The direwolf looks back at Han Xi, trembling slightly from exhaustion. Han Xi notices this, and begins to devise a pn. ‘The direwolf looks like it's starting to become tired. This may be my opportunity to try to overwhelm it.’

  She uses [Pounce] and [Sprint] at the same time, lunging towards the direwolf. Instead of dodging, the direwolf faces the attack head on, swatting its paw rapidly at Han Xi, hitting her in the head. This sends Han Xi flying towards the wall, leaving a trail in the snow as her body is flung away.

  [-35 HP]

  She shakily stands back up and grunts irritatedly, her brows furrowing. ‘Ouch! That hurt! Ok, you’ve successfully made me even more mad! But come to think of it, it's been using ice attacks this whole time, so why change up now? It's out of mana, isn't it?! If it is, beating it should be a lot easier now!’ She smirks confidently, and pounces towards the direwolf once again, alternating her direction each time she reaches the ground, trying to confuse it.

  The direwolf is unphased, charging at her head on, preparing to attack her with all its might. Han Xi nds directly in front of the direwolf and sticks her tongue out at it, taunting it. Angered, the direwolf rapidly brings its head forward as it attempts to bite her head off. At the st second, Han Xi uses [Pounce] to move out of the way and nds on the left side of the direwolf. She jumps into the air, and sms her tail using [Tail Whip] down onto the direwolf, causing its head to smash into the ground.

  [Skill [Enhanced Reflexes] has leveled up to level 4!]

  Han Xi quickly backs up, putting a little distance between herself and the direwolf, panting heavily. ‘My stamina is pretty much used up. I am doing damage to it, but my stamina will run dry before I do enough to kill it. What do I do…?’

  Elder Fu, realizing he can be useful, notices the exhausted fox and comes up with an idea. “Little fox, come here quickly! I have a pn! Though, you may not like it.” Elder Fu yells out to her urgently.

  ‘What is that useless elder going on about? Well, if he has a pn, he’s doing better than me, so I might as well hear him out.’ Han Xi approaches Elder Fu weakly, wobbling over from exhaustion.

  “I have a pn to beat it, but it's crude. I can infuse my body with Qi to throw you as hard as I can, giving you enough momentum to do more damage to it.” Elder Fu suggests without hesitation, understanding how little time they have to implement this. “You’ve stunned it, but it will recover any moment. With my and your strength combined, we can do this.”

  Han Xi gres at him, irritated. ‘You want to THROW me?! Are you insane?!’ Right as she thinks this, the direwolf stands back up, stumbling and looks towards both of them.

  Elder Fu sighs, “We have no more time, we have to do this now! Are you ready?” he says with urgency in his voice. The direwolf starts running towards them.

  Elder Fu picks up Han Xi and imbues his body with his Qi, enhancing his strength. He aims, and then unches her as hard as he can, sending her flying towards the direwolf rapidly.

  ‘I swear, I will make your life miserable if this doesn't work!’ Han Xi repositions and rotates her body midair and uses one final [Tail Whip] on the direwolf, smming her tail into its head, the additional force from Elder Fu providing a powerful boost to the power of her attack. As her tail makes contact, a loud spping and cracking sound can be heard echoing through the surrounding forest. The direwolf sms into the ground, now knocked completely unconscious, her vicious attack bringing it close to death. Blood gushes from its head, dyeing the surrounding snow crimson. Elder Fu wobbles towards the two and plunges his spear into the beast, delivering the final blow and ending its life.

  [Host has acquired the title, [Projectile Weapon]]Description: When thrown as a projectile, increase blunt force damage by 2x.]

  Han Xi curses the system out one st time, before passing out from exhaustion, her body falling over into the snow. ‘Fuck… you… System.’

  Elder Fu smiles, looking down at the sleeping fox cub. ‘This direwolf has pgued our vilge for many years, and we have only managed to fend it off thus far. This little fox helped us purge its presence from this vilge forever. We owe it a great debt of gratitude.’

  Noticing the battle is over, Xu Hao runs towards the battlefield after hiding behind the trees, deeply worried about Han Xi after secretly witnessing the fight. “Miss Han Xi! Elder Fu! Are you both alright?!” he yells out, arriving in front of the two.

  Elder Fu looks back at Xu Hao and smiles. “Yes, we should be fine.” Shifting his focus to Han Xi, his smile turns into a slight frown. “Though, this little fox is badly hurt. It will take a long time for it to recover. It would be best if we return to the vilge, the sun will be setting in 2 hours.”

  Xu Hao nods in agreement and proceeds to put the direwolf’s body into his storage pouch, and the two make their way back to camp. Once they reach camp, they decide to take a brief rest so Elder Fu can recover some of his stamina as he is still injured from that fight, his injuries sapping his strength.

  While resting, Han Xi finally wakes up while ying on Xu Hao’s p. ‘Where… am I? What happened after my fight?’ she thinks to herself, waking up groggily. By this point, most of her injuries have healed thanks to her [Minor Regeneration] passive skill. This recovery went mostly unnoticed until now, as her fur is still bloody, giving the appearance she is still quite injured.

  Noticing Han Xi shifting on his p, Xu Hao looks down at her to check on her. “Miss Han Xi, you’re awake already? With injuries like yours, we thought you’d sleep until morning.

  Han Xi’s eyes jolt open, realizing that she may have missed her quest's deadline. ‘Shit! Do I still have time?’

  [Quest: Shock all the humans in the vilge with your might!Difficulty: MediumGoal: Kill 7 frost boars before sundown with a witness present.Bonus Goal: Shock them so greatly, at least 3 pass out. Current Progress: 7/7Time Remaining: 1hrRewards: 5x Meat, 50 Stat Points, 20 Skill Points, 1 Health Pill, 1 Lucky PillBonus Rewards: Rewards depend on how shocked they are.][Rewards will be distributed once the goal is presented to the vilge.]

  She calms down a bit, realizing there is still some time before her quest expires. ‘I need to finish this quest right away so I can get my rewards~.’ She stands up and jumps onto Xu Hao’s head and points towards the vilge with her paw.

  Shocked by how nimbly she jumps onto his head, Xu Hao picks her back up in his hands and inspects her body carefully. “Miss Han Xi, how are you moving so easily with wounds like… where did your wounds go???” Xu Hao’s eyes jolt open, realizing she has almost completely healed. “How is this possible?!”

  Elder Fu, who was meditating up to this point, breaks his meditation and looks over at Xu Hao. “What are you going on about?”

  “It's Miss Han Xi, her injuries are almost completely healed!” He excims in shock and joy, holding her close.

  Meanwhile, Han Xi becomes slightly flustered at this sudden attention. She squirms her way out of his hands and jumps back onto his head, feeling annoyed. ‘You know, it's quite rude to handle a dy like that! But, since it was out of concern for my safety… I suppose I’ll let it slide.’ She decides to point towards the vilge again, nudging them to get moving.

  Elder Fu visually inspects her, squinting his eyes, skeptically attempting to assess her health. “Are you sure? It's quite difficult to tell from looks alone. Though, with how she moved into your head, maybe it's true.”

  Irritated no one seems to be listening to her, she sps her paw gently on Xu Hao’s head and points towards the vilge again, attempting to drive her point home.

  “Fine, fine, we can head back to the vilge now, Miss Han Xi.” Xu Hao says, feeling defeated as her healing seemingly defies common sense.

  The two stand-up and Xu Hao kicks some snow onto his campfire, extinguishing it. After, they make their way back to the vilge, the sun already setting by the time they get back. They approach the vilge gate slowly, allowing Elder Fu to pace himself due to his injuries. The guard notices them approaching in the distance and waves. Only after they approach closer, does the guard realize Elder Fu appears to be significantly injured.

  The guard runs towards Elder Fu, his face full of worry. “Elder Fu, are you alright?! You look like you were in a fierce battle!”

  Elder Fu looks back at the guard and smiles confidently. “My wounds will recover, but we have excellent news that concerns the whole vilge. You have my permission to leave your post and join us for it. Please, gather everyone to the center of the vilge, I have an announcement to make. We will join you after tending to our wounds.”

  The guard cups his hands at Elder Fu respectfully and then rushes off to gather everyone in the vilge at the vilge's center as instructed. Before meeting everyone, Elder Fu and Xu Hao decided to stop at their respective residences first to take care of themselves after their trip. As Xu Hao approaches his residence, the smell of cooking meat encroaches on both Xu Hao and Han Xi’s noses, enticing them to enter quickly. As they enter the house, they see Lei Yue in the kitchen, cooking them dinner.

  She looks back at them and smiles. “Welcome home, you two. Thank you for not keeping me waiting. How was your hunt?”

  Xu Hao looks back at her with a massive smile on his face. “It went amazing! You will never believe what happened. Elder Fu is making an announcement at the center of the vilge, so we can expin then. For now, let me go quickly clean off Miss Han Xi, as she, once again, is covered in blood.”

  The two make their way upstairs and Xu Hao draws warm water to clean Han Xi in. After giving her a bath, both of them return downstairs and sit at the table to enjoy Lei Yue’s cooking. Xu Hao alternating between feeding himself and Han Xi, just as he did before, the two rushing to eat their food.

  Irritated the two are eating so fast, Lei Yue gres at them. “You two better slow down, or you’ll get a stomach ache. At least taste the food I cooked for you.”

  “We do not have the time to enjoy our meal, Elder Fu should be arriving at the center of the vilge by now, and we best not keep him waiting.” Xu Hao responds promptly, continuing to shovel meat into both his and Han Xi’s mouth.

  Lei Yue rolls her eyes and decides to hasten eating her meal, as she has never seen Xu Hao like this and is now interested in hearing about what happened. She takes away their ptes and washes them off. Once they are all ready, the three of them leave the house to go meet with Elder Fu and the vilge residents.

  Han Xi smiles smugly, excited to see everyone's reactions at her accomplishments. ‘After today, no one will look down on me here!’

  AnDwHaT5