The grey wolf's teeth nearly penetrated straight through the defenseless neck of the pigeon, ripping through about two thirds of the pigeon's neck.
The way Gaston saw it, this didn't even seem to be it's limit.
If the wolf had been calm enough to bite down at a better angle, he was sure that it could have even separated the pigeon's head from its body in a single bite.
In a life and death battle, a single moment was enough to change everything.
By the time the pigeon came back to its senses, it was already too late.
Its injuries were fatal, but the pigeon did not give up.
Despite the fact that its head was barely attached to its body, It still scrambled to get the wolf away, leaving more deep gashes with its claws all across the wolf's body.
"CAAW! CAAW!~"
The 10 foot long pigeon's violent screams of desperation rang out through the forest.
It's dying thrashes inflicted several more wounds onto the grey wolf, but it was all in vain.
The wolf had finally found its opportunity after being tortured by the pigeon for so long and it wasn't going to let go of it so easily.
All of that pent up aggression from being cut time and time again without being able to retaliate was being let out now.
Unfortunately for the pigeon, its arrogance had caused it to turn from the hunter to the hunted in just one exchange.
One wrong move, and it had lost everything.
The pigeon was losing strength with each passing second, its dying struggles growing weaker and weaker, looking to end in just a few more breaths.
With the pigeon looking to succumb to the wolf in a matter of seconds, Gaston finally decided that the time had come, whilst the wolf was still too busy biting into its throat, this was his chance!
Ambushing the wolf in its current state was indeed a good opportunity, but not one he would have gone for under normal circumstances.
Just like the pigeon had perhaps been, he was also worried about other predators getting attracted by the bloodshed if he took too long.
After all, he didn't know how long these two had been fighting for, so other predators could be arriving sooner rather than later.
It was a tough decision to make, but not a difficult one.
Gaston had already decided that something had to be done, and if it was going to be done, it had to be done now.
The danger of other predators arriving was too great for him to bear, he couldn't afford to wait it out and let the injuries claim the wolf's life.
If he wanted to eliminate what he saw as a threat, if he wanted all that meat, he had to strike now.
While this was a dangerous decision, the truth was that in this case, Gaston didn't have too many options to choose from.
If there were other predators near by, they would arrive anyway and they would arrive a hell of a lot faster than he could get away.
The simple fact that blood had been spilt near his general vicinity in the battle between the wolf and the pigeon had already put him in a very difficult position, where he had to make a move.
Not one to hesitate once he made his mind up, he began to stealthily approach the wolf.
While moving forward, Gaston kept looking down at the ground in order to make sure he didn't step on any of the small branches that were littered all over the place as part of the aftermath of the struggle between the two creatures.
He had quite a bit of experience in this, and as a result, he managed to get close without the grey wolf noticing.
By the time Gaston was 2 meters away from them, the pigeon's resistance had all but disappeared and the wolf could let go of its neck at any moment.
This was a very irritating 2 meters, because the wolf was just barely out of his reach, yet he couldn't get any closer without making noise and alerting the beast.
However, the thought of turning back did not linger in his mind for even a second.
He was determined to see this through.
Not just for his own safety anymore, but also to prove to himself that he hadn't lost who he was after spending only a year away from the battlefield.
Eyes locked on to the wolf as it kept its head buried in the pigeon's throat, that feeling of being a predator on the prowl had returned to him.
'If it lets go of the pigeon's neck, the best opportunity to kill it in one go will disappear.'
Since Gaston couldn't get any closer without alerting the wolf, he decided on an action that was risky, but if done right would allow him to forcefully close the gap before the wolf could react.
The way Gaston saw it right now however, there was no risk to speak of.
Risk was when uncontrollable factors could potentially influence the final outcome of something, not when he was required to do something challenging.
There was no risk involved with that.
At this pivotal moment, Gaston was unnervingly calm, as only the slightest hint of predatory excitement could be found on his face.
Tightening his grip on the knife, Gaston made his move and jumped onto the back of the wolf!
Crossing a 2 meter distance with a jump from a standing position was no easy feat for a guy with one functioning arm, but it was his best bet.
As he flung himself onto the wolf's back, he first tried to wrap his legs around it whilst he tried to use his injured arm to hold onto it.
While he did make the jump onto the wolf's lower back, he couldn't hold on to it with his injured right arm.
The wolf also proved to be too big for him to hold on to using only his legs.