CHAPTER 45: REVENGE IS A DISH...

Soon the first hound reached just below his tree as it subsequently jumped towards him.

Other hounds too, soon reached the position of the tree.

Peculiarly however, none of the hounds reacted the same as the first one. Rather they kept moving without a pause in their stride.

The hound that had jumped had a perplexing reaction on their face, now that he looked at it properly.

Although it inevitably did not reach his location, as he sat at much higher altitude, it did not stare at him with the ferocity that he remembered the last time this scene played out.

It looked around the tree, circling its trunk, then the trees in the immediate vicinity, here and there, even as the whole pack moved past him, some calling onto him even, but never really focused on him.

After going at it for a few seconds, it had also joined the moving pack as everyone bolted past his tree. In a few minutes, all the hounds had passed cleanly without a hitch.

Noctis let out the breath he had been holding as he sprawled on the branch in relief.

"It worked. It really worked."

***

He could feel the hounds scurrying around the area before they eventually left in the direction they had come across.

As they were leaving, Noctis thought to use his forest manipulation, as he had come to call it for now, to see their reactions.

Just as the disguise had worn off, and he had only moved some leaves, he felt some hounds stop in their tracks.

Soon they started moving towards him again.

Interrupting the manipulation he hurriedly turned to disguise.

’It’s like they have an antenna in their heads or something.’

He thought with a twitch of his mouth. The hounds likewise again lost their way as they stood around the area with their heads scratching.

’It probably wouldn’t trick their eyes though.’

Nevertheless he could at least evade direct confrontation, if he needed to use forest manipulation.

Even if it was a bit taxing to use them at the same time.

Nevertheless, now that he had some targets in front of him, Noctis had some other things to try.

He had also had time to kill before Minerva found the way out.

Now that his mental plane had changed, he could better understand the change in his energy.

Previously it only had the neutral expression that granted him physical prowess.

After entering he awakened the forest aspect of it.

With the recent change, many more things had been awakened within him.

Besides the general manipulation of forest, and water after first awakening, one with the gaseous ethereal plane, there was another aspect to it, one that granted him the change and the ice manipulation.

Although their applications were far lacking compared to the first, he was obviously very curious about it.

He felt it still had more mysteries surrounding it, waiting to be deciphered.

Looking at the half moon shining in the now dark sky, the faint moonlight enveloping the forest gave a very familiar sensation.

Thinking back to the time he first manipulated tree roots and branches, he focused attentively at the moonlight.

As Noctis tugged and pulled at moonlight, racking his brain over what to do with it, the hounds in the area agitated and barked in frustration.

Their instinct told them they had to attack a prey that was threatening them in the area, but all they could feel was the trees and other forest creatures.

The being that their instinct told them to tear apart, staying hidden from them.

All they could do was bark and tear at random trees, kicking and tackling randomly, hurting themselves around to perhaps numb their much frustrating headaches.

On the other hand, even after trying till he started getting a migraine, Noctis couldn’t figure out the use of moonlight.

In plants it was clear enough, even instinctual. What was he to do with this however?

In the end Noctis had to stop, feeling no progress. However, he wasn’t too disappointed.

First, he believed good things seldom come easy, which he knew this feeling in his heart about the moon was, not to mention it wasn’t his first time training, he had felt this frustration before.

But also, and actually more importantly, the scene playing out while he was on this, with hounds acting like a leech was stuck to their bodies that they couldn’t get off no matter what, made for great entertainment.

Killing for revenge was fine and all, but this gave a much exhilarating feeling after being toyed around when he didn’t have a way to do this.

Just as he had stopped doing anything, the hounds finally stopped beating themselves and soon started trudging back the way they had come from.

The contrast of them coming at him with massive numbers and a wicked grin and going back scattered and defeated soothed his heart like nothing had done so far.

***

The night went on, striking the darkest hour as Noctis woke up after a brief nap.

The cold air stung as the temperature dropped lower and lower.

The energy kept one warm. It granted higher physical prowess to whoever wielded it, along with his natural resistance to cold, it allowed Noctis to survive the night that would have put any normal human to a sleep one would’ve never woken up after sleeping openly in the wild, it apparently had its limitations.

As Noctis rubbed his hands together he looked around himself, and even in himself, for Minerva.

’It seems she still hasn’t returned.’

Perhaps she had perched somewhere to rest as the visibility lessened, waiting for daybreak to move, he didn’t have any way to know or anything to do.

Anyhow, more importantly, he himself needed to warm himself up, as cold steam emitted from his mouth.

Jumping down the tree, Noctis started moving towards the bed that he had woken up on.

He intended to start a fire to get some warmth.

As he reached the place he noticed a strange silhouette around the makeshift bed.

As Noctis moved closer and closer the silhouette suddenly disappeared, leaving him starting once again.

’What the hell was that?’