Chapter 6: Hound my way

As we proceeded through the lush forest path, a familiar howl of a beast echoed. Then the crumpling sounds of leaves could be heard, approaching us in a hurried manner — we were marked.

“That sounds pretty near. You think we’ll be okay?”

Just as Blue asked me that question, a white furred monster with sharp canines protruding out of its jaw sprang behind her; the fangs rushed towards Blue with the clear intent of taking her life.

“Blue!” Blue responded to my cry with a quick turnaround, as if she had eyes on the back of her head. In that moment the scythe-like blade on her foot revealed itself, Blue was already in position to intercept. It was all too quick. Instead of the beautiful pale skin that it had intended to tear apart, the blade entered the monster’s jaw and cleaved it in half.

When Blue finished turning, she expressionlessly pushed her long chestnut hair back as the defeated monster landed in front of her. But we didn’t convince ourselves that we were safe, as the howling grew so loud as if to shake the forest.

“It’s not over yet, Blue. Stay on guard.”

“Aye.” Blue nodded her head in agreement and the two of us cautiously continued.

Drawing the sword sheathed on my back, I left a mark on some of the trees we just passed by and moved on. Traversing a forest is my specialty, but it won’t hurt to be extra cautious.

“Defeating a single hound isn’t hard but it’s different when a group marks their prey. It just meant that they see us as a threat for whatever reason.”

“Probably, you see them as nothing but loot after all.”

“Loot?”

“Ingredients, Claude! Ingredients!”

“Ah.”

A small sudden growling arose from the section of trees ahead, causing me to focus my stare there. Immediately, I entered a battle stance and raised my sword mid level to strike. There was no section of unease in my heart; I have physically and mentally prepared myself in these types of situations after all.

As we waited for the hounds to reveal themselves, I applied mana on the wooden sword on my left. The sword extended and viciously hunted the monsters hiding themselves from our sight. A reverberating howl of pain was heard afterwards, followed by the appearance of multiple hounds left and right. There were three in total.

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Now angered and confused, two hounds went straight to where the mysterious piercing wood returned — to me — while the remaining one pursued Blue. I stayed in position and applied mana on my gauntlet just enough to strengthen my left arm that it could crush a skull. The two hounds leaped at the same time, so I swung my sword faster than their fangs would reach me. My sword pierced its jaw and went straight out of its head. The other I perfectly caught by its mouth, crushed its jaw, and kicked it aside. After withdrawing my blade stuck on its friend, I went towards the whimpering monster on the ground and dealt the killing blow.

“You okay, Claude?” I heard Blue ask me. I turned towards her and noticed that she had finished as well.

“I’m alright so far. You?”

“Just a small scratch.” Blue showed me the small cut on her right arm. It wasn’t something that should have my concern but that type of cut would surely leave a mark on the skin if not treated immediately.

I reached to my rucksack and took out a single Fonera leaf along with a piece of cloth to wrap it around her wound and seal the medicine. While I was doing so, however, I felt an even greater presence surrounding us but it all disappeared after a single howl. Things were a lot more disastrous than I thought. The only monster that could order a pack of hounds is their leader — a Blade hound. There was no doubt we’d encounter the leader of this pack sooner or later, but not today, as they needed time to regroup. Good. We could use that time ourselves to reach the lake.

“Claude, you look a little scary when you’re being serious.”

“Really? How do I look like?”

“You don’t speak much on the outside, but it feels like you speak a lot in your mind.”

I cleaned my blade and slid it back to its sheath. “Well, you don’t usually speak in those types of situations anyways, right? Come on, Blue. We need to reach the lake and set up camp before sundown.”

We might have avoided fighting the leader right now, but tomorrow would be an inevitable confrontation.