Chapter 54: 55-Hunter and Hunted

 

It hadn’t been hard for Rowan to pick a tree given that the Forest of Death was full of them. It was also a good time to try out the new wolf pelt. The fur felt a bit itchy and warm for the spring weather, but it did offer some protection which was the most important.

Now that Rowan was wearing something decent and has restocked on arrows, it was just a matter of choosing the right hunting spot.

Rowan had the Mother Tree to thank for that. He had observed the forest through the Mother Tree’s mana to find a good hunting spot in the nearby vicinity. It had taken several days of observations of where monsters pass through. He had to make sure that the locations he found did not have any powerful monsters rummaging about. The more mana a monster had, the more powerful it was and there were quite a few monsters with ridiculous amounts of mana. In the end, Rowan chose a location where monsters only passed in small groups.

That was the current spot that Rowan was hiding in. He had chosen a tree that allowed him to spy on everything passing through, but also hid him amongst its leaves. Despite being one of the better observation spots, this tree was considerably sturdy and plain when compared to other trees. The other trees that Rowan had found all had their own defining characteristics such as spikes, thorns and fruits. 

Having fruits on a tree would have been a good hunting spot if Rowan had not discovered one unfortunate fact.

The fruits were poisonous and the tree was infested with insects.

It had been a coincidence when Rowan discovered this fact. The tree had been one of his top choices until he noticed the mana signature of a goblin eating a fruit from that specific tree. The goblin began to fluctuate until it began to decline rapidly. The next thing Rowan saw was little specks of mana flying from the tree to the location of the goblin’s diminishing mana.  He had been following from afar and when this event happened. This spot was instantly marked down as no good in the teenage boy's mind.

Several monsters had passed Rowan's hiding place already. A pack of more than ten wolves had run by. Fortunately they didn’t care about anything else as they passed through. He had seen an emerald snake that was so long it could completely wrap itself around the tree he was on and still have room to spare.There was also a monstrous large black and red centipede that had passed. While it was not as long as the snake, its presence made Rowan hold his breath for fear of being detected. Its hundreds of legs moved in tandem while its antennas were constantly moving. Rowan felt that it had sensed him, but kept on moving just like how a dragon doesn't bother with a mouse. When it had finally pass, the boy felt like he could breathe again. While Rowan had tried to avoid places that could have monsters with fearsome presence appear, they still moved through the area he had chosen.

Finally after hours of waiting, a suitable prey finally arrived.

A lone wolf. It wasn’t the biggest wolf Rowan had ever seen, only about the the size of a pony, but it had an intimidating presence. It had brown fur with a white underbelly and was walking in a relaxed manner. A wolf on its own? Alarm bells immediately began to go off in Rowan’s head. No monster would walk by itself in the Forest of Death except for two reasons. 

The first reason was that the monster was strong enough to travel on its own.

The second reason was that there was something wrong with the monster’s brain,  such as it was dumb or wanted to die.

Seeing the wolf leisurely make its way past Rowan's hiding spot, it was most likely the first reason. However, it didn't feel as powerful as some of the monsters that had passed by earlier. The wolf’s presence was considerably diminished when compared to the centipede that passed through earlier. It was best to be sure though. Rowan sent out a mana pulse to get an idea of how much mana this wolf held. Measuring how much mana a monster held was not a definite way to estimate the level of a monster, but it did give him a good idea.

Just as Rowan’s mana pulse passed through the wolf’s feet, its ears twitched.

A chill ran down Rowan's spine as the wolf raised its head and stared at the exact spot he was hiding in. He immediately jumped down and while releasing an arrow that he had prepared earlier.

BOOM!

It turned out Rowan’s immediate response saved his life as the spot he was hiding in exploded. 

Branches and leaves flew everywhere as the teenager bolted.

This wolf was out of his league. It had somehow sensed and blocked Rowan’s mana pulse because he didn’t know how much mana the monster when he jumped down. His senses had returned blank and did not register the wolf’s presence. Maybe if he sent out a few more mana pulses he might see how much mana this wolf had, but it didn’t matter right now. There was a very real and dangerous threat right now.

Before Rowan ran away, he was still able to observe how the wolf countered his arrow..

It only caused his jaw to drop in surprise.

The arrow had flown at the wolf and bounced off. A ripple appeared on the spot where the arrow hit and then stopped as if nothing ever happened.

That was new.

Small pieces of earth rose from the ground and combined together to make fist size rocks that surrounded the wolf as he chased Rowan. Once ready, they were launched at the human boy. Rowan had no choice but to duck and take cover behind some trees. He now knew what destroyed his hiding spot earlier on. Rowan ran helplessly away as the wolf chased him.

A deadly game of tag ensued between the wolf and Rowan. Running away wasn’t a situation as the wolf was slowly catching up. Rowan had reinforced his legs with mana to boost his running speed, but he was still unable to outrun the monstrous canine. To top it off,  was also launching several rocks at him at the same time. The rocks weren’t large, but the power used to throw them had already destroyed several trees. If any of the rocks hit him, the damage would be fatal.

Rowan spun around as he served to the side and launched another arrow. It flew without a problem and just as it looked like the arrow was going to hit the wolf’s body, a small rock flew into its path, causing the arrow to be redirected and fly elsewhere. There was no choice for Rowan but to continue running while abruptly changing directions to shoot an arrow or dodge the earth projectiles launched by the wolf.

It was a stalemate and Rowan was on the losing side. The wolf was slowly gaining ground. This was an entirely new opponent that Rowan had never faced before. The wolf was the same type of fighter that Rowan was, a long range combatant. The only difference was the wolf could launch attacks that had a wider range than Rowan could. He could only shoot one arrow at a time which the wolf had shaken off easily. The wolf constantly gained ammunition from the earth by lifting it from the ground while Rowan could only draw arrows from his quiver which had a limited number of arrows. Rowan was at a disadvantage and both wolf and human knew it. If Rowan somehow got close to the wolf, then he would need to get through whatever protected its fur while at the same time avoiding the earthen projectile. The wolf could do two things at once while Rowan could only perform one action in return

Wait a moment, was that the actual case?

As Rowan ran, he thought about all the way the wolf countered his arrows. The monster always dodged the arrows he released or diverted their path with a rock when it was chasing him. The only time the wolf’s skin rippled was the first time he shot an arrow. If its skin could be protected from arrows so easily, why did it continue to dodge or divert the other arrows?

He soon came to a realization and quickly made a plan to test it out. While loading another into his bow, he infused it with mana. This reinforced the arrow and made it more likely to pierce through the wolf skin. If not, it should at least be able to pierce through the rock that the wolf kept gathering in the air around it. 

Rowan rarely reinforced his arrows with mana for several reasons. The first was that his arrows couldn’t stand too much mana and would break down quicker once he imputed his mana into it. The second reason was that it was both time and mentally consuming to produce more arrows so he used the ones he had sparingly. The third reason was that while a mana reinforced arrow was stronger, so was the impact. He wanted the fur to be intact as much as possible and a mana reinforced arrow was too damaging. Fourth, infusing mana into the arrow required a delicate control which was time consuming. Fifth reason was that the mana would gradually diminish if he didn’t use the arrow unless he constantly charged it with his own mana, but that would continually cause damage to the arrow itself. While a mana reinforced arrow was powerful, the cost outweighed the benefits.

Obviously in the current situation, Rowan didn’t have the luxury to care about preserving the fur of the wolf. Rather he’ll be lucky if he made it out of this alive. On Rowan’s body and face were several cuts that bled. A result of him barely dodging the rocks shot by the wolf. Some of the cuts were from the debris such as trees that had exploded from the impact of the rocks.

As Rowan ran past a tree, he made another abrupt right turn and then zigzagged through some trees, hoping to buy some time.

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BOOM!

The wolf merely blasted through the trees and continued to chase after him.

Rowan's delay strategy obviously failed, but it was fine. His mana reinforced arrow was ready. Now, he just had to make sure it hit. Carefully aiming at the shoulder of the wolf, he released it after a second. The shoulder was a good target as any since it would help hinder the wolf’s movement if it hit. If the arrow missed the shoulder, it would still hit a part of the body if it was successful.

Rowan continued running to the side of the wolf while keeping his distance. When the arrow left his fingers, he knew right away it would hit the target if it left undisturbed.

 Now it was a matter if his analysis of the wolf was right. 

A rock immediately flew to block the arrow's flight path. However it was no match for the mana reinforced arrow as it pierced right through the rock and continued flying at the wolf. The wolf's eyes widened in surprise and immediately made preparations to get out of the way, but it was too late.

Rowan’s aim was true and the arrow sank into the wolf’s shoulder. It caused the wolf to stumble and the rocks in the air shook.

This bought Rowan precious time and distance. 

With his theory proven Rowan continued running away from the wolf. He had guessed that the wolf was using mana to lift and shoot the rocks. It also used mana to protect itself like a form of thin armor. However it couldn't do both, so the wolf focused on pelting Rowan with rocks.

“AAWWWOOOOOO!”

A ferocious howl burst out behind Rowan. He glanced behind him to see the wolf rushing after him. Its eyes were red with anger. 

That’s not good. I pissed it off.

The monstrous canine had given up on trying kill Rowan with stone and decided to personally end his life. A brown glow covered the wolf which Rowan knew right away the wolf was using the first ability it had shown him to cover itself. It must also have boosting abilities as its speed was incomparable to before and would catch up to the boy in a matter of seconds. 

Now was the moment of truth as Rowan knew right away that he couldn’t outrun the wolf in its current state. However that was fine as he had not been idly running away. Another arrow was already drawn and loaded with even more mana than before. 

The first arrow had been a test. The second one was the real thing. 

As the beast made its way to slaughter Rowan, he took a stance and aimed at the wolf. While he could shoot the arrow while running, he wanted this shot to be as stable as possible. This arrow may very well be the last one of his life and he was going to make it count.

When the wolf was a few feet away, Rowan released the mana reinforced arrow. 

***

The eyes of the wolf watched as its prey made one last desperate attempt as it no longer tried to flee. It had thought this was an easy prey and would make a quick meal out of it. The prey turned out to be more troublesome than it thought as it fled in fear and constantly tried to hit it. The prey finally launched an attack that was capable of injuring the canine monster.

That was when the wolf decided it had enough.

It used a technique that coated itself with earth mana. It improved its capabilities while offering protection for the whole body. Unfortunately the upkeep was terrible as the wolf couldn’t keep it up for long. Thst didn't stop the wolf from using the technique as it had saved the wolf more than once in this forest. 

It watched as the arrow moved closer and closer to itself and scoffed at it. While the last arrow had injured it, it was only because it had not been covering itself with mana. Now that it boosted itself with mana, nothing could hurt it. The wolf scoffed at the arrow and bared its fang at the human. Humans were a rare treat in the Forest of Death. It had tasted human once several years ago and found them to taste decently. 

As the arrow was about to hit the wolf, the monster canine open its fangs to end the human’s life. Just as it was about to gorge out the human’s neck, it felt a terrible pain in its forehead. The next thing it felt as if it had been hit by a hammer. 

Then darkness.

***

Rowan watched as the arrow entered the wolf’s head. Just as the arrow barely pierce through the wolf’s head, the arrow exploded.

This destroyed the wolf’s brain and ended its life immediately.

Rowan finally released a breath that he hadn't realized he had been holding this whole time. The last arrow had exploded since it was overloaded with mana. This made the arrow become unstable hence the reason why the arrow exploded. Truthfully it was a gamble as there could have been a chance that the arrow explode before hitting the wolf. This had happened before when he practiced inside the camp. This technique caused the arrow to be destroyed if too much mana was infused and explosions were a bit unpredictable which was another reason to dislike this technique.

As much as Rowan would have liked to sit down and take a break, he needed to bring the wolf back to the camp. Their battle had been too noisy and he was in no state to fight again. The teenage boy made his way to the wolf, but then he instinctively stopped.

SWOOSH!

A crimson blur dropped from the sky and flew past him. Rowan immediately had another arrow ready to shoot at the mysterious foe, but it was too late as it had gotten what it had come for. It disappeared as quickly as it came. 

Rowan could only stare blankly at the ground where the wolf had died. 

His prey had once again been snatched away.

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