Noelle turned to them, wearing a serious expression as she looked each of them in the eye one by one, making sure she had everyone's attention.
"Listen up; humans are not the only threat in the plains of Duluhan. There is a large species of wolves that hunts here, called Viren Wolves. These wolves are nearly as large as a horse, and are clever. They do not fear us, although they are wary of numbers. Make sure to keep your guard up, and do not stray from the rest of us, unless you want to fight a beast that even the dark elves feared."
They nodded, Jack's eyes scanning the area while he inhaled deeply, not smelling anything odd or foreign. They kept on moving, the sun even worse without the cover of the trees, and it was not long before he was panting and sweating, glaring at the tall grass all around them that offered no relief. He debated whether he should ask Elaine to try and make something with her magic to help them; her magic was supposed to have no limits, after all. He dismissed the idea, feeling selfish for just thinking about it.
They pushed on through the day, taking one short break to drink some blood. He grimaced at the water skin, having finally tasted human blood and finding out that he didn't like it. Maybe it was because elves were magical and filled with mana, but human blood tasted bland in comparison, although this was a topic he had decided to keep to himself. He was grateful that the others had as well; he had expected Drake to make a joke about it by now, and was pleasantly surprised when the giant vampire said nothing, dealing with the lesser blood in silence.
When the sun was starting to set in the sky, the wind suddenly changed directions, heading straight at them, and he stopped when a scent he didn't recognize hit his nose, getting everyone's attention and telling them to wait. Drake and Midnight noticed it to, tensing up as Jack turned to Noelle.
"We can smell a new scent, something we have not smelled before...and another scent that we know very well."
He looked ahead, squinting and seeing nothing at first. He saw only movement in the grass, amazed that such large beasts were able to hide in the grass, and suddenly a scream for help hit the air, a male elf leaping up and sprinting in their direction.
Jack drew his sword, the thin blade reflecting the light of the sun and looking eager for blood, but Noelle held her spear in front of them, shaking her head and confusing them.
"They are clever, remember? Watch; that elf is bait."
Jack nodded, taking her word for it and looking ahead, although he could see Elaine whipping hear head back and forth from Noelle and the elf, conflicted as to what she should do. Now that he looked, the elf was wounded, limping badly and bleeding onto the grass as he passed. He got off one more scream before falling back to the ground, where Jack could hear him sobbing and attempting to crawl.
Jack frowned beneath his helmet, waiting nearly a minute before getting ready to move and retrieve the elf. He stopped, his eyes growing wide as he saw six large beasts slowly rise from the grass, completely surrounding the elf. He saw movement before, but even he had no idea where they were, and anyone that would have went to help the elf would have had one of the beasts on all sides.
One of the beasts, the largest one and most likely the alpha, turned and looked directly at them, growling and appearing frustrated. He felt a slight pang of fear, his instincts telling him that this Viren Wolf was the better predator, and it was Elaine who moved first, grabbing Noelle's arm and looking at her, desperation filling her emerald eyes.
"Noelle, we have waited long enough; we need to save him before-"
She stopped mid sentence as the alpha suddenly lunged, biting the back of the elf's neck and twisting it with a loud snap. It was so sudden and ruthless that even the vampires were stunned, eyes wide as the beast dropped the elf and turned back to them, its lips dripping with blood as it growled loudly, the other wolves listening and slowly making their way towards the group.
Jack shook his head, dismissing his fear and growling back; they were just beasts in the end, and he would not be intimidated by a wolf. They all tensed up, ready to fight the wolves to the death, but then he felt the air vibrate, his hair standing up on end and getting goosebumps all over his arms. He looked over, seeing Elaine finally losing control; her golden mana was surrounding her, lifting her hair and cloak, and her pupils had been replaced with nothing but gold; she just saw what could have been one of the few elves to escape the vampires killed before her eyes, and it was clear that it was too much for her to deal with.
The wolves felt it as well, freezing and going from intimidating to frightened too late. Elaine screamed in anger and pain, and her mana acted with a will of its own, separating into whips and lashing out at the wolves. The alpha was hit with incredible speed, and when the mana hit the wolf, it burned through fur and flesh with ease, the wolf barely able to yelp in pain before half of his head was gone, leaving a charred and smoking wound behind as what remained of the body fell onto the grass.
The wolves, now realizing that they pissed off the wrong elf, turned to flee. They would not get far, as Elaine's mana changed form again, and now it shot out at the remaining wolves in beams of pure mana. This attack was fast and deadly accurate, all five of the remaining wolves hit and killed in the blink of an eye, the wolves either having large holes where their chests used to be or missing half of their bodies. All of them died quickly, and Elaine fell to her knees, tears falling as her mana rippled and slowly began to fade.
Jack suddenly realized he had been holding his breath, letting it out and breathing heavily, his heart pounding like a drum at the sight. Her magic reacted to her emotions, and as he watched it, he felt nothing but pure fear, his instincts screaming at him to flee as fast as he could. It took all of his willpower to stand there and do nothing, and he saw that Drake and Midnight were in the same condition he was, eyes wide as they panted beneath their masks.
Noelle went over, patting Elaine's back and informing her that there was nothing they could have done. Jack took a deep breath, glad it was over, until another scent hit his nose. He said nothing to the others as he walked in the direction the wolves came from, the scent something he had grown familiar with during his time in the vampiric army.
He went past the bodies of the elf and wolves, following the trail of blood the elf had left. About a hundred feet back, the grass separated slightly, and he looked upon the scene with sadness in his eyes, the ground covered in the remains of a group of elves, mostly what appeared to be women and children. Unlike the one elf they saw, these elves were killed and torn apart, their limbs and innards thrown wildly across the grass, the sight enough to make him sick. He heard the others making their way over, and realized that he could not let Elaine see this, see how helpless the elven women and children were as the wolves tore them apart.
He activated his ability, using the black liquid to quickly cover the remains and pull them into the ground, blood and all. He finished just as the group reached him, stopping himself from sighing in relief as he saw no evidence of what had been there.
Elaine looked at him, sniffling with red eyes. "Jack, what is it? You walked off suddenly."
He looked behind him, checking one last time that there was nothing left, before turning back to the group, Midnight's gaze telling him that she knew something was up as he answered the elf, lying to spare her the pain, not wanting to see her cry anymore.
"I thought I smelled something, but it seems I was...wrong."