Love Began with the First Meeting

On the other hand, the starving wolves grew restless and poised for an attack. Brian observed the situation carefully. He planned in his mind-once the wolves launched the attack, he would explode the grenades he was carrying. However, since nobody, including himself, had seen so many wolves in Hell Forest all at once, he had brought only two grenades for emergency purposes. He knew that exploding two grenades might not drive away or kill all the wolves, instead it might drive them mad. "Climb the tree," Brian said calmly. In such stressful situations, his calm demeanor made him the natural leader.

"Brian..."

"Climb the tree!" the same words came from his thin lips in an ice-cold voice, not giving any space for an argument. Brian's sharp eyes were fixed on the alpha wolf, and he was ready for the battle that might break out any moment now.

Cora gritted her teeth. She knew that she couldn't be of any help to Brian. On the contrary, she would only hold him back if she stayed on the ground with him. Finally, when the alpha wolf pounced forward, she quickly climbed up the big tree beside them with both her hands and legs.

When the other wolves pounced, following their alpha, Brian threw the grenade in his hand in the direction behind him. Following a loud explosion, the wolves burst into wounded wails.

Scared by the sudden sound and fire, the wolves stopped their attack, not daring to move forward. At the same time, they assumed an attack position, ready to pounce again. Gazing at Brian with their fierce eyes, the wolves howled, one after the other. Their howls sounded increasingly sharp.

The alpha wolf raised his head and howled towards the sky. Brian knew that it was their war horn. He swiftly ran to the tree nearby. As the alpha pounced towards him, he withdrew his legs on time from the ground. The wolf couldn't get a hold of him.

Cora was frightened and her face was deathly pale. By instinct, she stretched one of her hands to pull Brian up. However, Brian didn't grasp her hand. Instead, he backhand extracted a saber which was placed on the outer side of his thigh. Followed by a quick arc-shaped movement with the saber, the wolf mourned painfully and fell down to the ground. It lay motionless on the forest floor.

Cora had watched in astonishment, with her mouth agape. It was not until that moment that she realized that Brian had never intended to climb the tree. He was only trying to confuse the wolf into thinking that he was trying to escape. The wolves moaned as they gazed at the alpha, who was lying dead in its pool of blood. They looked terrified.

All the species in the world were just the same. Once the leader fell, the whole team would collapse sooner or later, no matter how well trained they were. Fear and hopelessness would grip their hearts in the absence of their leader. Wolves were no exception. Standing beside the dead wolf, Brian looked around at the pack with his sharp eyes. The gripper on his grenade was pulled almost halfway out. If he continued pulling it, some more wolves would die in the second explosion.

Seeing the deadly look in the human's eye, some of the wolves started retreating. Just when Cora thought that the wolves were fleeing out of fear, they pounced on Brian all of a sudden.

"Ah-" Cora screamed loudly. She closed her eyes by instinct.

Bang!

There was more howling and painful moaning from the wolves.

This went on for a while. Cora finally opened her eyes slowly. She saw that some wolves were badly mutilated and were twitching continuously on the ground, while the uninjured or slightly injured wolves were stepping back in fright. Their green eyes which were filled with anger and fear, were fixed on Brian.

Cora had no idea what had happened. She found a deformed water jug beside the dying wolves. Even though it had been deformed, she had still recognized it as the water jug Brian had brought. He had been using it to carry water in the forest.

Brian glared at the rest of the wolves with his cold eyes. Gradually, the wolves began to retreat. Cora stared at the wolves too. She could say that they were frightened by the beast that was more powerful than the whole pack of wolves.

The smell of burned wolf meat diffused in the air. For the past several days, Cora had eaten only some wild fruits most of the time and some roast pheasants and hares occasionally. Now that she was no longer scared, she was attracted by the smell of the meat. Unconsciously, she swallowed her saliva in hunger.

When the wolves had disappeared from his sight, Brian turned around and raised his head to look at Cora, who was still sitting on the tree branch. "Come down. The wolves will return soon," he said.

Cora was frightened again. In a hurry, she jumped off the tree. Completely ignoring the attractive smell of the roast meat, she left the place with Brian.

Later, when they were resting in a tree, she asked him why the second grenade seemed to have created more destruction than the first one.

He explained, "The gum produced by the tree you climbed up changes properties when it touches water, resulting in some micro gas being produced. I put some of it in the water jug and detonated it with the grenade when the wolves attacked."

She was left speechless. He had been able to figure out countermeasures calmly and make use of everything within his reach even in such a desperate situation. She wondered if it was because he was too familiar with Hell Forest, or because he was calm and ruthless.

Cora didn't know the exact answer. She asked, "Do you remember the promise you had made at that time?" Brian only hummed slightly. Then he closed his eyes to catch up on some much needed sleep.

*

Cora had thought that her wish would be fulfilled in a dreamlike manner. However, it had remained a dream. When she had woken up, she had been frightened, not knowing how to react.

Cora clenched her palms into fists. Looking out the window at the bustling crowd, she squinted her pretty, enchanting eyes. A glimmer of coldness flashed in her eyes. "I won't give up so easily. That is not something I would ever do. Brian, I will prove that she isn't the one for you!" she mumbled to herself.

*

Edgar had sent a land cruiser to pick up Brian and Molly from the airport. After the couple got off the airplane with the twins, they were picked up by a soldier in plain clothes.

When they arrived at the troop camp, Edgar was not there to receive them in person since he had to attend an unscheduled meeting. But before he had left, he had told his secretary to take them to the guest house inside the camp.