With a final burst of golden light, my evolution completed and with it came a sudden burst of speed that had me bolting ahead of Lily. Grick, who was still saddled on Lily’s back, let out an impressed “hoo,” but words were apparently lost on him.

  Still, even with my increased speed, I didn’t see the human in the tunnels ahead of me. I supposed he had gotten quite a head start. It is not like he even needed to take time to heal from his injuries before he took off running.

  I was quite familiar with this path by now and could navigate it almost instinctively. There was a possibility he fled into one of the other tunnel branches, but that ultimately would be better, as we could sniff him out later, especially with Pulse Sense’s help. The critical concern was not letting him reach wherever the last of the hunters were camping.

  As a series of system messages popped into my view, I took the time to quickly read through them while winding through the tunnels.

  [New Trait Obtained: Give Chase]

  Increase speed and reduce stamina reduction when actively pursuing fleeing prey or foes.

  Didn’t Luke have something like that? He was impossible to get away from whenever he'd set his sights on me, whether I was in the mood for playing or not. But gaining such a skill myself was incredibly convenient and explained my sudden speed. Thinking of Luke, I felt that familiar pang in my heart. Despite whatever issues I had with him, I missed him dearly.

  But I couldn't get distracted now. The skill would help get me through this murder quest and one step closer to reuniting with him and the rest of my family.

  [New Active Skill: Death Mark]

  Observe a target and place a mark on them that will last for 24 hours, in which time you’ll always know where to find them. While under the effects of Death Mark, your target will suffer a minor fear status effect, making them struggle to eat and sleep, affecting their judgment, and weakening their ability to fight back.

  A wide puppy grin spread across my muzzle at this. Though, I suppose I wasn’t quite a puppy anymore, was I? I had certainly grown bigger with my last evolution, and the path description said Juvenile. Not quite adult, but usually that meant teenage, right?

  I hope this didn’t mean I’d be going through puberty! Well, at least I didn’t have to worry about acne.

  I took a look at the last of my new skills, and my brow raised.

  [New Active Skill: Soul Rend]

  A killing blow that absorbs your target's remaining health and a percentage of their remaining mana. It will also temporarily absorb and apply some of their attributes to you. Success rate depends on the target's remaining health and your difference in power.

  Holy crap! That sounded huge! Though the mention of a success rate bothered me—what if it failed? Would the attack itself do nothing? I suppose this was meant as a finisher, and certainly could be a huge benefit for instances when I had to fight multiple targets at once, healing mid-battle as I went from one target to the next. Though, considering my mana, I knew I was tapped out and likely didn’t have enough to use it right now.

  That was extremely frustrating, as one kill with this skill would be like a snowball of health and mana regeneration that would give me access to the mana I’d need to kill more…

  Finally, the system gave me one last screen.

  [New Passive Skill Evolution!]

  Predator’s Focus has evolved to Apex Ambush!

  Passive Skill: Apex Ambush (locked)

  You deal massively increased bonus damage when attacking from stealth or targeting unaware enemies.

  If your target is marked by Death Mark, then upon death, the mark will automatically transfer to another nearby enemy, provided they are weaker than you.

  Skills can evolve as well!?

  Apex Ambush sounded absolutely insane. This wasn’t just a stronger Predator’s Focus—this was a whole new level of predatory domination. Kill one marked enemy, and the next one would get tagged instantly, debuffing them and revealing to me where they are.

  I swiped away the last of the screens.

  I couldn’t let myself become complacent with the certainty I’d be victorious here. Not yet. Worst case, if he did succeed in contacting his allies, I might even have to retreat until I could recover my mana and stamina. Maybe it would be better to just flee the caves altogether at that point, as they would be sending one home for reinforcements.

  Lily was also out of mana, which put her at an even greater disadvantage since she relied so heavily on her skills.

  Luckily, I soon heard the human’s footsteps ahead of me, and as I inhaled, I could smell him. Sweaty and panicked, the odor of Direwing wreaking from this one. And as the glow of the moonlit night revealed itself at the end of the tunnel, I saw his silhouette just barely making its escape, but I was gaining on him fast.

  Just as I was closing in, he suddenly turned and threw something at me—a scatter of small balls released from his hand.

  I didn't think I could dodge, so I dove right through, knowing exactly what to expect. It was the pepper balls, the ones Kaileen had thrown at me, and once again, they exploded in my face, peppering me with bits of shrapnel that then began to sting horribly.

  I did my best not to breathe in and dove for his leg, but the shaft of his spear whacked the side of my head just before I was about to bite down.

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  I made a short retreat, just getting away from the haze of pepper-onion stuff. It hadn’t gotten me too badly as I avoided inhaling any, but it was still enough to blur my vision and fiercely sting my nose and face, which got hit with most of the shrapnel.

  “What the hell… You evolved again!?” he muttered with tense teeth. His mask was still off, making him a slightly easier target, and the more I looked at his head wound, I knew Grick had gotten him quite well… except.

  I squinted through my blurred vision, the moonlight hitting his bloodied scalp just right to shine off of it. But it didn’t seem to be bleeding anymore. He must have already used his healing potion.

  He pointed his spear at me.

  “Valrok was right to take you beasts out before you grew. To become so powerful in such a short time… We should have just killed you all as soon as we had the chance.”

  I growled in return.

  That’s right, you should have. Because this isn’t the end. Once I finish picking off your hunting party, I’m going to find where you live. I won’t stop until my pack is safe, and my father has been avenged.

  I saw Lily skulk through the dark tunnel, remaining back for now, but looking out for a chance to jump in and help.

  I had no skills, I couldn’t rely on Crippling Bite to break his limbs, and for all the amazing new skills I’d obtained, they were currently useless to me.

  There was no telegraph to his next movement. He suddenly shot forward, airborne, as if he were yanked up by a zipline. It was just like last time, but this time he didn’t aim his spear forward; he spun mid-air, and I saw a trail of some kind of magic forming around his blade, as if parting the air as it sliced through was creating a wake like a boat speeding through the ocean.

  I leapt out of the way, easily dodging the blade as it slammed into the ground in front of me, but then I was hit with a gust of wind that took my paws out from under me, and I ended up tumbling head over tail.

  There was another rushing sound as he then suddenly shot at me, this time skimming across the ground and kicking up dust in his wake.

  I couldn’t dodge, so when my back paws flipped back behind me, I kicked off and lunged to meet him head-on, barely pivoting at the last second to avoid a fatal blow, but the spear still sliced cleanly through my shoulder and down my side. I made the most of the situation, however, and chomped his shoulder with all my might. I would have liked to get his neck, but this would have to do.

  I sank my teeth deep, trying to get the most of it. He growled in pain, but spun around in a quick circle, causing my legs to dangle heavily behind me, and I realized if I didn’t let go on my own terms, he would toss me right off the cliff.

  As I let go, another gust of wind sent me flipping through the air, taking away any control I had over my descent. He would be right on me again, I knew that, but—

  A blur of motion streaked towards him.

  Lily burst from the tunnel mouth in a flash of dark fur and fury, her timing perfect. She slammed into the hunter’s side mid-lunge, shoulder first, knocking his aim wide and sending his spear scraping uselessly across the stone instead of through my chest.

  Grick followed a heartbeat later, leaping from on top of her, the mask no longer on his back as he must have dropped it before joining the fight.

  “NASTY! NASTY HUMAN!” Grick screamed, wrapping his limbs around the hunter’s head before he even knew what to do. Grick pivoted around until he was riding on the man’s shoulder like a kid at the park with his dad. Except this kid was clawing at the unexpectant father’s face.

  The hunter reached for Grick, but the goblin flipped backwards off his shoulder before he could grab hold, and Lily took full advantage, chomping the back of his thigh.

  “You little—” the hunter growled, smacking Lily with the shaft of his spear to throw her off.

  I got my paws under me and began coming forward again, the hunter clearly looking overwhelmed, being attacked by all sides. Then, as he reached for the dagger at his side his eyes widened at surprise as he found nothing.

  Grick took a stance like a boxer, bobbing back and forth on his stwo feet, slashing the dagger he had swiped forward from a distance.

  “Now you see Grick’s true form! Fear the ultimate power of super Gri–iccck—aaaahaaa!”

  The hunter had given the spear a quick swipe at the ground, which created a wave of wind that blew Grick away, throwing him right off the side of the cliff.

  I feared for his safety for only a moment until I heard his voice echo from below. “Grick is okay!”

  Grick was out of the fight, but he did his part. He and Lily saved me from a brutal blow and disarmed Rakul’s short-range weapon.

  He turned to face me, but I was on him too fast. I aimed for one of his hands, but he got the pole of his spear in the way. That was fine, I chomped down on the wood and down, trying to rip it from his hands.

  He stumbled forward as I pulled back, and I was just realizing he surprisingly wasn’t very strong. I suppose him being a magic user meant that’s where most of his stats were.

  A burst of wind shot out from him, blowing right past me as I was now firmly anchored to his weapon.

  He struggled to free his weapon from my jaws, throwing a kick which did very little to hurt me. Then Lily jumped into action, chomping his leg again, retreating as he tried to kick her, then coming in to chomp him a second time.

  She threw him off balance just enough for me to finish the job as I twisted and threw myself sidewise, yanking hard and causing him to stumble, then fall to a knee. Finally, he gave up, dropping his weapon and taking off in a run.

  I let the spear clatter to the ground and gave chase, but as soon as I started, he let out a series of loud whistles. This was different than the other times he called Direwings, though I saw a few break fly off the mountainside and hover around. Was he warning the other red masks? I still had no idea where they were, but they must have been camping in the forest.

  As for his escape on a Direwing, I gave him no such chance. The Give Chase skill kicked in and I cleared the distant in seconds, tackling him, the Direwing zipping by just over us as we hit the ground but without its riding jumping on as it was probably expecting.

  He tried to throw me off as I snapped my jaws at him, but I forced my head through, not going for the kill but hooking my teeth on the top of his breast plate.

  A burst of wind shot from his palm, but not nearly as powerful as his attacks with the spear. And as he screamed and hit me, Lily was soon to join in.

  As soon as I saw an open, I went for the throat.

  Foe Eliminated - Lvl 14 Homo Sapien - Bloody Peaks Tribe

  Experience gained!

  Only level 14? This surprised me, as he was even harder to defeat than the level 20 from the far end of the cave system. I suppose he ultimately didn’t have much physical strength, but the odd part is that the others seemed to regard him as some kind of authority. Not only that, the system didn’t regard him as prey, which I’m sure it had done for others of at least the same level as him.

  I huffed as I thought about this and realized levels were not the truest indication of one's strength. I, for example, have consistently defeated foes many levels higher than me, with and without Lily’s help.

  Perhaps this human had a rare or epic Path as well, as from what I’ve seen until now, most of these red masks lacked magical capabilities.

  Lily doubled back to check for Grick, and I followed, but the green goblin’s hands were already finding their way to the cliff’s edge and pulling themselves up. He must have landed on a tree branch, then jumped towards the cliff face and scaled his way up.

  Lily licked his face as soon as he was on his feet, and he laughed, patting her snout. “Good puppy! See! Grick is mighty!”

  I grinned at him, I couldn’t help it. He certainly has proven himself far more useful through all of this than I had initially given him credit for.

  “Grick is strong! Grick is… H-huh?” I turned my head as I looked at him; he was staring off into space, but not as if there were a screen in front of him. It was more like he was listening to something. Then suddenly he jumped for joy. “Grick levels up! Grick levels up! Grick is mighty! Grick is powerful!”

  He looked absolutely thrilled as he hopped from one foot to the other in a happy dance. Lily watched him, her head bobbing back and forth as she tracked his movements, her tail wagging excitedly. I’m not sure if she understood his words or not, but she was probably just picking up on his joy.

  But, I knew it wasn’t time to celebrate yet. There were still four more red masks to kill, and with a quick check of the quest, I saw we only had eight more hours to do it.

  That wasn’t enough time to sleep and recharge our mana the old-fashioned way, and we would certainly need it. I also didn’t like the idea of wasting precious stamina on going all the way back to the arcane cavern.

  Only creatures that use mana recharged mana when I ate them, and from what I could recall, none of the monsters immediately in the surrounding forest used magic.

  That’s when the only solution hit me.

  I looked back at Rakul’s corpse, and as what I was about to do sank in, I had to say I felt surprisingly okay with it.

  I prowled over, examining my next meal.

  I guess it’s time to commit a cardinal sin.