SSS-Rank Bloodline: Wolf Evolution

The sun of a new day rose, and spread its warmth over the vast forest filled with the unknown and dangers. Amid the beauty of this mysterious and terrifying nature, stood a large and ancient tree, lush with greenery, and brimming with life.

The winds of the last days of spring moved its dense branches, and cold morning dew drops fell from its leaves. Insects roamed on its thick and tall trunk, which appeared to these small creatures like a large world.

Tremor!

Suddenly the tree began to shake, its leaves fell, and all the insects on it were terrified, and it was not the only one, for all the trees beside it shook, and all the birds in the area flew away.

Mooo!

With the passing of the seconds, the intensity of the shaking increased, and the sound of hundreds of hooves striking the ground was heard. From a nearby spot a large herd of massive buffaloes appeared, fleeing in terror, destroying everything in their path.

Behind them, a gray wolf of imposing appearance chased after them, possessing a mane more akin to that of a lion. Its mane was black with a crimson tint. It ran with great speed and agility, avoided obstacles with ease, and little by little closed the gap between them.

At the front of the herd, one of the buffaloes collided with the large ancient tree, causing part of its trunk to break, yet it remained standing, rooted in the ground. This was not the first time something like this had happened to it.

But, soon a second buffalo struck it, then a third, and so on, under the weight of the many collisions, its trunk shattered, it tilted to the side, and began to fall slowly, announcing the end of a full century of silent life.

Upon seeing that, the gray wolf increased its speed, jumped onto the trunk, which had not yet touched the ground, and using it as a foothold, lunged forward with great force toward the herd.

Like a swooping eagle, it pounced on a fat buffalo from above, bit it from the back of its neck, and because of the momentum of its lunge brought it down to the ground with great ease.

Boom!

The rest of the buffaloes screamed in terror, and moved to avoid him, and at the same time, the massive tree fell to the ground, producing a violent shockwave loaded with dust and leaves, and even small insects.

The imposing wolf’s fur danced as it tore through the buffalo’s throat, finishing it off.

It raised its head, revealing fierce features stained with a little blood. It was Arthur, and it seemed a few changes had occurred to his physical appearance, for all his scars had disappeared, his size had increased, and his color had become slightly leaning toward black.

"Tsk, my instincts are in a state of agitation this morning, my calculations were correct, the full moon will rise tonight. I hope everything goes well." He sighed in disappointment.

He hated the full moon frenzy, but unfortunately, he could not do anything about it, its effects had just started to appear, and the closer the sunset came the worse they would get until he lost complete control of himself.

There was no use in being pessimistic, so he kept his spirits up. He licked the blood on his face, and murmured sarcastically: "Well, time to take food to that spoiled lady."

He examined his surroundings carefully, bit the buffalo carcass from its leg, then dragged it toward the spider woman’s nest. Since transporting carcasses through the forest was an exhausting and bothersome process, over the course of the past weeks he had cleared obstacles, and opened a few small paths that made things easier for him.

While walking through the area filled with mushrooms, in which nothing much had changed, he reviewed everything that had happened during the past weeks.

A month and a half had passed since he pledged his loyalty to the spider woman, and he had spent all of that period hunting for her and serving her, as a loyal follower. Because of that, their relationship had improved greatly, and that faint tension between them had lessened, and most importantly he had obtained from her a large amount of information about this world.

The name of this vast forest he was currently in was Grimfen Forest, and it was known for being one of the harshest and most primitive places in this world, and he also learned of the existence of a human empire very far to the east.

As for the rest of the other directions, she had told him that in the far north lay the lands of ice and mountains, and in the south there was a barren desert whose true size no one knows, as for the west, the forest continued to extend in that direction until it met the ocean.

Unfortunately most of her descriptions were general, and imprecise, and this made him realize that she in turn did not know much, and most likely had not visited those places before, but, despite that, this knowledge, which some might consider insignificant, was like a treasure to him, for he was no longer like a blind man who does not know where to place his steps.

After arriving at the nest, he entered without asking permission as was his habit, placed the carcass in the long and empty corridor, then turned around about to leave, but, at that moment, a faint shiver came over him.

Without showing any obvious reaction, he turned back, and found a very beautiful woman, standing beside the carcass, and staring at him.

He did not wonder about how she had appeared there suddenly, or about the reason for her staring at him, for he had grown accustomed to that, all he did was smile faintly and greet her politely: "My lady, how are you? Do you need anything from me?"

Based on what he had noticed, it seemed she had recovered a large part of her strength, for she had begun leaving her cocoon frequently, and wandering through the nest in her human form.

Because of that, the encounters and short conversations between them had become more frequent, and this increased the closeness between them, but, despite that, Arthur still felt strangeness and discomfort whenever he saw her, especially since her beauty in the human form, despite her monstrous features like the red lines and the horns, stirred his deeply buried human instincts.

The spider woman furrowed her brows, and asked him suddenly: "You look a little different today, is it that thing related to the full moon?"

This was the second time he had suffered from the moon frenzy since he had become her follower, so she had a clear idea of what was happening to him.

He shook his head in regret and replied: "Yes, unfortunately."

"Well, you are free to do as you please tonight, just do not bother me as you did last time."

"Thank you for your generosity, rest assured I will control my instincts as much as possible." He sighed in relief, for he had been worried about this matter.

"It does not matter, just make sure to bring me some prey before nightfall." She gestured to him indifferently to leave.

He repeated his thanks, then exited the nest. When he had moved a little away, he felt the silk threads inside his body stir with unusual activity, and he immediately realized that she had increased the extent of the area he could move within temporarily.

Without any hesitation he headed toward the lake, but he suddenly stopped in the middle of the way, for once again, he sensed the presence of a predatory monster lurking nearby. These incidents had become ordinary for him, so he wasn’t worried.

He scanned his surroundings quickly, and noticed the presence of a large hyena of the same rank as him, slowly and cautiously creeping toward him.