Chereads / Havok, Lunatic of the Darkness / Chapter 20 - Chapter 20 - Mapping out the forest (Part 2)

Chapter 20 - Chapter 20 - Mapping out the forest (Part 2)

Roars continued to escape the grizzly's mouth as it was infuriated that these wolves kept striking and running. However, now that one of the wolves was killed by the boar, one of the two wolves it was fighting had to fight the boar to prevent it from attacking a wolf that was already in battle.

Once the grizzly had the chance to fight one on one it was able to show off its strength, anytime the wolf came close to it the grizzly would trade blows with it. The grizzly had a tougher body and more strength, so the wolf quickly accumulated damage. On the other side the fox and the wolf were evenly matched in speed, but the wolf was stronger, so after a few minutes it killed the fox by smashing its head into the ground with the swipe of its paw.

The boar was winning against the wolf it was fighting, but when the fox died and the wolf it was fighting just joined the fight. The boar held its ground, but the lack of stamina was beginning to show. It would charge at the wolves bashing them with its heavy body, which would not normally work but all of the fighting had slowed down the speedy wolves. All of the beasts had taken damage, now it was just a battle of attrition or which beast had the ability to kill with one blow.

The grizzly killed its wolf, but its snout was covered in claw marks, one of its legs had bite marks on it that went all the way down to the bone and it lost an eye. The boar killed a wolf by stomping on it after it knocked it to the ground, which broke one of its legs. The other wolf saw that it had no chance to win so it decided to flee. The boar and grizzly eyed each other as they just stood there…

Roar!!!!!!! Rumble!!

A roar that was louder than anything Havok had heard before came from a black bear that came out of a large group of bushes next to the glowing pond. The roar blew the leaves off of the trees and bushes and that wave of mana spread out destroying the ground and trees in the area.

The boar and the grizzly were both blown several feet backwards along with the dead bodies of all the fallen mana beasts.

Once they stopped and looked at where the roar came from, they seemed to recognize the bear and lowered their heads and left without even taking any of the corpses or mana cores that covered the ground.

Havok knew that this black bear was the ruler of this region, it also explained why none of the beasts here didn't just go drink directly from the pond instead of fighting over the runoff. This was also the strongest mana beast he had met so far. He could feel the mana radiating off of it as it stood there watching the boar and grizzly leave. He knew that he had no chance of winning and a slim chance to escape if it spotted him.

Havok got the basic outline of where it lived and jumped out the tree while activating 'Darkness Dash' and sped to the east. The bear seemed to notice that something wasn't right and roared towards the direction that Havok had smartly left just a minute ago.

Roar!!!

This roar was much different from the other one, this one was focused on one area and the first one seemed to be the bear announcing its arrival and establishing who was in charge. The tree that Havok was standing on was blasted apart, only a small crater was left.

Havok stopped once he got far enough away, and he was drenched in sweat. The black bear was a red core rank mana beast, but with the strength that Havok felt it should be close to becoming an orange core. "Hah… Hah… Shit. How the hell is it that strong already? A few seconds later and that beast would have ripped me apart. Hah… I really wanted to find out what was so special about that water in that pond, but I guess I will just have to check once I get stronger." An out of breath Havok said gasping for air.

Havok felt something dripping down his ear to his neck, so he touched it to see what it was. "What the hell? Just one roar managed to shatter my eardrums and I was quite a distance away too. If I was closer that roar might have been enough to knock me unconscious or kill me, if it was right next to my ear. The northern region is a danger zone, and I won't be going there until I feel confident enough to at least put up a fight against that fucking monster," said Havok stunned by the power of the black bear.

Havok rested for a while. It was already midday when he got up. He noticed that this must be the eastern region, he didn't have time to care when he was sprinting for his life earlier. He checked his region like he did with the north and he saw a decent number of mana beasts populating the area. The number of trees dropped drastically, and it became a grassland with vibrant green grass almost as tall as him. "No fucking way I am walking in that tall ass grass. That is basically asking to be eaten. There is no telling what the hell is lurking there just waiting to rip me apart. I need to get a higher vantage point." Havok said, as he then looked around for a better way to scan the area from above. Havok chose to walk around the outskirts of this region while staying in the lush part of the forest trying to get high up enough in a tree to be able to see what was lying in the tall grass.

He was sitting on the branch of one of the medium trees just observing the grassland. He found out what mana beast ruled this area, but it was different from the other regions. Coyotes were the ones that ruled this area, and they were in a pack of 5. He watched for a while and only saw 4 of the coyotes kill prey that walked into their territory while the 5th coyote just laid upon a rock with its eyes closed. Havok realized that this must be the alpha of this pack because the other coyotes would bring back the dead bodies of their kills as a sort of tribute to their leader, who would eat whatever it wanted. While the other 4 coyotes split whatever was left.

The alpha was dark gray with bright red eyes although Havok could not see its full size since it was laying down, he knew that it would have to be bigger and stronger than the other coyotes around to be the alpha. The 4 other coyotes were a lighter shade of gray than the alpha, they were 3 feet tall and 3 feet long. He didn't see them actually fight. They were more like assassins. They would stalk the edges of the grassland and wait for their prey to enter. They would kill their unsuspecting target with one strike.

The sun was getting closer to setting and Havok could not spend any more time here. He still needed to map out the rest of the forest. He was still on the edge of the inner forest, so he decided to head to the center of the forest. He was jumping from branch to branch and stopped when he saw the mana beasts gathered. There were all sorts of mana beasts like rabbits, squirrels, snakes, porcupines, lizards and the bigger mana beasts seemed to have their own separate area within the inner forest.

While some of the beasts were fighting most of them were rather calm, just walking around looking for food or resting. Which surprised Havok, although this wasn't an area that was rich with mana like the others, probably due the high number of beasts here compared to the other regions. He knew that with a large number of occupants the amount of mana that each of them could absorb would be minimal. "I wonder why the stronger beasts allow the weaker ones to stay here which limits their growth? Hmm… I see." said Havok, understanding the situation now.

The situation was similar to the coyotes. The weaker beasts would go out and gather whatever food they could find and give it to the stronger mana beasts as a form of payment for not killing them and allowing them to stay here where it is relatively safe. Havok got what he needed and headed to the southern region where he lived to see what the situation around his home was.

Havok did not have to search for long. He felt something above him as a shadow passed over him, he looked up and saw large falcons circling in the air, seemingly looking for prey. This was Havok's first flying type of mana beast, so he watched on curiously to see what it was going to do.

The falcon was circling its whole territory at first, but the circling became smaller and smaller as it seemed to locate its prey. Havok dashed over to see how the falcon attacks. The falcon folded its wings and dove to the ground faster than anything Havok had ever seen aside from his teacher's movement technique.

The small squirrel mana beast was unaware that it was about to die and was snacking on some kind of nut just sitting on the ground where the giant trees did not cover, making it easier for the falcon to strike quickly. The leaves on the trees surrounding where the falcon sped by were blown off and in an instant Havok only caught a glimpse of the strike, he didn't clear all the trees and his view was partially blocked, but he saw enough.

The squirrel made no noise as it was plucked off of the ground as the falcon's beak had shot through the squirrel's neck separating its head from its body, killing it instantly. Havok caught just a glimpse of the falcons' features, its wings were light red as were its talons and beak. Havok was not sure if the beak was red because of the rabbit's blood or if that was its actual color. It was the same size as Havok and its wingspan was twice that, making it seem massive. That was all Havok saw before the falcon sped away.

Havok got the basic layout of the forest and went back home. He used a rock to draw the map on the wall above where he slept with as much detail as possible. "Whew, finally finished. I collected nuts and berries passing through the territories earlier for a source of mana to help me keep my core filled while I practice. Right now, I want to sleep, it was a long day. I will start training tomorrow. Haaahhhhn." Havok yawned as he climbed into his bed and got some rest.