The huge boar, despite its sensitive hearing, could not notice a small snake that was crawling towards it from the other side of the tree.

"It's become too easy."

To alleviate his boredom a little, while hunting, Rey began to practice different ways of killing animals. Right now he was just experiencing one of them.

When he crawled out from behind a tree, he deliberately made a hissing sound, which attracted the attention of the boar, but when he finished turning his massive body, it was already minced by the huge paw of the boar. Blood and organ remains scattered several meters, but Rei calmly watched the soul rise from the dead carcass.

Over the past two days, he managed to become addicted to this occupation. He had not felt hungry or tired for a long time, but continued to hunt the creatures inhabiting the forest. This freshness that spread throughout the body, at the moment when the energy of their soul merged with him, he really liked. Ray even managed to notice that different souls seemed to have different tastes, for example, this boar was quite good, but still slightly inferior to the predatory deer. Now he did not hunt curings at all, but not because he decided to leave the poor animals alone, but because the quality and quantity of energy in their souls was strikingly lower.

The night was already coming to an end, but the guy did not sleep today. Since his new "birth", Rei has never slept at all. Even when at first he was exhausted due to lack of food, the guy was not going to rest. Perhaps there was still a residue of anxiety in him from the fact that his awakening would again be accompanied by a hated all-pervading light. And now, when the energy of constantly absorbed souls removed his fatigue, the need for sleep disappeared by itself.

When he finished absorbing the boar's soul, he turned into a bird and continued flying.

“It looks like the forest is much bigger than I imagined. It extends so far not only to the west, but, as it turns out, also to the east. And in winter, I won’t be able to see the end of the forest even from such a height.”

The prospect of being stuck in the woods didn't worry Ray much. This place was perfect for growing his strength. He had no idea if he meet all kinds of animals that lived here, but was satisfied with the souls already obtained.

The flight proceeded quite normally, and dawn caught him already in the air. The guy constantly remained on the alert, because the tildas was rather weak and any attack from other birds would be very unpleasant, because you would always have to retreat. This is what allowed him to notice a small object that flew far below at great speed. The first thought that came into his head was correct.

"Arrow?"

Mentally following the trajectory of her flight, Rei actually fell down. It was too rare an opportunity to pass up. Before reaching the ground the guy turned into a gsarkh, literally “blowing up” the snow lying on the ground during landing. A push with all limbs and the huge body of the animal makes a strong leap forward. A snow kite had already landed on the ground, which, without slowing down, was rushing in the direction that Ray seemed to be right.

Already in two minutes he noticed the accumulation of heat a little ahead, all at the same speed he continued to reduce the distance until he saw in front of him a six, as it seemed to him at the beginning, people. But what happened immediately after changed his mind. The hooded creature at the front of the group turned and pointed its bow straight in his direction.

Ray noticed this and froze in place.

“These are definitely not people. There's more between us forty meters, such a rumor is simply anomalous.

Trees and a white body saved Ray from final detection. In fact, the excessive haste of the guy was to blame for what happened, but he was lucky again. After waiting for a group of strange hunters to continue to move, he followed them without making a sound. Now he no longer had to worry about missing them.

***

Four hours passed and Ray learned something about new acquaintances. The fact that they were more or less reasonable, he noticed immediately, but gradually realized that he had underestimated them. There was a lot of evidence for this: excellent clothes, weapons, perfect formation, and most importantly, a full-fledged language, which Ray, unfortunately, did not hear.

That they weren't human, Rei could only confirm by their over-perception. Besides the very first point, there were several others that proved to him that the sense organs of the six beings were highly developed.

Now, in the form of a snake, he approached them at a distance of about twenty five meters. He did not dare to be closer, because he might not have time to react to an unexpected attack. The vision of a snake did not allow him to see them clearly enough, but the shape of their bodies resembled ordinary people.

Ray also noticed that almost all of the group members were carrying animal bodies on their backs. During these four hours, they killed several more animals, which clarified some points for the guy.

“They are already back. With so much cargo, they cannot move quickly, which means they do not move far from their settlement. Looks like I just have to follow them and I can find this place.”

"But if they don't get there by nightfall, we'll do something else."