Chapter 15: 15. In search of a new prey
"Don't let a single of them go." The commander yelled from the top of his armored horse, directing his glaive at the feeling beast horde. "These beasts have tasted the flesh of your father, ravaged the women you love, and tasted the blood of your brother. Are you going to let them flee like that?"
"Noooo…" The scream resonated through the battlefield.
"Then kill them all."
"Yeah…" Furiously chasing after the enemy, the soldiers discarded their shields. The axes, spears, and swords, which had already turned crimson, were thirsty for more blood.
The war was over. The beast horde had penetrated deep into the empire, destroyed multiple cities, and ransacked villages and towns. But when the forces of the church, Kipling Forest, and the empire joined, the beast horde was no match for them.
The elves were still raining down different magic spells on the beast from a distance while the imperial army was slicing off the beast.
However, they were just goblins, kobolds, and mostly demonic animals. There were a few mountain trolls, but they could be counted on one hand.
Under the command of Tsuth, the main forces of orcs and beast kins had retreated a long time ago. The crafty gnomes and the opportunistic gnolls also followed the main force when they saw the chance.
However, that doesn't mean they didn't suffer any casualties. The wind fur tribe, which didn't have many mages, had lost almost half their gnoll. Although the Blood Axe tribe was a little lucky, they lost nearly all the hyenas, as no tamer controlled them.
"What are you doing, Black Mane?" The shaman wasn't happy.
Black Mane and a few other pregnant hyenas were left behind, with a couple of gnolls to protect them. This place was close to the border of desolated land and empire.
However, on their way back, they discover that the pair of gnolls have been killed and that Black Mane has evolved into a gnoll.
"They were too weak." Black Mane said.
The shaman couldn't argue about it, as he specifically left the youngest of the tribe behind.
One shouldn't evolve during pregnancy.
Black Mane's black eyes glowed as she rubbed her bulging stomach, adding, "Don't worry, they are very strong. They will survive."
"That is not the point." The shaman wants to beat her with his staff. However, there was one small problem. The ability she had awakened when she had evolved was [taming]. The tribe had already lost the past trainer, and now that most of the hyenas had died, they desperately needed a new tamer.
"Come on, we need to leave. Those heretics of light will flood the place soon."
"But where is Hilda?"
"What Hilda? Oh! That one… It might have died already. I think that one might have died already."
"Hilda is strong."
"What if it was strong? I heard they had fought and killed a saint; there is no way someone like it would survive."
Black Mane, who now had a head full of black hair, continued to glare at the shaman without saying a single word.
"What are you doing here?" The blood axe suddenly cast a shadow on BlackMane. Before she could say anything, the chief put her on his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "Take these with you."
The shaman thought that BlackMane would struggle. To his surprise, she didn't. The hyenas also followed them like obedient puppies.
*******
[Hilda]
Age: 1/34
Race: Gnoll
Grade: White
Level: 19 (5.7/20)
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Virtue: <Patience>
Sin: <Lust>. <Gluttony>.
Condition: <Cursed(!)>
Strength: 23.9
Dexterity: 29.2
Constitution: 40.8
Intelligence: 100
Wisdom: 100
Charm: 12.1
Free point: 0
Element: Earth/Water/Arbor/*****
Skill: [Fortitude]. [*****]. [Bite]. [Claw]. [Night Vision]. [Dominance]. [Mana perception (Violet)]. [Ancient language knowledge (17.7%)]. [Breathe of Bodhi]. [Aqua Bind]. [Ground Spike]. [Light Healing (III)].
Hilda's consciousness slowly returned to her. There was no light. She realized she wasn't in human form as she moved around.
"The pain is gone." She moved her body a little. Her limbs, which were broken from the attack by that woman, had recovered. Hilda couldn't touch her ribs, but it felt okay. And the millions of ants inside her body were gone.
The bees stopped buzzing inside her head but were replaced with little children's voices. It was annoying, but it was much more bearable. More importantly, she didn't know where she was.
"Is it a cocoon? The sides seem too hard for a stomach or womb!" Whatever it was, Hilda was in no hurry to leave the place. She doesn't think this world has the concept of the coffin. Even if there were, there was no way they would bury a hyena in a coffin.
"It looks like the ancient language knowledge has increased a lot. It must be because of the inheritance circle. But what is this, Arbor?"
Hilda knew that people who could use eternal mana directly were scarce. Priests are the ones who can use light mana directly.
"Arbor must be the type of element that formed due to a combination of my elements." When Knir gave her the inheritance circle, she informed her that using the same circle and element could awaken various elements.
Knir had talked about the elements that could awaken what she could awaken, combining the earth, water, and dark, but Arbor was not one of them. However, the unknown element wasn't something that worried her most.
[Breathe of Bodhi
Type: Passive
** Recover 10% of MP every hour
** Recover 5% of HP every hour
** Recover 5% of SP every hour
** ?????
** ?????]
Hilda ached in worry that a single technique would replace her two mana recovery strategies. After checking their recovery skills, she had no such worry.
Although Hilda's natural healing was first, she had no other way to eat and rest to recover her stamina. "Now, there is a way. But what is this 'Bodhi'?"
Hilda only knew about something called 'Bodhi' because it was related to one of the religions in her last life. It had something to do with enlightenment.
"As long as the effect is good, there is no need to worry about the effect."
Hilda was getting ready to struggle to make a breakthrough. To her surprise, the moment she used a little bit of force, the cocoon broke.
"Was it so soft?" Hilda walked out of the so-called cocoon, only to look back and find no such thing. "Was I inside a tree!?"
It made even less sense to Hilda. She was starving after just waking up and experiencing the curse's attack. She was dragging her body towards the settlement to eat when the woman attacked her.
"I crashed into a hut, but where did the old tree come from?" She would have thought years had passed. But the age of her status confirmed that wasn't the case.
"Such thick prop roots! It would have taken tens, if not hundreds, of years." Hilda walked around the tree.
The tree wasn't just big; it had a crown that covered the entire settlement. Many prop roots were falling outside the settlement wall.
*Grruuu*
Hilda wanted to check more, but the hunger was kicking in. Although she had no hunger status and the SP and HP bars were full, Hilda could feel that she hadn't eaten anything for a long time.
"Before that, I need to understand where I am." Hilda found a hill that was almost the highest in the area.
As she came off the hill, she felt something was wrong with her. The whispers in her head were still there.
"I thought they were the side effects of the curse. But it felt like those childish voices were guiding me."
Even if she had never been to this place before, she was surprisingly aware of the area as the voices continued to guide her through the forest.
She hid behind the tree, looking in the direction the voice warned her that people were coming from. She wasn't afraid of humans, but she was worried about the woman who appeared behind her out of nowhere and lit a fire that accelerated the curse.
Hilda wanted to take revenge, but this was not the time. The voices in her head whispered that there was only one human who was as strong as her. She was worried that attacking humans would get her some unwanted attention.
"I think I am still in human territory." It worried Hilda. "I should find the way to leave the place."
As the voices in her head suggested how to leave the place, Hilda heard the sound of hooves coming closer. Hilda lowered her body, making sure she couldn't be seen.
It was a small group of people. There were three carriages. Only one had a roof, even though it was made of cloth. The other carriage was stuffed with a basket of fruits and vegetables, and quite a few pieces of pottery were made with earth.
They passed through the area slowly, not realizing Hilda was hiding not too far away from them.
"If there were someone strong, he would have noticed me." Hilda was a little tempted to follow and attack them if she could. She couldn't help but feel a little sorry for letting such easy prey leave.
Just the moment she thought about it, the childish voices continued to list the animals she could hunt around this place.
"No, I need to check the area first." After the caravan passed by, she ran to the hill. Even running in an uphill direction didn't pose much of a problem to her. "40+ in the constitution and the increase in all the other stats are doing wonders." It didn't take long for her to reach the top of the hill.
"That is one big city." Although it wasn't as big as the border city the horde had attacked, it was still massive. High walls encircled it, which was located far in the valley.
Hild could all find it from the clearings and the smoke rising in the direction. However, she was looking for something else.
"So, you guys are saying the desolated land is in that direction, right?" Hilda didn't realize that she had started talking to the voice in her head. "And the food source you are talking about…"
Hilda could see what food they were talking about. It was a herd of deer. The hill was high, but the antler of the leader was very eye-catching.
Hilda rushed down the mountain to get a better look at them.
[Leader
Race: Stone Crusher stag
Condition: Agitated. Aroused.
Age: 12
Level: 16]
The leader's antler was a sight to behold. It was like a giant palm, with the finger parts looking sharp.
That was the only deer with a name; the male was also in the herd. The rest of the doe didn't have any discerning names. However, a few of the doe were pregnant, while quite a few were in heat.
She was just getting ready to make a move when someone else did. A couple of the sharp parts of the leader's antler broke off and shot like small missiles.
It caught Hilda off guard. Luckily, it wasn't shot in her direction.
[Trin
Race: Stone Crusher centaur.
Condition: Excited. Aroused.
Age: 5
Level: 11]
Its body and the antler were smaller than the leader's. In place of its neck, it had a human torso attached to it.
"I thought a centaur was supposed to be a horse. But this one… The creature of this world never ceased to amaze me." Hilda shook her head, thinking, "What would a centaur taste like? Like humans or deer? I need to have a deer after coming into this world."
Despite their bulky bodies, the centaurs were surprisingly agile. It used vines as some kind of lasso to grab a young doe and pull it along as it ran.
The leader started to follow, but the gap didn't decrease. The leader couldn't leave its herd behind, so it could glare in the direction with its red eyes and bark like a dog. From the casual movement of the centaur, Hilda was sure it knew that the stag wouldn't follow him.
Alas! It failed to notice that something much more fierce had followed him back.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
HuaiChi
HuaiChi Sorry, I wasn't able to post the last couple of days because of an IRL issue. Sorry for the inconvenience caused.
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