Rival

Jason already knew about the house spirits with Lucian and Althea, he understood the guild master wasn't worried about him or the two youths because their back up had already been with them since they left.

Jason began to make his way out of the cave towards the entrance at his highest speed.

In that same moment another loud howl came from the depths of the came vibrating the walls and the ground freezing Jason in place.

This time the echo of the howl was cut short by a monstrous screeching from outside the cave.

Jason's face began to lose color as he activated all of his concealment abilities and fighting through the pain ringing through his bones as he began sprinting towards the exit again.

At the same time the shadow that had been following Lucian jumped from behind a tree revealing itself catching Lucian entirely off guard causing him to lose his balance and almost fall.

Father shadowy wolf fighure looked at Lucian and in the direction of Jason as it howled.

"You were the one following me.." lucian said out loud as he tried to analyze the shadowy wolf in front of him.

'Not once did I feel any hostility coming from this thing, but it's a wolf and it wants me to go in the direction of the howl.. now that I think about it since that screech I don't feel like I'm being observed.' He analyzed internally as he mused on following the wolf or trying to reach Althea.

"Lux is there a way to contact Althea and your sister?" Lucian asked speaking into the ring.

'Yes, I am able to relay a message to the two at this distance, would you like me to notify them of something?' Lux's voice sounded in his mind.

"Yes, tell them to meet me where the howl and screech came from, I think that group leader may have found something." Lucian said in a grave tone as he began to follow behind the shadowy wolf creature.

'It seems your friend Lucian is heading towards the beast jaws, I advise you tag along with him, there is a chance your group leader may have went in that direction' Tena's voice sounded in Althea's mind.

Hearing this so abruptly made Althea's stomach sick. 'How can he be this stupid shouldn't we first meet at the camp then go check if Jason is there.' Althea asked internally as she couldn't believe Lucian's impulsivity.

'That would be the safest course of action but based off the pitch of the sound and its light effects on the land if you two went back towards the camp there is no way you two would reach the cave before whatever beast that are currently there finished their business.' The voice of Tena sounded making some sense to Althea as she reluctantly changed her direction slightly heading towards the howl and screeching sound.

At the same time Jason had reached the entrance of the cave. At the entrance he was greeted by a falcoln that looked like a cloaked shadow of death with large black wings flapping its wings powerfully in the sky.

The downforce from its winds was strong enough to make all the nearby trees snap and lay flush to the ground.

The wind also was blasting into the entrance of the cave powerfully greatly slowing Jason's retreat from the cave.

He decided to preserve energy and not fight against the gust of wind. Instead he waited for the wind to slow and he would move before a gust from another flap of the beast wings came again.

By this time he could also feel the steps of the beast inside the cave as the ground began to tremble slightly as if a stampede were nearby.

Feeling the intensifying pressure of the two beast Jason decided the only way he could survive was if he no longer held himself back.

A dart shadowy armour covered every inch of his body only revealing the shine in his eyes like that of an assassin.

He sent a large blast outside of the cave knowing that the bird beast would have a hard time determining who shot it out of the cave if it cared about that at all.

After shooting the beam out of the cave he found a crevice in the cave walls where he got down and hid waiting for the howling beast to exit.

He didn't have to wait long the beast speed was remarkable despite its extremely large physique in the tight cave its movements were unhindered and agile.

The beast stopped around the area Jason was near the exit and sniffed around for a while before howling and running out of the cave towards its aggressive territorial rival.