- - - 3.1 - - -

The Forest was larger than I had expected: wooden skyscrapers, covered at the base with moss, jutting upwards to the sky, and a whole lot of them – must be the magic. Darker, too, with only a scattering of sunlight piercing through the cracks of the canopy.

I walked over overgrown roots, careful not to trip. I took my phone out of my pocket—figures, there wouldn’t be a signal. I needed to find a clearing first, then find the direction of the school. Damn Shura. I’m going to choke him, once I get back but while I’m still here, gathering some components isn’t so bad. I pocketed my phone back.

All in all, it was a very good collection spree, netting me roughly two kilos of ingredients. Once I get back, I’ll be adequately stacked with potions, vials, concoctions, bombs, and other alchemical products. I should’ve asked Harold for the lifeblood recipe.

I rested underneath a giant mushroom. I’m beginning to give up on the whole ‘find a clearing’ plan. I placed my bag on my lap and opened it, rummaging through its contents: five faestone bombs – great for attacking feral fairies that want to fudge your day up. One set of mana-imbued stainless, steel knives – perfect for getting through those nasty mana-hardened materials. Twelve purple pills – handy if you’re like me and can’t heal through using mana. And lastly, an assortment of different poisons. All items were accounted for, so I put them back into the bag.

I was starting to doze off when I heard noises. I concentrated really hard, and felt only very faint sources of mana – I could only count five, but I bet there were more. I took out a knife, oiling it with a vial of salamander-blood – one drop will feel like a gunshot.

Erupting from the underbrush were large Rottweiler-esque dogs with bloodshot eyes, burning like little torches, and they looked to be very angry and hungry and likely, wanting to kill me. The largest of them – the alpha, perhaps – lunged towards me. Mouth open and flames coming out of it—shit, hellhound!

I rolled to the side, bag on my back and knife in my hand. I glanced at the mushroom: burning like a wicker man, hellhounds glaring at me. Salamander-blood isn’t going to do shit. Also, I fancy myself a knife-expert, so I could probably survive with just that.

The alpha was now flanked by four of its pack. Every one of their mouths prepped to fire a fireball. A five-pronged attack, eh?

Seeing no other course of action, I threw a faestone bomb at them – a brief distraction that gave me some time to distance myself from them. Though moot, considering their sense of smell. I needed a way to pick them off, one-by-one.

Spotting some decent footholds on some tree, I hurriedly climbed upwards, resting on the farthest branch I could reach. I felt a sense of déjà vu… déjà vu… déjà vu… déjà vu… weird when you say it a couple of times in succession but with different accented syllables.

Below me – again it felt like déjà vu –, the hellhounds were circling, sniffing around the base of the tree. The alpha was nowhere to be seen, likely delegating tasks to the lesser hellhounds – however that works.

Hmm… what should I do? I’ve never fought hellhounds before but they do seem to be like the sigbin: canines with elemental attacks and magic-enhanced senses, gray fur, fuzzy tails, socialize in packs led by the biggest individual, adorable in a sort of macabre way.

The best plan I could think of would be to eliminate the alpha to fudge their cooperation up, and then somehow kill the other dogs, together or one-by-one. If they were like the sigbin, then a concentrated strike to their withers would be enough to kill them. Wait—I have something better than dulling out my knives. How could I even forget? I could experiment and so, I took another faestone bomb out of my bag, along with a vial of yuki-onna tears – if it came into contact with most anything non-biological, it immediately ‘eats’ the material, converting it into regular mist.

Unplugging the cork from the vial, I poured it all over the bomb, and immediately it started to shrink and emit immense heat. I dropped it downwards and it exploded, but some sort of unintended consequence happened: it tore through the tree’s base and it was falling down… fuck.

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