"Found you."
Aron muttered with a small smile on his face before standing up and going into the cave. Once inside, he found it to be dimly lit only because of the moonlight penetrating through the cracks and deadly silent.
"It's useless trying to hide from me in the dark." Aron declared in a confident tone as his eyes began to glow a misty gray.
This was an inherent aspect of the Limbo Strider which made its vision near perfect even in the dark since it was found in a region overcome by a long cycle of night.
He soon began scanning his surroundings for anything useful as he continued going deeper into the cave. Aside from insects and fungi however, Aron was yet to see anything, only depending on the faint scent he caught for surety.
'Death Stalkers can't morph to become as smaller than 1 meter nor can they become any form of vegetation...' Aron assessed mentally as he continued to be on the lookout for anything.
Soon though he reached the end of the cave and still found nothing. This almost led him to believe it might have escaped but the thought of it getting past him didn't seem possible especially with the foreign scent still lingering around.
"Then just where are.... you" Aron muttered while looking around before soon trailing off when his gaze was focused on the cave's ceiling. What he saw were a multitude of bat like creatures covering the cave's ceiling above him.
Aron looked at the creatures for a moment but couldn't notice any features out of place. What he did notice however was a scent that was out of place among them. This small little detail was enough to tell him the death stalker was among them.
With this confirmed, Aron crouched down momentarily and picked up a small stone from the ground. After doing so, he gazed back up at the ceiling before throwing the stone he held with immense force.
A loud boom could be heard as the stone made contact with the rocky ceiling above and almost immediately the creatures began to fly away hurriedly.
Aron stood in place as they began rushing out of the cave with great speed.... all except one that fell to the ground near Aron.
'Although the shapeshifting capabilities of death stalkers are incredible...they don't inherit the abilities of the creatures they morph into...so in such a case the death stalker can only be the one that can't fly.' Aron thought to himself as he remembered the information, he knew about them to the very detail.
"Kreee...." The one fallen creature let out a strange noise as its body began to vibrate rapidly. Seeing this Aron narrowed his eyes while his muscles grew tense.
Less than a heartbeat later, one of the creature's wings morphed into a gigantic hand that immediately reached out to grab Aron.
The speed at which it did so was terrifying but just as it was about to grab hold of Aron he jumped back instinctively and avoided it by a small margin.
'It morphs and moves incredibly fast...the Alpha.' Aron concluded before quickly rushing out of the cave before it could morph again.
The strange noise it let out however only seemed to grow louder and louder as the entire cave began to rumble. Upon exiting the cave, Aron retreated a few meters from the entrance and assumed a fighting stance with a serious expression on his face.
'I can't fight it in an enclosed space but here...' Aron's thoughts trailed off as he noticed the strange loud noise it let out had now stopped.
With a large boom, the cave's entrance suddenly got broken with intense force. Dust covered the scene but even that wasn't enough to hide the cause behind the cave's destruction.
Infront of what used to be the cave's entrance stood a Death Stalker almost two times the size of the ones Aron faced earlier.
"Definitely the Alpha, but..." As the dust began to clear, Aron could now properly analyze it. What stood out most about the death stalker in front of him were the many injuries that covered its large body.
The more he looked at them the more relaxed Aron became. The injuries it had were nothing to scoff at, which explained why it hadn't attacked him yet but instead observed.
It's hands and legs were bloody and covered in claw marks all over. It was clear to see that the injuries it had were serious as the creature could barely support itself up.
"So that's how it is..." Aron muttered aloud after coming to a realization. He then began walking towards the creature casually without any caution.
"Kreeee!" It once again let out a strange noise and clawed at the ground but Aron wasn't the slightest bit fazed.
Once Aron reached a few meters away from it, it tried to attack using its large claws. However, its movements were very slow as compared to the earlier death stalkers, most likely due to its injuries so dodging the attack wouldn't be hard but instead Aron blocked it by grabbing hold of the claw.
"You're even weaker than the ones I faced earlier" Aron pointed out before pushing its hand to the side.
The creature was made to slightly stumble from the force Aron used and this created an opening. Aron lunged forward and grabbed its oddly shaped head firmly before forcefully slamming it down into the ground.
"Graaa!" The creature let out a pained growl as the ground shook from the impact it caused.
Aron looked down at the creature as if he were disappointed by the lack of challenge it provided.
"Far too easy..." He muttered confidently as he watched the creature try to stand with its injured hands.
When it finally managed to raise its head a bit, Aron grabbed it once again and slammed it right back into the ground. The only difference was this time he didn't stop but instead continued to do so until the creature stopped moving.
"I hope it's mana is at least dense." Aron pressed his right hand firmly on its head and closed his eyes. A moment later he opened them and they began to glow brightly along with the eyes of the beast below.
Aron wore a serious expression with his brows furrowed as the glow in eyes began to slowly go dimmer and dimmer. As this happened, one could easily notice the size of the creature rapidly reducing.
By the time the glow in the eyes had completely faded, the creature looked to be only skin and bones. Aron however retreated back a few steps whilst holding his head as if in pain.
"Grr..." Aron let out a growl similar to that of the creature as he moved his head side to side. His muscles began to slowly grow larger and his teeth began to grow sharper.
'I'm the predator, not the prey.' Aron thought to himself before taking in a deep breath.
When he exhaled, his body slowly returned to its original state. He quickly scanned his arms and legs before rubbing his jaw just to be sure.
"Tsk, if father knew one of his rules was actually helpful, he wouldn't let me hear the end of it." Aron muttered before grabbing one of the beast's limbs and dragging it along as he left the scene.
It didn't take long for Aron to return to the clearing where his father laid while dragging the bodies of the death stalkers behind him. When he got close to his father, Aron stopped dragging them and looked at his father with crossed arms.
"I'm done." He stated as if having completed a chore.
"Hmm? Already? Did you kill the Alpha as well?" Harald asked with one eye closed as he still laid on the grass in a relaxed manner.
"No. How can I kill something you already killed? The real Alpha was killed by you and this caused the remaining death stalkers to battle each other to find a new Alpha."
"They probably started by attacking the largest one among them but failed to bring it down with one getting injured in the process. The large stalker escaped to nurse its wounds while the injured one was set up as bait to draw out some prey. That's what I think happened at least." Aron explained in a serious tone causing Harald to simply close his eyes and go silent.
'I initially left the large one to make him think he had defeated an Alpha. That would have boosted his confidence and made him more eager to grow but...to think he'd not only easily realize that but also decipher the events that took place between the beasts....' Harald's thoughts trailed off before he finally opened his eyes once more.
"You're definitely as clever as your mother, I'll tell you that much." Harald told Aron in an annoyed manner.
"That's the first time I've heard you compliment my mother, are you feeling well?" Aron asked in a genuine tone of concern but Harald simply scoffed at him.
"That's because she's a witch who denied a hard-working warrior of his needs." Harald complained as he slowly began to sit upright.
"How is any of that relevant to me?" Aron replied bluntly while shrugging.
"As a man it's important you know how to handle, treat and act around women." Harald responded while confidently patting his chest.
"Power comes first, everything else is secondary" Aron stated whilst imitating his father's serious voice.
"Don't use my own rules against me pup." Harald warned with furrowed brows but once again Aron only shrugged.
"I'm going to train." Aron ignored his father's warning and began heading back towards the forest he had just come out of.
"That leaves me to cook...again. That damned pup just had to have his mother's attitude." Harald cursed before grabbing the bodies and leaving in the direction of their home.
...
[RULE #150: You're the predator, not the prey]
[RULE #1: Power comes first, everything else is secondary]