Once more, Symon and his allies were outside the village. A night in a real bed had done wonders for everyone's mood and general state. They had all washed up and groomed themselves. Weeks focused on survival and fighting monsters did not lead to the best personal hygiene, something Symon could appreciate now that he'd had a chance to better take care of himself using some of the few comforts afforded in such a remote civilisation.

They looked much more put together, like young but professional adventurers instead of scruffy travellers. Currently, they were on the edge of the western forest, having already made their way past the cultivated farmland. Thankfully for the farmers, wide roads of packed dirt between their fields allowed Symon to pass by them without damaging their crops. Speaking of, they'd purchased a small bag of apples from a farmer they passed in the fields for only a few copper coins. The manor wasn't supposed to be too far from the village and they weren't planning on staying out for a long time, but they still decided that having some fresh food to eat was worth the slight inconvenience of the extra weight.

Technically, they probably weren't actually apples, but they were close enough in Symon's mind. They were the right shape and size, an appealing green colour, and had a refreshing sourness that balanced out the sweetness.

Oh, they're probably the ones Durga makes his cider from, Symon realised.

He finished up with his snack as he took in the scene before him. The forest around Brackstead had a fair number of monsters and dangerous animals, to the point that the villagers would only enter it when they absolutely needed to, but it looked normal enough to Symon.

The tree and other plant species weren't recognisable, but then again he doubted he could name many Earth plants, either. For all he'd been warned against it, it looked completely normal. Of course, he already knew how quickly a nice stroll could turn into a monster ambush, so his guard was already up.

"Okay everyone," Symon said, and the three Dumosans turned to him. "We're just going to check this manor out. We don't know much about it or what kind of dangers it might hold, so let's not get cocky. I'm not going to be disappointed if we decide it's too dangerous and need to turn back, okay?"

Aslan nodded, while the other two looked at him expectantly. He quickly translated Symon's words for them. Learning Dumosi was on his to-do list — he knew the most important phrases for a combat scenario, but not much else. They still relied on Aslan for anything more complex than the most basic of phrases.

They all set out once everyone was in agreement. The dungeon was somewhere underground in the direction they were heading, which meant more ambient mana and more monsters, so everyone was on edge. They knew it wouldn't be a matter of if they were attacked, but when.

They wouldn't be going to the dungeon today — he didn't even know how to get in, other than that it had some link to the manor and the mine — but even just the surrounding area would be dangerous enough, not to mention whatever was going on at the manor itself.

Safiya and Atabek were together in the front. With her enhanced senses and his overwhelming physical might, they were the best equipped to spot and quickly handle smaller threats. Aslan was in the middle, all the better to react to anything that was unforeseen, while Symon was in the back. He was there by necessity, as otherwise, the group would be too far out as they tried to avoid his draining.

All the plant life meant he could have used his usual technique of distracting Seize with vegetation instead of harming his friends, but he didn't want to leave a big trail of dead plants behind him. Instead, he'd quickly move between the largest trees, the ones that wouldn't die after just a few seconds of draining and leave obvious clues behind. Such a technique wasn't very compatible with careful marching, which is why he was at the back.

The curse wasn't something Symon kept secret, but it wasn't something he wanted to announce for no reason, either. He'd considered trying to keep it completely to himself, but there wasn't a reasonable way to convince people to stay out of his range while making sure they knew how dangerous a mistake could be.

I could just tell people I'm really sick and contagious, but who would trust a sick healer?

If the true strength of his healing was public information — especially how well it had just worked on Temuri — he would be in big trouble. Healing that powerful, from someone so comparatively weak was a recipe for being taken advantage of. The second someone powerful caught even a whiff of potential immortality, Symon could enjoy living the rest of his very long life in a dark box far underground. On the other hand, having dangerous magic like his draining wasn't that special. Proper mages weren't common, but being able to throw massive fireballs was much better in most scenarios. He wasn't about to be conscripted into someone's army just because he had some pretty decent single-target magic with only a few metres of range.

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His vessel was around half full, which he considered to be good enough. Of course, he would always want more if he could, but if something was able to burn through half a vessel's worth of vitality before he could drain it back, it could probably burn through a full one too.

The reserves were slowly going up as he travelled through the forest. Plants gave little vitality, but draining the larger trees was noticeably better than draining grass and small shrubs. I really need to come up with a better way of charging my vessel that isn't hours of tromping through vegetation...

A hand signal from Safiya broke Symon out of his musing. One hand was raised, while the other had drawn one of her daggers. The only reason for her to stop was if she noticed a threat.

Symon looked ahead of the group and saw nothing but trees and bushes. He checked both flanks, behind him, and even the canopy above him, but nothing stood out. When he looked back in front, Safiya had both her daggers out, while Atabek was flipping his axe side to side in his hand.

Not wanting to be left out, Symon also drew his sword. Something was out there, but Safiya's senses were so enhanced that it was probably further than he'd expected.

Straining his ears, he heard nothing beyond the trees gently rustling in the breeze, as well as the occasional distant sound of birds and insects. "What is it?" Symon asked, "I don't hear anyth—"

A sudden, piercing howl cut through the natural sounds of the forest. It continued on for several long, long seconds, before finally stopping. In its wake, the entire forest was silent. None dared to attract the attention of something confident enough to announce its presence to all the other predators in the forest. Even after the howl had stopped, he still felt an echo vibrate through his whole body. It took him a while to realise it was his Anatomy passive highlighting how hard his heart was thumping in his chest, the shock of the organ pounding sending ripples through his blood.

He unconsciously gulped, suddenly aware of how dry his throat was. He'd seen and fought some scary monsters, but there was just something about that howl that—

A second howl rang out. It was on his right, the opposite side from the first. It was either much louder, or much closer.

Shit, they've got us surrounded, he thought. His first idea was to run, but they'd travelled too far into the forest. There were too many roots to trip him up, and the trees were too dense, so he wouldn't be able to use his Running to get out. Besides, he wasn't about to abandon his friends, no matter how scared he felt.

"Square formation," Aslan said, his voice a bare whisper.

Cautiously, everyone arranged themselves into a two-by-two grid, facing outwards to watch for threats. Symon caused the formation to be uneven, needing to stand an awkward distance away instead of nearly shoulder to shoulder like the others. They moved to try and expand the formation, ensuring Symon wasn't dangerously sticking out on his own, but he motioned them back.

"Cover each other," Symon hissed, "I'll be able to last solo longer than you." That wasn't strictly true — Atabek's Iron Skin ability let him spend mana to block attacks, for one, although it was gratuitously expensive. Plus, recharging a core was much slower than recharging a vessel. There was enough greenery around that Symon could have drained that while he was in the formation, but constantly adjusting the threads required too much focus when he needed to be prepared for an attack.

With his shield and chainmail armour, Aslan would have also faired well on his own, but Symon wasn't willing to put his friends needlessly in harm's way. Either they could all separate, making things equally bad for everyone, or Symon could trust them to come to his aid if the monsters targeted him first.

Before long, the source of the uncomfortable silence made itself known. It came from the right of the path, meaning it was likely the creature that unleashed the second howl. It, in most aspects, simply looked like a large brown wolf. Its shoulders came up past Symon's waist, and it would have been as tall as him if it stood on two legs. It was certainly a big creature, but he didn't think it was any bigger than a normal Earth wolf. There was one key difference though — or rather two.

A pair of sweeping horns nestled atop its head. They were more reminiscent of a devil than a deer. They were about as wide as Symon's wrist but proportionally not very long. They tapered to a wicked point, the same as the wolf's teeth, which it was currently showing off with a snarl.

"I see one," Symon said, not taking his eyes off the creature. The others probably already knew it was there, but he wasn't about to turn around and check.

It drew back its lips further and let out a snarl, but didn't come any closer.

"Another here," Aslan said from Symon's opposite side, his voice tight but clear.

"One," Atabek's low voice rumbled. The wolf's eyes flicked to him for a brief moment before focusing back on Symon.

Safiya was silent. She'd been positioned furthest away from the town and still hadn't seen anything. Either she was missing one — which Symon found unlikely — or the wolves had been smart enough to cut off their path of retreat, not that Symon had seriously considered it as a good option.

Three wolves against the four of us, that's not so bad, Symon thought. He adjusted his grip on the sword, feeling the sweat on his palms. The grip was good quality, so it was at least not about to go flying out of his hand the second he swung it.

Slowly, the wolf padded forward. Symon tensed, but didn't react any further.

Twenty metres away.

Fifteen.

Symon bit down on his cheek. Once it was close enough, he could lunge forward and get Seize working on ripping out its lifeforce. He just had to be patient, and not make any rash decisions just because he was afraid.

Ten metres away, the wolf paused mid-step, slowly lowering its paw. It glanced to both sides.

Is it reconsidering? Maybe it realises we're going to be tough prey.

As if it could hear his thoughts, it let out another angry snarl. The horns on its head suddenly began glowing cherry red, like a piece of metal pulled from a forge. They let off a thin trail of smoke, like a candle that had just been extinguished.

Well shit, that can't be good, was Symon's last thought before the creature swivelled to point its horns directly at him and unleashed twin jets of flame.