Chapter 27: Forest Ambush

Chapter 27:

With Morrigan

Morrigan was smoking as she walked on the town road to the mermaid heel guildhall. She actually had never been to the place before but she knew that Marella was a part of it and that it was an all-girl's guild. When she first heard of her friend's plan, she could help but laugh at the irony. She reached the guildhall and hummed at the structure and it was near the sea and had an outside beach resort of sorts.

"Morrigan-senpai!" She heard a familiar voice call out to her. She turned and saw Marella sitting on one of the benches waving at her.

She was wearing a blue sundress, sunglasses and a sunhat. Her hair was freely flowing rather than her usual pony-tail style with a shoulder bag hanging on her chair. She saw a lot of men and some women staring at her.

"Marella nice outfit I thought disciplined warriors like yourself wear 24/7." She greeted her friend and sat beside her.

"Good to see you Morrigan-sempai. And for my choice in clothing it's a little hot today." She looked up and down to her friends and raised her eyebrow.

"What?"

"How long do you keep using that look?"

"What my hair, I think the people at the salon did a great job." Morrigan patted her afro pony tailed hair.

"You know that's not what I meant senpai." Marella shook her head.

"Let's not talk about that Marella." Morrigan shock her head blow a smoke and then smirked. "Let's talk about your promotion to being a wizard saint in the next few months."

"Yes, it truly is an honour for me to be bestowed such a title."

"Hm so what do your people think of this?"

"Well mixed receptions." Marella sighed at how her family reacted when she told them the news.

"Hm well I can only imagine." Morrigan puffed out another smoke.

"Senpai please stop doing that it's bad for your health." She lightly scolded the other woman.

"First of all, stop calling me that we're not in the eastern continents you know and second of all my magic lets me heal my body remember." Morrigan rolled her eyes a little.

"Well, senpai remember phrases from the eastern continent are universal nowadays. Plus, even if your magic heals you, I am sure there's a limit even for you."

"I thought you called me here to party, get wasted and laid not therapy me." Morrigan made a comedically annoyed face.

"Well actually there is something else I wanted to talk about senpai." Marella said seriously.

"Of course there's something else. Why didn't you tell me earlier through the communication lacrima?" Morrigan rolled her eyes. "So, queen of the sea, what's the problem?" Morrigan shifted to a serious tone.

Noticing that Morrigan was actually in a serious mood now Marella dug into her file and took out a file and gave it to her. Morrigan saw a creature she had never seen and it was a monstrous three headed dog. But it wasn't like the scenario was different for her thanks to Salem.

"That monsters have really been the talk of the council here in Fiore for a little while now but that's not the crazy thing."

"Oh, don't keep me in suspense now~."

"For one, that creature is so strong that multiple s-class rank wizards couldn't defeat it. When I was called in with Jura to deal with it the creature was incredibly strong having abilities to use fire, lightning and poison magic though I have to say it felt more demonic. It was a bad match for me though with the help of wizard saint Jermaine we managed to secure a victory. Though that's not the end of it, after we defeated it the beast glowed purple and disappeared."

"Purple you say." Immediately Morrigan thought of the strange monsters Salem hunts down.

"Yes, and after a few months it came back seemingly stronger but when we and Jura fought it once more and barely pulled off the victory it had another ability we weren't ready for." She paused and sipped her drink. "It opened a hole in space and with its demonic nature I really hope it's not coming and going where I think it is."

"The underworld." Morrigan hummed. "You're afraid it's opening holes to and from the underworld right?" Marella nodded at that. "I see the reason why you called me because I told you about my recent adventures. Am I right?"

"Yes, that's correct you told me that something like that normally happens to the creatures your boy battles frequently right so you must have a way to permanently beat this dog."

"So, you fighting that thing is why you were elected to wizard saint status huh. Though why don't you call one of those devil slayers since this is out of your job description with you being a god slayer and all."

"Morrigan-senpai you I can't just contact them plus I feel they will have the same problem despite their magic."

"What's in it for me and my kid?".

Marella noticed the 'my kid' and sighed at this behaviour. Morrigan wasn't really the type to perform acts out of the goodness of her heart and often expected something in return.

"The council will pay you handsomely for your services, senpai I will assure you of that." She said seriously.

"That's what I want to hear. I'll speak to the kid." She put out her cigar. "Now who do I have to screw to get a drink around her~." Morrigan sang and Marella just shook her head.

"Oh, speaking of which this Salem child you're traveling with seemed to have had an adventure with two of my guild members."

"Oh~ I only left him for two days and he's already getting himself lucky. I don't know whether I should happy or sad that his growing up~." Morrigan acted all over dramatic and Marella just chuckled.

In a forest

Salem Pov

I was so just in a forest called Lycan forest according to the map on my phone, near a river in a just sitting by a tree taking in the fresh air and nature and multitasking by making a schedule as well as practising my magic flow. It has been two days since I got two new transformations and was deciding on ways I could train with them.

Now I was making a training schedule for both transformations to properly divide my time between both transformations. Both had innate properties in using some elemental magic: one earth and one water. I was used to using wind(somewhat), fire and lighting, so this was brand new territory for me.

I also need to get strong enough to full control my Quetzalcoatl form and not just use it in short bursts like now. Every time I used it, I felt like it was fighting back against me. I guess it does make sense though even if it's not the actual Quetzalcoatl it was still very powerful and had some incredible skills which would be really useful not just for fighting like crafting as it did build that whole temple by itself.

"I should really look more into the creatures of Earthland. I can't just say I'll rely mostly on the anomalies I find interesting plus I really don't want to take-over something I have zero knowledge on." I thought of buying those gale-reading glasses and cramming through books containing the creatures and animals of Earthland.

'Know that I think about it, those scientists I met from back then said that they taught it as a course at Hercules university. Maybe they have some info on some really good stuff but I can't just barge in the number one school in Pergende.' I thought about looking at my phone. 'I should start using the communication lacrima part of this thing.'

"Beast Soul: Ankylosaurus!" I transformed into my new form and the appearance is that of a humanoid Ankylosaurus and I was a little taller.

"Man, it feels awesome being a freaking dinosaur!" I said really giddy and my voice was a lot deeper, similar to my other beast forms. My tail beat the ground mirroring my excitement but I accidently made multiple rock pillars. "Oops."

I looked at my hands/claws and clenched them then stomped on the ground making a huge crack in the ground and making a huge splash in the river. I then tried that spike missile attack it had done but even after 40 minutes of trying in different poses the most I could make out were four spikes.

After about an hour and half of training in my new form I running out of magic and transformed back to normal to take a breather. It took out my phone and typed down the amount of time it requires me to use a transformation. It helps as a good reminder and of course I update it every two months or do.

I couldn't really properly train in these woods due to it being a tad bit smaller plus Morrigan told me to intensify my training so I'll go to mount Hokabe before going after the behemoth and Teostra.

After an hour I sat by a campfire in a different location of the forest while still next to the river. I was cooking up some fish I caught as my lunch. As I was eating my thoughts went to the elder dragon which was in the volcanic area of Fiore.

'I wonder if that thing has gotten any special attention.' I thought about people like Zeref, Achnologia, the magic council, the protagonist himself Natsu Dragneel or was the protagonist Lucy . I always got confused in that regard.

"Anyway, I should hurry and take care of them before another situation like the one last year. God forbid if Zeref got his hands on something like Bahumat or even worse an op dark souls' boss than it's over man." I shivered at the thought.

"But speaking of other worlds, I wonder if I can translate principles or techniques of other worlds to the make system of Ethernano." I never truly tried this because I first wanted to at least get a good grasp of the magic system of this world before I started experimenting.

I thought about magical anime like black clover which have stuff like mana skin and mana zone. Then there's the Fate series which houses the reality marble and now that I thought about it the reality marble and domain expansion from JJK are a little similar.

'For mana skin and zone, I could be able to remix without much of a problem. Well skin but zone will be a different case. Now for reality marbles. I already have my personal dimension aka my space but I know there's a much more complicated concept to it.' I thought as the fish finished cooking up and I dug in.

After I was finished, I decided to rest for a bit to fully recover my magic rather than hit the road. But as I leaned by the tree closed my eyes. As I was sleeping, I felt a brief pulse in magic nearby which got me to raise my guard and quickly transformed my ear into my owl form and heard something coming, being the tree fast so I quickly rolled out of the way. I saw five needles phase past the tree then I felt a pulse of magic again as they pierced the ground.

"The fuck phasing magic?" I questioned as I looked around trying to find the culprit. Before I could switch to smell to track this person down, I heard other objects coming towards me as I dodged and saw it was more needles. My magic wasn't really fully recharged so I I had to be careful if I am going to use my heavy hitters.

I continued doing this for like four minutes then it hit me that this person was just trying to tire me out till he gets a good shot in. Though if he was trying to kill me why use needles. I bent backwards avoiding some others and flipped kicked one away. I wasn't going to wait around for this guy to unleash a whole barrage so I splintered fast into deeper into the woods.

I saw a cannonball coming my way so I easily smacked kicked into the sky then it exploded. Then metal wires wrapped around my arms and legs. Then multiple needles came flying at me.

'Animal soul: Glacier wolf!' In brief second I turned into my demi wolf form freezing the wires and needles, easily crumbling them.

'Beast soul: Werecheetah!" I quickly smelt the air and found my target some good metres away. So, I zoomed across the forest and reached him. But as I threw a drop kick, I went past him much to my surprise but I easily got my bearings and skidded across the round on all fours and came to a stop.

I took a better look at the guy and he was tall and dressed in a combat pants, hooded up military jacket with a black mask covering his face.

"Wow you managed to dodge all those. Guess this hunt won't be so boring." He spoke but his voice seemed to be amplified and sounded like he was speaking from a speaker.

"Who the fuck are you and why are you attack me!" I growled at him demanding answers.

"Sorry kid can't tell ya." he denied. "Hm Take-over magic and a werecheetah you don't see that a lot."

I was about to comment but then I used my tail to catch an incoming knife for my back. that wasn't the end of it though metal spikes came out of the ground but I jumped high avoiding it. I sped around the trap and tried to claw the man again but my hand just went through him. So, he delivered a strong knee to my stomach but I quickly grabbed his leg while it was still on my gut and tried to twist it but he phased it though I took the chance to try and went past his head.

'Okay so he's not limited to one body part at a time.' I thought.

The man was going for quick jabs to my face but I dodged them though he quickly got to the ground and made a shift attack but I back off and threw a powerful air fist at him. But as expected it phased through him but instead of phasing, he actually dodged it.

I sent fast air slashed with my claws to test it out. The man continued to skillfully dodge my attacks but the ground and trees around weren't so lucky.

'If this guy's other magic really was phasing then why would he dodge my air related attacks only.' I questioned myself.

He put his hands together in a maker magic stance.

"Iron make: Judgement hands" He made about seven giant arms and began attacking me by trying to squash me but I quickly dodged them, then requiped my magic gun and fired power blasts at them destroying them. I knew the gun would be useless when it came to attacking my opponent so I sent it away.

"Iron make: Alloy Javelins!" He made about 20 long metal javelins and they came at me fast.

I dodged almost all of it but when I was about to kick one away it phased past my leg and stabbed the left side of my gut.

"FUCK!!" I cursed and scolded myself for getting caught off guard as I quickly removed the spear and more blood gushed out.

The man in front of me is about to strike with his knife. But I quickly morphed into an ant shrinking in size dodging the attack. And not a second later I was behind him in my rabbit form and used my strong legs to shoot an air pressure double kick knocking him back smashing through several trees.

I flinched at the pain from my wound and turned back to normal.

"Animal arm: Glacier wolf." My right arm morphed into my wolf's claw and used the ice magic to clot my wound. It hurt like hell and wasn't the best way to cover a wound but it was the best I got for now. Please I was getting more winded.

Metal wires quickly wrapped around me and tied hard on a tree. They were very thin so they were really digging in and slightly slicing my skin drawing blood but also felt they were draining my magic. The man was in the air slowly floating down as he seemed to be checking for something.

I would theorise that he also knew gravity, wind, or floating magic but with the fact every time I tried to hit him it felt was like slightly like air instead of nothing and to the fact, he seemed to just didge my air attacks instead of letting them phase through him than my best bet was on density magic for now.

"Hm not bad kid you're a pretty decent mage I can see why that woman was slightly interested in you though I was half expecting you to have something ready but guess not." He said, flipping his knife around.

'This is bad, my magic is being sucked up fast and guess it's time for reckless moves.' I gritted my teeth. He was too close so if I tried to use any sudden moves, he might strike fast. Too bad I could actually fully use my heavy hitter right now.

He was about to chop my neck but I shot out a fire breath attack from my mouth hitting him dead centre. Magic or not fire must obey form of physics meaning it's still less dense than air.

But I also quickly transformed my hand into my glacier wolf form and froze the tree and broke it apart letting the wires fall. I collapsed to the ground out of breath and almost completely out of magic. If I didn't tire myself out during training it would have been different.

I coughed violently as that fire attack really burned my mouth and through as I didn't full transform those parts but just enough to not cause permanent damage. Though my magic reserves are really low right now, if I divided it properly, I had one good spell than a getaway from this bastard. So, my white hair grew a little and spiked up a tad bit.

The man got up, his shirt burned revealing his brown, the second degree burn I gave him and so was part of his mask revealing his mouth and dark eyes.

"You're a crafty little shit aren't you." He gave me a smirk. He then zipped in front of me kicking me across the woods hard slamming into a tree but I still kept focus.

Suddenly I felt his knife stab my stomach making me groan in pain and cough blood. I opened my eyes and saw his uncaring face.

"No hard feelings kid, it's just business and Rico here has a reputation to keep." He shrugged. "Iron mak-…AAAHH!!!" He screamed as finally unleashed a huge burst of lighting thanks to the Zinogre hair. Since he couldn't actually use one magic while using the other.

My opponent let go of me and fell to the ground squirming. I didn't waste any time and turned into an owl and flew out of there as fast as I could though my gut was still dripping blood. My only focus was to escape with the little magic I had left at the moment. I was sure the electrical surprise attack really damaged him enough.

Good thing he was in the medial of casting another spell otherwise if he was still phasing things would have been a lot different. I quickly transformed into my full owl form and flew away as fast as I could. Luckily next to the ant and rabbit transformation this one spends very very little amounts of magic to use.

My vision was getting blurry and I felt my magic almost at zero and the nearest town wasn't so far away but I won't be able to make it in time. So, before I was completely out, I pushed myself to fly high to the nearby mountains and found a cave.

I forced myself to transform my finger to that of my glacier wolf's and sealed up my other gut wound and the cave entrance. I wondered if I flew far away enough from that Rico guy. I didn't have enough strength to even requip my painkillers.

'Really I wish i had a form which had healing abilities right now!' I thought as I than collapsed on the ground