Chapter 28 - Perplexed

Right after leaving his one-night shelter, Ulf went up to the peak of a tree. Because of the upcoming winter, the weather was a bit chilly and the morning breeze ruffled the leaves of the trees, but it didn't have any influence on him. The strong body and inner qi could maintain the stability of his body condition even in extreme situations. The vast territory of the forest welcomed the very first sunbeams. It was a very fascinating view to observe the exhibition of this magnificent place.

Even though Ulf had been admiring the nature of this world from the very start, it didn't mean that earth's beauty was any less for him. It was just that he didn't have much will to enjoy the prettiness of nature, after the tragic events in his past life.

It was the outlook that may inspire many humans to write the fine poem and beco...

'OH NO...! F#CK POEMS! RUN FOR LIFE!" Ulf suddenly jolted from the warning signal of spiritual energy. His brain began working like a machine by releasing huge amounts of energy across his body, especially directed at the legs, to force him move exceptionally fast. In the blink of an eye, Ulf jumped down from the peak without giving any thoughts.

Ulf didn't have any idea what kind of danger was coming to him, but whatever it had been, saving himself was the priority. He just noticed that out of nowhere a huge shadow caster above him. At the same time, something passed over the tree with a horrifying speed like a bolt of light...

CRACK...

As he leapt down, Ulf heard the sound of breaking and the peak of the tree, where he had been standing just a second ago, snapped and started falling.

Only after hiding between the other trees, did Ulf dare to use a little time for looking up. Though, when he tried to catch a glance, there was no longer anything. Ulf couldn't let himself be absent-minded and wanted to look over the area, up and down.

"Kiuuukiuu... " Angry screams of Bird could be heard across the forest.

Ulf scanned the sky around him in order to find the source of this voice. Then he saw it with his enhanced eyes, already a few hundred meters away, there was a big bird?! The giant bird, that must have been one, that had intended to catch him by its claws and failed, seemed very agitated. Even if the bird flew quite far in just seconds, with his superb eyesight, amplified by inner qi, Ulf could still note the flying creature's characteristic signs.

The bird was most likely grey-blue, as it was possible to observe from behind. It had a very long tail and large wings. The overall size of the flying being was big, more than 4-5 (13 - 16 ft) meters. Final conclusion was that...

'It was the giant hawk!.' Thought terrified Ulf.

One of the wild nature's strongest predatory birds, that was how this creature was known in the village. The giant hawk would rarely attack the group of hunters, but if it's only one or two of them, it would gladly try its luck. The giant hawk's speed was mind-blowing and could approach its prey without causing many noises. The far-perceive eyesight was really scary too. As for claws, nothing could be said, other than that they could make several ultra-large additional holes in the human's body and cut it like butter.

The giant hawks were very quiet and powerful predators, but their big size didn't allow them to freely operate inside the dense parts of the forest, where Ulf was. However, if any brave or foolish beings dare to openly take their heads out from that turtle shell-like forest, they would be prior targets of the sky conquerors.

It was unclear which stage a giant hawk had, but it must have been very strong. Just its speed was something Ulf had never seen equal to. Anything or anyone, besides him, would be dead due to the hawk's sudden assault. Even though he got ambushed, Ulf hadn't been carelessly up there but didn't expect such a powerful bird would aim for him.

'My terrible luck.' Ulf sighed.

This bird was so swift that even his spiritual energy almost couldn't react on time. This incident made it clear that not even spiritual energy was omnipotent and there were some loopholes in it. The fact itself was useful to know, but nearby cost him of losing a life.

After calming down and landing on the ground, Ulf planned the next steps for the rest of the day. First of all, he was very hungry and needed meat.

Searching for some time showed the result and soon hear the voice of a big creature walking in the west direction from him. Looking on that side, Ulf took a note of a female deer that was comparatively smaller than males of the same species but could still reach 2,5 meters (8 ft) in height. It was devouring the morning grass and slowly strolling among the gigantic trees and bushes.

Even if the female deer was big and only an animal stage creature, it could run fast, so Ulf didn't make his condition harsher and preferred to train his archery skill for the morning. The sun, which wasn't fully risen yet, could hardly penetrate the dark forest, so a hundred and fifty meters was the maximum safe distance Ulf could maintain to kill the target with one shot.

He aimed the arrow and was getting ready to shoot it. After Using the enhancement on his eyes, Ulf felt like everything became clearer and the gap between him and the deer was shortened at least 4 times.

As the arrow was in a fit state to be fired and Ulf was losing bit by bit his grip on the bowstring, straight away the unpleasant event took place.

"BEEEE... BEEE..."

Extremely very loud shouts spread over the newly awakened forest. Ulf, who got a bit perplexed, unwittingly released the arrow. It went through the air to cause the demise of the target, but the scream of strange, unknown existences not only affected Ulf but also the female deer. The shocked deer jumped forward and the arrow, instead of hitting the head, got stacked deeply into the shoulder.

'AHH, CURSE YOUR FURRY ANCESTORS, YOU GODDAMN ANIMALS. IF YOU WANT TO F#CK, DO IT PATIENTLY.' Ulf was fuming with rage.

His first thought was that it was some herbivore animals, which were mating and by the shouting, they were expressing pleasure. However, a second later he understood that it was most likely the sounds of the very scared creatures, rather than happy ones.

Nevertheless, he didn't have time for that. Maybe it was interesting to find out what was going on in the deeper part of the forest, but investigation with an empty stomach wasn't the solution. At the same time, the wounded prey was startled because of a stacked arrow in its chest and began yelling and running more desperately in the west.

Ulf took out a second arrow and followed behind the deer as fast as he could. There were many variables in this place and the likelihood of their appearance rose after unusual signs. That was why wounded deer must be killed unless it would be too late.

The female deer was very fast, but still inferior to Ulf, who had been using inner and outer qi together on his legs. He was like a shadow appearing, landing his foot on the ground and disappearing right away. It was a marathon when one's life depended on it and others had to overcome the barriers on the way to take hold of the situation and catch a potential trophy.

The same scenario lasted only less than half a minute. Ulf was just around thirty meters away from the target. He jumped on the huge plucked tree, pointed the bow and shot the arrow again at the deer. It flew and shortly went through right inside the back of head of the prey, which soullessly fell down.

Ulf took out the bone knife from the bag on his back and began work frantically. As he wanted to check what was happening in the south, there wasn't time to take joy from working on his trophy. Some important parts were kept in the bag and others were eaten until Ulf felt full.

After consuming enough to last for hours, Ulf went back to his hiding place in a tree hole. He stored the raw meat in the collected dried leaves and covered the entrance of the hole with the big tree bark in order to not entice the other creatures.

Later, freed from the unnecessary burdens, Ulf dashed toward the spot, where even then loud noises could still be heard from the south. As he was sweeping in the forest, had to pay attention to control his movements. Nothingness, giving ear to dark parts in the surroundings was vital too.

As he was getting near after running for half an hour, the loud noises made by unknown creatures were still coming and he could hear them much better now. Many sacred animals were even running toward the north and some of them didn't even notice Ulf, who passed next to them. It seemed the epicentre was relatively near since he saw that even a few comparable small trees were vibrating because of the tremor caused by the clashes and roars of some very powerful beast. Due to that Ulf slowed down and got even more careful. He held Aeglos in his hands and was ready to welcome any upcoming dangers.

Ulf covered a few hundred meters and then saw huge grassland, that was even larger than the last one, where he had been hunting the mountain rhino with Ursa and the rest of the team. He climbed the peak of the nearest and biggest tree in order to increase visibility.

Gaining a better sight gave Ulf the final piece of the puzzle and what he found made him amazed and awestruck.