The forest changed around him.
Ophieus noticed it slowly, not all at once. The movement behind and a rustling sound, something you wouldn't notice unless you were paying attention. He slightly shivers from the cold fog sticking to his skin and clothing.
The grasses and leaves broke apart anytime he brushed past them. But the silence was the most telling. The graveyard had been quiet, but this was even worse.
He had already known something was following him before the forest changed.
The crimson eyes at the graveyard's edge had not retreated when he left. He had felt them tracking him through the fog, patient, keeping distance, and never closing. Whatever they were, they had been waiting for the right ground.
This was apparently it.
He looked at the positions he had mapped.
One to the left.
Two behind.
Three ahead, and more approaching.
'So you followed me from the graves,' he thought as that changed his assessment. 'Smarter than standard beasts.'
"Good," he said quietly as he gripped Dark Animas. "Come closer."
The trees around shook like something had bumped into them. While the sounds of branches cracking echoed out but nothing was rushing out. The beasts were observing and trying to close in as much as possible.
But it was useless to him.
"You're waiting. For the right moment to attack." Ophieus tilted his head slightly. "That's your mistake."
A pause.
Just then he grabbed a branch and shivered at its coldness. Before hurling it towards where he felt the thing was on his left.
It rushed through the fog, parting it and then smashing into something. Then he heard it, a distorted growl echoing out with the fog shifting around.
"You don't decide when this starts." His hand rested on the sword. "I do. Now stop wasting my time."
These beasts in Hyzleth were annoying but very smart predators. One had to either lower their guard if they wanted to bait it out or provoke it. Even then, you wouldn't know which beast it was till it attacked you.
Ophieus took a relaxed step forward, and almost immediately, the fog tore open in front of him.
A jaw lunged straight for his throat.
A killing strike that had the fog trailing off it but then it stopped. Ophieus caught it mid-air, his grip over its neck made it paused before it then stopped immediately. As his other hand moves to dig into its upper jaw and force it open wider.
For half a second, the abomination still half covered by the fog froze in place.
Its red eyes flickered. Not with hunger or anger but recognition that quickly turned into fear as it trembled. It knew what he was, what he meant.
Ophieus saw it clearly and that made him interested. "So you can feel it too."
Then he smashed it down into the ground and the beast skill cracked the ground. Dark Animas made a hissing sound as he took it out before he thrust down.
And the blade went straight through its skull.
Silence fell around him.
At the edge of his vision, a number flickered briefly. He ignored it as he felt something slip into him suddenly, one that made his body swell in energy. And then for a moment he understood things he hadn't before.
How the beast circled its prey.
How it waited for the perfect opening.
Where it would strike for maximum damage.
The knowledge wasn't his originally. But now sat in him naturally, like something that had always been there and had simply been waiting to be accessed.
'This is useful but it shouldn't happen.' He thought before his eyes narrowed. "Pathfinders only gain some of the beast's magic after killing them… And more importantly, how is an unawakening body this strong? Things to look into later."
He didn't stop moving.
A growl echoed across the entire area.
When it passed by him, Ophieus felt his vision blurred and made him almost stumble. In less than a second, he saw a silver text appear and disappeared before he could read it.
Shaking his head, Ophieus scans the area. "A mental attack, how unpleasant."
Then he saw them coming from the front.
Eight pairs of red eyes, staring at him through the fog that had begun to part around the area.
Now he could finally see what was attacking him.
They were shaped like wolves, circling around him slowly with whitish-black fur. Around their legs was light-blue smoke and they had faces that were a mix of a wolf and a lion.
"Oh? I never saw these types before… A mutation probably." Ophieus said calmly.
Before he then began walking forward like nothing had changed. The second attack came right away as one wolf rushed through the area and lunged towards him.
Too slow for him.
He sidestepped it before his blade flashed out and slashed upwards under the creature's neck as it passed him.
One clean swing.
Ophieus shifted slightly, barely enough, and his blade rose in a clean arc. The head separated before the body realized it was dead. But that didn't stop new understanding from flowing inside of him and laying on top of what was already there. The previous knowledge shifted and adjusted itself.
The second and third wolf attacked together, each one attacking on both sides. A perfect pincer attack but he already moved before they did. Not consciously thinking about it but simply his body knew what they were planning to do.
He stepped forward into the gap they'd left.
The two collided in empty space where he'd been standing before his blade turned smoothly and carved through one of them. Then his free hand gripped the neck of the other beast who squirmed in his hand.
Then Ophieus slammed the beast into the ground over and over until it turned into mush.
Then once again numbers flashed in his vision, it was a 8 before quickly vanishing. Once more he felt magic seeping in after killing them, but he ignored as he felt something aligned again.
It wasn't his thought or instincts but for the first time, he knew where each of the wolves were at and would be.
"Behind. But it's sloppy."
And then a third rushed towards him from behind thinking he was distracted.
Ophieus didn't turn around and leaned just slightly, the smallest movement possible. Claws passed just barely past his throat, close enough to feel the air move, close enough to hear them cutting through space.
Dark Animas cut through the air as Ophieus thrust backward. The blade went through the beast's open mouth before pulling out as black blood dripped to the ground. .
"Still too slow."
Four left.
More knowledge flooded in. More fragments of the creature's patterns, and tactics rushed through him.
And then felt his stance shifted half an inch.
Not consciously.
But correctly.
He kept walking forward and staring at the four wolves that were left. They had stopped circling him and began staring at him, not charging in like the five before them. It looked like they were trying to think of a plan, but he saw through it all.
Ophieus golden eyes read their body language and saw the fear leaking from their body. And instantly grasped the exact moment when the hunt turned into something else.
The roles of the hunter and the hunted were switched.
"You were hunting me," he said quietly.
He took a clear step forward, but they all flinched, all of them stopped a step back.
"Now you're deciding if you should run."
Silence pressed down
"Don't," Ophieus said softly before beckoning forward. "Don't be cowards and finish what you started."
For a couple seconds, the wolves didn't move or react.
Then all four attacked at once.
It was their smartest action so far and the best choice, the only way they had a chance to win. It didn't help them.
Ophieus waited till they were close before he moved.
And the fight ended.
The first wolf died mid-jump, as the blade passed through its open-wide mouth and split it in half.
The second died trying to rush past him but it was too late as a black sword plunged through its head from above.
The third tried to claw at his leg but it found only air before a leg crashed down on its head and then a sword plunging through it.
The fourth fangs were inches from his shoulder but then it froze. Dark Animas had already pierced through its mouth.
Then it dropped to the ground as silence descended again.
"Too slow." Ophieus glanced at the dead bodies and flicked the blood off his blade.
Then light appeared, soft and warm, rising from the bodies as they started to break apart. A single ball of light floated in front of him, it was pulsing and shining.
Then a familiar voice appeared.
"Ophieus."
"…You again."
"Look at the light."
The ball of light rushed towards him and then gently entered his chest before silver light erupted like something was awakening.
A chime echoed out.
[Knowledge Absorbed: 18]
…
At the edge of the forest, hidden in the fog were two human figures wearing black armor and cloaks watching everything that had happened. They had expressions of disbelief as they saw the entire fight that had the opposite outcome.
When what should have been prey turned out to be the hunter instead.
"What was that?" One shakily asked. "How did he kill those Beast Festivals without using any magic or Crest…"
"I don't know but we should go." The other replied, just as shaken. "We have a mission…"
They'd come here to check on this area that was assigned to them, only expecting to find Abominations. Instead they'd found something far more dangerous and witnessed something that shouldn't be possible.
A normal person killing Beast Festivals.
Then they flinched when Ophieus's head tilted slightly, not towards them but it was close enough.
"Did he—"
"Move." They quickly pulled back, not even trying to see if Ophieus had really noticed them.
They hoped he hadn't.
…
He had noticed them from the third kill. Two figures at the fog line, black armor, watching and had seen them pull back when his head tilted.
He did not pursue them yet.
The light that had entered his chest was still warm against his ribs. The keyhole outline that had appeared on his skin was new and he needed to figure what relics this was now.
The strangers could wait.
He looked down at his chest as the light faded.
A familiar chime echoed out in his mind like bells and then a screen appeared.
[Knowledge:18]
[Threshold Approaching: 25]
Seven points away. He did not know yet what reaching 25 would produce but the word threshold implied a door.
And he did enjoy the mystery.
[Synchronization: 10%]
[Requirement for initial fusion completed.]
A pause.
[Welcome, Master of the Silver Key.]
Then the screen flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Ophieus didn't move but his grip on the sword tightened slightly. Why did this thing act like it knew him?