Sorry about no chapter yesterday, I was actually feeling a little burned out :p I wrote half the chapter, so this should be out in the morning. I'll write another one that'll come out today.
Enjoy
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After storing the loot, Steel checked the battle result:
Battle ResultsYou have won a battle against a 2 demon dogs
+100 exp
+ 2 demon dog fang
'I guess the fangs are special loot for the quest.' He thought
He looked at his equipment and cursed. His shield was down to 20 durability, he would need to get it fixed when he got back, otherwise it would be worthless during the expedition.
"Master." Hunie called. He looked over to see her gesturing for him to come to her. He walked over, curious.
"Yes Hunie, what is it?"
She pointed into the bush the demon dog came from, "It smells like wolf over there, lets go check it out."
"Doesn't smell like wolf because a wolf just came from there?"
"Fuu, stupid Master, listen to Hunie's nose."
"I prefer your mouth, feels pretty nice."
(Cue flying fist of blushing attack)
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The two of them slowly made their way through the underbrush, careful to keep their heads down and make as little noise as possible. The area was actually pretty nice: a few small clearing, a river that ran through the entire forest, a large tree that had a warped, cave like opening,
Unfortunately, they found no signs of the wolf lair. They didn't encounter another demon wolf, or even a regular wolf. They were quite disheartened, as the wolves had to be in the area, but now they would have to search the entire forest section.
Sighing, they decided to eat next to the river. Hunie brought over a fallen tree, while Steel worked to try to make a fire. This turned out to be a much harder task then he had though, because he didn't have fire magic or a fire starter.
"Master is so amazing trying to make fire from nothing."
Steel couldn't tell if she was being serious or sarcastic, it seemed as though she had kept her poker face from being a rabbit. Steel sensed she would become a formidable maid someday with that poker face and the ability to sniff out lies, once her innocent reactions were gone.
"A Master is only as good as his servants." He said, rubbing sticks together with his hands.
A kick to his ass told him she had been sarcastic. Still though, his tumble into the fire caused his shield to rub against some rocks, creating some small sparks. Inspired, Steel rubbed the stones against his shield until the fire caught on the twigs.
Status UpdateYou have created fire without the proper tools or abilities.
+1 luck
-5 shield durability
Steel's cursing rang across the river. His shield was now at 15 durability, very much not worth the small fire he had created. Tears of regret ran down his face as he punched the ground. Hunie patted his back in sympathy, taking the hint.
Once his tantrum was over, the two hoisted their demon wold kebabs over the fire and let them cook until light pink on the inside. They were quite delicious to eat.
Food Recipe learnedRecipeDemon Meat SkewerQuality:RookieDifficulty:B.A.Effect+1 Darkness resistance until sleep or next meal
Steel was quite pleased to learn a new recipe, even if it was a low recipe type. He couldn't wait to finish Mema's Quest so she'd teach him the cooking skill. He could cook without it, but food was more easily ruined or became poison without it. Kind of like a toddler trying to make a cake.
Steel took a moment to appreciate Hunie nibbling on her meat, looking very much like the rabbit that she had once been. He had a sudden premonition of Hunie meeting Mema. He saw a giant Aura Rabbit facing down a giant Aura Demon. He shivered at the thought, resolving to never let them meet.
"Something wrong Master?"
"No Hunie, go back to your meat."
"Okay!(nibble nibble)"
They cleaned up the fire pit and set out to continue their journey. Hunie sniffed out trails on the ground while Steel climbed up some trees and took a look around. Nothing could be found, not even a squirrel. Actually, besides the bear and demon wolves, nothing seemed to be alive in the forest.
"Weird, where is everything?" He wondered out loud.
"It's the wolves Master, they kill or drive everything away." Hunie explained, her nose on the ground, "The only things left are the animals and monsters that can fight the wolves."
That explained why the forest was a higher level place than the grassland, even though it was so close to a starter city. Steel figured that if the quest was successful, the overall level would fall back down to lower levels.
Still, they had to find the stupid lair first.
"This is getting us nowhere Hunie." He complained, "The lair isn't here, ad frankly I'm not sure it's even in the forest."
Hunie's nose wrinkled up, "I know how you feel Master, but those wolves definitely came from this area."
"Really then, well, have you ever seen a lair before?" He said sarcastically.
Growing an angry look, Hunie put her hands on her hips, "Stupid Master, I lived in a lair most of my life before you, that's where my fellow Hungry Bunnies and I came from."
Steel's mouth dropped, how could he have been so stupid. He jumped over to Hunie and grabbed her shoulders. "Hunie, where was your lair exactly, what were the surroundings like?"
Taken aback by his forcefulness, she stammered, "Um, uh, it was in the grassland Master. It was in a dip in the grass, a hole under a hill."
He grinned, "A hole in a hill you say?" He threw his hand around, "This entire area is FLAT! Where could they have a lair that wasn't a direct hole in the ground."
"Geh, is Master a genius!? To think such words would come from Master's mouth, this one is surprised beyond words."
Ignoring the severe emotional damage, Steel pulled the map out, "Quick Hunie, where's the highest spot in the forest."
"Muu, Master, that's a dumb question, Hunie, cough, I have never been in this forest before. There's nothing to eat in the forest that's easy to get to."
"Okay then, from all the walking we've done today, where is the highest spot." He said slowly.
Hunie tilted her head and considered the question, her ears twitched left and right in though. "Hmm, that would most likely be the second spot we were at earlier, the one with all the rocks."
"If the lair was there, why did we find demon wolves here and not there?"
"Hunting patrol maybe Master? I have no idea, but Master's genius idea is out best bet now. Lets go!" She grabbed his arm and dragged him with her as she raced back into the trees.
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The rocky area are the same as they had last seen it. Sparse tress, with large rocks scattered around the area. Nothing seemed to be living in the area, which confirmed their suspicions about there being a lair here.
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Hunie climbed one of the boulders slowly, and looked around, keeping head as low as possible. She motioned for Steel to join her. The top of the boulder let them see a lot farther than on the ground, and could see a faint glowing in the distance. It seemed to be similar to the glow a fire would give off, but not quite the same.
"Lets go check it out Hunie." He whispered to her.
"Okay Master." She replied at the same volume.
They made their way back down, and slowly creeped their way through the rocks until the glow was more obvious, They peaked their heads around a rock to look at it.
The glow was coming from between to rocks that formed an opening into the ground. Two wolves were fighting each other in front of the cave opening, ripping their teeth into each other in a blood frenzy. One of them managed to land a killing blow, and dragged the body inside the cave. A large amount of growling and barking came out soon after, the wolves inside fighting over the new food available.
"Hunie, is that it?" Steel asked, wanting to be sure.
She nodded, her ears twitching nervously, "That's it Master, and I think we should leave before they come out again."
In earnest agreement, Steel moved away with Hunie following close behind. They had made it to the edge of the clearing when they heard a growl behind them.
They turned to find the biggest wolf they'd ever seen lying on a rock, staring right at them with pure red eyes. Instead of the typical black fur, the wolf had 3 stripes of silver running down from it's tail to it head, covering the ears and ending at the eyes and nose. The wold regarded them with eyes that held a hint of intelligence inside the madness.
"Master, that's an Alpha." Hunie said as quiet as possible, "We can't fight that."
Knowing his death would result in failure, Steel considered his options. The wolf was staring at them, but it hadn't called out for backup yet. If they gave chase, it would be unlikely he would be able to outrun them all the way back to gate. A separate possibility was Hunie making back tot he gate to tell the captain, but her appearance aside no one actually knew her, so she might be at best ignored or at worst imprisoned.
"Any ideas Hunie?" He whispered out the corner of his mouth.
"Muu...Distract it?"
"Okay, in that case take your shirt off and distract while I escape."
"Fue! (Whispered exclamation) What is idiot Master saying? That wolf had no interest in my beautiful body like that, wait, you just want to see my chest, indecent Master!"
"Of course, if I'm going to die, at least let me see the mountains of heaven."
"Idiot, throw the wolf some food or something." She muttered at him.
"Oh right." He said lamely, carefully removing the rest of the demon wolf meat from his inventory. The two wolves earlier proved, that they had nothing against cannibalism. He deftly threw all the meat far from them. The wolf sniffed the air, growled, and leaped after the meat. As soon as it was out of sight, Hunie pushed and said, "Run Master!"
They fled the area as fast as their legs would take, Hunie leading the way in the direction of the gate.
"Why aren't we running the way we came in?" He asked, legs pumping away at the ground.
"Normally, we'd go that way Master, but the wolves are more dangerous than anything we'd run into this way." She replied back in front of him, "If anything, they may fight the wolves that try to follow us after that alpha finishes eating."
"And how long will that take?"
Howls behind them answered the question, as well as the answering howls further in the distance. Hearing the howls filled Steel with fear, and he activated "Charge'. His increased momentum caused him to speed past Hunie, picking her up over his shoulder as he ran faster. Hunie gave a yelp as she ended up in a princess carry, blushing in spite of the situation.
"Hunie, I need directions." He yelled at her, watching his stamina drain slowly down.
She pointed, "Head that way Master! We are almost there!"
"Really?"
"No Master, sorry but you're going to run out of energy before we even reach the grassland." She said with an apologetic look on her face.
"What! How do we survive then?" He cried out.
"Master, I advise we hid in a tree or in the river." Hunie called out from his arms, "They might not be able to climb a tree, and they might drown trying to swim,"
"Okay, which way?"
"How am I suppose to know Master, I already told you I don;t know the forest." She crossed her hands and gave him an angry look.
'Worthless!' He cried out in his mind. He didn't need her to punch him while he was running for their lives. His mind raced, considering the advice she had given him. Climbing a tree with few low branches might save them, but the wolves would guard the tree relentlessly. A river would allow them to escape the wolves, but the risk was the river carrying them far from their destination. Well, that and drowning from an accident. Steel wished he had more mana to create an Earth Wall that could hide them from the wolves.
He had an idea, "Hunie, how are your digging skills?"
She perked up in his arms and managed the thrust her very distracting chest out in pride, "Hohoho, has Master finally acknowledged my skills? I am quite skilled at digging holes, in fact in my home I was the best digger in the entire grassland."
Steel smiled at her, recognizing the unexpected talent.
"Great! I'm going to need you to dig us a hiding hole."
"Eh? But won't the wolves smell us out?"
"Nope, trust your Master." He gave her his most reassuring smile. She frowned at him.
"Master, that smile just screams bad thoughts, are you alright?"
He ignored the emotional damage and came out at his intended destination, the clearing with the stream. He ran toward it, Hunie noticing it and frowned again, "Master, the stream is too small to hide out scent."
He dropped Hunie on the other side of the stream and pointed at the stream, "Hunie, dig a hole here."
"Eh, dig a whole in the stream, do you want to drown yourself?" She asked confused.
He rolled his eyes, but cast Earth Wall in the stream, creating a buffer n the stream around a circular area.
"Dig!" He commanded urgently.
She shrugged, and dirt flew as she dug a hole in the middle of the stream. It took her only a few minutes to create a space big enough for the two of them to hide in. The hole resembled a bottle, small entrance and large body. Steel quickly moved the new dirt around to disguise the effort, then jumped into the hole with Hunie. Once in, he chugged a mana potion and covered the hole with an Earth Wall. Another mana potion allowed him to remove the Earth Wall that had been keeping the water back. They listened as the water flowed over their hole.
Hunie clapped her hands together, "Muu, I knew Master was a genius! The wolves will never be able to sniff out a hole under water, such cleverness from my stupid Master gives this one much hope for the future."
Annoyed by the emotional damage she had been inflicting all day, he said, "I thought you were the fastest digger in the grassland, what took you so long?"
She punched him, then turned around and sulked in her part of the hole. He grinned, positioning himself in a comfortable posture. They would be here for a little while.
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Okay, that done, and I'm writing the next chapter right now. Expect later tonight, enjoy :)