Chapter 10: The First Yet Last Hunt(1)

The First Yet Last Hunt(1)

It had been just over two weeks since Dílis had made the cave into his own. In that time, Dílis had managed to craft a table and chair which he placed near his other crafting materials in what he dubbed, the crafting corner.

There was also a hollow cube of wood which Dílis had intended to use as a chest, positioned against the opposite wall.

The problem was, there was far too little space for anything substantial to be placed inside, instead, Dílis had been using it to store the berries which he had accumulated through his scavenging excursions.

Dílis had found a lot of berries, too much for him to eat even if he wanted to, but that was the problem.

The Berry Woods...had nothing but berries.

Berries, Berries, Berries.

He was sick of it.

The apple he had found must have been a rare delicacy in the woods.

Dílis wished he had rationed it out to serve him longer.

He had gotten very inventive in the ways in which he consumed the berries, he had to if he wanted to preserve his sanity.

He had taken to combining them with anything that he thought might be remotely edible to try and give him a new flavour.

From Grass to leaves, to even tree bark, Dílis had tried it.

Mashing them, spreading them, melting them, drying them.

He was sick of it.

Breakfast, lunch, dinner. He had come to despise when his stomach craved for food, as he would remember the sickly sweet, never changing taste of the berries of the Berry Woods.

Meat, that was what he needed. Even just the thought of biting into the tender breast of a roast chicken, or a prime cut of beef, was enough to make him start salivating.

It wasn't as if he couldn't hunt anything. Due to Dílis constantly going back and forth from his cave to the trees that he needed to fell to fuel his craftsman spirit, he had managed to raise his stamina by two points.

He had already managed to raise his strength by one point from chopping down his first tree, so he had raised his stats by a small amount already.

Dílis was confident that if it was something small, then he would be able to deal with it.

Dílis was also curious about how the level up system will work with his raised stats.

In Soulkin online, you wouldn't be able to raise your stats through anything other than levelling, so the fact that Dílis had been able to without levelling up, intrigued him.

The way levelling up worked in Soulkin Online was, it would take the base stats of your character and job, then multiply it by your level and add it to your current stats.

This didn't make much of a difference at the earlier levels, however, during the later levels, this system put a massive gap between the players.

What Dílis was interested in, was whether or not his improved stats counted as raising his base stats or just something added on, either way, Dílis was glad to have them.

With Dílis' newfound confidence in his stats, he decided he should try his luck at hunting.

Dílis walked to the entrance of the cave as he bent over on all fours, his arms grew, as fur sprouted from his skin.

Dílis had transformed into his wolf form as he began running into the forest in search of another living creature.

Over the past two weeks, Dílis had been training his wolf worm, raising its proficiency to 100%.

The constant trips to and from the forest to his cave had made him realise he needed a faster way to get around, the wolf form was perfect for this.

He ran through the forest, the leaves brushing past him, the grass cushioning his steps as he leapt through the forest, a natural predator.

Dílis felt like he could run forever, the feeling of the wind passing him by as he ran through the forest was exhilarating, so much so he nearly lost sight of the reason he headed out in the first place.

As Dílis leapt through a large bush he smelt it, a different smell from the clean forest air around him. It smelled weak, its presence small and cowardly.

Dílis immediately turned in the direction he had smelt the thing, a wolfish grin spreading across his elongated face as he imagined ripping it to shreds with his fangs, the warm blood soaking his throat as the slick liquid settled in his stomach.

Wait a second.

Dílis began slowing his pace, coming to a standstill about fifty feet away from what he had smelt the thing.

What was he just thinking?

Dílis wasn't like that, he was a human, he ate his meat cooked, maybe with some sauce, he didn't want to guzzle down blood like some animal.

Dílis thought for a moment, this wasn't the first time something like this had happened.

Sometimes, while he would be idling around in the cave, he would suddenly become very restless, when this would happen he would have to sit down and work on something, anything at all.

He had taken to carving small figurines out of any leftover wood he would find, leading to a massive pile of wolf and goblin figurines to pile up near the entrance of the cave, usually used as firewood at a later date.

There was seemingly no reason as to why he would become so restless, it just happened, he would always get a weird sensation after, almost like he wasn't acting himself but at the same time, it was like he had been doing it for years, it was confusing.

He had gotten the same feeling, after having thought of biting into flesh.

It was definitely a cause for concern, but Dílis had more a more immediate problem on his hands.

Whatever he smelled, it was getting closer.

Dílis lowered his body, the grass flattening underneath him as he lowered himself further.

He was staring through the blades of grass as they swayed in the wind, unimpeded by the wolf which lay in wait, stalking its prey.

Dílis heard rustling coming from the bush at the other end of the small clearing he found himself in.

Slowly, a bright red ear poked out from between the leaves of the bush, then another, then it was a head.

The face was like that of a teddy bear, the soft-looking fur bushed up around its eyes and mouth, covering it.

Steadily, a bright red rabbit emerged from the bush opposite him, cautiously looking around in case of predators.

Little did it know, that just a few feet away, a silent beast lay in wait, waiting to pounce.

The rabbit hopped around nonchalantly as it searched for some food when suddenly, its ears twitched in the direction it was facing.

The rabbit tried to escape, however as it tried to jump away, a large wolf, as big as a tiger, leapt out of the shrubs, snatching away the rabbit before it even had the chance to land.

Its fangs punctured the neck of the little guy as it was helpless to prevent it.

The crimson blood only serving to darken the bright red coat of the small creature.

The rabbit struggled in vain against the cruel reality it was faced with, kicking its feet frantically, trying to free itself from its assailants grasp.

The wolf paid no mind to the little creatures' futile resistance, biting down harder, cleanly severing the head from its tiny body.

...

Dílis watched the events unfold, from where he was hiding in the grass.

He felt a wave of unexplained anger well up inside himself at the sight of his prey being snatched away right in front of him.

---

The giant wolf whose body resembled that of a tiger in size had left its pack early that morning, he had gotten tired of the weaklings that flocked to him in droves, to try and take his position as the alpha.

He was always looked at with great fear and admiration as, anywhere he went, death followed. The wolf had fought every pack leader in the berry woods, beating them with ease, uniting the warring packs into one greater being.

They were the rulers of the Berry woods, and the giant wolf was their leader.

He had thought the goblins may have been a more worthy foe but, much like the dogs which surrounded him daily, they were of no match in front of his unrivalled strength.

In this forest, he was the alpha, an unparalleled existence.

However with time, comes a change in mindset, no longer was the great wolf which had united the wolves.

Unlike before, when he would leap into battle, fangs bared, claws outstretched, he no longer felt the thrill that came from a good fight.

The only time he would fight nowadays was when a young blood would overestimate their strength, challenging him for the right to lead.

He was growing old, he now tired of such things. He wished to rest, to shrink away from the woods and return to the time when he was just another wolf in the pack.

Once again, the wolf left the pack early in the morning to hunt for food, he not only had amazing strength but also the ability to completely become one with the forest.

This allowed him to hunt with ease, no beast could notice him before it was too late.

However, the acquisition of food was not the only reason the wolf had left so early in the morning.

He had overheard the wolves speak of it at night, their distressed tones easily discernable through the howls which shook the forests from dusk till dawn.

Something had caused a great disturbance in the Berry Woods, many wolves had already gone missing from their packs, great warriors among them, some he had personally acknowledged.

The great tiger sized wolf was determined to find out what had been disturbing the peace of the woods, of which he ruled.

He would make them rue the day they decided to mess with the great pack of the Berry Woods.

As he set out in search of the unknown creature, he smelt something, it had a weak smell.

He decided to get something to eat as it was still early morning and one of his goals was to hunt for more food.

He set out in the direction of the weak smell, however, along the way, another smell got tangled in with the one from which he was chasing.

It was strange, the smell reminded him of both a goblin and one of his kin.

Did one of his kin pledge loyalty to a goblin? He had heard nothing of his, he was very curious as he continued in the direction of the two smells.

After a while, he came upon a small clearing, the tall grass and bushes surrounded the clearing, making a kind of encirclement.

The wolf got into position, becoming one with the woods.

He could hear the distant animals waking from their slumber, the wind bending around the trees, the insects scuttling around their nests.

The great wolf focused on the sound of a creature making its way towards the small clearing, from the sound of it, combined with the weak smell, he deduced that it was a red hopper.

The strange smell he had smelt previously was also near, he couldn't pinpoint where exactly, they were hidden well.

No matter, once they see him they'll fall in line, then he would ask them what made them emit such a smell.

The red hopper eventually appeared in the clearing, it wandered around for a while.

The wolf waited until its guard was at its lowest and then leapt, snatching it out of the air before it could get away.

He bit down as it tried to escape, ending its life.

He began eating the red hopper, it didn't last long as, compared to him, it was minuscule in size.

The tiger-sized wolf stopped feeding on the rabbit for a moment as he heard a low growl coming from the tall grass, from it another wolf, smaller in stature to himself, emerged baring its fangs.

The tiger-sized wolf had never seen that smaller wolf before, it didn't belong to any of the packs of the Berry Woods.

The small wolf was baring its fangs at him, its killing intent clearly being transmitted towards him.

It had been a long time since the great wolf had felt this kind of killing intent from someone.

The great wolf realised that a fight was inevitable, it stared the smaller wolf down, as it howled with all its might. It was a howl full of might and dignity and as he howled he began to feel something he hadn't in a long time.

Excitement.