Oscar had never hunted before, he never saw the need to. The advantage he had was his ability to sense mana. This ability granted him a heightened perception.
"Found you..." Oscar spoke as he spotted an animal about seventy metres away from him, eating some shrubs.
It was a four legged animal, with two horns on it's head. It was big and strong measuring about five feet in height, and weighing almost two-hundred kilograms. It was a twin-tailed buffalo.
"I have read about this animal before, they like to walk in herds, but they were incredibly stupid only possessing strength rivalling a syne-two and an affinity with the earth element."
"This one may have lost it's way though, so killing it is going to be easier."
Oscar exercised caution while moving, making sure to not make any noticable sounds. He was behind a tree, about ten metres away from the beast.
"Now."
He enveloped his fists in flames as he charged at the beast and threw a punch, aiming for it's head.
The beast was caught unaware, before it could react Oscar's punch had reached it and blew the skull open.
Without a head, the beast could do nothing but fall.
While Oscar was busy hunting, someone else was grilling his subordinates on his whereabouts.
"Sir we had no choice."
"What do you mean, you had no choice, I left him in your care!"
"You said we knew nothing of his abilities but with what we had seen, you might be unaware of it as well."
"Unaware of what precisely?"
"He is a monster, a monster with secrets."
***
"I've gotten stronger." Oscar said as he looked at his fist.
After the integration of his core and heart, his strength had doubled. This was taking into cognizance, his present state which was weakened.
His location was near a waterfall in a rocky area.
Oscar dragged the beast and positioned it on top of a rock. Then he stood in front of it and placed his hand forward.
He unleashed flames on the flesh of the beast for a while, turning it crispen.
"This should do" Oscar stopped and looked around.
Bending down, he grabbed and hastily consumed the entirety of the beast.
He ate like the dead beast would get up and try to run away. Gobbling up the whole thing in the span of hours.
After Oscar finished devouring the animal and sat at the rock near the waterside.
"I've never felt this hungry in my entire life. Regardless, everything was worth it. Through this discovery I've not only managed to survive, I have become stronger. The knowledge of science has it's applications in magic. There's still a lot more to uncover..."
*****
At another part of the forest, close to Oscar's location. There were a group of four people, one leading the way with a look of annoyance evident on his face while the others had expressions of fatigue.
'We have been walking for almost an hour, how far did this runt go?' Clifford complained inwardly while leading his group.
He fared better than the rest of them who were non-mages. After arriving at the camp they didn't even have enough time to eat, taking just a mouthful of food before starting their search for Oscar.
"Boss, why don't we split up? We could cover the grounds faster." Rano spoke up.
Clifford ignored him.
"We have to move together, apart from Sir Clifford. It would be quite dangerous for us to find him on our own." Anna replied Rano.
'Then why didn't we stay back at the camp.' Rano grumbled inwardly but his face also showed dissatisfaction.
"Wipe that expression off your face and keep moving." Torren stated.
A few minutes later, they stumbled upon an area, there were bloodstains on the grass and a trail as if someone dragged something away.
"He was here, we are on the right path." Clifford said. He then took out a device to scan the place.
"Get your weapons out, there are beasts in this area." Clifford spoke.
'These beasts are planning to attack from a concealed position. How intelligent, it shows they are magic beasts. Good thing they are low-leveled.' Clifford thought to himself.
Boom!
Clifford conjured a spell making flames erupt at three different locations, burning the beasts hiding in ambush.
Growls of pain and anguish resounded. The animals ran out of their hiding spots and commenced their attacks on them.
The animals were wolves with an affinity for darkness, they were supposed to be ten but three died from Clifford's first attack.
Torren, Anna and Rano distanced themselves from Clifford and sought higher grounds. They ended up scaling the trees. The non-mages didn't need to be told what to do. This was not their fight.
The wolves payed no attention to them, Clifford was their main objective, they could sense his magical aura noting him to be a threatening opponent and the one responsible for the attack.
Growl!
One of the wolves significantly bigger than the growled out and the others surrounded Clifford.
Wolves with the darkness affinity were animals whose strengths shone at nighttime. They came to this location after smelling the blood of an animal and when they got here they saw nothing.
The wolves could have continued to follow the trail, but instinctually gave up. If a higher animal was dragged away then the beast that took care of it should not be trifled with.
The emergence of Clifford and his team changed their plans so they lied in wait, only to get discovered and have three out of them burned to death.
"Haha, foolish animals think numbers will count. At least they are edible." Clifford grinned as he looked at the wolves.
As the wolves tried to attack, Clifford chanted another spell. This time, fire encircled him, about seven steps away from him in all directions.
"Come on, don't be shy. Come closer."
Clifford smiled, politely beckoning on them.
This would have seemed inviting if not for the magnificent array of flames.
The three stooges observed the show from the safety of the trees.
The biggest wolf, which was obviously the leader growled. And two wolves enveloped themselves in darkness and jumped through the flames.
The fire was hot enough to burn but the darkness acted as protection long enough for them to jump through.
"Oh you made it. I should welcome you properly." Clifford was about to cast another spell but wasn't able to as he was thrown into a state of confusion.
"Is this...a mind attack?" Clifford spoke while trying to regain his bearings.
The leading wolf signaled them to attack after using his power to attack Clifford's mind.
All the wolves crossed the flames, while Clifford was still disoriented.
"You think you've won?!" Clifford shouted before going on to chant.
'...z-erupsio.'
They wolves thought they had succeeded till flames started erupting from the grounds immolating them one after the other.
Four more went down, leaving two wolves and the leader.
"I'm just getting started, you..." Clifford stated as he stared at the leader.
"I'll burn you to smithereens and eat the rest of your pack."
He didn't care if the wolves understood, in any case his expression made it clear enough.
He was going to kill them.
The wolves growled in defiance and the lead wolf used another mind attack on Clifford.
Clifford jumped back, widening the distance between them. This didn't stop him from being hit with the attack. Going through another state of discombobulation.
"Ahh!" Clifford blurted out in pain.
He created a wall of flames in front of him putting his back against a tree.
'I need to find a way to dodge this mind attacks if I get hit one more time, I might lose.' Clifford circulated his mana, trying to stabilize himself.
The wolves didn't let up as they moved towards Clifford, closing the distance.
Clifford jumped away and rolled evading the bite from a wolf and the claw of another. He shot out an attack aiming at the leader before it could use another mind spell on him.
The wolf dodged but Clifford's aim was achieved delaying the attack for the time being.
'This wolf is strong, it should be at syne-three. It's still noon, if this was nighttime I wouldn't have possessed such an advantage. I'm running out of mana, let's not drag this out any longer than it has to be.' Clifford thought, deciding not to stretch the fight.
He tried casting more flame eruption spells but was unsuccessful the wolves evaded every attack from the ground and didn't stay in one place.
Clifford wasn't the only one getting frustrated with his attacks not landing. The wolves attacks couldn't even graze him, he also evaded and countered the attacks from the leader when it tried to send out mind attacks.
They were in a stalemate but not for long as one of the wolves came close to Clifford and used it's fangs to bite him. It expected Clifford to struggle.
"Got you."