Chapter 24 - Hunting trip (Part 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.

Looking at them, I suddenly had an idea, and I quickly asked a question mentally.

'Enya, how does the fusion process work? Can I make it that only my claws would be coated in the Cave Vipers venom? Can I do it now, or would it be better to experiment with it back at home first?'

[I would suggest to wait until you get back Aiden. While it is definitely possible to target specific areas with the desired mutation, it could provide unforeseen results, and it would cost you some of your energy as well, tiring you out. Not to mention the process would take time. Time you don't have if you wish to save that family of Forest Deers.]

'I see.. Thanks!' answered Aiden. Looking at the results of the transformation Aiden smiled happily. This partial transformation instead of costing him his entire pool of reserves, was only 10 energy so far, and it seemed that to maintain it, he only needed to pay 2 energy every minute instead of every 5 system seconds. What's best, he could still feel the overwhelming increase in his power.

However, he couldn't completely contain his Draconic Aura from spreading. He could only limit its area to a 5 meter radius around him, but that was still enough to ruin his chances of an ambush, as the closest wolf was immediately alerted of a new dominating and frightening presence nearby.

He howled and looked at his companions while signalling with his head behind him. They seemed to understand what it was trying to convey as they immediately left the deers and gathered up to close in on the large tree trunk that Aiden was using as cover.

Seeing that, Aiden cursed inwardly of his lack of control, and slowly walked out, to unveil his presence to his enemies. 'You can do this Aiden!' psyching himself up he got ready for what's to come next. This would be his first real battle in his life. So far, he only hunted defenseless insects or those tasty fish. He did not count that frog either nor the snake, as with the frog that was unaware of his presence until it was too late, and for the case of the viper he actually lost and was eaten.

The wolves were getting ready for the battle, using their usual tactic, they started circling around Aiden.They liked to attack from all directions, making their prey unable to defend against all of the attacks and slowly but steadily wearing it down. Their tactic worked all the time, so they will not change it up this time either, and why would they?

Snarling against their new prey, they were getting ready to pounce, however Aiden isn't gonna wait for them, and as one of them closed in on him from the right he suddenly jumped at him, swiping at its body with his claws.

He still wasn't entirely sure of the power of his attacks, so he did not control the output and using his full might and the added momentum the end result was rather gruesome. The wolf was actually torn apart, his upper and lower body separated, and its intestines poured out to the ground below. Dark red blood dripped from the end of Aiden's claws who was shocked at himself momentarily. He did not expect such a result. Sure, he was expecting that his power would kill the wolf, but not that he would slice through like nothing!

The remaining 4 seeing their 'friend' dying horribly did not wait anymore and jumped at Aiden simultaneously.

A smile creeped up on Aiden's face as he got ready for his first real combat. The day has just started and he is already facing off against a group of wolves, what could happen later?