It all just felt so magical, he felt so rejuvenated that a soft moan escaped his lips. He looked toward the wolf who now was rubbing its head against his feet, trying to push him forward.
He started moving, as the wolf moved in front of him and began trotting into the distance. He followed for what seemed like hours until his legs ached. They became so wobbly that he had to sit on the ground with a thud. The wolf came closer and nudged at his trousers. He slowly got up and sat on it as it resumed its throttle.
On and on they went, the journey seemed to go on for eternity, they did come across a few monsters, which the duo got rid of without much of a hassle. Aside that, the journey was quite boring so they decided to rest a little. They sat under some sort of shade and set a little campfire, which was easy considering the fact that the lightning wolf just had to send lightning bolts to the gathered firewood to make it catch fire.
As Stoneson contemplated about what they were going to eat, the snow wolf suddenly stood up and bolted away, disappearing into the bushes. Stoneson tried to go after it and noticed it a while later, ambushing a dear. He tried taking a step closer, which revealed itself to be a lethal mistake as he stepped on a twig, snapping it and sending the deer on the run.
The wolf growled at him before chasing after it. It soon came back dragging it by the hind limb. It wasn't dead, though. It was still struggling but against the fierce lightning wolf, it's struggles were easily negligible.
The wolf bit into its neck and it lay still. Stoneson was then faced with another conundrum, how was he going to prepare this animal? Obviously there was no knife to skin and de-gut it, but then something flashed in his mind, he had neglected it at first but now that he thought about it, he did see something gleaming on the way here, not too far from where he currently was so he stood up.
The wolf sat close to the deer and was about to sink it's teeth into the flesh when Stoneson stopped it. Wait, eating like that is bad manners. I'll be right back. The wolf stared at his receding silhouette and then at the prize in front of it, slowly opening its maw before as if on cue, thinking the better of it and just lay there close to it.
Stoneson was sure he saw something gleam faintly in the moonlight somewhere within the undergrowth. He went to the exact spot and bent down. "Here!" He exclaimed as he saw some raggedy looking cloth slightly open. He didn't think too much as he opened it, he gasped at the sight he saw.
"Two daggers?" Stoneson became highly alert. This means someone else was in the vicinity doesn't it? He slowly picked the two immaculately designed daggers with great care before turning around. Although to a not welcoming sight. He didn't have the time to see what was headed toward him clearly before hastily crossing the two daggers in front of himself to parry the surprise attack.
"Ding!" Metal clashed against metal, Stoneson's entire being shot backward like a cannonball, his arms were numb, incredibly numb. He looked at the figure approaching him slowly as he stood up, it was someone clad in heavy dull armor with a broadsword held over his shoulder. His entire being was covered in that armor. Only his eyes, or better still the two glowing orbs he had for eyes could be seen.
He slowly approached, step by step, and once he was within arm's length, Stoneson immediately tried stabbing him with his dagger. "Ding!" The man didn't even try to dodge. And let the attack land squarely on his armor. However, he wasn't moved at all.
"Lesson one. You should learn to beg for your life against opponents like..." "Bang!" He had noticed Stoneson close his eyes but he didn't pay much attention, all he thought was that maybe he was broken since he couldn't deal him a speck of damage. Who would have thought that the little brat was merely trying to hide the fact that he was entering bloodthirsty mode?
His intention would instantly be revealed if the opponent was to notice his eye change from black to ice blue all of a sudden for sure. That was the simple reason for which Stoneson closed his eyes.
The man just felt a cold gust of wind blow against his face before a heavy blow landed squarely on his jaw, interrupting his lecture. Although it didn't do much in the end, it just tilted his head to the side actually. He held his jaw, slightly massaging it. "Ouch! That tickles!" The air in Stoneson's lungs just vanished after the man said that. "Now quit being annoying and behave before you get me too annoyed, I hate being tickled!" Stoneson stared blankly as his bloodlust mode ended, entering cool down. He inevitably felt heavy, too heavy for his legs to carry.
He wasn't overwhelmed though, on the contrary, he was clearheaded enough for his brain to cycle through a myriad of solutions to alleviate this conundrum before him. He followed the mysterious man in knights armor to where the wolf was laying in wait. "Aah Spider here you are, I've been looking everywhere for you!" He exclaimed when he saw the wolf and it wagged its tail as it sprinted towards the man. Stoneson's hope immediately went down the drain, he had thought about fighting the man alongside the wolf but judging from what's happening in front of him now, he knew things were going to be a lot tougher than he thought.
However, after seeing how the man had grabbed Stoneson, the wolf howled angrily. "Oh you know each other? I was just about to feed him to you though! But that doesn't matter now, looks like you've hunted something in my absence..." The man spewed a lot of nonsense. "Now go and... it's okay I'll prepare it, sit here and be a good boy. If you try anything stupid, like trying to tickle me again I wouldn't hesitate to tie you to the sizzling meat on the fire so that you both can cook while hugging each other." Stoneson's eyes twitched, this man was something else, how could he be so vile? He had already decided to see where this will lead, he wouldn't try fighting him anymore as he senses the man had no nefarious intentions, not to mention the fact that he wouldn't actually die in the real world if he was killed in here, he would only go through some mental trauma at most.
So he sat down, crossing his legs as he prepared to enter meditative state, before he could however, he sensed a piercing gaze directed his way. "Are you just going to stare daggers?" He asked the man opposite him without opening his eyes. "This shows that you are a complete noob in this world, how could you be naive enough to enter a meditative state while an enemy is sitting just arm's length from you?" The man asked incredulously.
"Your thoughts are clear to me, no matter how well you try to conceal it, you bear no ill intentions towards me, you would have killed me otherwise before bringing my hide here." Stoneson replied matter-of-factly. Of course Stoneson couldn't do that, picking up the minutest emotional traits from someone who was leagues stronger than him was practically a nincompoop's theory, had the strength disparity not been that great, he could to some extent.
It was a universal fact and so his words made the man angry, looking at the boy sitting comfortably opposite him with his eyes closed, as if without a care in the world, he felt like putting him in his place, of course he wasn't going to kill him, he had no such intentions, like the boy had realized.
He only wanted to score him a bit, just a tiny bit.
So he shouted, "how impervious of you to have such stupid thoughts? I'll teach you a bitter lesson right now!" He then unsheathed his sword and stood up, dashing towards Stoneson instantly covering the seven meter distance between the like a hungry predator that haven't had any food in days suddenly spotting a prey daft enough to pass under its nose.
Stoneson felt the unmistakable aura of killing intent suddenly wash over him but he didn't flinch, not even opening his eyes, instead he just laughed softly, " you radiate a killing intent, yes but deep down you just want to scare me and then mock me later when you achieve the desired effect, it won't work, sir." He said as he entered a state of calm, it was as if the world was void, with only him being in the center of space. Once he reached this state, not even an earthquake would rattle him and wake him up, the azure energy started swirling around him precisely then. He shivered slightly as something landed on his legs. It was the lightning wolf, it seemed to sense something from Stoneson beckoning to it, therefore it went to rest on his lap, lightning coursing through its snow white fur gently, Stoneson immediately felt numb all over but he bore with it.
Slowly, it got more uncomfortable but he persevered. He endured for hours on end, occasionally grunting loudly in pain, he had started with slight grimaces to bear with it but as it got more unbearable, he had to shout on top of his lungs to ease the pent-up pain.