Chapter 70: Hunting
Alex Sandclaw’s POV:
We walked down the bank of the river until we reached the main path. We turned onto it and followed it down to the entrance where the professors were waiting. We’d arrived a little early, so we spent the time chatting until everyone was there.
We were gathered around a large firepit, made for large groups. Professor Scott stood in the middle, where normally the large fire would be. Now there just laid ash and small chunks of blackened wood. The whole place smelled strongly of wood-smoke. I liked the smell, even though it reminded me of our less than pleasant stay in the training grounds back at the campus. We’d made a fire then, too, when we were forced to stay the night.
Professor Scott held up a hand, and the class fell quiet. “Good afternoon, everyone. I hope you’ve all set up your tents and settled in, because we’ll be starting with our first lecture now,” he said, then rubbed the back of his head. “Well, I say lecture, but it will mostly be practical hands-on experience. Today we’ll be acquiring, preparing, cooking, and eating our own food. In fact, we’ll be doing this every day, as each group gets a task they will need to complete, and you’ll cycle through these tasks until you’ve done every single one at least once. You will of course receive guidance and instruction while doing so. These tasks are as follows: hunting, gathering firewood, making fire—”
He went on listing the various tasks, and explaining what each entailed. Mostly the tasks were pretty self-explanatory. I glanced at Felix, wondering which task he would like to do. It was pretty obvious, though. He’d want to go hunting. Which would mean going outside of the perimeter and killing beasts and monsters there to bring back. I wasn’t sure I wanted to start off with that. We’d need to discuss it before we volunteered.
“Alright, now that I’ve explained everything, you’ll be assigned to your tasks,” professor Scott said. “We’ll begin with hunting. I’m afraid I’ll have to disappoint most of you, as I only need three groups for that. They are as follows: Felix’s group, Yannick’s group, and Braaf’s group. For gathering firewood, I’ll need five groups—”
I tuned professor Scott out, consumed by my own thoughts. I hadn’t expected that the choice would be made for us, rather than by us. Was I ready to fight monsters? I’d thought I was, but now I wasn’t so sure. Even with my increased Attributes, it wasn’t a risk I wanted to take. At least in the cave system tomorrow, all the professors and assistants would be there to help if something went wrong. With the hunting trip, everyone would be spread out, and we would have maybe one assistant with us.
A talon landed on my shoulder. I looked up and saw Felix. “Do you want me to ask the professor if we could get a different task? He’ll understand if you aren’t ready yet.”
I blinked. “But don’t you want to hunt?”
He nodded. “I do, but I can also easily wait a day. In fact, I was going to suggest we volunteer for cooking this first day. I hadn’t expected them to choose for us.”
He’d wait and hold back for me? Warmth spread through me with that thought. That was so… Felix of him. But I didn’t want to be the one holding him back. He already held back for me so much. I wanted him to be able to go and do what he wanted to do. To go hunt. I also didn’t want him to think I was weak, even if I was. Which meant I’d have to swallow my nerves.
I took a deep breath and let the floating feeling in my stomach settle. “No, that’s necessary. I think I can do it.”
His face brightened, though he hid it quickly. “Are you sure? I really wouldn’t mind. Not much, anyway. I want you to be comfortable.”
I wanted to kiss and hug him badly, but we were in a large group and it weirded me out. I’d save it for later, when we were alone.
I shook my head. “Thank you, really. But I’ll need to fight monsters sooner or later, so it might as well be sooner. And you very clearly want to go fight. Don’t think I didn’t notice you flexing your claws when he mentioned our group. I don’t want to be the one to hold you back.”
He looked down at his talons, flexing them experimentally. “I do want to fight, yeah. It’s been too long.” He looked back up at me. “Are you sure?”
I hesitated for a moment. Was I really sure? I pushed the thought aside and reassured myself with thoughts of spending time with my friends. Doing something my boyfriend enjoyed. I nodded.
He grinned. “Alright, then! But promise me you’ll tell me if it gets too much.”
I nodded again. “I promise.”
“So, what’s all this about?” Tiki asked.
I blinked. I’d completely forgotten she was here, too. I turned to her and started to explain while we waited for someone to approach us for the task.
-----
In the end, we had to go looking for an assistant, who directed us to where we needed to go. Apparently this had been explained, but none of us had been paying attention by that time. We figured it out in the end, though, and that was what mattered.
The other two groups were already waiting for us, and the moment we arrived, a professor started explaining how the hunt was going to go, what monsters and beasts would be here, what we needed to watch out for, stuff like that. All in all, it sounded rather… tame. I’d expected more, but the most dangerous monster was level fifteen. It was still a way higher level than me, but I should be able to beat it. If we came across one, that was. They were quite rare.
Other than that, she explained the rules. They were basically the same as when we hiked here earlier today. Stay with the group, call out if you see a monster, use common sense.
After that, each group got their own assistant assigned—these were full-fledged members rather than second-year students, luckily—and was told to go in a different direction. We all discussed it together, and our group chose to go north. So we all went back to our camping spot to grab our gear, then went to the northern gate together with the assistant.
The assistant, a male elf who looked bored, hung back while we talked strategy.
“So, I think it would be easiest if Felix and I scouted ahead from the air. See if we can’t find a herd of boars or something. Unless you want to go?” I asked Tiki.
She shook her head. “It sounds like a good idea, but I’d be nauseous for the rest of the hunt if I went,” she said.
“Alright.”
When we got to the northern gate, I hopped onto Felix’s back and strapped myself in. First my leg straps, then the ones that went around my waist and shoulders. It was practically a harness. I wouldn’t be falling out, in any case. I’d probably still survive even if I did, but why take the risk?
I patted his shoulder. “I’m ready, let’s fly!”
Felix chuckled, then checked my straps. He was even less willing to take risks with it than I was. Which was good. I’d gotten a taste of what a free fall felt like last evening when Felix had dove off the edge of the cliff and had no intentions of repeating it without Felix underneath me.
Felix spread his wings while the other two people here stepped back. There wasn’t much room for a running take off, so Felix would have to fly straight upwards. With a mighty flap of his wings, we lifted into the air.
Soon, we were soaring above the forest. It was hard to tell where the camping grounds began and where it ended. It just looked like an uninterrupted forest from above. Only three things stood out: the river, the entrances where the trees were removed, and the giant gaping hole in the ground near the center. That was probably the Dungeon Caves of Almar. It looked menacing, like there was something dangerous waiting down below.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
I turned back around in the saddle. It was the other direction I needed to watch.
“Can you fly a little slower!” I yelled over the wind.
Felix didn’t respond, though he did slow down. He was busy scanning the ground, looking for any monsters or beasts we could hunt. I followed his example and started doing the same. It was hard. The forest was dense, so it was hard to spot anything beneath the leaves. Eventually we did find something, though. Just a kilometer or two north of the entrance was a wide clearing filled with richly green grass. And in that field, eating said grass, were a bunch of sheep-wolves.
Sheep-wolves were what their name implied. A hybrid of sheep and wolves. It had the shape of a wolf, but with wooly fur, horns, and hooves. It looked adorable and should taste quite good. Like sheep. There wouldn’t even be the normal risks eating predators brought, like high toxicity, since they just grazed most of the time. Or so the professor had said, anyway.
We flew around the clearing a few times, making sure we knew exactly where it was, then headed back to Tiki and the assistant. We were only gone for maybe twenty minutes, but the assistant already looked either annoyed or bored. Tiki was just checking the fletching on her arrows again.
“We found something,” Felix said, and explained what we found and where.
The assistant looked relieved, and we quickly set off in the direction of the clearing. Maybe it was that the monsters sensed the assistants’ power, or maybe they didn’t like Felix’s size, but we managed to get to the clearing without being attacked even once.
The assistant stopped a few hundred meters back and was watching us from a distance, ready to intervene if something went wrong. He’d already instructed us while we had walked here.
“I count thirteen” I whispered to the other two.
We were hidden downwind, behind a small rise. We hadn’t been noticed yet.
“No, it’s fourteen,” Tiki whispered back. “Look behind that tree there on the left. One is sleeping there.”
I looked, and it took a minute to find it, but she was right.
“What are their levels?” Felix asked.
“The highest is ten, the lowest is three,” I told him.
He nodded. “Alright, that should be easy enough. Tiki, when the fight starts, see if you can take out those low-level ones. I’ll creep around to the other side and attack them from there, and while they’re distracted, Alex should attack them from behind while Tiki keeps pummeling them. Does anyone have any problems with this plan?”
I thought for a moment and couldn’t think of anything, and neither did Tiki, so after once more going through the whole plan in detail, to the point of drawing a schematic of it in the dirt, Felix slinked off to attack from the other side.
A few minutes later, it was clear the sheep-wolves had noticed Felix. They stopped grazing and began scanning the clearing, sniffing at the air. Slowly, their heads turned towards where Felix roughly was. They grouped up and began growling. Then Felix jumped out from the bushes, and with one swipe of his claw, beheaded the leader of the herd. Felix struck again, killing another sheep-wolf before the leader had a chance to drop to the ground.
At the same time, there was a twang as Tiki released her arrow, striking a smaller sheep-wolf right in its ear, penetrating through to the other side, killing it instantly. And while she drew another arrow, I too jumped out from the shrubbery and ran towards the wolves. They didn’t notice me until I was only a few meters away, but by then it was too late.
I channeled [Draconic lightning magic] into my sword. It fizzled out almost immediately, but not before I slashed at one of the mid-level wolves. It yowled and froze up, its limbs locking up with paralysis as the electricity ravaged its body. There was the nasty smell of burning fur.
I dodged back as another wolf jumped at me, and used my sword to deflect its claws. My sword had a longer range than any of their attacks and I took full advantage of it. I held the wolves at bay, striking back where I could, using lightning magic when appropriate.
Around me, wolves dropped dead to the ground as I fought. Some had arrows sticking out of their eyes or chest, while others missed their heads. And quite a few had their throats cut by my sword. It was challenging to kill them only by striking at their necks and heads. The fight would already have been over if we could have hit them anywhere, but these beasts were to be food, and we didn’t want to risk spoiling the meat by cutting open the guts.
Much sooner than expected, my sword cut through the last throat and the fight was over. Despite the challenge of only cutting their throats, the fight had been surprisingly easy. Too easy, even. There wasn’t a scratch on me, and I wasn’t even out of breath. The only blood that stained my armor was that which had splattered up from the wolves.
I remembered fighting the goblins last month with Felix, and how much harder that had been. Then it had been a real struggle to not get hit. Did these Attributes really make that much of a difference? Or was I just that much better at fighting? It was probably a mix of both, and I already felt better about going into the caves tomorrow. The first day would pretty much only have monsters around this level. The Skill level ups certainly helped, too.
[You have slain Sheep-wolf(lv. 8)]
[You have leveled up! 7->8. +1 to all Attributes]
[Skill ‘Draconic lightning magic’ has leveled up! 5>6]
[Skill ‘Mana manipulation’ has leveled up! 13>14]
It also reminded me I had to practice my mana manipulation with Felix later.
“That was a lot easier than expected,” Tiki said, interrupting my thoughts. “You absolutely tore through those wolves, Alex. When did you get so much stronger?”
I blinked and looked over to Felix. “We forgot to tell her, didn’t we?”
Felix looked embarrassed. “Now that you mention it, yeah.” He looked up, his ears perked. “But we’ll have to tell her later. The assistant is coming.”
A few seconds later, the assistant walked out from the treeline, then did a double take at the carnage. “This is way more than we need,” he said finally.
We all shrugged. “Does it matter?” Felix asked. “See it as extra practice material for the groups that will be butchering the beasts.
The assistant nodded, and we talked a bit about how we were going to take all these sheep-wolves back. In the end, we stacked a bunch on Felix’s back, Tiki carried one, I carried three of the lighter ones, and the assistant carried the rest. We probably looked ridiculous.
On the way back, some beasts and monsters got close, but were either instantly killed by the assistant, or scared off by Felix’s magic. He shot out weak bolts of air that were just enough to frighten the weaker beasts.
When we finally got back to the big firepit, we dropped the wolves off. The other students gaped at us, while professor Scott congratulated us on our successful hunt.
After that, we were allowed to do our own thing, so we decided that we were going to take a swim. We were drenched in the wolves’ blood and wanted to clean up. So we walked back to our own secluded camping spot and stripped. It was weird to go swimming naked, but Felix had seen me naked before, and with all the blood staining my scales, I didn’t particularly care if Tiki saw me naked either. It wasn’t like there was much to see, anyway. Like all lizardkin—and dragons—my dick and balls sat on the inside, so there were no dangly bits, only a thin genital slit where my dick would come out. Not that it would. The blood was anything but arousing.
The thought that I was bathing naked together with Felix did make me a little giddy, though. We would have to go skinny dipping without so much blood sometime.
We washed our clothes and armor in the water, too, then hung it all out to dry. And since I was washing anyway, I took the moment to polish my scales before drying off myself.
When I finally got back to our camping spot, Felix had already made a fire. He looked me over in a way that sent shivers down my spine, his gaze lingering on my slit for a moment before he looked away, down at the ground. There was lust in that gaze. I found that I really didn’t mind him checking me out like that. In fact, I was quite disappointed he’d stopped.
Felix himself wasn’t wearing anything either, his saddle lying off to the side to dry. His tail curled around his talons and blocked sight of his groin. It didn’t stop me from imagining, though. And with the way the sun hit his scales, I really wanted to push him down to the ground and crawl on top of him to give him those kisses I’d wanted to give him earlier.
But Tiki was near, and making out with Felix while completely naked still felt like too much. I still walked over to him, and gently lifted his snout, pressing a kiss to his nose. “You can look if you want,” I told him. ”As long as I can do the same, I don’t mind.”
“Sorry, it’s basically a habit at this point,” he said, though he did lift his gaze away from the ground, looking me over with thorough detail. He also moved his tail aside, though I wasn’t sure that was on purpose. I glanced down, letting myself get a proper look at Felix's slit for the first time. It was really hot, and I already knew the sight would visit me in my fantasies later. The 'lips’ that lined the entrance bulged ever so slightly outwards, looking inviting. Felix chose that moment to speak up. “Have I ever said that I find you incredibly hot?” he asked.
I was about to respond when Felix pulled away. When I looked behind me, I saw Tiki finally getting out of the water, too, and coming this way. Part of me was relieved at that. Things had gotten very heated very quickly. Then again, couldn’t we just flirt like that without it having to end with sex? Something to talk about later, when Tiki wasn’t here.
“I think we should tell her now,” I said to Felix. “It feels weird that my friend doesn’t know we’re dating.”
He nodded in agreement. So we waited for her. While we did so, I put on some clothes, though no t-shirt. Damned things.
When Tiki finally got back, she looked between the two of us and raised an eyebrow. “What’s up?” she asked.