CHAPTER 52: CONTROLLING YOUR KILLING INTENT

[Extra Chapter for powerstones. Thank you to those who gave powerstones this week. I appreciate the support :)]

Whiffer held his nose in the air and began sniffing. I had a feeling that was why he was nicknamed Whiffer. His special trait was his sense of smell. After a while, his expression perked up as if he’d caught something.

"Follow me," he said as he dashed off, leaping from tree to tree.

Nyra and I followed behind him. From the direction he was going, I could tell that he was heading toward a rabbit that was nearby. But there was an elk further out. It seemed his sense of smell wasn’t as strong as mine, but it was still impressive.

We traveled for just a few minutes, and before long, we got to where the rabbit was. Once the rabbit was in sight, Nyra took the lead.

"For young pups like yourselves, hunting might seem difficult," she said. "Especially since you have the issue of your bloodlust seeping out. Rabbits and most animals, or even humans, are very sensitive to bloodlust. Their sensitivity to it is about three times higher than ours. That makes it that much more necessary for us to learn to control it."

I could see how controlling your bloodlust could be especially hard for werewolves. Right now, looking at the rabbit, I felt nothing, but if I so much as thought about eating it, then my body would begin to change.

It starts with a lump at the back of my throat, then saliva overflowing my mouth. After that, the fangs and the claws come out. Just the thought of consuming flesh is enough for a wildness to start enveloping our minds. It’s harder for some werewolves to control than others.

For me, it’s easy to control in the beginning stages, but if I let it get to a point, it gets harder to control. That’s what happened to me on the night of the full moon. The blood and the flesh of the demogorgon drove me crazy. There are similar cases of werewolves who have permanently lost their mind to this.

They are called berserkers. Most of them can’t even speak; their intelligence is that of a regular wolf. All they know is the urge to kill and consume everything in sight. When this happens, their eyes go from yellow to blood red.

"I’ll teach you boys how to properly suppress your bloodlust, to the point where you can even hide your presence," Nyra said with a mischievous grin on her face. "Start by focusing on your breathing. Clear your mind and feel the air entering and exiting your lungs."

I did as she instructed and focused on my breathing. I latched onto the sensation of air entering through my mouth and passing through my body. Strangely, my heartbeat began to slow, and so did my pulse.

In this state, I felt a bone-chilling coldness enveloping my entire body, but it lasted for only a second as a mind-shattering headache dragged me out of the state. It felt as if someone was stabbing needles into my brain. I held my head and almost lost my footing off the branch, but just then, Nyra grabbed me.

"Calm down," she said in a low tone. It sounded like nothing but a whisper in the wind.

The strange part was that she stood right beside me, but yet I could smell her presence. Even her heartbeat was so low I could hardly hear it.

"That was a side effect of suppressing your bloodlust too much. But over time, your body will get used to it, but that’s only with practice," she said, but then her eyes turned coldly to Whiffer, who didn’t even make an effort to try lowering his presence.

When Nyra’s gaze landed upon him, it was as if a jolt of lightning had coursed through his body.

"I’m sorry, the headache is too much to bear. I can’t do it again," Whiffer shouted, sounding panicked.

Nyra just sighed at him.

"Well, I don’t care how you do it, as long as you can hunt and catch prey," Nyra said. "Now, I’ll do the honor of hunting the rabbit."

Nyra turned in the direction of the rabbit and started to crouch down. The poor brown rabbit was feeding on grass, unaware of the predator preparing to take its life.

"When you leap, rely on the power of your back legs. The tendons in our feet are different from the ones in humans. They are more like springs," Nyra said as she compressed the muscles in her legs.

She stared intensely at the rabbit, and her eyes glowed a bright shade of yellow. Then, in what sounded like a crisp swish, she pounced after the rabbit, propelling herself like a high-speed bullet.

But something happened the moment she leaped through the air. At that moment, all her bloodlust came pouring out all at once. It was crippling. Her bloodlust felt different. It felt as if a giant beast was watching you, but no matter how much you looked for it, you could not find it. But you knew it was there, watching. Everyone’s bloodlust felt different, I guess this was hers.

The rabbit couldn’t resist her bloodlust either; it also froze. In the end, she managed to kill the animal without it being able to react. I was at a loss for words. Her technique was flawless.

First, she hid her presence and prepared for the attack without her prey being any the wiser. Then, at the last second, when she was ready to attack, she released her bloodlust, almost like a weapon. After suppressing her bloodlust and then releasing it at once, it exploded out of her causing her prey to freeze in place. After suppressing her bloodlust, releasing it seemed to make it even stronger.

Whiffer stood with his mouth hung open, but I doubted he truly understood the extent of what just happened.

"So fast," he muttered as she stared at Nyra.

Nyra, on the other hand, was still crouched down with the rabbit between her jaws. It seemed she was the type to hunt with her jaws rather than her claws. She then pulled the rabbit out of her mouth and licked its blood off her lips.

"Okay, boys, it’s your turn. I won’t go over what I just did again, so you’re on your own." She then frowned at us. "I doubt you boys have the skills to see what I did, much less replicate it. Sigh. It’s been a while since I had any promising students. Well, anyway, there is an elk a couple of meters to the north. Catch it and bring it back."