The Hunt, The Loss

David grinned madly as he and the alpha wolf circled around each other. Ever since he had given up his adventurer lifestyle after his wife became pregnant with their son, he had not felt such a rush of excitement and adrenaline.

Fresh, warm blood ran down the wide of his face. Some of it was his, some wasn't. Killing the wolves had been particularly messy.

Grrr...

The alpha wolf growled deeply, its chest rumbling loud enough to make David's eardrums also rumbled. It paused and dug its paws into the snow, bracing for just a moment before lunging forward.

"Hup!" David held his breath and channeled strength into his legs. He leaned back low, just enough for the wolf to jump over him, and sprung back up, swiveling on his legs and kicking it in its side. The sound of bones snapping mixed with the pained yelp of the alpha wolf as it rolled for several meters.

Thud!

David steadied himself well before walking over to the downed wolf. It growled helplessly at him as blood dripped from the corner of its mouth.

"Good riddance." David muttered and used the axe to behead the wolf. With that, the battle came to an end.

He stood up straight and looked around. The white snow had been tarnished with scarlet blood, but even that was starting to cover up as more snow fell over it. He looked over to where the men from the village were. A few of them were lightly injured, but they were mostly fine.

"Pack up as many bodies as you can. This is much better than just a deer." David's voice boomed and he quickly picked up the body of the alpha and put it in a sack. He tossed the head in too. It would serve as a nice trophy to show off to Raven when the baby had grown up a bit.

There were just ten men and not enough people or space to carry all the wolves. They were only able to carry nine of them aside from the alpha wolf. But it was not too bad. They had thought that their only catch would be the deer, but now, a lot more had delivered itself on a golden platter.

Whoosh!

A strong gust of wind blew past the group. The wind was starting to pick up again, but they were not far from the cave that they had rested in the previous night.

It was then that David suddenly paused. He looked around and broadened his senses but he could not find anything. He did not hesitate.

"Everyone! RUN!!!" He bellowed.

After the fight earlier, the men were already on their guard. Upon hearing the strongest of them ask them to run, they did not hesitate and sprinted as fast as they could.

David looked around frantically, but couldn't find the source of his discomfort. The group ran forward frantically. Just when they were within sight of the cave they had rested in, a large shadow passed over them. He looked up and froze, unable to believe the sight before him. The other men also paused and looked up, their feet frozen to the ground beneath them.

"...It's a... dragon..." One of the men said with a shaky voice.

The voice of the man snapped David out of his daze.

"It's a young dragon! As long as we get far enough, it might not attack us!" He yelled quickly but was soon proven wrong as the dragon landed at the front of the group.

Indeed, it was just a young dragon. It's body was only just about two meters tall and roughly six meters long. Most of its features were still underdeveloped as evidenced by its smooth and uninjured scales which were a sign that it had not gone through a true battle yet. It was also missing the most prominent features of a dragon - its horns. That was a clear sign that it was still young, barely past its infant stage.

David gulped. Was this the reason his instincts had been acting haywire ever since they left the cave? Had a young dragon come and marked this area as its territory?

ROOOOAAARRR!

The dragon threw its head back and let out a deep, guttural roar. The roar had a stunning effect and shook the wills of the men. Only David was somewhat able to keep his cool. He quickly rushed forward, pushing aside them men and knocking them to the floor to snap them out.

"Run! Just run back to the village!" He yelled.

"What about you?!"

"Leave me and go! I'll buy time! We can't kill this thing!" He roared, his entire body blazing with fire as he let everything out. He could not afford to hold back against this powerful creature. Even as a young dragon, it was a force to be reckoned with.

Hesitating, but ultimately choosing to listen to David, the men carried their bags and ran without stopping, leaving David to deal with the dragon on his own.

David's body burned with a fiery aura as the mana in his body burned up rapidly. This was his ultimate move and one that he could not keep going for long. If he did, then he would begin to rapidly burn away at his own lifeforce.

David's thick winter clothes quickly burnt away, revealing his bare chest. Across his chest, a mysterious rune was engraved, glowing with golden light. This was the blessing of protection that Elizabeth had given him before he had departed.

He took in a deep breath, a solemn expression on his face. 'It seems I won't be making it back home for Raven's first birthday.' A single tear formed at the edge of his eye but evaporated in the next moment. Then David steeled his heart and clenched his fists around the handles of his axe. He spread his legs and prepared to launch himself at the dragon.

"You want to kill me! Come at me!" He roared before exploding forward. The ground beneath the snow exploded in every direction as he vanished from his previous spot, appearing a few meters up in the air.

His sudden movement took the dragon aback and it quickly looked up at him. However, that left it open for David's next move.

"HAAA!" David roared as he brought down his flaming axes across the right eye of the dragon. Hot blood immediately spewed out of the wound but was vaporized by the scalding flames, which also cauterized the deep and grievous wound.

WRAAAAA!

The dragon howled in agony and brought up a claw to swipe at David, but the man had already predicted that and distanced himself, leaving the axe buried in the eye. He focused on the mana left in the axe, and clenched his fist. In the next moment, all the mana gathered up in one point before suddenly exploding!

A cloud of smoke engulfed the dragon's head as David picked up two of his throwing axes, lit them on fire and threw them right into the cloud of smoke and onto the dragon's head.

But it was met with a wall of ice that rapidly advanced toward David.

"Dammit!" He grunted and jumped out of the way. But the freezing aura of the White Dragon's breath still followed and doused some of the flames around him while also partially freezing his left side.

The dragon flapped its wings and blew away all the smoke, while raising a cloud of snow.

"DAMN HUMAN! YOU DARE!!!" The deep, furious roar of the dragon shook the air.

"Oh? So you can speak? I thought you were a mindless beast." David mocked as the flames on his body melted off the ice that stuck to his side.

"Grrr... I will show you what it means to go against a noble bloodline!" The dragon growled and spread its wings high. Above its head, a complicated magic array suddenly appeared, and a giant ball of ice that constantly moved and formed spikes on its surface appeared.

"Freeze, human! I will show you what it means to suffer agony! You shall suffer a cruel fate before you leave this world! ICE PRISON!"

After that declaration, David's vision went blank.