Chapter 12: Hunt

The forsaken woods was a large forest situated a few kilometers away from the city of Jangur.

The entire forest was constantly shrouded in a layer of fog that reduced the visibility of all those who entered. On top of that, it served as a haven for a multitude of savage beasts.

Zaos arrived at the forest entrance shortly after departing from the mercenary city. His speed allowed him to cover large distances in a breeze.

[I'm back here again,] Zaos sighed nostalgically, his gaze seemingly piercing the thick fog to view the spot he had awoken in.

His journey in this world began here, the forest held great significance to him and he planned on researching it later, but his circumstances forced him to return earlier than anticipated.

[I can try looking for clues on my rebirth while I'm here at least.] Zaos sighed.

He quickly adjusted his mindset and cautiously entered the forest. Despite his caution, he chose not to activate his elemental weave for fear of draining himself mentally.

Zaos traversed the foggy lands with difficulty, he could barely see fifty meters ahead considering that after his recent enhancement, he could observe things two hundred meters ahead with ease.

As Zaos lamented the lack of visibility, he spotted a silhouette out of the corner of his eye. Out of pure instinct, he rolled to the side.

*Whoosh!*

Zaos felt a strong gust of air brush past him as he sprung into a battle position.

[What was that?!] Zaos mentally screamed in alarm. If not for his improved reflexes and senses, he would have been hit.

He quickly directed his attention to the monstrosity before him. It appeared as a shadowy humanoid with elongated limbs, a bald head with two white holes for eyes, and a wide-open, gaping maw.

*Screech!*

Before Zaos could formulate any thoughts, the creature charged at him once more, extending its elongated arms toward him.

Zaos quickly distanced himself from the monster, he drew his throwing needles and sent them hurling towards the creature.

*Screechhh!!*

The creature screamed in pain and stopped its charge. It stared threateningly in Zaos' direction.

[Seems weak… ] Zaos thought as he quickly activated his elemental weave, turning invisible.

The creature was immediately thrown into confusion after it lost sight of the latter. It tried searching for its opponent with its arms, but was unsuccessful.

Zaos gave the creature no time to contemplate and swiftly approached it, driving his daggers into its heart.

*Screechhh!!!*

The monster thrashed around madly in response, while the latter had successfully evaded its range with only mild injuries.

After a few seconds of screaming and flailing, the monster finally died.

[What tedious life force!] Zaos thought in awe after confirming its death.

He quickly retrieved the needles he could and left the area.

[*Sigh* I should have read through the savage beast encyclopedia more before coming here.] Zaos sighed in regret. His urgency to resolve his problem had clouded his judgment.

[Hopefully, I can find a skivii soon… ] Zaos thought as he continued deeper into the forest.

***

Roughly four days later. Zaos ran through the forest with his stealth elemental weave active. He would occasionally glance behind himself with an ugly expression.

[Dammit! Why are there so many of them?!] His expression twisted as he recalled what had just happened.

A few minutes earlier, Zaos had been in the middle of his exploration. After four days of being chased and attacked by savage beasts, he was feeling frustrated.

Worse yet was the fact that he still hadn't found a skivii at the time.

He was just about to rest when he suddenly spotted something ahead: a skivii! Overjoyed, Zaos decided to hunt it. However, to his dismay, the skivii was accompanied by an entire colony of them.

Although he had attempted to stealthily escape, a skivii had spotted him and alerted the colony.

Even after entering stealth mode, the skiviis were still barely able to track him through echolocation. This led him to his current situation.

[Dammit!] Zaos cursed as he ran. He was already getting exhausted after using his elemental weave for a long time and the sound of flapping behind him only added to his anxiety.

Just as he was running out of options, Zaos noticed a bright light ahead of him.

[Elves?] His mind raced.

[Maybe mercenaries?] Zaos' eyes flashed ruthlessly as he increased his pace towards the light.

Behind him, the colony of skiviis also noticed the light that their prey was heading towards.

*Squeak!* *Squeak!*

With a series of squeaks, the colony of skiviis chased after Zaos.

As Zaos got closer to the light, he could make out four individuals ahead of him. The small group consisted of two female wind elves and two male fire elves. They all stood frozen in shock as they watched a colony of skiviis approaching them.

"What in blazing hell is that?! Why are there so many skiviis heading in this direction!?. One of the two red-haired, male fire elves screamed.

The female wind elves also had expressions of disbelief on their faces.

"Ready up! We can't run from them!!" The second fire elf with a large scar on his face ordered as he swiftly drew his blade.

"If we're going to die, we might as well die fighting!" He tried to rally up his companions' spirits.

The others in the party silently complied. They knew his words were correct as the number of skiviis made it impossible for them to escape. The skiviis might even chase after the first escapee instead.

The second fire elf sighed when he saw his teammates' actions, he then turned back to the skiviis with a grave expression.

Zaos smiled when he heard their exchange. He swiftly dashed past the group and headed away from the area.

[I apologize. I'll remember your sacrifices… ] Zaos thought in ridicule as he increased his speed.

By the time the skiviis arrived, Zaos had already distanced himself from the location. The skiviis gave up chasing him and focused their rage on the party of elves instead.

"May the wind goddess help us…" a wind elf from the group muttered in despair…

A few hours later, Zaos returned to the spot of the battle. His senses were immediately triggered as the scent of blood drifted to him.

[Endure!!] Zaos used his powerful willpower to barely suppress the urge to go berserk.

He walked over to the pile of corpses and swiftly extracted blood from a barely intact skivii corpse.

After he was done, he quickly left the area with a vial of blood and a smile on his face.