Chapter: 11 The Ryu Forest And My Wolf (3)

They didn't know that almost every demonic beast in this part of the lower region were heading to Hajimi and Akio who were carrying out an immense slaughter! The flowing blood of slain wolfs continuously attracted demon beasts from the interior of the outer layer. The stench was too strong directly forcing the guards to join forces with Hajimi and Akio so as to deal with the flood of low rank beast, their function as guards were to ward off anything rank three and lower so that they could spend time killing the rank four and five Demonic Beasts.

When Hajimi and Akio learned that Ayumu and Haruki were missing both of them became enraged. Their anger towered through the skies and immediately began to indiscriminately slay demon beasts especially Hajimi who threatened to raze this region of the Ryu forest to the ground.

Haruki and Ayumu began to inch closer and closer to the ravine and have not come across a deadly situation yet it was more like sightseeing for them, especially for Haruki who was new to this world in general. They once had to work together to ward off a Demonic Ant Eater, a low rank one beast that was in the way of their route to the cave, there was no way around the beast, it clearly smelled one of them from the way it was attentively searching the surroundings so they had to make a decision on how to proceed.

Now in front of the cave Haruki stood next to Ayumu. Such an odd scene, two young children in such a dangerous place yet oddly there was a semblance of balance here. In this little excursion they became familiar with each other. Ayumu now knew that Haruki Tatsuo was fast, too fast and unbelievably strong. In the scuffle earlier with the demonic beast after playing rock, paper, scissors and losing, Ayumu lured the rank One beast away from the cave entrance while Haruki Tatsuo did something absolutely insane, After climbing up a tree with a rock held to his body he dropped down on the creatures head from a formidable distance. A loud bang was heard the impact was devastating to the Demonic Ant Eater immediately knocking it out cold. Dust rapidly spread out upon impact. A second later Haruki shot out of the dust cloud a little blood on his hand but otherwise perfectly fine.

Ayumu who watched at the side was stunned, out of all the things he expected Haruki to do this was clearly not what he thought it would be, and after that impact he was fine? Unconceivable, Ayumu thought Haruki was simply a beast in Human form. In the interim Haruki also knew things about Ayumu, like how the hell did Ayumu outpace a rank one beast? It was fine for Haruki to do so because the Higgs has relentlessly toughened up his body to a large degree, making his body comparable to a qi condensation cultivator but this Ayumu was just too fast.

Haruki and Ayumu walked into the cave slowly. Arguing profusely about what occurred with the demonic leopard. Haruki bumped Ayumu on his shoulder "Yeah you're fast but so what, your body is puny if it wasn't for me would you have even be able to injure it at all? Ayumu was extremely annoyed, usually people were scared to even be within ten feet of him because of his cold aura but this guy here had been bullying him ever since they collaborated against that beast not to mention he was extremely shameless always coming up with wise cracks. Ayumu pushed Haruki back and retorted, "yes I could, not only that but I'm sure I could have done it a lot better than turning into a human rock".

At this point Haruki and Ayumu were in the interior of the cave, it was like there was a different world inside, there was stalactite glistening on the roof. Diamond stalactite is a very valuable ore used for increasing the quality of a mortal or human ranked weapon it could only grow with the pressure and accumulation of demonic qi. In the outside world a single palm sized piece could go for 500,000 amethyst coins in an auction it may even be more! Unfortunately it was outside of their knowledge and capabilities to acquire and even worse Haruki and Ayumu had no idea of the value of these things, Imagine walking past one million dollars? You would undoubtedly be enraged by your own stupidity. Besides the Stalactite there was a warm feeling coming from the reddish-brown cave walls large golden glowing pearls were embedded into the intact part of the structure giving light to the entrance of the cave. Large white bones the size of trucks were strewn all over the earth, some skeletons were not even complete, it looked like a graveyard for demonic beasts, and the walls had claw marks of all sizes.

Ayumu was feeling intense fear due to the remnant demonic qi the pressure was intense, causing his snow bloodline to react. "There is something strange about this place." Haruki waved him off he was too intent on pinpointing where the Higgs wanted him to go. "Go and do your own things your father here is busy!". Haruki couldn't feel the suppression of remnant Demonic Qi due to the presence of the Higgs which wrapped his soul in a layer of protection. In fact instead of fear Haruki felt excitement. He couldn't turn back, the throbbing became more intense the more he walked Haruki could feel the Higgs urging him to go deeper into the cave it was a strange feeling the compulsion was strong.

Steeling his resolve Haruki began to increase his pace. Ayumu Soju was behind struggling to keep up due to the demonic qi and the increasing pressure but each step he took was resolute and made with purpose slowly becoming accustomed to the demonic qi. Ayumu was not willing to be outdone witnessing Haruki leisurely walking inside this space made him determined to not lose, he became even more sturdy than before. His state of mind changed which triggered his bloodline to absorb the demonic Qi in the surroundings. Little black snowflakes began to manifest around his body dancing like fire flies, his hair fluttered without any wind. Haruki who had sensed the disturbance turned around and witnessed the phenomena had to think twice about Ayumu "That guy is going to be dangerous."

After walking for more than 30 minutes Haruki and Ayumu came across the wolf nest made up of bones, the place it was in resembled a huge atrium. A gigantic hole was in the roof of the cave, moonlight was continuously cascading downwards, illuminating the whole cave as they walked around the place. Gradually as they approached the nest Haruki and Ayumu began to climb up the huge bones with jagged teeth marks and dead vegetation. A few minutes later they found themselves inside a bone nest facing two wolf cubs that were quietly watching them. One wolf cub had silver fur and silver eyes, a strong sense of vitality exuded from its body the other was dark like midnight with golden eyes yet thin and weak, the contrast was seriously pitiful almost as if the little black wolf was starving.

Haruki and Ayumu came to a decision to each acquire a wolf cub, after all there was no point in fighting at this stage. There was one wolf for each but clearly Ayumu didn't want the little black wolf. It didn't bother Haruki about having a weaker wolf just having a wolf was big difference from his past life, Haruki felt sympathy for the little cub it seemed as if their mother was only feeding the silver cub because it was stronger, back on earth there would be an alpha male and perhaps that's exactly what this mother wolf was doing, she was choosing the pecking order. Haruki reached out with his bandaged hand and froze "I'll take the little black one and you can have the silver." Ayumu was surprised, "why do you not want the silver wolf it's clearly stronger?" Haruki simply shook his head and began to pat the head of the black wolf.

"I just feel bad for the little guy, I know how he feels. " the moment Haruki's bloody hand came into contact with the little wolf it didn't show any fear instead it curiously watched Haruki smelling the blood on his hands, it began to lick Haruki's wound. All of a sudden Haruki and the little black wolf froze like they had been electrocuted. The Higgs boson embedded in his soul sent a wave of energy out from his body and into the black wolf a circular mark condensed on the forehead of this wolf using the blood it licked as the medium. The black wolf experienced a flash of pain causing it to howl out. After a short moment the energy left the body of the black wolf and went back to Haruki. In just a matter of a few seconds Haruki feelings towards the little wolf became deep he felt as if the little wolf was as close as family. All of this happened within a split second, Ayumu didn't notice it at all because he had his own problems to deal with.

Ayumu on the other hand didn't have much taming luck, the silver wolf was biting his hand and howling. Looking over at Haruki having such a peaceful time a tinge of jealousy was apparent on Ayumu's face. "It looks like you're going to have an easier time than me Haruki, how are you even doing that? This little guy is taking me for food or something" said a frowning Ayumu while inspecting the little wolf, holding it up by its scruff. Haruki laughed at Ayumu's misfortune and then froze, quickly placing the palm sized wolf into his shirt which didn't panic but instead crawled up to his shoulder and wrapped around his neck, eyeing Ayumu closely with a defensive nature. Even Haruki was surprised by its show of loyalty, he made no effort to stop it. Ayumu's cub in the meanwhile began to howl despite its small body its howl seemed to echo through the cave, it caused Haruki expression to change. On earth when a cub howled it was the same as calling for their mother and both Haruki and Ayumu knew what their older brothers where hunting could probably be this beasts mother, cold sweat began to drip down Haruki's back. "Ayumu we have to get out of here and we have to go now, I think their mother is on her way" feeling that something wasn't right Ayumu hurriedly agreed.

Haruki was going to turn around but the Higgs in his body began to go mad causing Haruki to remember the reason he even came this way in the first place. Turning to Ayumu to give him an explanation, "Give me one second there is something I must do in the depths." Ayumu was confused but decided to just trust Haruki. He sat in the cross legged position while holding his silver cub by the scruff while it began to howl extremely loudly. Haruki dashed to the end of the demonic beast nest bounding over bones and debris after walking towards the end of the bone nest he found a jagged stone about half the size of his body buried under some dead vegetation. The stone was black but shining at the same time a very peculiar energy was seeping out, the moment Haruki got close to it he sighed in relief he knew that this was the item he was looking for because the Higgs stopped throbbing even his wolf was staring at it in surprise, the endless compulsion was finally over.

Haruki began inspecting the rock all over and couldn't find anything special about it, he decided to figure it out later. Just when he was thinking about how to take it away, his Higgs released a bright light and the stone disappeared from his sight. Haruki went from excited to confusion to then feeling plain old enraged "AHHHHHH, YOUR MOTHER!" He was furious he spent this whole trip on the brink of death to look for this thing and it just disappears, there were more than a million ways to die here! Almost as if in response a tremendously loud howl came from the entrance of the cave, this howl shook the cave many of the diamond stalactite near the front of the atrium were beginning to crack and fall. Haruki came back to his sense quickly, looking at the rumbling walls of the cave he turned back around to find Ayumu. "What? I'm leaving right now! To hell with this!

Hajimi was very angry but besides that he was fine all he could do was deal with the situation at hand and trust that Haruki was not in any danger. Akio also seemed to be taking it easy as well besides the demonic wolves many other demon beast such as Demonic Night Leopards, Desolate Mosquitos and Demonic Steel-Fur Hyenas but it made no difference to them, Akio's snow bloodline made him extremely formidable and Hajimi's body was just absolutely ridiculous. They were being besieged by plenty of demonic beasts and worked in ease but now rank four & five beasts were being lured in this direction, directly being pulled from the inner layer of the Ryu forest due to intense smell of blood in the area. Rank four and five beast's power ranged from early stage foundation establishment to late stage foundation establishment, it would be a tragedy if they were to be overrun as Hajimi was only peak mid stage foundation establishment and so was Akio. Hajimi was becoming impatient. Hajimi and Akio were back to back at this point basically protecting the others blind side. "Brother Akio, while I do love a good battle I think it would be best that we find our younger brothers before a mishap happens."

Akio readily nodded, this was just a tempering exercise for him anyway. "I can locate my brother fairly easily they both should have travelled together." "Good my father would kill me if anything were to happen to the little rascal." He smiled sinisterly "Let's make this a bit more interesting" Hajimi pulled out a hammer from what seemed like empty air. Akio was instantly surprised and thought to himself. "A space ring? Looks you did have a bit of fortune Hajimi! I won't lie and say that I'm not envious I still only have a space sack." It seems that he did come across a fortunate encounter, Akio's surprise only lasted a second and it didn't show on his face. Hajimi smiled in embarrassment "err, thank you brother Akio I was extremely fortunate I slaughtered the silver bandits leader and he had this thing on his body." Afterwards Hajimi hammered away two fifth rank demon beasts comparable to mid foundation establishment the force of his strike quite literally sent the bodies of the two beast crashing into several trees never to get up again. Akio wasn't to be outdone either a long white sword was pulled out of his space bag and he used it to chop a fifth rank beast clean in half there wasn't even a speck of blood on the blade after.

An expression of satisfaction crossed his face. Yet this moment of elation did not last long the Demonic Wolf King was roaring loud enough for Hajimi and Akio to clearly hear it. The Demonic Wolf King was enormous all right? It was one of the biggest King beast in the outskirts of the Ryu outskirts. Both of its cub were calling out to it and the aura of its cultivation spiritual Item was gone. No matter what level of intelligence a creature has it will also have an accompanying bottom like. One of its cubs were calling out to it in danger the familiar aura which helped it break through was now gone. The stone Haruki took was the sole reason why it was able to undergo a tribulation into the Demonic Nascent stage, The Demonic Wolf did not even know knew where the rock came from all it knew was that it had an aura which it could continuously absorb to strengthen its body. The rock had wondrous effects on its flesh and blood and also somehow made its claws sharper and harder than before. Now that it was gone there would be blood to pay!

Hajimi & Akio slayed their last 5th rank beast while powerful they were completely exhausted. Together each of them slayed over 100 demonic beast of many different ranks. Akio Soju was sporting a pale face putting away his weapon he pulled out a low grade spirit stone and passed another to Hajimi they both began to recover their qi hastily. Akio who was now nervously checking a token omitted. "After a moment of recovery lets head to the Demonic Wolf King and finish it off my token is telling me that Ayumu is somewhere near it, towards the west side of the forest I'm assuming your brother should be with him also". Hajimi could only nod and then directed his own body guards to collect the demon cores and materials. "Lin Take care of the spoils here we will divide them after we take care of the big fish." After he and Akio placed instructions for their men they both began to speed towards the disturbance.

Hajimi took off, everywhere he stepped the impact created spider web like cracks on the earth he was practically propelling himself using his immense physical strength. Akio was much more refined he seemed to travel very quickly with only a few steps or more like every step he took placed him at a certain distance the result was that Hajimi was outstripped. Along with the interference of coming into rank five demon beasts Hajimi was having a hard time. Killing a rank five beast would sometimes take two or three blows compared to Akio who simply cut them in half no matter the circumstance, if he encountered one then he would kill one there was no suspense yet they still made insanely fast progress.

Akio who was faster decided to move ahead without Hajimi, he had a bad feeling about something. "I'm going ahead Brother Hajimi just head west for about 10 miles." Hajimi finished up another rank five beast this time he was a lot slower due to almost half his qi reserves being depleted. Although cultivators had great strength it wasn't as if they were invincible, he was clearly approaching his limit even with having absorbed a low grade spirit stone and that is only because his control of his abilities were not good, he won through sheer power and speed, Hajimi grunted "Fine" and chased after Akio who was pulling away from him.

Back at the cave the enrage Demon King Wolf who is am entity equivalent to an early nascent soul was quite literally ready to eat Ayumu and Haruki. Her child was being strung up from its neck with a dagger at its throat the other looked as if it yielded to the human in front of it. The only reason it did not attack the scared Ayumu and Haruki were because each one had a cub. It didn't care so much for Haruki because the cub he had was completely weak the silver wolf that Ayumu took was its pride, one could tell from the similar color and health. It was also completely enraged from most of its underlings dying to Akio and Hajimi but once again Demon Beasts aren't dumb especially one which has successfully created its demonic soul it knew that these two were probably related to the two that were slaughtering. The only reason why it didn't slaughter everyone directly was because it was too weak at the moment!

The demonic King beast roared out loud. Haruki was covered in cold sweat, he quickly stood behind Ayumu to use him as a shield. Even Ayumu was stunned too scared to move he only moved his head to look at Haruki. "You, what are you doing!?" Haruki turned his head to the side with a serious face "What isn't this your fault? Tell the Demonic King about who wanted to come here, you insisted remember don't play any tricks!?!" Ayumu was enraged he almost lost himself to attack Haruki during the circumstances. Instead of paying further mind he'd got calmed himself down and decided to plead with this Demonic King Wolf but the wolf had other things on its mind for at this moment some its rank five subordinates were dying a lot closer to the ravine that it was stationed in. Not fearing the two children at all the demonic beast king decided to meet its hunters with pure aggression but not before calling ten rank five beast to watch Haruki and Ayumu.