Veritas looked down to see his bag still sitting against the wall of the cave, and he reached down and searched for his phone.
Taking his phone out, Veritas turned it on, he had powered it off when he reached the forest to conserve battery.
Seeing the date, Veritas kept a mental note and had been counting the days as it went by.
'A week passed...'
Veritas was bewildered, it had been a week since he passed out, and yet he didn't feel that hungry or weak.
Not only that, the healed body...
Did the System save him? He never heard anything about Systems saving their respective Guardians.
Well, his System in itself was weird.
After all, he wasn't even supposed to be a Guardian.
Powering the phone off again, Veritas slipped it into his bag and looked back at the forest.
Now, there were two goals in it for him before he go back to the city.
After all, in total he had been away for the past 10 days. Way far from what he initially would be a simple short trip.
That aside, first of all, he needed to get more experience in using the wind.
Sure he was given the information, the instinct, but if he had no experience on using it... It was useless.
The second goal aligned with the first.
Hunt down the wolf and the bear.
With his goal set, now all that was left was to do it.
Veritas didn't take any break, he excitedly walked out of the cave and looked around the area.
In truth, he never knew where the both of them resided, only that he knew that they always fought in the same area.
Walking to the northeast from the cave's entrance, Veritas gathered the wind before redirecting it underneath him and jumped.
His body soared slightly, easily reaching the high branch of a tree.
His heart thumped rapidly against his chest, he was ecstatic as a smile carved itself on his face.
Veritas jumped from the branch of one tree to another as the wind powered him, allowing him to breeze through.
He still took a second or so to stop when he jumped from one tree to another, but each jump he made was successful.
Paired with the instinct and the knowledge imparted into his brain when he killed the deers, it helped him tremendously.
Veritas stopped when he heard a low rumble echoing from the deep end of the forest.
Looking at the distance, Veritas' brows furrowed.
It came from a rough area of where the wolf and bear usually fought.
'Are they fighting again?'
Veritas thought to himself before jumping forward again, his muscles coiled and sprang as he moved, feeling the wind carrying him along.
It didn't take long for him to arrive as Veritas settled on a tree.
Upon scanning the area, Veritas was surprised to see splinters of what seemed to be from a tree, depresssions on the ground, and rocks.
This time, the scale of the fight was massive, it appeared that the both of them had went all out.
More rumblings and explosion occurred, roars of madness echoed.
Veritas looked at a distance away, it was then that he saw it. The wolf and the bear was engaged in an intense battle, the wolf was throwing trees at the bear and the bear tanked them with a rock armor.
The bear rained down rocks and shot up jagged rocks from the ground, aiming at the wolf.
The wolf moved with dexterity, it maneuvered through the rocks and the spears that came from underneath.
Using the trees, the wolf shot them towards the bear like a bullet.
But it was evident from the way it was panting, it was exhausted from all the usage of its powers.
Veritas never exactly learned about what energy was used for the Paths and Lines, so he didn't exactly know much.
So far when he used the wind, he simply willed it so, willed the wind to follow his whims.
He also did not know about the name of the Corrupted's powers.
But he just assumed it was the same as Guardians.
Seeing the fight... Veritas himself grew heated.
He was staring at the fight, watching each and every move they made.
Veritas could feel his heart beating rapidly against his chest, his body seemed to be fired up as he slowly crouch up and down on the branch.
As if he was warming up.
Was he...
Was he about to jump in?
A blast of wind exploded, Veritas propelled himself across the trees and into the battlefield as he head towards the wolf.
Veritas gathered the wind to form sharp arcs that fly along with him.
The wolf instantly noticed the intruder and quickly dragged its body away from the spot.
Gashes of cuts appeared on the ground where the wolf was, and where it once stood, Veritas stood.
The wind accompanied him as his blood soaked cloak fluttered, his whole attire was ragged, all from the battle against the deer that almost took his life.
Veritas gathered the wind around him as the wolf and bear eyed the new enemy.
The wolf, with one eye left glance back and forth between Veritas and the bear, high on alert as it growled before slowly backing.
The bear meanwhile looked at the human, it seemed to be confident against Veritas, but it was more wary of the wolf.
The battlefield was silent, cold, and gritty. Not one of them made the move.
Veritas himself wasn't trying to initiate, he wanted the enemies to move first so he could adapt instead of being on the offense.
He needed to conserve stamina.
But while he was indeed planning being on the defense, he still gathered the wind to help him.
The bear moved first.
It roared and shot out jagged rocks that traversed the ground towards his direction.
Veritas side-stepped before bursting onward, his muscles springing as the wind carried him.
The bear instantly moved, running on all fours before jumping at Veritas.
Veritas exploded the wind gathered around him outward, shooting sharp winds instead of a powerful gust.
The wind was sharp, sharp enough to cut through the rock armor of the bear as the bear growled in surprise.
Veritas moved out of the way, leaving the bear crashing against where he was as dust picked up from the ground.
Veritas looked at the wolf and saw it nowhere, and he was instantly on high alert.
The whispers continued and Veritas growled before running from his position, he couldn't hear anything and he wasn't going to stay where he was and let the wolf gain an advantage.
Veritas gathered wind before running around the battlefield, then from the corner of his eyes, he saw it.
A tree was thrown towards the direction of his path, and Veritas stopped himself before it hit him.
The wolf was fast, and it moved towards Veritas like a bullet, jaws wide open.
Veritas was fast too, he was fully expecting the wolf to appear anytime soon.
Wind exploded around him, blocking the wolf as Veritas rushed in and reached out to the wolf.
The wolf growled in panic before pulling itself away and jumping away.
Veritas huffed, looking towards the wolf before a sudden roar snapped him out of it.
He jumped, wind coalescing around his feet as he dodged a rock covered punch that formed a depression on the ground where he was.
The wolf didn't allow this moment to escape and rushed in, propelling itself towads Veritas who was on the air.
A mistake.
Veritas glanced at it with narrowed eyes, its arms were outstretched, claws ready to skewer him.
Though he wasn't exactly experienced, he was unnaturally calm in tense situations and work the best when he was stressed or tense.
Veritas coalesced wind before spinning it rapidly around his arm and blocked the wolf's right outstretched arm, slapping it away.
Its arm was yanked away, the wind exploding that left cuts and bruises on the wolf's arm.
Veritas took the chance to reach out and grab the wolf's left arm with his right before twisting his torso and slamming the wolf down to the ground.
A loud crack echoed, leaving the wolf whimpering from pain.
Veritas straddled the wolf as he stare down at the wolf and reached down to strangle. Wind was already gathering around his hands as Veritas rotated the wind fast.
The wolf noticed its position and glared at Veritas before using telekinesis to try and get away, but the wind put it in its place as its one eye widened.
Blood seeps out of its neck, it could feel the sharp wind growing faster and faster around it.
Thought it did manage to successfully stop Veritas from choking it by using telekinesis to freeze Veritas' arms, the wind was still pressing down against it like a boulder and spinning around its neck.
Death was coming for it.
'One down.'
Wind burst, exploding downward as the wolf got beheaded.