The enormous Forest Wolf now had three of its dinner plate sized paws on the trunk, and the trunk shook more and more violently.
Zac's fingers slipped, and his torso fell away from the trunk, only hanging onto the tree by the legs he had wrapped around the trunk.
'So this is how I go out. Just after I thought things had changed for me.' Zac thought, resigned to his fate, hanging down from the trunk, he could see the wolf advancing slowly along the trunk, each of its paws as wide as the trunk of the tree itself.
Either the wolf would walk this way along the trunk and kill him, or he'd fall and become prey for the wolf.
Just as Zac was about to give up and fall to the ground, the glowing white Mana Core in chest had brightened again, it had been dim since Zac had transformed back into a human, and now, enough time had passed for Zac to transform again.
Zac felt the change, and instinctively, he knew that he could transform into the newt hybrid if he wanted to.
'Alright. Calm down.' Zac told himself, taking deep breaths as he clamped his legs around the trunk with newfound vigor.
'Transforming into the newt hybrid isn't going to do much against this Forest Wolf, without any magma, I'll just be a fish out of water. I don't even know if I'm able to attack with that form. I'll try and see if I get the same instinct to touch the wolf, and if I do, I'll be able to transform into a far more useful form.' Knowing that at the very least, he could transform into the Magma Newt hybrid, Zac felt a sense of relief, surely he'd be able to do something once he transformed, the newt form would have some sort of natural defenses.
The wolf continued to awkwardly scrabble along the branch, and just as he had with the Magma Newt, Zac felt a compulsion to reach out and touch the Forest Wolf.
'I'll let go off the branch as I touch it, that should give me the time I need for my transformation.' Zac thought, the trunk shaking violently, and Zac's thin body shaking to and from like a piece of spaghetti hanging off the end of a fork
The gleaming green eyes of the wolf met Zac's, it was close enough that Zac could see the drool hanging from its open mouth, its tongue and mouth a scarlet red color, while its breath stank like rotting meat, as it panted hard from the effort of walking up the awkward curve of the tree trunk.
The wolf growled at Zac, antagonized by him matching its gaze. But Zac ignored it, and started to swing himself back and forth, adding to the shaking of the branch, the wolf slowed down as its became more and more unsteady, taking the tiniest steps toward Zac.
Zac's abdominal muscles cramped as he swung, and he used his arms to add to his momentum.
Zac reached out, the tip of his finger almost brushing against one of the Forest Wolf's enormous paws, and then, using every inch of strength his wiry frame, swung back, now almost vertical.
Zac swung back, and his outstretched hand clutched onto the fur of the Wolf. He unclasped his legs from around the trunk as he felt the same electric current that he had the first time he had transformed.
As he fell through the air, the electric current like feeling spread from his fingertips to his Mana Core,
'F***, this is going to hurt like hell.' Zac thought to himself, as he focused on his Mana Core.
It turned a deep, dark blue color, almost black, just like the fur that covered the Forest Wolves.
As it changed color, strands of mana spread all through Zac's body, rewriting his genetic information as it permeated every inch of him.
All over Zac's body, hair burst out of his skin, as he became covered in a thick layer of shaggy dark blue fur, his brown hair falling away in clumps, dark blue fur replacing the hair on his head.
Zac screamed out in pain as his skeleton and muscles restructured themselves, his bones splitting and reknitting themselves as his feet changed to paws, his ankle moving further up his leg.
Zac grew in height as his bones elongated, but his torso remained thin, his arms growing longer and his fur covered hands now tipped with dark claws.
As Zac fell from the trunk, the wolf, confused, tried to pounce forward at him, but lost balance on the trunk, its paws flailing in the air as it fell to the ground.
Zac hit the ground moments before the wolf, screaming in pain, his yells mixing with the distressed whines of the wolf.
His transformation complete, Zac's eyes blinked open, they were still the brilliant green they normally wore, but were now at an angle on his face, surrounded with a ring of dark skin.
Sharp white fangs had replaced his teeth, and his face was more angular, his jaws almost like a muzzle, while the end of his nose was dark and damp like that of a wolf.
Zac stumbled to his feet, the forest around him was now a strange blur of yellow, hints of blue appearing in some flowers around him, while the shadowed potions were now in gray.
At first, he thought he had landed somewhere else, but then looked down and realized he now stood tall on two powerful legs, which ended with paws.
His arms were covered in dense muscle, but overall, he was lean and slim.
Zac could feel a strange weight at his back, and just as he thought, a furry tail hung down between his legs.
Zac's pointed ears heard the faintest of rustling sounds, and immediately his head snapped around.
Behind him, was the Forest Wolf that had been moments away from eating him, awkwardly coming to its feet.