Ethan watched that deer for a few minutes, waiting for the right moment. It was then that, for half a second, the deer turned on its back and Ethan ran toward the animal.
They were about three miles away.
The deer looked back quickly, hearing Ethan's footsteps approaching quickly.
The animal started running desperately, causing Ethan to smile. His eyes looked hungry. Ethan did not seem to be in control.
He sped towards the deer, concentrating the energy of the shadows into the flames in his hands.
The deer was much faster than the groundhog, but it didn't seem to be any difficulty for Ethan, but the deer ran between the trees easily, which confused Ethan, since he was used to walking only on straight roads.
Ethan began to throw shadow fireballs at the deer, which ran quickly, but it always managed to dodge them, just turning in another direction, without even having to slow down.
This began to make Ethan angry, and he picked up his pace, which didn't do much good, as the trees continued to be randomly distributed in his path.
Then Ethan realized that they were near a mountain, and decided to guide the deer there so that he could surround the animal.
He began to run alongside the deer, throwing it in the direction he wanted it to go. The deer was smart, but not smart enough to predict what Ethan was doing.
Until they stopped in front of a mountain. The deer found itself surrounded by rocks, not knowing what to do.
Ethan stopped in front of the animal. He could hear the sound of the deer's heart beating hard and desperately. Ethan could feel the fear coming from the animal. It was too tempting.
Ethan opened his hands, showing the flames to the animal. He began to slowly walk towards the deer, which was trying to climb the mountain, but failed miserably.
Ethan brought his two hands together, causing the shadow flames to become just one and make a ball of shadow fire much larger than the others. Ethan's eyes began to glow much brighter, until, he hurled the fireball toward the deer, but instead of just burning the animal's body, the deer began to rot at the same moment.
Ethan reached out toward the body, but didn't even need to touch the animal. The creature's soul began to be sucked out of Ethan, who slowly approached it, feeling that inexplicable pleasure enter his arms, driving him completely mad and blind.
He watched the deer's body rotting in front of him without feeling any pity for the animal.
Just as he was about to finish, a deafening noise came over Ethan.
Ethan is startled for a few seconds, which brings him back to reality, causing him to take charge of his own mind again. He was faced with that lifeless body in front of him, totally rotting, and without a soul.
Ethan took a few steps back, startled, but before he could even reason out what was happening, a lynx jumped out in front of him, its eyes hungry.
The lynx wasn't big like a tiger, but it was still huge for an ordinary cat. It had gigantic claws and huge teeth. It could finish Ethan's body off in a few seconds.
The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
Ethan immediately stood up, feeling his heart beating hard. He had never faced an animal that big, let alone dangerous.
The lynx surrounded the deer's dead body, smelling that rotting body. The animal realized that that body was no longer good for food, so it needed something else.
It began to walk slowly toward Ethan, preparing to attack.
Ethan thought about running for a moment, but he needed to face that animal to up his skills. If weak animals were making him strong, a fierce lynx would probably make him much stronger. However, standing around waiting for the lynx to jump in his face would be foolish. Ethan had no weapon to defend himself, other than a kitchen knife. It wasn't useful enough.
Then, Ethan began to run away, trying to lure the lynx away. The lynx started to run after Ethan, without any fear of what might happen, not least because to the lynx, Ethan was its prey.
Ethan didn't know where he was running to, he just focused on dodging the trees to get enough distance from the lynx, but he was fast. Ethan wasn't with the fury as before, as he was being the hunted, so he couldn't reach his top speed.
It was then that he began to concentrate the shadow fire flames in his hands and throw them backward, trying to hit the lynx, who dodged easily.
After a few seconds of running that seemed like hours, Ethan found himself cornered. The lynx had cornered him to the edge of a cliff. He didn't know the area he was in, but of course, the lynx knew it like the back of its hand.
Ethan looked back and saw that ferocious animal slowly approaching. He felt fear, but didn't show it, staring into the lynx's eyes.
- Can I make him feel fear? - Ethan thought, trying to use the power he used on the guy the night with Jessica. - Probably not. I don't know if I can make an animal lose its sanity like a person -
Then the lynx jumped on Ethan. They fell to the ground and Ethan, almost instinctively, put his shadow arm in front of the lynx's chest, causing the animal to be unable to get its giant teeth and claws closer to his face.
Ethan could see the animal's fury rising. You could even tell the thing didn't look like an ordinary animal, it was angry as if it was hypnotized. He wondered if this was the bloodlust he had been feeling.
Ethan began to realize that the sun was starting to come up, so it meant that he wouldn't be able to hold the beast for that long, as his powers would probably get a little weaker.
Then a scene flashed in Ethan's mind:
"What do you feel when you touch him?". Ethan asked
"I feel... fear." Alice replied.
- UMB! - Ethan thought suddenly, throwing a blob of shadow on the ground with one hand.
Then a strange shape slowly began to emerge from the ground.
"COME ON! COME ON! COME ON!" Ethan began to shout in desperation, realizing that the beast's teeth were getting closer and closer to his face.
Then, Umb emerged from the ground, squirming.
Ethan reached out to the shadow rabbit's little body, grabbed it, and shoved it inside the lynx's body, pushing the animal aside.
Before the lynx could even jump back into Ethan's body, the animal began to squirm on the ground, as if in terrible pain. The animal was bewildered and seemed terrified of everything around it.
Then it got down on its knees in front of the lynx, realizing that the animal would not attack it because it was so afraid. As he looked into the lynx's eyes, they were white. It was as if Umb had left the lynx blind, making it see only fear along with darkness.
Ethan felt sorry for a few seconds, he wanted to free the animal, but the lynx was blind and would probably be traumatized for the rest of its life.
Ethan stretched out his arm, touching the dying animal's head, and began to suck its soul into his own body. The lynx slowly calmed down, and the body rotted away in front of Ethan's eyes, leaving only bones and a strange stain in the middle.
Ethan pulled the bones out of the shadow and the shape of the stain appeared. Umb had evolved into another form. Now his ears were smaller and pointed. His paws were long, and he now had two sharp teeth, along with a large, bushy tail.
"Umb, are you feeling okay?" Ethan asked, watching Umb look down at his own paws.
"Are you a cat now?". Ethan asked, running his hand to the small animal's bewildered head.
Umb stared at Ethan and jumped back slightly, startling himself.
"What?" Ethan said, reaching for the cell phone that was in his pocket to look in the camera.
It was then that Ethan realized: his eyes were completely red.
----------------------------------------
I've made a Patreon to released advanced chapters! You can support me there if you want, thank you!
Read 14+ advanced chapters on Patreon! (2 Daily chapters released there!)
Patreon.com/toToru
Discord Server: https://discord.gg/VDQdW6gDQC (visual representation + chapter notification + story ideas)