CHAPTER 53: HUNTING AN ELK

"Also, if you don’t manage to catch and successfully kill the elk, then prepare yourself for the punishment I have in store for you," Nyra said as she walked away, her hips swaying with every movement.

Nyra soon disappeared into the forest with the rabbit hanging from her neck, leaving just Whiffer and me.

"We should get going," I said to Whiffer as he watched Nyra’s disappearing figure. He was practically drooling, and his face flushed red.

"Man, Master Nyra is one beautiful lady," he muttered. "But she’s not half as beautiful as the goddess I saw."

I started walking off, and he followed along beside me.

"Tell me about her, your goddess," I said.

The moment I said this, Whiffer’s face lit up with an erotic smile.

"Oh man, where do I start? She was mesmerizing. Her hair was the color of the ocean. I couldn’t see her lower body since half of her was in the river, but the little that I did see was breathtaking. She had curves, I could tell you that much. And her boobs were the perfect size. Her eyes were like beautiful blue crystals. I don’t care what anyone says, she was way hotter than the moon princess."

"You said you saw her eating a heart. Did the heart belong to a werewolf or another monster?" I asked. That was the only thing about this story that caught my attention.

Whiffer frowned at my question.

"How would I know? It probably belonged to one of those mothmen," he grumbled.

"Mothmen? Like the bloodmoths?"

"Huh? So you don’t know? It’s the evolved version of the bloodmoths. They are quite formidable, that’s for sure. Nyra told us something; she said that she thinks there is a ranking to the different monsters and that they all evolve at a certain level based on their rankings. She said that zombies and bloodmoths were of the lowest level, which was why they evolved at level 5."

The level 10 demogorgon I fought on the night of the full moon must’ve been an evolved one. But it couldn’t possibly be that the demogorgons were on the same ranking as the zombies. They would at least be one step higher. I needed to figure out more about this ranking system.

"Nyra, you said... how does she know so much?"

Whiffer looked a bit hesitant at first, but then he finally spoke up.

"Well, you see, Nyra wasn’t originally from our pack. She was originally from a pack called Crimson Fang, where most of its members had red hair just like her. But that pack was wiped out. It was wiped out by the moon princess."

"So that’s why she got so angry before when you and the others were discussing the moon princess."

"Yes. Nyra has been training a lot. I think she plans to take revenge on the moon princess. It’s a fool’s errand; no one can even get close to her. She’s too powerful. Anyway, back to the goddess I saw. She had the voice of an angel. I’m telling you, you have to listen to her sing to fully understand."

"Yes, about her, do you really think she is powerful enough to defeat a mothman?"

"Hmm... well, my memory is a bit foggy, but I think I saw hundreds of corpses floating in the river with her. Their hearts were all ripped out."

Interesting...

I wonder who that woman really is. An idea was slowly forming in my mind. It was an idea I had been toying with for a while now. I had fully made up my mind to leave this pack. But with how the world is now, it might not be the smartest idea to survive on my own.

My idea was that I needed a pack of my own. A pack of powerful creatures, not just werewolves, and I would be their alpha. Once they have power or value, then they would be welcomed. Right now, I was in need of powerful allies apart from Isabella.

This woman Whiffer was talking about sounded interesting. The moon princess sounded interesting too, but she also sounded like too much of a lost cause. Whoever this woman is, finding her sounds like a good idea.

But first, I needed information. Information that Nyra might have. The more I learned about these monsters, the better.

...

Soon Whiffer and I arrived at where the elk was currently nibbling on grass.

"How are we going to do this?" Whiffer asked. "Should we circle around him and jump at him at once? It seems like the reasonable choice. Or maybe we can lay a trap."

"Hmm? Just let me handle this for now."

"What?! Are you crazy? If you mess up, then it’s both of our asses getting punished. I don’t know you well enough to put my life in your hands, dude."

"Just keep quiet."

I released a little of my bloodlust at Whiffer when I spoke. Not enough for the elk to notice, just enough for Whiffer to shut up. The moment he felt my bloodlust, he immediately bowed his head like an obedient dog. It was as if his throat clamped up and he was unable to speak.

’I’m getting better at this,’ I thought. I still remembered what happened last time when I used it against Isabella.

With Whiffer now quieted, I turned my attention back to the elk. I then concentrated on my breathing, and I could immediately feel my heart rate slowing. Last time, it took about 10 seconds before that headache set in, so I decided to act quickly.

I used my lack of presence to move closer to the creature. I didn’t even produce a sound, even when I stepped on leaves or small sticks. The moment I was close enough to the elk, I prepared myself to attack.

I launched off the ground like a rocket and released my bloodlust at the same time. When I released my bloodlust after suppressing it, it felt as if it exploded out of me, creating the same crippling technique Nyra used.

The elk’s entire body went stiff. It stood still, its eyes turned milky white as I ripped out its throat with my claws; it all happened within the span of a second. The beast didn’t even make a sound as it collapsed to the ground with a thud.