CHAPTER 54: MORE HUNTING

Truth be told, I was a little amazed at how easy it was to kill the elk. It stood at 5 feet tall and most likely weighed over a thousand pounds. It was a monster before I knew that monsters existed. But I was a little annoyed that I would have to lug this thing back to the hunting lodge.

I would’ve made Whiffer carry it, but I bet he wouldn’t be able to lift it off the ground. If I had to guess, anything over 200 pounds would pose a problem for him, and that elk weighed over a thousand pounds. It would be impossible for him. Normally, they would use a pickup truck to carry such a large animal.

With a resigned sigh, I lifted the creature off the ground with one hand and threw it over my shoulder. Blood from the wound I created in its neck poured all over my clothes.

"Let’s go," I said to Whiffer, who was still bowing on the ground. He was shaking, and his pupils were dilated, but the moment he heard my words, he seemed to snap out of it.

With the giant elk over my shoulder, we walked through the forest until we finally arrived back at the hunting lodge.

When we got back, I saw Nyra was teaching the others how to catch fish in the river, but the moment we got close, she turned in our direction. She looked surprised when she saw the giant elk I was carrying.

"Wow, you boys actually did well. How did the two of you manage to do it? It would’ve taken the entire group to take down an animal this big," she said.

"It was all Liam. He used the technique you taught him."

Dammit—

"What?"

Nyra’s eyes widened. I should’ve told him to keep his mouth shut before we came here.

Nyra moved closer to us to inspect the animal.

"There is hardly a scratch on him. It was killed with a precise blow to its artery in its neck. How did you ever know where its weak spot was?" she asked.

It wasn’t a hard task to do. With my hearing prowess, I could listen to the pulsing of its blood and find its artery easily.

"Lucky guess," I answered, hoping she would be dumb enough to believe me.

She looked at me with newfound interest. Before, it seemed she dismissed me as just a child like the others, but now, there was something more behind her gaze.

"Well, however you managed to do it, I’m glad. Now, I’ll teach you how to skin it," she said.

At her instruction, I brought the elk over to a shaded area underneath an oak tree.

"Like with many things, you’ll use your claws to skin the beast."

She then proceeded to show us the proper technique to skin the elk. After she was done, she brought out a large scale to weigh the beast.

"450 kg," she said with a proud smile on her face. "This more than surpasses your weekly quota of 50 kg per week."

"Does that mean we won’t be required to fill the quota for the following week?" Whiffer asked with a massive grin on his face.

Nyra sighed and chopped him across the head.

"No. You more than anybody should know that any excess pounds you carry in one week do not pass over to the next week."

Even though that was disappointing to hear, I kind of expected that would be the case.

"The two of you did well today. For now, come by the river with the others. I’ll teach you how to fish."

Following Nyra’s instruction, we went over to the river where the others were. I stepped into the river, and the water immediately flowed up to my neck. It was deeper than I thought. The water was a bit murky with algae, so it was hard to see the bottom.

I used my thermal vision skill to make out the fishes underneath.

"It will be easier if you target the ones swimming against the current. But if you really want to challenge yourself and master the art of hunting faster, you’ll target the faster fish who are swimming with the current. Also, it’s the same procedure as before, as when I taught you how to hunt." Nyra said.

I heeded Nyra’s advice and suppressed my bloodlust to the point where I hid my presence; then, the moment I went in for the capture, I released my bloodlust. It worked perfectly as before, and I managed to catch a large salmon.

When I caught the first fish, I decided to look around at what everyone was doing, and to my surprise, none of them were using the technique Nyra taught us. They all relied on brute strength and speed.

’She was right; they are hopeless.’

I could’ve also used my raw strength and speed to catch the elk, but the technique Nyra used seemed like the optimal way. It seemed practical, and I could see ways it could be used outside of hunting.

None of the others seemed to get that. Nyra was true to her words that she didn’t care how they hunted, only that they had results to show for their efforts. I can’t say I agree with her methods. She struck me as an experienced woman I could probably learn a lot from.

For the rest of the day, I practiced this technique nonstop while also catching fish. I caught the ones moving with the current, the ones harder to catch. Barefooted, I moved through the water, catching fish as they tried to swim by, but just then I felt a sharp pain as something pierced my foot.

I was momentarily shocked when I saw small traces of my blood in the water.

’What could be sharp enough to pierce through my skin?’

With that question in mind, I bent down and pulled out the object that was still lodged in my foot.

"What is this, glass or some sort of crystal?"

I stared at the object in my hand, trying to make out what it was. It was blue in color, and at first glance, it looked like a piece of glass, but the more I looked at it, the more I realized what it was.

"This looks like the fragment of a scale. But what creature could it have fallen from?" I muttered.

Just as I spoke, Nyra called to us to get out of the water as night was beginning to fall. It was now time to go home. Following her instruction, I climbed out of the river and prepared to leave with the others, but just then I was stopped by Nyra.

"Liam," she called out my name. Her expression was unreadable. "Before you go, I want to talk to you about something."