We weren't able to catch the runaway frog. Oncli was able to track it to a creek, but I wasn't willing to start trying to swim and hunt at the same time. We retreated to the corpse of our prey, but there really wasn't much left. Looking at her, I'm sure that Took, if left to carry it back to the den, would end up snacking on all the remaining remains before we got halfway back.

"If any of you want to polish this off, feel free." Took immediately stepped forward, and, when Treel did too, she possessively scraped everything into one pile, which she then hunched over protectively. Treel began to approach, hissing aggressively, but Took stood her ground, and, eventually, Treel backed off, but was obviously upset. Treel was mostly good-natured, but it seemed like she and Took were beginning to butt heads over who was the second-in-command. Foire and Oncli weren't well suited for leadership, and Foire didn't seem to much care what his ranking in the pack was, while Oncli took for granted that he was the bottom. This one was going to need to be dealt with sooner rather than later, but I simply couldn't be bothered with it at the moment.

Finally relaxed, I realized that I had a new notification flashing in its usual place. [Status Updated] I decided to check, and focused on it.

[Status:

Name: Ashlani

Race: Juvenile Keelish Bloodseeker

Stats:

-Constitution: 2

-Strength: 4

-Agility: 6+1=7

-Intelligence: 2+1=3

-Magic: 0

Skills:

Bloodlust—current evolutionary progress: Unknown

Dominance—current evolutionary progress: 4/100

Improved Vision--current evolutionary progress: 0/18

Evolutionary foresight

--Adult Bloodseeker: live 30 days. Progress: 3/30

--Young Bloodletter: kill 10 large organisms. Progress 3/10

--Young Alpha: acquire 10 followers. Progress: 4/10]

Huh. I did feel slightly more... clear of mind, I guess, so that was the intelligence. Am I more agile though? I couldn't really tell. However, I guess I don't need to be the one to strike the killing blow to have it count towards my [Bloodletter Progress]. Even with my previous life's keelish experience, I wasn't quite sure what made a bloodletter a bloodletter. There are all kinds of variations between individuals, but that never mattered much to me, as I just threw the oil and burned them out.

My personal inclination was to become an alpha, find Viilor, brutally murder him, and... well, I'll figure out "after" once I get there. But, given the current organization of the brood, I didn't see me getting 6 more followers in the next 27 days. Therefore, I figured my next best option would be to become a Bloodletter as soon as I could, but the condition for that was that the creatures had to be large enough to be about my same size, and that increases risk. However, with my new team, I figure I can get this done in the next 4-5 days, without totally ruining this part of the forest.

I needed to keep in mind that keelish are far from the apex predators, even in this area. I know there are wolfstag cubs, and that means adults. A single adult wolfstag could easily take on 5-6 keelish,and that isn't even considering that they generally have basic magic and hunt in packs. I guess the only consolation for me is that they don't typically hunt keelish. However, that also means that there is larger prey nearby, and while the wolfstags could hunt them, a terrorbird, scaled deer, or even a stoneskin would prove a deadly threat to me and my pack. And none of these could even begin to compare to the danger of humanity. If humans were to find out we were in the area, they would hunt us tirelessly until the den was found and the swarm exterminated.

As I found myself drowning in pessimism and fear, Oncli started up again. "Boss, we're so lucky to be following you. While that Shemira is beautiful," I gasped, so surprised I started coughing at this, but Oncli continued, unperturbed, "she don't seem to treat her underlings so nice as you. That Precool, or whatever his name is, seems dumb, and that Tieran..." Oncli shuddered. "He's right scary, that's what he is. Boss Ashlani, you're just right--you're strong, but good, and I like you lots." He smiled toothily at me. I rolled my eyes right back at him. He'd been quiet enough during the hunt, I guess he was making up for lost time now.

"Alright, that's enough out of you for now. The only thing I want to hear is you finding us our next target, alright?"

"Sure thing Boss!" Oncli smirked and knowingly jumped back from Took's inbound tail. He then, however, became much more focused and got to tracking.

...

It took two false trails before I began to really appreciate Oncli's tracking skill. He was able to tell within 100m of following the trail whether or not it was cold, or would lead us anywhere. We simply began following him from then on, and were pleased with the end result. We ended up coming across another mating pair, and approached in the same manner that had served us well previously. This time, however, we were not so lucky. Took and Treel were able to get much closer before being noticed, and Took was kicked by the top frog as it startled and tried to escape. She quickly recovered and latched onto the bottom one with Treel, so Foire and I quickly approached and began eviscerating it. Unfortunately for Foire, the frog that had hopped away decided he was an easy target, and bit heavily into his side. I, in my [Bloodlust] driven fury, ended up screaming my challenge to it, and went to war.

More than ever before, I felt a seething rage at this beast that dared face me. It bit down harder on Foire, and rumbled its reply back at me. I dashed forward as it leapt, and dodged to the right as it fell. Before it could recover, I sprinted forward and ripped into its foreleg. Unlike previously though, I simply went to cripple it. I bit at the tendon, tore as hard as I could, and immediately retreated. It reared back, spit Foire out, and began to retreat itself. I wouldn't accept anything less than its demise at this point, and screamed at Foire to slow it down however he could. He complied, and latched as best he could onto one of its more powerful back legs. As it attempted to kick him off, I took the opportunity to mount it, and took out its left eye. It began to flounder, but I wasn't done with it yet. I began to tunnel into the eye socket, ripping and tearing, discarding the shredded flesh as I went. I hit bone, and smashed my head into it as hard as I could. I heard it scream in pain and began to cackle, unhinged, back at it. I slammed my head again and again into it, subconsciously delighting in its pain. Reveling in it. Finally, I saw a crack in the skull and began biting frantically at it. I broke through, and can't remember anything more than ripping and tearing, before screaming my triumph to the skies and running back to the fearful looking remaining frog.

When I finally recovered my sanity, I found myself up to my eyes in the carcass of the first frog I'd slain. This whole bloodlust thing is getting a bit out of hand... and, in the top right of my vision, was the blinking notification: [Growth Achieved. Status Updated]