as he only took one more of those hits. If all three hit him it’d be over. If two hit him then he’d die eventually, even if he did eventually take them with him. He needed something to turn the fight.

“Goblins! Get over here right now!”

He backpedaled as he shouted, maul firmly in hand as the three moved slowly towards him. Fortunately for him, the only uninjured wolf was the leader, and Chief had previously demonstrated that the first to approach would suffer for it. Instead, they fanned out as they slowly got closer, taking their time with him. After a dozen seconds, he accepted that no reinforcements would come for him. It was just him and these wolves, and they would outlast him if he didn’t do something.

He pushed his back to a tree and braced for their advance. They came swiftly and without warning, jaws gaping and red teeth showing. Maul at the ready, he swung down on one as he moved to dodge the other two, but it was like they were moving in slow motion. No, he must have gotten faster. He had gotten so fast that the two remaining wolves almost looked like they weren’t moving at all.

With his newfound speed, the cleanup was easy enough. With the last wolf collapsing, he dropped his buffs and did the same. Breathing heavily, he began to quickly tear into the wolf that seemed the strongest, the one that was uninjured the longest. Lucky for him that he got his burst of power right when he needed it most. One needed a little bit of luck to get this far in the first place.

After a minute of ripping and tearing at the beast’s corpse, he finally found its heart. In his experience, the heart gave the most value for the least stomach space and he needed to eat at least enough to increase his Health and stop the bleeding. Otherwise…

He bit into the heart and wolfed it down after only three more bites. Just as before he willed the notifications away, content to figure out his gains once he was safer. But rather than fight his way into six more hearts, he focused on eating the flesh of the opened wolf before him. Watching his Health as he went, he didn’t stop until he knew he wouldn’t bleed out. Only then did he bother to dress the wound as all. He tore his nice shirt that he’d gotten from that strange human that never shut up. Shame, he really liked it. The shirt, obviously, not the human. Though that one did taste good quite good thanks to all its fat.

Eventually, Chief was able to stand up without blood pouring down his legs. He nodded at this sight. It would have to do for now. He didn’t even bother checking up on the goblins that didn’t answer his call earlier. They were either dead or distracted and searching for them would leave him one or the other, possibly both. No, wait, that doesn’t make sense. In any case, Chef’s tracks were still fresh enough and there was no time to waste.

He had a cook to catch.

…

Or, he thought, looking at all the corpses around him, drooling.

A couple bites couldn’t hurt.