Descending from the hilly plains, a large silhouette was clearly visible breaking through the grass and shrubs while occasionally jumping over the rocks sticking out of the ground.

Even though it was obscured by the darkness, I could make out that the silhouetted figure was that of an arctic wolf considering this was its habitat. I who assisted with night vision saw that it was moving so agilely and rotated its legs at high speed. As it got closer, it was visible though faintly that it had thick, white fur. It had a much bigger build than any wolf I know, about twice that and it certainly had an even more ferocious face as a pair of long fangs stuck out of its mouth. It also had sharp eyes that glowed goldenly, as if it could see and lock on to a target even in the pitch darkness around it.

I didn't expect that that wolf would be that big and scary. I, who have a much smaller body than that wolf, it's impossible to win against it.

In a panic, I decided to flee to the other side of the river. That wolf was coming from the northwest, so I quickly retreated toward the east side of the river. This river has a depth ranging from 30 cm to one meter and a width of about 15 to 20 meters. Even though the river had lots of rocks that could be used as stepping stones, I thought at least the width of the river would slow it down while I could keep slipping through the bushes and escape.

The wolf I know hates water, especially cold water that has a low temperature. Even though I know it might be a different world, which might become like an ice fox, the Arctic wolf might be an animal that likes low temperatures. And also in general the Arctic wolf is known as an animal that lives in groups. I don't know why it came alone, but it becomes a little more relief if only one wolf comes. Thus increasing my chances of escaping. I have a small body, which allows me to hide in the bushes while I keep running. Especially in this night, even though wolves have night vision which helps them see in the dark, I know it won't be as clear as during the day because I also have it. And I've also been trained or you could say I'm used to moving silently when catching prey or avoiding other predators around the lake when I was still a housekeeper.

That's what I thought, but when I looked back a bit, I was struck again by how athletic that wolf was. Even though the distance from the previous river must still be quite far than the distance between me and the east side of the river. However, when I arrived at the bank of the river and glanced over, I was surprised by the fact that that wolf had closed the distance so quickly, leaving only a few meters from the west bank of the river.

The panicked me immediately quickened my pace as much as I could while that wolf quickly reached the west side of the river. Luckily the wolf was stopped first by the fact that there was river water in front of them, so my guess was right that wolves hate water, especially cold water and it really benefited me to widen the distance again. Even so, maybe after some deliberation, that wolf still followed me by jumping over the river rocks. It jumped cautiously from one rock to another which was between 1 and 5 meters away while I was still running as fast as I could while occasionally looking back to make sure. It can't be helped because the snowfall is getting thinner to the south and only water or snow is my weapon of defense, I choose to keep running along the river.

Until finally that wolf gracefully landed on the east side of the river, it stopped again while sniffing the air as if looking for traces of my whereabouts. As expected of an animal with a sense of smell 100 times better than humans.

Although I have run in the bushes to disturb the wolf's vision, that wolf still has a keen sense of smell. Plus, wolves have night vision which doesn't stop them from moving around in the middle of the night. Hence, when that wolf detected my scent trail, it again followed me with a swift turn of its legs. In terms of agility, that wolf definitely far surpassed me. I can't help feeling scared and anxious, can I escape or not?

I've hunted prey many times before, but this is my first time being hunted prey. I became filled with fear and anxiety. Even so, I didn't give up on running away and kept trying to think if there was some way for me to save myself.

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While running in panic, I kept thinking hard about how to save myself. But after I'd been running for so long, I suddenly noticed something strange about that wolf's speed. Previously I was sure it would quickly cover the distance easily, but this time it was as if it was blind and it would occasionally stop. Even though we differed in pace, I have some conjecture as to why I'm still not being caught up. After observing it occasionally, I suspected the reason was because the wolf could only rely on its sense of smell to pinpoint my whereabouts, which lacked the precise means of pinpointing exact coordinates making it hard to guess my position. Though it also had night vision. That only helped it to move around at night, not to pinpoint the position of prey more than half a mile away.

There's also the possibility that my scent became very faint after I bathed in the river just a moment ago. I'm sure the reason why the wolf came to me must be because of the smell of blood from the prey I ate earlier. I'm pretty sure that before I took a bath I was covered in the smell of blood, but not anymore because I've bathed in a river.

Even so, all that does not help me out of trouble. The reason was, even though the wolf had become slower, its movements were still faster than mine. Even if it's slow, surely that wolf will be able to find me if we get a little closer. After all, I can't ignore the movement and sound of the rustling bushes that I walk through.

As I thought I just bathed in the river, I was struck with the idea of diving into the water. If on land there was no way to escape, why not take the waterway? After all, I'm already good at swimming and I can't possibly feel cold, my swimming technique has evolved from a land dog to a seal, so I can dive. Even though the average depth of the river was less than one meter, it was enough to cover my body. It's been proven before that there's a high chance that wolves are afraid of cold water, so I who's fine with cold water can take advantage of this.

*Splash*

Accepting that as a new idea, I quickly dived into the water, looking for an area deep enough to dive in, taking a slight peek to see if that wolf could catch up to me.

And just as I expected, I saw that wolf that was already quite close become flustered in sniffing the air. Though it still tried to sniff out my lingering scent in the air and found my final position before diving. It even ventured into the middle of the river through the protruding rocks and stood still while sniffing my scent.

Worried that that wolf might also boldly dive, I deepened my position and kept my distance from the rocks that the wolf stepped on while taking a peek at how it would act. The river water is pretty clear and I have night vision which allows me to scout out of the river while that wolf would have a hard time finding me as less light comes to it from the water. I've also been trained to hold my breath for a few minutes after my swimming practice in the lake, so I don't have to worry about running out of breath.

And while observing that wolf from under the water, it was then that I suddenly thought that I had found a glimmer of reversal light.

I've been thinking about creatures called crocodiles, which are always aiming for the feet of deer or other prey from underwater. Therefore, I saw an opportunity to strike back. Coincidentally or not, one of that wolf's hind legs was close enough to the water, so I was able to aim for it. Unlike crocodiles which have tremendous biting power, I only have a weak bite. Even so, I've thought of a way to immobilize that wolf's hind legs, of course, it's with freezing magic.

So after coming up with a well-thought-out plan, I slowly approached that wolf's back from the water and started aiming at that wolf's hind leg that was closest to the water. I couldn't build high momentum if I was in the water, so I was left with no choice but to wait to get closer to that wolf before lunging for its hind legs.

And once within range...

*Splash* and *Bite*

...I bit it as hard as I could while using magic to absorb the heat and freeze the blood flow of that wolf's hind legs, especially where I bit.

The surprised wolf jumped in surprise and tried to catch me by turning its head. But I dodged that by releasing the bite immediately and getting back into the water while that wolf got a gash on its hind leg.

Even though it only lasted for about three seconds, I'd already given that wolf a pretty deep gash in the leg and sucked a lot of hot energy out of its leg. The proof was that that wolf's legs were a little stiff and might hurt if you hear how sad the moaning sound it makes. that wolf also could no longer maintain its upright position.

Smiling evilly, I can't waste this opportunity. I immediately counterattacked again and this time I aimed for the other hind leg. Since the position of that wolf's back had dropped a bit, I boldly tried to aim at its thigh as I thought I would be able to rip the flesh off that wolf's thigh and deal more damage.

*ROARRR*

And when I sank my sharp teeth, especially the canines into the flesh of that wolf's thigh, it roared loudly and struggled to jump back to the ground. But unlucky, with the deteriorating condition of its hind legs, that wolf was no longer able to jump nimbly and finally plunged into the water instead.

Animals that cannot swim in water will become weaker and their death flags will approach. So with my first beast fight, I can declare victory.