Demon Wolf

The map before Wolf was divided into hexagonal segments. The outer ring, four tiles wide, had tiles marked with numbers. Brilliant Gate’s base was labeled number one.

Nearly all cells in the outer ring had multiple dots marked with letters. A thick ledger, which accompanied the complex chart, held an index explaining the letters found on each tile.

With his senses awakened, Wolf took a brief moment to understand the workings of Marie’s system.

She had a natural knack for leadership and administration. Most of her orders were on the spot, even when she faced great pressure. I have a feeling Brilliant Gate’s people could’ve pulled this off, had I not entered Corpsewood.

“There’s a list of names marked with two to three numbers. If I’m not wrong, they hid their communication hubs in the vertices, and I must find one of them to confirm my exact position. After that, I’ll just keep a mental track of my current location.”

Wolf skimmed through the wealth of information and found numerous Monster Beast lairs, some of which he had accidentally passed without alerting their residents during his blind rush towards Brilliant Gate’s headquarters.

Finally, there was a one kilometer wide ring drawn in blue, roughly two hundred and twenty kilometers from Corpsewood’s center. There were no notes or references regarding the thick line, but Wolf knew what it was.

He smiled. With a destination in mind, Wolf headed towards the center and the general area where he presumed the Brilliant Gate’s disciple called Inaya had hidden herself.

***

Inaya was bored. She had received the first part of the evacuation order and prepared to leave her post the moment her escort appeared. In the meantime, she meditated, internalizing Corpsewood’s rich World Energy.

The twenty-two-year-old woman sat at the center of the Spell Formation with her eyes closed, assured no manling or Monster Beast could stumble across her by accident.

“Hello, are you Inaya Delisle?” a smooth, silky voice asked, nearly giving Inaya a heart attack.

The woman jumped back. Her eyes snapped open, but before she could focus her vision, a vise-like hand gripped her throat.

“I have no reason to kill you. Just answer my question, and I will spare your life.” A man with perfect, white teeth, sapphire eyes, and slightly pointy ears enunciated, taking his time with each word.

‘Yes,’ she wished to say, but the hand crushing her windpipe denied passage to air, causing her to open and close her mouth like fish on dry land. Finally, she nodded, doing her best to confirm her identity.

“Thank you,” the half-elf said, still smiling as relaxedly as he did a moment ago.

Inaya then heard the sound of twig snapping as the man lowered her.

“I’ll take your holdingring and other possessions. You can stay and hide here until Corpsewood closes. Unless there’s a malfunction with the Spell Formation, you should remain perfectly safe.” The man spoke while gently laying her down on the blanket she sat on.

She wanted to grab his hand, to summon her weapon and fight, but she could not sense her ring, nor feel anything below her neck.

The terrifying beauty waved to her casually before disappearing into the underbrush. All alone, laying immobile on the ground, Inaya finally caught up with her horrible reality. She opened her mouth to scream, then choked down her howl as tears streamed down her face.

***

All right! I know where I am, and I know where I want to be. It’s time to find that soul reinforcing treasure. Wolf did not spare the woman he had maimed a thought. He kept his word and gave her the freedom to choose between life and death. As for her future, it had nothing to do with him.

Wolf headed towards the center, keeping his stride at exactly seventy-five centimeters for the ease of mapping his progress.

“Even though it’s tedious, this kind of situation is where Seekers shine compared to everyone else.”

Unlike with his mad rush to find Marie, Wolf took his time and moved with care. The Monster Beasts deeper in Corpsewood were more dangerous than the ones at the periphery. However, there were no rules, and powerful monsters might appear anywhere.

I wonder what injured that Whiteflame Honeyeater?

“The wounds on its head suggest four claws, and the distance between them is too big for it to be a cat-type Monster Beast.”

Did it have a fight with a solitary Gilded Ape?

Wolf considered the strange situation for a while and eventually decided it was likely the work of one or more Gilded Apes.

Whoever you were, thanks. Without your intervention, Marie’s scheming moves would’ve wasted days of my time.

Wolf walked for two hours before realizing something. He started enjoying Corpsewood’s perpetual twilight, and had long since gotten used to the moist odor of decomposing foliage, as well as the lingering scent of blood and death clinging to his skin and tattered robe.

That’s a problem.

“How the hells hadn’t I noticed it before?”

Wolf threw off the rags his clothes had become and summoned a barrel of water. He scrubbed himself for the better part of an hour until he finally deemed himself clean again. He summoned a brand new set of Earth Pavilion disciple robes and stared at them without putting them on.

Knowing my luck, if I don them, a Monster Beast will shred them or smear them with blood in an hour, tops.

“If I wander about nude, I’ll meet a gang of horny women within ten minutes, tops.” 

Wolf bit his lip. He only had three spare uniforms left, but going around buck naked was also out of the question. Wolf considered his options for a split second and chose to compromise. He put on a pair of white underpants and, having fulfilled the minimal requirement for decency, continued his journey.

Unknowingly, his lips stretched, forming a grin.

This is kind of like my expedition to Fellwood, after I grew my body and ended up without suitable clothes. It’s just that back then I didn’t have to consider eyewitnesses ready to spread word of my scandalous behavior.

Against Wolf’s expectations, he encountered neither women nor hostile Monster Beasts until he had left the area Marie’s henchmen had charted. He had just neared the middle ring when he froze to examine the world before him.

The middle section really is so saturated in World Energy that the air grows visible from the thin gray mist.

“Monster Beasts should grow more territorial and aggressive in this part of Corpsewood, while the core is carved up, and intruding any monster’s territory results in an immediate attack, if discovered.”

That soul fortifying treasure is in the middle ring, but dangerously close to the core region.

“Even if it was in the core’s center, I’d still go look for it.”

Wolf almost nodded, but stopped himself.

Ten, it’s only a matter of time before I start shouting at myself and beating myself up.

“If I keep talking with myself like this, will I develop a split personality?”

Wolf’s eye twitched at the thought, and he knocked aside such irrelevant considerations. He drew a deep breath and dove into the world in which World Energy had reached the point of clinging to water vapor and becoming visible.

The first minute he spent in the new environment was exhilarating. The air which he breathed burned his nose and lungs soothingly, evoking the familiar comfort of applying a potion to a bleeding wound.

Simply breathing here should allow people to reach the first stage of Blood Saturating, maybe even a higher realm.

“I guess it’s obvious why Monster Beasts are more territorial around here.”

Wolf had advanced through the cultivation wonderland for mere ten minutes before he caught the sight of deep brown, which stood against the black soil and the green underbrush.

He awakened his senses.

Rhythmic breathing. Three people cultivating.

Wolf snuck towards the unsuspecting disciples hiding within a bush. He was about to summon Eviltongue, when he confirmed he had seen those women before.

What’s the best way to do this?

After a second’s hesitation, Wolf backed away several steps, donned his robe, and intentionally snapped a branch.

He heard the rustle and saw the patches of brown move, but at least his fellow disciples had not made a cliched mistake like calling ‘Who’s there?’

“Don’t be alarmed, I’m Earth Pavilion’s Wolf Hillman.” He slowly moved a soft twig covered in wicked thorns, revealing his face.

“Senior Apprentice Brother Hillman! We were worried about you!” Three women emerged, and Wolf wondered whether they genuinely worried about him, or were trying to suck up.

“Doesn’t matter.”

“Have you met the Brilliant Gate’s attackers?”

All three bobbed their heads.

“Five of them ambushed us after approaching to speak with us,” an eighteen-year-old redhead with a sturdy physique and massive arms answered. “However, we didn’t buy their small-talk and we got them. Lydie took one to the guts. It was a nasty wound, but two healing pills solved it.”

Lydie nodded, showing the patchwork job she did to repair her uniform.

“What about you?” the red, whose name Wolf did not know, asked.

How do I explain this without it sounding like I’m bragging?