Liz was dressed with the clothes she made from the grey wolf’s fur, she had reinforced them with her threads and carved buttons out of the bones. She used a long knife made from mana to cut off the snake’s skin and created an armguard out of it.
“I guess I should go out and hunt a bit more, but I’d like to create healing spells first.” She didn’t like to depend on her food reserves to heal herself, especially since that skill was extremely inefficient.
An idea popped in her head and she made a deep cut in the palm of her left hand. Seconds later, the wound began to heal thanks to her skill. She closed her eyes and concentrated on the sensation of her body being rebuilt. Understanding how the mana was forcing her flesh to join again.
Once she was completely healed, she cut herself again. And the process began once more, she closed her eyes, she felt how her cells were joining again, how the damage was being undone.
The third time she cutted her hand, she didn’t activate her skill. Instead, she focused on her mana and ordered. “Mana, I want you to obey my commands and restore my body. I want my wounds to stop bleeding, my flesh to be rebuilt. Heal.”
Her mana circuit glowed light blue as the mana began to obey her. It was slow, she had to focus quite a lot, and her mana reservoirs took quite a hit, but her wound was closed without leaving any scar behind.
Liz began taking her clothes off, she didn’t want to break them when she transformed back into the predator. She hid them behind an obsidian chunk at the edge of the cavern. “Shape swap.”
Her body began to grow numerous bubbles on her skin, they were black and ugly, like an extremely fast growing tumour. Then, all the bubbles began to pop, black ooze spilled from each one of them.
Her limbs grew much larger and famelic, her bones marked all across her body. Her beautiful white silver hair grew longer, but a layer of ash covered it, extinguishing its beautiful colour. Her eyes sunk deep in her skull as their colour changed.
The transformation was over in no more than a minute, then, the predator stormed out of the cave in search of a new prey. “Have I ever told you how beautiful you are, dear Liz.” A voice sarcastically said once she transformed.
Liz used her claws, both covered with a layer of blue mana, to climb through the tall trees of the forest. Away for the creatures that roamed the floor, but still fearful of those who hunted from the heights.
Her famelic body leaped from branch to branch, searching for a new prey, one stupid enough to not hide itself in this dark forest. Eventually, she saw a disturbance in the mana, and her mouth became a grin.
“Someone is fighting.” She rushed in the direction of the fight, if she was lucky enough, she would get two preys without moving a finger.
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“Hello Gale, no time to see.” Dere said as she jumped from the moving caravan.
“Welcome back Dere, is Iso with you?” The man asked.
“He is still inside the caravan.” Dere explained. “Come on Iso, we can't wait forever!”
Once the caravan stopped moving, Iso carefully walked out of it. “Hello Gale!” He said when he reached Dere’s side.
“I see both of you are the same as ever…” Gale joked.
“Why would you change what is already perfect?” Dere replied. “Anyways, where is Katniss, is she hunting in the forest?”
Gale looked down when he heard her name. “She disappeared almost two weeks ago, we believe she is dead…” He explained.
“Oh…” Dere’s enthusiasm vanished. “Have you tried to search for her in the forest, she might be wounded or trapped…”
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
“No…” Gale started. “Nobody wants to enter the forest apart from me, and I can’t risk dying now that I’m the only high level warrior of the village…”
“...” Dere stared at him, judging if he was really thinking for his village or if he was just a coward who abandoned his wife. After some seconds, she finally made up her mind. “Then I’ll be the one who rescues her.”
Dere turned around and started walking towards the forest, but a hand grabbed her arm and stopped her. “Please, don’t go.” Iso whispered with teary eyes.
Dere looked at him, she knew what he was thinking. Her arms bringed him closer to her as she hugged him. “I promise I won’t die, ok?” She said in the same cheerful tone she always used.
After some time Iso finally agreed to let her go, on the condition that she carried some healing potions and that she returned before dusk. After that, Dere began walking to the forest.
She walked rather slowly, even if she wasn’t being extremely careful, she wasn’t rushing either. Even if this forest hosted some pretty powerful individuals, like the red wolf or the dark owl, most of the monsters that lived here were low level after all.
She checked some of Katniss’ hideouts, one of them was on top of a tree, so she had to do some climbing, which she despises. She even got attacked by a level 21 snake, but she was able to sever its head quite easily thanks to her speed.
Eventually, she sensed something weird. I’m being observed. She thought as she walked. Her dangersense warned her of that. But where is it, these monsters shouldn’t be able to hide from me, and a red wolf would have already leapt towards me.
She discarded the dark owl, it was the middle of the afternoon after all, so it should be sleeping. Then, she finally saw a fragment of a claw behind some trees. Got you.
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Yeah, there’s no way I’m poking my nose into that. Liz thought as she saw a red wolf and a great snake fighting, her soul glimpse didn’t work on them, so she understood the difference is strength and simply retreatted.
Huh? Liz had to double check after sensing some mana in the distance. What monster is stupid enough to not hide their mana in the slightest??? She carefully crawled in the direction she sensed the mana.
Once she saw her, her eyes opened wide. A human!? Of all the things she expected to find in this forest, a human was certainly bottom of the list.
Rogue —> lvl 22
This could be dangerous… Liz thought. She had already fought against enemies much stronger than her, but those were monsters, not humans. She decided to just stalk her for now, she would attack if she saw a clear opening.
Suddenly, a knife came flying right at her.
Liz managed to hit it mid air with her mana infused claw, preventing it from piercing right through her head. Fuck!!!
The pink haired girl jumped through the trees, throwing some knives at her in the process. “Seems like you have good reflexes!” The girl screamed.
Liz started to run away, she could probably win a fight if she could set up some traps, but it would be hard for her to do so in the middle of the forest. And I don’t want to attract any unwanted attention.
Liz leaped from branch to branch, using her claws to climb trees or to suddenly change direction, but the human girl was always right behind her. Will this girl ever run out of stamina!? She screamed inside her head.
As she jumped from tree to tree, she sensed something and an idea popped in her mind. I guess it is everything or nothing now…
She swiftly changed direction once again, and right as she predicted, so did the girl. But when the girl jumped in front of a tree hole, a snake leaped out of it with its maws wide open.
Liz didn’t bother to wait for the outcome of the fight. Instead, she rushed towards the cave as she felt the mana of the snake dissipating. You couldn’t even buy me a minute!!!
Once she got inside the cave she shape swapped into the prey and put on her clothes. Then, she left some needles and threads hidden everywhere in the cavern.
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What the fuck was that!? Dere thought, she never saw anything like that. If it wasn’t for that stupid snake it wouldn’t have escaped. She thought, entering the cave.
Well, it's not like it really escaped, it just managed to hide inside this cave. She smiled as she ventured in the depths of the cave.
It took her a while to reach Liz’s hideout, the cave was quite big after all. But when she did, she was quite surprised. “To think there were some ancient ruins inside the forest.” She said, there was no point in hiding her thoughts if she knew she was already being observed.
“Now, get out of your hiding place and I will give you a swift death.” Dere said entering the chamber.
Liz took a deep breath, trying to calm herself now. It's nothing but a gamble, but when has fortune smiled at cowards. She thought.
“Please don’t kill me!” She screamed, as she slowly walked out from behind some rocks.
“A girl!?” Dere was confused, she expected the monster, not a girl.
Mage —> lvl 15
Her identification skill reassured her, she was only a lost girl after all. “Sorry, I thought you were a monster, I’m not going to kill you.” She explained.
“What?” Liz said.
“Huh?” Dere answered.
The two of them stared at each other, unable to understand what the other was saying.