Chapter 40: Evolving
Maren stood outside the gate checkpoint and stared at the shimmering wall of blue energy, his fingers twitching at his side while the dark crystal pulsed under his sleeve.
He didn’t say anything for a few seconds, just kept looking at the portal like he could see right through it at the people inside.
One of the guild guards stepped forward with the same bored voice he used for every other person who came through, "I already told you, two people entered a few minutes ago. Nobody else gets through until they’re out."
He still didn’t answer, his eyes staying locked on the portal while something ugly twisted behind them.
’He’s in there right now,’ he thought, feeling the crystal pulse hot against his skin, ’just on the other side of that stupid shimmer. I could be done with this in ten minutes if these guards would just move.’
"Sir," another guard said, stepping up next to the first one, "are you alright? You’ve been standing there for a while now."
He didn’t answer because there was something wrong with the way his eyes looked, unfocused like someone halfway through a fever but not quite, and the way his fingers kept curling and uncurling at his side made the guards exchange a glance neither of them liked giving.
The first guard leaned toward his partner and muttered under his breath, "what’s his deal? He looks sick or something."
"Don’t know," the second one whispered back, his grip tightening on his spear, "but keep your eyes on him."
He blinked once and turned.
He didn’t storm off angry or curse them out under his breath. He just walked away like he had forgotten why he came here, his movements stiff and mechanical while his feet hit the dirt road in a rhythm that dragged a little too much on each step.
The guards watched him leave with the same uneasy feeling settling between them.
The second guard let out a slow breath once the man’s back was far enough away, "yeah, that was weird."
"Weirder than usual," the first one agreed, keeping his eyes on the road, "did you see his hands? They wouldn’t stop moving."
The second guard nodded, finally loosening his grip on his spear a little, "maybe the guy was just having a bad day."
"Maybe," the first guard said, though the way he said it made it clear he didn’t believe that at all.
Maren kept walking down the road until the checkpoint was out of sight behind the trees. Once there was nobody around, he stumbled to the side and leaned against a tree, pressing his forehead against the rough bark while his whole body shook.
The purple veins on his arm were pulsing harder now, crawling further up past his elbow with every passing minute. He could feel them moving under his skin like something alive, and the worst part was he didn’t hate it.
’Just one chance,’ he thought, breathing hard against the tree, ’if he just showed up alone somewhere, I would end him. Then I would take that beastkin girl and show him what happens when you embarrass the wrong person.’
The thought made the crystal pulse faster. He started smiling slowly, but there was nothing happy in the way his mouth stretched across his face.
’Just wait like that girl said,’ he told himself, pulling back from the tree and flexing his fingers while the veins continued spreading up toward his shoulder, ’he has to come out eventually. And when he does, I’ll be waiting.’
[ CringeSlayer91: wait wait wait ]
[ CringeSlayer91: did anyone else just see that ]
[ ShadowMage44: what the hell was that movement ]
[ NewViewer_02: he just jumped off that branch like... ]
[ DarkBlade: that wasn’t normal at all ]
[ LurkerNoMore: rewind did he just run on all fours for a second ]
The chat kept exploding as Hajin pushed off another tree, his body twisting mid-air in a way that looked wrong for a human. His boots barely touched the branch before he was already gone, his free hand grazing the ground for balance while he ran through the underbrush on all fours without even thinking about it.
[ CringeSlayer91: okay i am not crazy ]
[ CringeSlayer91: he literally just moved like juna ]
[ ShadowMage44: bro is taking beastkin traits ]
[ NewViewer_02: is this a side effect of his summoning skill or something ]
[ ashley (Mod): he’s been copying juna’s movements ever since they started hunting together... look how natural it looks now ]
[ DarkBlade: mans literally evolving mid dungeon ]
He didn’t even notice he was doing it until Juna shot him a sharp look from the tree to his left, her ears pinned back while her tail stiffened behind her.
She had been watching him for the last few minutes and the more she looked, the more confused she got, because the way he was tracking through the brush pressing his palm into the dirt to feel for vibrations was exactly how beastkin hunters learned to stalk prey. It wasn’t something a human should just pick up by watching.
’When did he learn to move like that?’ she thought, leaping to the next tree and landing in a crouch beside him, ’he dropped his weight lower during that last jump too. Human knees don’t normally absorb impact like that.’
She kept staring at the side of his face while they pushed deeper into the forest.
’Is this because of the bond?’ she wondered. ’Does being summoned share instincts somehow?’
[ CringeSlayer91: even juna looks confused lol ]
[ ShadowMage44: wolf girl is side eyeing him so hard right now ]
[ NewViewer_02: "why is this human moving like my cousin" ]
Hajin finally noticed her staring and slowed his pace just a little, turning his head to meet her eyes. "What?"
She didn’t answer right away, her ears twitching while she studied him. "You’re moving weird," she said flatly.
"Weird how?"
"Like you grew up in a forest hunting rabbits," she said, her tail giving a single sharp flick. "Normally humans stomp around like deaf bears but you’re not making any sound."
He blinked at that, actually stopping to look down at his own hands.
’I wasn’t even thinking about it,’ he realized, flexing his fingers once, ’I just started moving and my body knew what to do. Is this because we’ve been fighting together?’
[ ShadowMage44: "deaf bears" lmaooo ]
[ CringeSlayer91: juna just roasted the entire human race ]
[ NewViewer_02: hajin looking at his hands like he just discovered he has powers ]
He opened his mouth to say something when the wind shifted.
His head snapped forward on instinct, a scent hitting his nose that he shouldn’t have been able to pick up at all. Musk, wet fur and blood thick enough to taste and the fact that he could smell anything from that distance made his brain stall for a few seconds.
Juna’s ears went flat against her head a moment after.
"There," she whispered, pointing toward a thick cluster of trees ahead. "Something big is moving. It smells like rotting meat and there’s a lot of mana coming off it."
"Can you see it?" he asked, dropping lower into a crouch.
"Not yet," she said, her nose twitching fast, "but it’s close. Very close."
The ground trembled under their feet a heartbeat later.
A massive gray paw slammed into the ground twenty meters ahead, the impact cracking the soil and sending a spray of leaves into the air. The body followed, a wolf that had to be at least ten feet tall at the shoulder with fur the color of dead moss and three shards orbiting its neck in a slow rotation.
[ CringeSlayer91: EXCUSE ME ]
[ ShadowMage44: THAT THING IS MASSIVE ]
[ NewViewer_02: That’s what she said ]
[ DarkBlade: if this isn’t the boss then what the hell IS the boss ]
[ LurkerNoMore: my guy hajin is just going to fight a building on four legs ]
[ ashley (Mod): three shards too... stay safe you two ]
The wolf turned its head slowly, its yellow eyes scanning the tree line before locking directly onto the branch where they were crouched. Drool dripped from its jaw in thick strands, hissing when it hit the ground.
Juna tensed beside him, her claws sliding out from the gauntlets. "How do we do this?"
He looked at the wolf and all the muscle packed into its frame and something clicked behind his eyes.
"Same way we hunt," he said quietly, "you drive it and I’ll cut it off. If it loses track of one of us, even for a second, the other one hits it."
"When has that ever worked on something this big?" she muttered.
"It worked on the birds earlier," he shot back, the corner of his mouth pulling up.
"Those were birds," she said flatly. "This is a house with teeth."
[ CringeSlayer91: "a house with teeth" i’m using that ]
[ ShadowMage44: they’re bantering before a boss level monster i love this show ]
He didn’t answer her, just pushed off the branch and melted into the dark between the trees, disappearing completely from both her sight and the stream’s view.