Oliver knew he didn’t have much time to waste here.

Even though apes themselves possessed relatively dull senses of smell, wolves were the complete opposite. Even an ordinary wolf back on Earth had olfactory abilities atleast hundred times that of a human.

And this thing, this monstrous fusion was the farthest thing from ordinary.

He wasn’t sure whether the beast had inherited an ape’s weaker senses or a wolf’s terrifying nose, but he wasn’t willing to gamble on it. If another creature from its pack caught the scent of blood, he would be dead long before he could even react.

And even if no similar beast came, this forest seemed to house countless things even more dangerous than it.

Clicking his tongue, Oliver quickly moved toward a nearby tree and grabbed one of its thicker branches. Veins bulged across his arms as he pulled with all his strength and barely managed to do what he wished.

CRACK.

Without wasting time, he returned to the corpse and swung the sharpened end downward, trying to rip open the beast’s hide.

CRK.

As soon as he had applied some force, the branch cracked and all of Oliver’s dreams were instantaneously broken.

"What the hell?"

He stared at the broken wood in his hand in disbelief.

The branch was quite thick, but it hadn’t even scratched the skin and when was he remembered the owl-like creature from earlier; and how effortlessly its claws had sliced through the beast’s flesh, a shiver ran down his spine.

’Just what kind of monsters live in this place?’

Frowning, Oliver’s gaze slowly shifted toward the beast’s wolf-like face and then, an idea appeared in his mind.

"Can I...?"

If he couldn’t cut the hide himself, then why not use the beast’s own fangs against it?

Not only would the fangs it had help him tear through the carcass, they could also serve as a weapon later on.

The more he thought about it, the more reasonable the idea became.

And so, after taking a steadying breath, Oliver crouched beside the corpse and looked straight into its red eyes. Even dead, the beast looked quite scary thanks to the size difference between them.

"Hey man... sorry, but I gotta do this," Oliver muttered awkwardly while staring at the beast’s face.

Then after a brief pause, he added seriously,

"So if you turn into a ghost or something... be a nice one, alright? Don’t come haunting me later."

The dead beast, unsurprisingly, offered no response.

"I’ll take that as a yes."

Oliver then proceeded to force open the beast’s enormous jaws.

The moment the mouth was opened, thick saliva suddenly spilled outward alongside a wave of horrendous breath.

"Yuck—!"

Oliver immediately turned his face away in disgust as the smell was so foul, it almost felt physical.

Clearly, dental hygiene hadn’t been a part of this beast’s lifestyle.

Yet strangely enough, despite the disgusting breath and bloodstained mouth, the massive fangs themselves remained spotless. They were completely shiny and white.

As it was common knowledge that beasts from spirit realm rarely carried pathogens harmful to humans, Oliver didn’t hesitate much before grabbing the fang directly.

Then he pulled with full force and... nothing happened.

"Of course."

The fangs were enormous, more than half the length as the distance between his fingertips and elbow and deeply embedded within the beast’s gums.

Moreover, the creature’s saliva was absurdly thick and sticky, coating the entire tooth in a slimy layer that made it difficult to even maintain a proper grip.

Oliver gritted his teeth and tried to pull harder but the fang didn’t budge even slightly. Instead, all his efforts accomplished was covering both his hands in warm saliva and a look of pure disgust appeared on his face. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"That is absolutely disgusting."

He tried more, and at some point, Oliver even grabbed another thick branch and jammed it deeper between the beast’s jaws to gain more leverage. This time, while twisting and pulling from inside the mouth, he actually managed to tear parts of the inner gums.

But even then, the fang barely moved.

No matter how hard he pulled, twisted, or pried, the thing remained fixed in place.

Eventually, Oliver stopped moving altogether as his arms hurt, his hands were covered in saliva and blood, and his patience was rapidly disappearing.

"Seriously?"

For the first time since starting, genuine hopelessness began creeping into his expression but, then suddenly, his eyes paused as he remembered something.

"Wait."

A thought surfaced in his mind.

’Firecraft.’

If he could somehow use fire, maybe he could burn through the gums around the fang or weaken the flesh holding it in place.

The problem was that he had absolutely no clue how to actually use it.

Oliver stared at his hand for several seconds and then he concentrated hard, but, nothing happened.

"Come on."

He tried imagining flames but there was no result.

After that, things became progressively stupider.

"Fire."

Nothing.

"Burn."

Nothing.

"Flame ON."

Still nothing.

Silence filled the forest, as Oliver slowly lowered his hand.

"I look like an idiot."

Suddenly, Oliver froze as another idea came in his head.

"Wait."

His eyes widened slightly as he began theorizing.

"Is it because I haven’t absorbed any essence shards yet?"

The more he thought about it, the more reasonable the theory sounded in his head.

Since his attribute was still weak, maybe it simply couldn’t create fire out of thin air yet. Perhaps it could only manipulate existing flames.

The thought instantly reignited his motivation.

"Alright... then I just need actual fire first."

Creating it, however, turned out to be far more annoying than he expected.

It took him an embarrassingly long amount of time involving dry grass, broken twigs, excessive swearing, and several failed attempts before he finally managed to produce a tiny flame.

The moment the fire appeared, Oliver felt emotional.

"Yessssss! Finally!"

Not wanting to waste any more time, he quickly gathered more dry grass and tied it around the tip of another branch before carefully bringing it near the small flame.

Slowly, the fire spread at the top of the branch and hence a crude torch was made.

And just as he had expected, the moment the flame grew large enough, Oliver suddenly felt something strange.

It was an instinctive connection. Yes, it was faint, but it was there. The fire almost felt...alive to him.

Curious, he slowly moved his hand near the flame and then experimentally focused towards it. As a result, the fire flickered, then become stronger and more alive; and maybe even a little bit excited.

Oliver’s eyes widened as he stared at it.

"No way."

Excitement surged through him as he tried again.

This time the flames bent more clearly, swaying toward the direction of his hand as though responding to his thoughts.

He could actually control or at least guide it. The fire itself also seemed to enjoy his control, as it began dancing to his commands.

Then, driven by instinct and confidence, Oliver touched the fire itself.

"Aaah—!"

He immediately jerked his hand back.

"Ouch?"

Oliver stared blankly at his slightly reddened fingers. He had assumed the attribute meant fire wouldn’t harm him at all, but apparently, it didn’t work like that.

The pain and burning sensation were definitely far weaker than normal fire should’ve caused, but it still hurt.

"That description was a scam."

Still, it didn’t matter, because now he knew what to do.

He decided he would extinguish the other fire, the one that he had used to light the fire once he was done with the beast.

Oliver brought the torch near the wolf’s mouth before extending his hand toward the flames. Without directly touching them, he slowly guided the fire toward the gums surrounding one of the massive fangs.

The flames obeyed at once and began dancing to his tunes.

Like flowing liquid, they wrapped around the beast’s gums and concentrated around the roots of the tooth.

And it worked, the flesh slowly began to blacken and burn away.

Even more importantly, the fire he controlled felt different from ordinary flames. It was sharper, hotter and maybe even a bit more mad. He could tell this from the intense heat radiating from it and the speed at which the hardened flesh was being reduced to charred remains.

Soon enough, much of the gums around the fang had burned away, exposing more of the tooth’s upper root.

Yet surprisingly, the fang itself remained almost completely unaffected by the flames.

"Damn... these things are tough."

Since both the tooth and surrounding flesh were still scorching hot, Oliver avoided grabbing it directly.

Instead, he kicked it.

THUD.

Nothing happened and so he it kicked harder.

CRACK.

The fang shifted slightly and a grin instantly spread across his face.

Again, he stepped back and slammed his foot into it with all his strength.

SKRRRK.

The massive fang finally tore loose from the jaw.

"Yes!"

Not stopping there, Oliver repeated the process for the remaining four large fangs. By the time he finished, nearly ten exhausting minutes had passed.

Breathing heavily, he looked down at the four massive teeth lying beside him.

Now, it was finally time to cut open the beast properly and hopefully, find its soul core.