Chapter 24 - Hunting trip (Part 2) (1/2)
Forest. Returning to the embrace of the surrounding trees, making my way through the dense foliage that ruled this part of the forest, was a genuinely nice feeling. It was like I returned home. While it is not entirely true, as the small little hut that I spent the last 3 days was also quickly becoming 'home' for me, I have to admit, since I was born, my environment was kind of harsh until I met my 'new family'.
God, referring to this little energizer bunny and the elderly lady as family is still so satisfying to me. This little blonde, pig-tailed girl, with her ever-present cheerful glee present on her face, with this strange, elderly lady, wrapped in ragged red clothes, with her gentle care, and concern for our wellbeing.
I was alone at the moment, in the dense part of the forest. I'm not that familiar with all parts of the forest, but one thing that I am sure is that we are not close to the river and the cave that was my first place I referred to as 'home'. My goal today is to face off against the various types of wolves that inhabit this area. We are a few hours' distance from the hut as well.
Granny and for the record, Lily as well told me multiple times yesterday evening and this morning to not actively hunt and kill creatures, I should only save those that are attacked, and defend if I am ambushed by these clever predators.
They told me that these wolves hunt in packs and are highly intelligent. They can set up ambushes, and even dig holes and cover them with foliage to create traps. They have one leader that are considered their 'alpha', the strongest. The most common wolf types are the Grey Wolf with their aptly named Grey Wolf Alpha, but there are different kinds, with some small differences. I was also told to watch out for the black furred versions, they are called Black Wolves, and if possible, try to not engage any member of them. They are the strongest of the bunch and are extremely aggressive and cruel beasts.
Unique to animals, their hierarchy is based on battles, and kills, the one at the top is usually the nastiest of them all with the highest kill count. They kill not just for food, but to boost their standing in their flock as well.
Unfolding my Dark Sense to its maximum capacity and sending out the occasional empowered pulses I noticed quite a few life signs all around me. For the time being I'm not familiar with how the wolves look and feel like, so with nothing better to base the information I have off, I headed to the direction to the north, where a larger group of life signs was closer to each other. It did look and feel like that 4 smaller signals were being cornered by 5 larger ones, so my bet shouldn't be that far off.
Getting closer I could hear snarling and growling sounds coming from ahead. Sneaking closer, I hid myself behind the trunk of a larger tree and looked ahead.
Just as I expected, the 5 grey furred wolves cornered 4 deer-looking animals. The 4 frightened animals were clearly scared, grouped up close by together, as if hoping for safety in each other's embrace, or maybe to face off against their death as a family. They had green fur with occasional brown patches in it. They were at least half a size taller than these wolves, but as herbivores they weren't known for their strength or power or combat abilities. According to Granny they were peace-loving creatures.
The 5 wolves cornered them from every direction and were slowly closing the circle they created. Closing my eyes, I exhaled deeply to regain my focus. I quickly recalled the feeling from yesterday, when the anger overwhelmed me, and I partially transformed. I wanted to use this ability but with only transforming my arms and controlling the energy output. My discussion with Enya at night revealed that I should be able to transform only partially, drastically decreasing the required output, and to be able to control it. Only problem would be keeping it up for an extended period of time.
Exhaling once again, I could feel a similar tingling sensation inside me, I instinctively knew that this is what I was looking for. Infusing it with my own pool of soul energy, I could feel the tingling sensation spreading all around me. I had to force it with my pure willpower, and contain it only around my hands otherwise the transformation would overtax me again, and that could be fatal at this part of the forest, even if Granny and Lily are close by.
Sweat drops started gathering as I was trying to force this power, limiting its influence. I couldn't waste much time, if I planned on saving the deers either, and that steeled my determination. Taxing my willpower to its maximum, in a few seconds I could finally feel that the tingling sensation was now only present on my hands. Letting it continue, the black scales suddenly grew out, covering my otherwise creole skin, and my fingers transformed to long and thick black claws.