Chapter 18

"Checklist is done guys, we can head back anytime" Mary happily informed us as we sat down for lunch. I sat in rapt anticipation, waiting for the moment she realizes that Karl packs extra breakfast boxes for lunch, her expression is going to be great.

"Omelette!" Mary exclaimed, reaching for her fork "O M G, you guys are amazing! I love Omelettes. Whoever decided that dry and bready sandwiches should be the lunch staple of choice is an idiot" She informed us with her mouth full and an expression of bliss. Well, that wasn't the reaction I expected, but still pretty good.

I had just started digging into my pancakes and sausages when I caught the scent of something I'd never encountered before. A smell of natural magic, like a witch, but without the human tint, more of a raw note like a wild animal.

"Guys, I think we've got company, upwind. I'm guessing 200 meters or so, I can't hear them yet, but I caught the scent. Mana and wild animal, like a large cat of some sort?"

Karl nodded and started gathering his gear, leaving a rolled up pancake to dangle from his mouth like a cigar. "Might be a Magical beast. The East Coast teams reported seeing wild animals far stronger and more resilient than normal, enhanced by the flow of mana through their bodies." Mary was visibly concerned at this news, her high hopes of a peaceful first portal seemingly dashed. "We'll need to clear the area, we've found a lot of herbs and minerals that the cleanup teams will be interested in, but if it's not made safe we'll have to close the portal and the base will miss out on the resources."

Trust Karl to find a perfectly logical and valid reason to go looking for a fight.

"Shotguns at the ready, I don't want to let them get close until we have a better idea of their capability"

I smiled as Mary slung her weapon over her shoulder. She'd painted it in a pink black and white camoflage pattern that went strangely well with her chosen combat outfit, making her look like an anime heroine of some sort.

Footsteps entered my hearing range "I count 6 or 7 four legged creatures. Sounds big, like a cougar, but not werewolf big." I informed the group. "At this rate they'll be here in under a minute, they're circling around to trap us."

Moments later the first came into view. Black feline looking beasts with purple circular spots, like a psychedelic panther.

Mary's soft voice called out with authority "Slugs only! It's absolutely imperative that we recover those hides intact! My room simply cannot survive without at least one." Maybe the soft spoken newbie secretly does fit in with our growing band of misfits.

Karl laughed while firing a purple bolt of magic, dropping the first without a mark on it "Okay, you've got your throw rug. Now let's get down to business and deal with the rest" Mary is so happy to hear this that she's actually bouncing on her toes, waiting for the rest to start advancing again into a range she's comfortable with.

It seems I'm the popular one today, 4 have circled around towards me, snarling and snapping, while 2 have gone towards Karl and Mary has been left entirely ignored. How is this fair? It's because I smell like Lycan isn't it? Contemptible cats.

A quick double blast from the shotgun drops the first of the cats coming my way and I hear Karl's shotgun at nearly the same time. "Single shots may not drop them. I put one in its chest and it's still coming strong. Definitely enhanced, Mary please make a note of that later." There he goes, delegating his paperwork, even in the middle of combat.

Mary fired and missed at one to my left "They're surprisingly hard to hit. I thought shotguns were easy to use?"

"Easy compared to hitting them with a rifle anyhow"

With a frustrated look Mary fired once more, hitting her target in the side of the head with her second shot, dropping it instantly.

"Woot, first kill! And most of it is still good. This fur is so amazingly cute"

Cats now in close range I shook my head at Mary's enthusiasm for the furry beasts and clawed the throat out of the nearest target. Seeing the devastation in a mere few seconds the last of the cats took off running, not even making it a hundred yards before a barrage of magic missiles from Mary took it down.

"Uhmm, guys? I've got a problem" Mary stuttered "I totally didn't consider how exactly we're going to get all this back to the Jeep, much less to base." Mary cast a longing glance at all the fur, obviously not willing to let it go easily.

Karl produced a large skinning knife out of nowhere, probably summoned I thought and began cutting the fur from the corpses. "If you two fine young ladies could bring that last one back here, we'll finish this up quick and I'll do an anatomical survey of the lead beast, see if there's something about them that would explain the enhanced abilities and sense of mana from them.

By the time we'd dragged the body back, Karl, with the help of multiple knives controlled by small purple golems, had skinned and disassembled the rest.

"Hey, look at this, they've all got one of these small gemstones growing in them. Looks like there's a lot of mana condensed, which would explain the ability boost."

Mary picked one up and it glowed softly "Oh. These are going to be SO useful. They can store and release mana. But they're not really stone are they? They're hard, but still a bit squishy."

"You've got a point, they're some sort of organic" Karl noted, camera strapped to his head still filming his every action. "Meat doesn't smell too bad, might be good for recovery potions maybe? There's a lot of mana in it." Then an odd expression came over his face and he reached his tongue out to lick some of the blood off his hand holding the odd stone. "Tastes alright, can definitely feel the surge of mana"

What is he thinking? What if that thing was poisonous?

He went to take a second taste, contemplation clear in his expression and his tongue slid across the strange little not a stone gemstone. Once it came in contact with his mouth the whole thing started melting, running onto his tongue and his body started glowing with a bright purple light.

"Feth, no good. You two stand back, I'm going to need to release some of this mana" Karl shouted. I can see the excess mana glowing in his body, lighting him up like one of the little elementals that he summons during training. Then he started circulating it through is body, which seemed to reduce the strain on the points where it was collecting as he released raw mana into the air. This process went on for almost a whole 5 minutes before the power settled, leaving him looking unharmed but radiating an aura of power that any Alpha would be envious of.