Chapter 13: Day in the woods
Chapter 13: Day in the woods
“Shall we go?” As soon as Sam entered Philip said with a smile. Sam nodded and all five of them left the house and started walking towards the woods. After sometime Sam spoke.
“I forgot something, you guys carry on and I will join you in a bit.”
“Oh, do you want me to accompany you?” Philip asked.
“No, it won’t take long.” Sam said.
“Then we will wait for you here.” Philip said. Sam just nodded in acknowledgement and walked towards the village centre and came back after a while. This time the only difference is, he has a ring with a small blue crystal on his right hand. Everyone didn’t notice anything odd and all of them again walked towards the woods. After walking for a while, they entered the woods. They stopped in a field which has more open space and sat down to discuss the plans.
“How about going individually, we can hunt in the outskirts for a while and let’s meet here at noon. Then we can go for something inside the woods.” Sam said.
“No, how can that be done. After all Sam you have the lowest cultivation here. So, how can we rest easy if something untoward happen to you.” Philip rejected immediately.
“I can handle it myself in the outskirts.” Sam said with a frown. He wants to be alone after all he need to collect the Silk moth nest and store them in his Dimension. He doesn’t want these people to know about it. That is why, he is trying to go single.
“We will go by pairs. Haley and Paul, Sam and Marvin and I will go alone since my cultivation level is highest.” Philip said again. This time Haley frowned. She really doesn’t like this Paul very much, but now Philip is suggesting them to team up. Seeing Haley’s expression, Philip looked at her and signal something with his eyes and she remained silent. Seeing that nobody has any objections, Sam has no choice but to agree and without saying another word he started walking in the direction where Silk moth nest is present. Seeing this Marvin also nodded to his teammates and quickly followed Sam. Looking at the man who dressed in black with a black raven on his shoulder walking without any intention of cooperating as a team Marvin smiled wryly.
“You better explain yourself.” Haley said to Philip.
“Nothing, I didn’t really mean to make you and Paul a team. I just wanted Sam and Marvin to tag together and if I don’t make the teams like that, he won’t believe me. So, don’t take it to heart. Let’s just wait here until noon. Nothing would be challenging to us anyway.” Philip said as he sat down on the ground. Haley didn’t reply and just turned her gaze towards the horizons. Paul had a disappointed expression. After all who wouldn’t want to have some lone time with a beauty.
Meanwhile Marvin is having a hard time. He clearly knew why Philip arranged them to be together. He is also an ordinary commoner, but his talent can be considered quite good. So, only few people dared look down up on him. Philip thought that Sam didn’t like them because Paul has acted like a spoilt young master. That is the reason he sent Marvin and Sam together so that they can work out some friendship as both of them have similar statuses. But their plan can be considered quite a failure. Because from the start Sam didn’t talk to Marvin and Marvin didn’t dare to start the conversation looking at Sam’s expression. Suddenly Sam turned towards Marvin and said while showing his pinkie finger.
“I need to take a leak.” Then he turned and disappeared into bushes without even waiting for the response. Marvin didn’t get to speak and stood there blankly. He hesitated whether to follow or not and finally decided against it and waited there patiently.
Sam went into the bushes and rapidly ran towards the Silk moth nest as Yanwu followed him at same pace. After a few moments he finally encountered the Silk moth nest and walked towards it.
“Oh Sam, these are Heaven spirit silk moths.” Yanwu exclaimed in surprise as he saw the silk moths.
“I know. That is the reason we are here.” Sam said. As he looked towards the queen moth, which is in the size of a normal eagle.
“Oh, you plan to breed them? That is not a bad idea. Since you have the Divine Dimension they could be bred nicely. So, why the delay? Capture them.” Yanwu said with some excitement.
“Well, I don’t know how.” Sam said with an awkward expression.
“You don’t know how?” Yanwu looked at him like an idiot. Then he continued. “Sam remember one thing. In the world of the magical beasts. In the same cultivation stages the one with the higher-grade blood line is superior and if both of them are of same cultivation stages their strength makes them superior. Even though these Heaven spirit silk moths are of a decent blood line they are a lot inferior compared to my blood line. So, that naturally makes you superior to them as well. All you have to do is to activate your bloodline aura and just command them to enter the Dimension. That is enough.” Yanwu said matter of factly.
But Sam still felt a little worried. Even though both his and the Queen moth’s cultivation stages can be said to be same. There is a lot of disparity as he just entered the Acolyte stage and the Queen moth is at peak of the level to which means it can be considered as peak of acolyte stage. Even though he felt that it wouldn’t work. He did as Yanwu said. as soon as he released the bloodline aura all the silk moths that are flying or lying on the branches fell down as they couldn’t bear the pressure. Only Queen moth turned towards Sam but it also felt like all the blood in it is trembling. It started Buzzing.
“Please lord. Have mercy.” A female voice suddenly entered Sam’s mind. He almost jumped up as looked around and involuntarily his concentration disturbed as a huge pressure bore down from the bloodline and all the silk moths started spasming.
“SAM STOP” Yanwu yelled. Then Sam suddenly stopped and looked at Yanwu and the Queen moth and finally understood to whom the voice belonged to. Then the female voice came back again.
“Lord what do you want from this humble one?” The Queen moth asked.
“I want to make a deal with you.” Sam said as looked at the queen. Queen didn’t say anything as she looked him like that. It seemed to be confused. Sam continued. “I want you to guys follow me. I know you don’t have much combat prowess until you broke through the next stage. So, I will provide all the resources and ensure to make your family develop to new heights. In exchange I will take your silk from you and your family members. What do you think?”
Queen moth didn’t know what to say immediately. She doesn’t know what bloodline the human has but that bloodline is definitely far superior to hers. So, she doesn’t have any reason to refuse. But what she doesn’t understand is the human who is superior to her is making a deal rather than ordering her. That is the reason she felt something is not right. But suddenly a voice an aura similar to before interrupted her thought process. “Answer now” Yanwu from the side coldly said in commanding tone as he released his bloodline aura.
“This humble one agrees.” The Queen said as it nodded her head vigorously, afraid that Yanwu will get angry. Sam nodded in acknowledgement and waved his hand which has the crystal ring put on and all the moths including the queen disappear. The Sam and Yanwu went back to Marvin.
As soon as Marvin saw Sam he sighed in relief. He thought something happened to him. But then another thought came to his mind. ‘What is he doing all this while?’ Marvin walked towards Sam and asked slowly. “What happened to you Sam? Is something wrong? If you hadn’t come back in 2 more minutes, I would have called the team to search for you.” Marvin asked.
“It is a big leak.” Sam said indifferently. Marvin immediately choked as he heard Sam’s reply. He just wanted to bang his head to the tree. ‘Like hell it is a big leak. If you just want to do something alone, just say so. Why such pathetic excuse?’ he inwardly thought. Now he clearly understood how Sam felt when they gave shameless excuse to stay in his house. They again started walking. But out of blue Sam asked a question. “How did you guys come to the village?”
This question confused Marvin a bit but he still replied. “Of course, we came on horses. You don’t expect to walk from the city right.”
“Where are the horses?” Sam asked.
“They are at the inn.” Marvin replied. Sam immediately stopped walking and looked at Marvin with a frown. ‘How are you guys nobles? You are all shameless people. You clearly have place to stay at inn but stayed at my home to disturb me.’ Sam inwardly thought. If Marvin heard this, he will immediately curse him as Sam didn’t even stay at home since yesterday and when he stayed, he minded his own business. Sam shook his head and started walking again. Suddenly he thought of something and said to Yanwu.
“Yanwu, find the Blazing earth bulls in the forest and bring me two of them. I need steeds.” Yanwu nodded its head and with a huge screeching it flew into the sky and disappeared into horizons. When Marvin heard the screech, he turned around abruptly only to see that Yanwu is flying away with great speed. He was clearly astonished. He didn’t seem to hear what Sam said to Yanwu. Otherwise, who knew what type of expression he would have. Then they both started hunting slowly.
At noon both of Sam and Marvin appeared at the meeting spot of the team. Sam can be seen carrying various carcasses but Marvin is walking with nothing in his hand. Because, he had a spatial treasure which is a few cubic meters wide. He offered Sam to help with his corpses. But met with only rejection. As they arrived at the camp, they can see the other three are waiting for them. When Sam saw all of them are empty handed, he guessed they also have spatial treasures.
“Sam, you seem to have some big catch.” Philip asked with a smile.
“So-So” Sam replied indifferently. Philip then looked at Marvin with some hope but he only saw the helpless look on Marvin’s face. This time Philip also sighed.
“Okay then, after lunch we are going to hunt the lord of the forest. It is the very peak of the Level to beasts. But I think we can handle it together.” Philip said and all of them sat together to eat lunch.
After eating and resting for a while all the five people went in search of their prey for today. Which is the lord of the forest ‘Scarlet flame Panther’.
After searching woods for more than two hours they finally narrowed down the place where the Scarlet flame Panther stayed. But when they found the place where the place where the panther stayed, they felt absolutely shocked at the scene.
In front of them there is blackish coloured panther lying in its own pool of blood and two panther cubs which are in blackish red colour lying in its two front paws. In distance from them there is a Red coloured panther which is clearly injured severely, fighting on its last legs with a golden tiger. All the people clearly understood the scenario. The Black panther is a Wind fang panther which is clearly the mate of the Scarlet flame panther. The tiger which is a Gold blood tiger sneaked attack on the Panther couple when the Black panther is about to deliver its cubs. Now the panther couple is clearly at a disadvantage. Even though all the three beats are at same cultivation level that is the Late stage of the Level 2, the panther couple is definitely going to die because of the sneak attack. When Philip and his team mates saw this scene, their eyes gleamed with delight. Even if tiger won the fight, it will definitely be exhausted then they could make a move and they will get three corpses of Late stage Level 2 beasts and also two panther cubs. They can make a fortune. All of them except one person are happy by that outcome. That one person is obviously Sam. When all of them are seeing the profit. He is seeing the eyes of the black panther which is groaning in pain helplessly as the panther looked at her mate and her kids. All Sam could see is love of the mother who is helpless. The black panther is licking the young cubs who didn’t even open their eyes fully but involuntarily shuddering due to the fluctuations from the fight of two beasts. The mother panther is slowly licking and groaning to comfort the cubs. Nobody present can understand her groans except the two beasts and Sam.
“Don’t worry kids, Mother is here.”
“Mother won’t let anything happen to you.”
“Don’t worry.” The panther is still comforting as slowly comforted its kids. Sam’s eyes turned red as he involuntarily shuddered. He is an orphan in both his lives. Even though he is cold and arrogant deep inside he always wanted for that motherly love. He always wanted to have someone who he can call mother and lean on her shoulders to tell her all his burdens. But he never got that. Seeing the helpless Mother panther. Sam couldn’t control himself and stepped forward. As Sam took a step forward, Philip blocked him and said hurriedly.
“Sam, time is not right yet. Just wait a few more minutes and we can attack.” Sam immediately became furious as he saw Philip blocked him. He looked at Philip with his eyes red and involuntarily released his aura and spiritual energy. His Golden Sun crow bloodline aura is also activated and mixed with killing intent as he stared at Philip with his red eyes. Philip involuntarily stepped back. Only one thought remained in his mind. ‘He broke through’. He clearly remembered that Sam is only at Peak of initiation two days ago and his physical strength is extraordinary that he could kill Paul who is at the Second stage acolyte mage anytime he wanted without even giving any chance to use his elemental spells. Now that he is at Acolyte stage, Philip couldn’t even imagine how powerful he became. Even he himself at fourth stage Acolyte mage felt extremely fearful by the dangerous aura emanating from Sam.
Sam didn’t even bother with him and leapt towards the Gold tiger directly and Punched it with all his might at its abdomen and sent it flying. Scarlet flame panther felt surprised and looked at Sam and seeing that Sam has no malice he just nodded and turned towards the Golden blood tiger. The Gold Blood tiger is already exhausted a bit as he fought with the Scarlet flame panther. And when the tiger saw Sam, its instincts told to not to fight him at all. This is the reaction from the aura directed towards it from the Golden Sun Crow bloodline. Since Sam has no malice towards him, the Scarlet flame panther didn’t feel much pressure. But it fell to the ground and fell unconscious. it is in its last breath. It looked at Sam with a pleading gaze and roared. Nobody understood what it said only Sam understood.
“SAVE THEM” That is what the Scarlet flame panther said before it died. Looking at its corpse the Black panther roared in sorrow making Sam even more enraged. He directly leapt towards the Golden tiger again and kicked it with all his might.
*Crack* the tiger flew again with cracking sound as Sam’s kick broke few bones of the tiger. Then the tiger roared furiously with a burst of killing intent and launched an attack towards Sam and wanted to bite his neck. Sam side stepped and threw a punch towards its neck. But this time a *Ding * came as he felt like he hit metal. Sam involuntarily gave a low groan n pain as he saw the tiger. Then he remembered something he learnt from the beastuary, the gold blood tiger is a metal elemental beast. He was able to break the few bones because he caught the tiger off guard. But now it is fully prepared. Then he looked the tiger coldly and both the man and the tiger started exchanging blows. Meanwhile, Philip and his teammates finally came to their senses.
“Shall we help him?” Marvin asked as he saw Sam nervously. He is shocked at Sam’s strength. Even though the Gold Blood tiger is injured and exhausted its combat prowess should still be at 5th stage of Acolyte and Sam is directly trading blows with his brute strength at his First stage Acolyte level. He is now afraid of Sam even more.
“No don’t even think about it.” Philip immediately his eyes still staring at the scene.
“Why Big bro? if we don’t, he will take all the loot if he wins.” Paul said clearly displeased. Philip immediately slapped him.
“You clearly deserve that slap.” Haley said as she looked at Paul with unhidden disdain and again turned back towards the fight. She felt heart beating rapidly. She is the topmost genius of the city with her cultivation base at third stage Acolyte. But her pride took a bug hit when she saw Sam fighting. She even doubted her Genius title. Beside her Paul’s voice can be heard. “Why big bro?” He clearly didn’t understand why Philip hit him when he stated obvious.
“Because, we will die in hands of him if we interfere.” Haley answered as she pointed at Sam. Paul was shocked by the answer and turned towards Philip for confirmation. Philip nodded his head as sweat dripped from his forehead. He clearly felt when Sam looked at him earlier. If any of them interfered in the fight, they will definitely die in Sam’s hands. As he thought up to this something happened in the battle field. One of the tiger claws managed to hit Sam on his chest where his black coat didn’t cover creating a claw scar as blood dripped. The wound was not deep but Sam who clearly felt a bit tired already felt his strength his strength drop and he immediately looked at the tiger coldly. He leapt back and looked towards the tiger as he slowly extended his hand and pointed towards it his palm wide open. Then he suddenly gathered all the spiritual energy inside his body into his palm which formed into a sphere. But a thing which even surprised him happened. The spiritual energy around him also started gathering into his palm. But he didn’t think much about it in between the fight. Philip and the teammates were quite puzzled by his action. They didn’t understand why Sam is gathering all the spiritual energy into his palm. Even the Golden blood tiger felt a little puzzled and looked at Sam with confusion. Then suddenly the sphere of spiritual energy which is in the size of four times the basket ball turned into a concentrated ball of golden fire. Everyone was dumbstruck as they didn’t even know what happened. ‘He is a warrior mage’ this thought stuck Philip and his teammates’ minds. Then before they come out of their daze Sam shot the fireball right at the Gold Blooded tiger. The tiger felt the danger from the fire ball and tried to turn tail and run. But it was too late as the fire ball struck it in full force. Then the tiger roared in misery as it felt all its flesh burning and blood evaporating. After sometime all the flesh burned to ashes. The only thing left from the tiger is its skeletal remains. Watching this scene all four members felt their hair standing on their necks. They involuntarily looked at Sam and felt themselves shivering in fear. All their backs are soaked in sweat. Then suddenly Sam walked towards the mother panther and slowly patted her head and said. “I will take care of them.”
The Black panther roared and licked Sam’s face with tears in its eyes. “Thank you” Sam heard this voice in his head. All the four teammates also felt the gratitude of the mother panther and guilt rose in their hearts. If they directly fought the panther and obtained the cubs then they don’t need to feel like it. Because that is the law of jungle. But taking the cubs from the mother panther in her helpless situation is really a bit overboard. As they were thinking Sam immediately collapsed to the ground in exhaustion. Sam just sat on the ground and looked towards Philip and his teammates coldly.
“Don’t worry. We don’t have any ideas.” Philip said seeing Sam’s expression. Then only Sam relaxed. Then all of them suddenly heard a loud screech and when the saw towards the direction. They saw a black light flashing and Yanwu appeared in front of Sam and flew in front of him cautiously looking at Philip and his teammates. He felt Sam’s aura when he unleashed the final attack and thought he was in danger. Then he immediately flew over here.
“Relax Yanwu, they are not enemies.” Sam said and Yanwu looked at the surroundings and understood the gist of the situation. But both Sam and Yanwu didn’t notice the shock in faces of Philip and his team mates. They felt the amount of pressure from Yanwu is same as Sam and they shivered. ‘Thank god we don’t have any ideas on making a move.’ As they thought up to this point, they involuntarily shivered again. ‘This raven is not ordinary at all.’ Then all of a sudden, the ground trembled. They saw two middle stage level 2 Blazing earth bulls running towards them. Just when Philip and others are getting ready for a battle, they heard Sam saying. “They are not enemies.” They looked at him puzzlement. Then they saw the two bulls stop in front of Yanwu and bowed their heads, they felt shocked. Then even more shocking scene occurred. As Yanwu said something to the bulls, they bowed towards Sam in a show of respect. Then Sam slowly stood up and said to the bulls.
“Dig a hole which will fit those two.” Sam said as he pointed towards the two panthers. Then looked at the mother panther and took the cubs in his both hands and said in low voice. “I will take care of them.” Then the mother panther nodded in gratitude and let out its last breath and closed her eyes.
After sometime the bulls dug hole large enough to put the both panthers and slowly dragged the two panthers and placed them in the hole and started burying them. Philip and his teammates looked at this from the side and said nothing. Only Paul has an expression of unwillingness. After the bulls were done, Sam walked towards the tiger’s skeletal remains and touched it. They were metallic bones. They were completely made of pure metal. He kept the remains on the back of one of the bulls and slowly walked towards Philip and said. “I will compensate for your loss.” He said and without waiting for their reply he walked towards the village with one raven and two bulls following him. Philip and his team mates stared at his back in daze for sometime and finally hurried to follow him. As they walked sum is already setting slowly and sky turned dim.