Surprise Prize

The Great Matriarch moved quickly through the weeping foliage, using her mastery of nature energy to move the branches ever so slightly, preventing herself from disturbing the balance and giving away her position.

Edrick, having been made to bleed, was no longer so well concealed. The stench of blood was strong and gave away his position to the greater Nature-Blessed Wolf.

Wooden spikes flew through the air, and lacerating brambles lashed out.

Anoteros was constantly on the move, biding his time as he got better and better at predicting and evading the beast’s attacks. As smart as he may be, a beast she remained. Her strategy was cunning, but did not hold up for long against the scion.

She was starting to grow frustrated. What were many hits at first decreased until basically nothing was landing anymore. No matter how much Edrick bled, he did not seem to slow down.

He slowed his breathing, the beating of his heart growing less as well, causing the wounds not to bleed as much as they should… The Superior Heart Pill he earned in the past from the system was pulling its weight as well. He was producing far more blood than he should have been capable of.

As such, the bleeding was largely ineffective against him in the short term. Especially when the cuts were numerous, but all relatively shallow.

The noble acted oblivious, behaving as though he was merely focusing on dodging. That was nought but deceit. After a while, he spotted the pattern within the Great Matriarch’s movements and manner of attack.

He was unable to detect her through the typical means, but it did not matter. She was basically advertising her position to him right now–And she had no idea about it.

Anoteros feinted a simple dodge, but unlike before, he kept going in the direction he had picked.

His clothes were once again torn apart... Reminding him that he really should find a way to deal with this problem, as he did not exactly dress cheaply.

He transformed into his usual sasquatch form, which was naturally the strongest form he could pull off by mixing certain traits of the available species to him.

He leapt through the weeping branches. His opponent was quick to realise that she was in danger, but the attack did not come in a form that she could have expected.

Edrick channelled the peculiarity Skunk Sasquatches owned their name to. Coupled with the boon he had earned from this same type of sasquatch–Anosmic Stench–He suddenly burst with a most repulsive stench. It was something akin to a rotting cadaver left under the terrific shine of a summer sun.

The keen-nosed beast was instantly stunned by this, her legs growing unresponsive as it felt as though she had been hit straight in the muzzle. She was completely defenceless as Anoteros landed in front of her, breathed in, and roared like the late sasquatch lord in close quarters–Disoriented her sharp sense of hearing as well.

The Great Matriarch of the pack had her two best senses completely dazed and paralysed. She could barely even think about using nature energy to heal and restore herself before the giant weresasquatch grabbed her in his hand, holding her firmly as it leapt out of the canopy of the weeping tree and back into the open.

Light was still pouring down as she saw her opponent’s face warp and change, his mouth becoming more human-like.

“Now… Is a good time… To submit”

The words that came out weren’t quite right, as speaking whilst in this form was difficult. Edrick couldn’t just adapt human vocal cords perfectly to his current morphology… But in this form, his beast lord bloodline was at its most powerful and most blinding.

The Matriarch got the message instantly, but still, she did not seem ready to bow down to a new master. Her body grew bark, and in the blink of an eye, she disappeared from the bestial noble’s grasp. A moment later, she reappeared a distance away, stumbling out of the trunk of one of the great trees.

The Great Matriarch had hoped to appear further away, but being disoriented still, she hadn’t been able to go where she had wanted to go. She howled nonetheless, and Edrick could feel the ambient nature energy that permeated this place beginning to be dragged toward the pack leader.

‘Unfortunately…’

Edrick roared in her direction again, disrupting what she was doing before closing the gap, kicking her away.

What ensued was a rather pathetic display, as the Nature-Blessed Wolf merely delayed the inevitable. She would cover herself in bark to try and reappear elsewhere, but it never worked–The lingering confusion caused by the sensory attacks could not be healed like a flesh wound, so no matter how much she tried to regenerate, she would always end up getting caught in another attack.

This repeated over and over again until her energy reserves dipped low.

There was no cutting it, the superior beast here had already been decided a while ago. The Great Matriarch could only swallow her pride and accept the noble’s terms if she wanted to preserve her pack. It was either that, or complete annihilation…

The pack leader admitted defeat both to her opponent and to herself. Edrick knew that it was genuine as he felt a strong reaction from Victor’s Right. There was no doubt that the adversary had truly recognised him as the greater one here.

As a sign of submission, the Great Matriarch used what little nature energy she had left to heal Edrick’s wounds. She watched as Anoteros transformed back into his true form–Not a shred of fabric remaining upon his body... Which was handy, as he did not need any of that to seal the deal between him and the Matriarch.

She was still the leading female of the pack, but now… He was the leading male. As such, there was a need to make this all official.

“You’ve been the big boss around this area for a while, haven’t you? It must have been a long time since you tasted subservience. I’ll show how sweet it is to submit to me”

The Great Matriarch blinked and suddenly turned a bright green... Demonstrating an ability she had possessed for the longest time but had never actually used much at all. However, it seemed appropriate to make use of it now.

Under Edrick’s eyes, her appearance shifted greatly, going from a quadrupedal beast to a beastfolk variation of a Nature-Blessed Wolf. She still retained her specific traits, and overall, she still looked very much bestial.

Her body was covered in fur, the shape of her head was still much like that of a wolf, her limbs were still way more akin to those of a quadrupedal than a bipedal–So, on the scale of beastfolk, she was very close to the bestial extreme.

Walking on two legs made her undoubtedly far more humanoid–But there were also her eyes... They had become much more expressive. The rest of her face was still lacking the ability to move in a way that communicated any sapient emotions, but it was perfectly fine.

Anoteros had been about to go for her original form–And go for it happily at that–So the change did not mean much to him. It did intrigue him, though.

He reached out, caressing her face.

“You’re showing good thinking already. From now on, you’ll respond to the name ‘Alffine’, understood?”

She nodded despite not quite getting it.

“Good girl. Let’s get to it, shall we?”

It was time for the winner to enjoy his prize.