Chapter 36: Chapter 36 - Curiosity
Appraisal
[Shadestalker (Crisis) (Lv. ???)]
Every instinct screamed at me to run, but the way its eyes tracked me told me flight would end quicker than a fight.
It moved closer. Slow. Deliberate. Each step carved tension into the air.
But then, behind it, another set of eyes appeared. Smaller. Lower to the ground.
A cub.
It stumbled into the clearing, oversized paws dragging as it tripped over roots and righted itself. Shadows clung to its fur like its larger counterpart, but faint, flickering. Its fangs were short, still growing in, and its golden eyes were wide and curious, flicking around, taking in the world with great interest.
The bigger one paused, head lowering as her gaze cut past me, lingering for a moment, before turning back, drawing her cub close with a sweep of her tail.
I swallowed, risking a glance behind me while it wasn’t focused.
The fire..? No, the meat.
It glistened, sizzling as fat dripped into the fire, smoke curling upward.
It wants...the meat?
When I turned back, the mother was already circling wide, not a sound in its wake. Her eyes never left me, but her path curved around the camp, towards the food.
I stood still, sweat trailing down my temple. If I so much as flinched wrong, it would be over.
She closed the distance, muscles rippling, as a bare paw stepped straight over the fire. The flames hissed and guttered under her weight, snuffed out instantly as if they’d never existed. Darkness thickened around her, and yet I saw every detail as her head lowered, using her snout to flip the pan over, dropping all the meat to the ground.
The Shadestalker huffed, a low sound that rippled through its chest. The cub chirped in response, some half-growl, half-purr that almost sounded impatient.
Teeth bared, she tore into the roasted meat, nudging portions of it toward the cub. It scrambled forward, biting down eagerly, tugging until it stumbled backwards with its prize.
I didn’t move. I couldn’t risk it.
She ate slow, methodical, occasionally passing more pieces to the cub, but always keeping close watch on me.
My grip whitened on the axe, my mind running through hypotheticals:
If the beast chose to lunge at me here and now, if it chose it wanted fresh meat rather than cooked, I’d be down in less than a second. Regeneration wouldn’t matter once she had me locked in place. I knew it just looking at her. She would dismantle me far faster than I could put myself back together.
So I stood. Silent. Still.
The cub finished its portion, then looked at me. Its golden eyes lingered. It tilted its head, shadows rippling faintly along its coat, and then it sneezed. A puff of shadow dispersed like smoke.
I didn’t dare flinch.
The mother continued to eat, muzzle streaked red. Minutes passed as I stood there, watching. Waiting for the whims of whatever this creature before me chose to do, when suddenly, she raised her head, nostrils flaring, ears twitching as her eyes cut past me again.
Then she froze.
It wasn’t the fire that was behind me now. It was the wilderness. The dark, stifling silence of the core.
Her entire frame tensed. Muscles flexed. The calm, regal gait of a moment ago was almost completely gone, replaced with sharp, coiled urgency.
She turned, teeth flashing as she snapped up the cub by the scruff of its neck. The smaller one dangled, paws curling instinctively, and she shifted, ready to bolt.
But not before she looked back. At me.
Her eyes narrowed, golden orbs focusing into slits. She blinked once. Twice. Then her head jerked, motioning in the direction she was headed, deeper into the tree line.
I didn’t understand. Not immediately.
She huffed, low and frustrated, then bounded out into the darkness. Soundless. The cub whimpered once in her jaws, then both were gone, swallowed whole by the core.
The clearing was silent again.
I swallowed hard. Every part of me replayed those final seconds—the glance, the motion, the huff. And the way her entire demeanor shifted at whatever she’d sensed.
Something had driven away a Crisis-Class Beast.
My chest tightened.
I strapped the axe across my back, grabbed my pack in one hand, and ran.
Not a backward glance. Not a thought spared for the meat or the remnants of the fire. I ran as fast as my legs would carry me.
There had been a time where I believed I could face a Crisis-Class so long as I could channel mana at will. But having seen one up close...I wasn’t so sure anymore. Channeling Mana would bring my strength up to par, sure, maybe my speed as well, but...one hit was all it would take to be incapacitated. The first condition, to just be an even match for a Crisis Class, was to maintain Mana-Channeling the entire fight.
Already, an impossible feat, for something that drained a full fifth of my pool with one swing of my axe. But even assuming I could maintain that output, my body just wasn’t durable enough to endure attacks from a beast that strong. Even if I survived, I wouldn’t recover fast enough. I’d be locked in place...and eaten alive.
And now...a beast that could do all that to me with ease, had run away from something?
What was I supposed to do? What could I possibly do to survive, other than to escape?
Roots blurred beneath me as I ran.
I wanted nothing to do with whatever was going after the Shadestalker. And yet inevitably, I was forced to run in the same direction as it. Meaning, whatever was following the Shadestalker...was first and foremost, following me.
The realization was a dark one.
A split-second decision followed.
I jumped. Branches whipped past, bark cracking underfoot as I vaulted up into the trees, instinct pushing me higher, away from the ground. My lungs pulled air like vacuums, legs pistoning without pause.
Not once did I look back.
The tree line rushed around me, shadows splitting as I darted from branch to branch, my axe strapped tight across my back. The silence of the core seemed to press closer. Thicker. Heavier.
And then they came. Below me, three shapes. Blurs of shadow that broke through the brush with a hiss of leaves, moving so quickly my eyes struggled to follow. Each one a mountain of muscle draped in shifting black, six limbs carrying them soundlessly.
Shadestalkers. Every one of them bigger than the one I’d seen before.
They didn’t notice me in the canopy above them, only continuing their chase, hurtling past me like black bolts of lightning despite me running as fast as I physically could. The shadows scattered in their wake, the core so silent it felt like the trees were holding their breath.
My chest tightened further, before slowly releasing.
An internal dispute, maybe?
The thought rooted itself as I slowed. The threat had passed.
That was clos---
BOOOM!
A thunderous shockwave rolled in from the distance, shaking leaves off the tree beneath me. Timber creaked, falling in a chain of crashes as entire tree lines toppled in the distance, followed by guttural roars---low and jagged, panther-like, vibrating through the canopy.
I froze instinctively, muscles locked, senses drawn taut. Even being this far out, logic whispered to me, telling me to flee, to put as much distance between myself and the battle amongst Crisis-Ranks.
And yet there was something louder than reason. Something sharper than logic. It gnawed at me. Carving away thought, until there was only the burning need...to know.
To see these majestic creatures fight to the death. To maybe, just maybe fight one myself.
Curiosity had gotten the better of me.
And the better of me...yearned for battle.