Terrible Night I

Eight dark figures were slowly approaching the base of the tree. But they seemed shorter than what he had expected or weren't they humans?

His question was soon answered.

Grrr.

'That's not the sound a human makes. That's a beastly sound. Eight beasts were approaching them but he had no idea what they were.

Hurriedly, he returned to the position he had been in. He lay down on the thick branch that was six meters away from the ground.

'If I don't move, they won't find me.' He remained in one position.

The beasts arrived at the base of the tree and Luke could now see their appearance.

They looked like dogs that were used for experiments and failed. Four fangs jutted out of their mouths, two extending upward and two others extending downward, and on the fangs were circular shapes around specific parts. One of the beasts had three of such circles but the others had two. Luke had no idea what the circles stood for. Their bloody red eyes and claws were longer than what should've been possible for dogs and the fur on their bodies was jet-black.

When the one with three circles on its fangs growled and the others began using their legs to scatter the soil in a certain place as if looking for a buried treasure, Luke concluded that the circles' purpose was to show hierarchy.

'What are they…?' Before he finished his thoughts, he remembered where they had sat down to eat. These beasts had been drawn here by the smell of the roasted fishes.

'You animalistic bas***ds. It's been like four hours since we finished eating and you still traced the smell back to its source.' Luke just cursed and cursed. He couldn't let them see him.

The night was the turf of these doglike beasts and even the area would be a disadvantage for him if he fought all of them at once.

He took a gold coin from his pocket, looked at the coin, and sighed. "I'll come back to find you." He murmured and then threw it in another direction.

The coin hit another tree's bark far away and fell to the ground.

The beasts were alerted by the sound and six of them including their presumed leader rushed towards the source of the noise which was quite a distance away.

One of the two beasts left behind walked directly under Luke and the other continued digging. Luke, who had been offered this opportunity, jumped down with a dagger in his hand and stabbed the neck of the first beast as he landed on its back.

The beast died immediately and before the second beast noticed the death of its ally, he launched himself toward it.

From behind, he wrapped his legs around the beast's neck and rolled over so the beast would lose balance off the floor. The doglike creature fell to its side and Luke's dagger fell on its heart.

One of the beasts, which had left, probably the leader howled aggressively but no one replied.

The beast howled again but its underlings which it had left at the base of the tree couldn't reply.

The creatures began running back to the tree and it dawned on Luke that the previous howls were directed at the ones he had killed.

Before they got closer, he dashed away from the tree, leaving Kyne high up above. In any case, they couldn't go up the tree since he was now their target. They couldn't climb trees, right? But no one here could answer that question.

One of the doglike creatures at the front spotted him running away and chased after him. He saw it chasing after him and hid behind a tree.

When the beast got close enough, he pounced on it and stabbed the dagger in its head. It pierced its brain and the beast fell to the ground. Dark red blood poured onto Luke's body even touching his face.

"Yuck." The blood smelled foul and Luke retched.

"Three dead, five to go." Luke cleaned the blood off his face and climbed up another tree close to the one he was previously hiding behind to catch his breath.

Two of the beasts were barking non-stop as they approached Luke's position. "Dammit. How did they find me?" He asked but the answer soon came to him.

"Ah, their disgusting blood is enough to track me down if it touched me." Luke cussed outside.

The two beasts arrived at the base of Luke's tree. "I can probably deal with two at a time." He jumped down on the first one. The beast which had been trying to pin his trace was a tad too late to notice Luke's descent.

It raised its head and was met by a heavy punch. The beast's head slammed into the ground and it didn't rise back. The other was already jumping on Luke.

Surprised that the other beast didn't flinch or get scared at the death of its second, Luke dodged a little too late and the claws dug into Luke's lap.

"This crazy puppy." Luke landed a blow on its rib and the dog slammed into the tree Luke jumped down from.

It quivered as it tried to get up but it shouldn't have tried standing back up. The furious Luke kicked its neck and it snapped. The beast fell back down, dead.

Blood leaked from the claw marks on Luke's lap and he tore his shirt off. He wrapped the cloth around the wound to stop the bleeding.

With an injured leg, Luke ran back towards the huge tree. He had a portentous feeling.

Behold, when he arrived at the base of the tree, he only found two of the remaining three beasts.

He rushed towards them and with a mana-infused kick, he sent the first one to meet its dead friends. The second growled and jumped on him.

"I don't have your time." He yelled and threw a mana-filled punch at the attacking hound. The blow hit its throat and it fell, unconscious.

He raised his head and found the one he believed to be their leader. He yelled at it trying to gain its attention but it ignored him.

"A dog should act like a dog and obey when called." He lifted one of the hounds on the floor. Infusing mana into both hands, he threw the hound at the one climbing the tree.

Thud.

Both beasts dropped to the ground. The pack leader turned to look at Luke with red eyes. It growled at him and slowly approached.

They attacked each other. The hound threw its claws at Luke and Luke evaded it. Whenever he infused mana into his hand and threw the punch, the hound would jump backward as if avoiding the punch.

The hound jumped at him. This time, it attacked with its mouth. Luke didn't dodge but instead, he blocked with one hand and the fangs drilled into the hand.

Luke was in serious pain but he gritted his teeth, gathered all the mana he could currently, and punched the hound's ribs. The hound noticed the mana and tried to let go but it was too late.

Crack.

Bones inside the beast shattered and some stabbed out of its skin. It dropped dead.

Luke stared at his left arm with four holes each the size of his finger. He pushed mana into the injury like he has done before after the fight with the gang and the pain slowly subsided. The injury slowly but steadily healed with the aid of the mana.

"Are… are you okay?" A voice asked from the tree branch.

"So you were awake, you sleepy fool. Why didn't you do anything to that beast?" Luke asked, panting heavily.