"Remember, don't make any noise," I warned Rin, who was coming right behind me.

As for Kurama, he is always silent, so I wasn't worried.

Since wolves have keen senses, especially the giant black wolf, I knew that approaching them was considerably dangerous. So I took all possible precautions to avoid being discovered.

Not only did I make the most of the vegetation as camouflage, but we also went in the opposite direction of the wind. Even so, my heartbeat quickened as we got closer to the lair and my senses were on high alert.

When we got about ten to fifteen meters from the entrance of the cave, we finally stopped. Since we were on the side of the entrance, I couldn't get a clear look inside, but I could still see some of them playing and interacting with each other.

To make sure that none of them were wandering around in the vicinity, I briefly checked, but nothing in sight.

Time to put the plan into action.

Turning around, I looked at Rin. She was holding five rabbits, two in one hand and three in the other. The reason we are bringing them with us is because they are part of my plan. More specifically, they will be a distraction to divide the attention of the wolves.

My plan is quite simple, throw the rabbits in front of the cave, wait for them to run scared and thus attract the attention of the wolves. Although wolves are cautious and relatively intelligent, in the end, they are still wild animals.

I may not be an expert on the subject, but with my understanding, no wild animal can resist when food shows up on their doorstep like this.

However, for the plan to work out, everything depends on one important factor, Usagi. She is the white rabbit that I trained. It’s not a really original name, but I like it.

Lifting up Usagi who is in my hands, I look directly into her red eyes.

"Come on, girl, I know you can do it."

Even though she didn't understand, I whispered words of encouragement to her.

Just as Rin will throw the five rabbits directly into the cave entrance, so I will throw Usagi.

The reason I throw only Usagi and leave everything else to Rin is simple, while it makes no difference whether the other rabbits die or live, Usagi's survival is essential.

"Ready?"

Looking at Rin to see if she was ready, I received a nod of affirmation from her.

"Now!" I muttered softly.

Using both hands, I carefully hurled Usagi toward the cave entrance.

At the same time, Rin, who was holding the rabbits by the ears, also threw them.

Since I had already practiced how to throw her, Usagi landed beautifully and at the same moment began her escape. Unfortunately for the other rabbits, they were not so lucky and fell awkwardly.

Despite this, they also wasted no time and began their desperate escape.

With only a few seconds delay, the wolves, including the giant, came running out of the cave in pursuit of the rabbits.

Following my expectations, the wolves split into groups to chase the six rabbits.

As ever, divide and conquer is always the best option.

If everyone fled here bringing the wolves with them, that would be bad for us. Luckily, the rabbits desperately ran off in different directions. Since we were the ones who caught and threw them, I was sure that would happen.

Well, that is, except for Usagi. All the training we did was in preparation for this moment.

Looking in her direction, three wolves were chasing her as she hopped desperately through the forest, coming towards us.

Seeing their number, I smiled.

One for each, as perfect as it gets.

Catching the wolves with a surprise attack will be much more difficult than the goblins, so I knew I had to act fast.

Hiding behind a tree, I tightened the handle of the One-Cut Sword.

Although it is a short distance that Usagi can cover in a few seconds, due to the adrenaline taking over my body, it seemed like an eternity.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Sensing my mood, Rin and Kurama also watched the scene in silence, waiting for the right moment to act, and that moment finally came.

With the wolves on her tail, Usagi dashed past the tree we were standing in, and unaware of our presence, the wolves followed behind.

By the time they realized us, it was too late.

With a downward stroke of the One-Cut Sword, the head of one rolled off. Because of their running speed, although the other had noticed our presence, he had no time to stop or dodge.

Since he was so close, I didn't need much effort and just cut from above, easily severing his neck.

As for the last one, by the time I realized it, Kurama was tearing his throat out.

Our ambush was so fast that the wolves didn't even have a chance to make a sound.

Looking in the direction of the remaining wolves, I sighed with relief to see that none of them noticed our actions.

Loosening the grip on my sword, I sheathed it and picked up Usagi who was nervously at my feet trying to climb.

"Come here girl," I stroked her soft fur, "You did a great job. When we get back, I'll give you lots of food."

As I was praising Usagi, Rin began to tug at the hem of my shirt. The next thing I knew, she was pointing at the wolves still chasing the rabbits through the forest.

From what I could sense, besides jealousy, she was also dissatisfied that she hadn't done anything and wanted to prove her worth. I appreciate her motivation and the fact that she didn't go out chasing wolves without my permission, but now wasn’t the time for that.

"We need to retreat," I said. "It's only a matter of time before they smell the blood of their fallen compatriots."

Putting the wolf corpses in the inventory, we started our way back to the camp.

There was also another reason we didn't try to hunt more wolves now. Although the plan worked, we didn't bring all the rabbits, only six of them, including Usagi. So we needed to retreat to give the wolves time to get back to the cave and also bring more rabbits.

***

Next to the crackling fire, I felt the heat of the flames on my skin as I roasted the meat and smelled its delicious aroma. The fatty lard of the wild boar is truly a culinary delicacy.

With my sword in one hand and a wooden fork in the other, I cut off a piece and tasted it. Despite the lack of salt, the meat is tasty.

I feel more confident and competent each time I do it. Although I only started roasting meat so often after I came into this world, I feel like doing it comes naturally.

Is it because of the passive skill, Cooking?

After putting more meat to roast, I started serving the food. Picking up the plates, the first to be served was the one with the hungriest look on the face, Rin. This glutton is always drooling beside me every time I am cooking.

Serving a generous portion for her, I served Kurama's plate and then it was Usagi's turn.

"Here's your lunch, this is your reward for your efforts."

I put the plate with pieces of white bread, her favorite food, and also several fruits that we found in the forest. For some reason, although Usagi eats the mini mangoes, Rin doesn't eat them even though she is omnivorous.

From my understanding, if goblins can eat even leaves and tree bark, she shouldn't refuse a simple fruit. At first, I thought the fruit might have some kind of toxin in it, but since rabbits eat it with no problem, then there should be no problem with the fruit.

I think Rin must have become a picky eater after the time she spent with me.

Serving my own plate, I also started to eat.

At the moment, exactly one day has passed since we started our wolf hunt.

Besides the execution of the plan yesterday morning, we went back to the wolf cave twice more, yesterday afternoon and this morning.

Yesterday afternoon, we repeated the same plan and got five more wolves. Since one of them ended up not being finished off with a single blow when Rin hit him, he made a noise, which alerted the others. Fortunately, before they could get close, we retreated after I stored the wolves' corpses.

As for this morning, I was a little worried that they might be more alert due to the previous day, and so I worried that the plan might fail. However, my concern was in vain, we caught three more of them. Even if they are cautious creatures, wolves are still irrational beings.

"That gives us a total of eleven wolves..."

If all goes well, this afternoon could be the moment when we eliminate them all.

"Unfortunately, we haven't nailed the most troublesome of them yet," I muttered.

So far we have had the bad luck that the giant black wolf did not chase Usagi and fall to our surprise attack, but soon his turn will come.

***

After we finished lunch and had a good rest, we went to the wolf cave and put the plan into action again.

Including Usagi, six rabbits were thrown again and they soon scattered, each running in a direction as they attracted the wolves.

This time Usagi came with four wolves on her tail.

The instant she passed the tree we were in, I quickly eliminated the first two, while Rin hit the third and Kurama took care of the fourth.

"It seems that practice leads to perfection," I muttered after storing the fallen wolves.

With this, we now have a total of fifteen wolves eliminated.

Still with my sword in hand, I looked at the remaining wolves who were running in separate groups in the forest.

Although I'm not sure, there are still probably about ten of them, including the giant wolf. Although this might be a bit risky, this number is within what we could handle. Of course, this is considering that we don't fight them all at once.

Turning my attention to Usagi who was scuffing my boots in an attempt to climb up my legs, I crouched down and stroked her ears.

"Now would be a good time for you to stay away," I said. "Unfortunately, you can't understand me."

Although Usagi had already fulfilled her role and is no longer useful to me, I don't want to let her die here.

"Well, come here."

Picking her up, I placed her on my chest, between my breastplate and shirt.

Turning my gaze to the wolves who, after an energetic run, now had the rabbits among their fangs, I stood.

"They are already considerably separated," turning to Rin and Kurama, I continued, "It's time to put the second phase of the plan into action."