The Divine Wolf... or?
Chapter 128: Visions?

In another part of the continent, Ark was still sitting quietly and waiting for the mother and the cub to wake up. Even though almost an entire hour had passed, they had yet to wake up from their weird sleep-like state.

Ark wasn't too worried though, his gut was telling him that everything was going to be fine, and after getting such a large strength upgrade, his confidence had surged even higher than before.

If he was to face that cave giant now, Ark was almost certain that he wouldn't need more than one serious attack with his new skill to end it all. Even though he had sat for almost an entire hour and waited, he didn't feel particularly tired or bored at all.

Seeing the world through this new perspective that his skill gave him was pretty interesting, and he didn't really get tired that easily either. All in all, this new skill of his was going to be a life changer for Ark, and he was really glad that he got it.

He still didn't really understand why it took him until he had 200 intelligence before he got a skill, but he didn't really concern himself with it too much.

He didn't know if all his other stats would follow the same pattern, but if they did, then it would take him an eternity before he managed to get their skills. At the same time, the skill he had gotten was this strong, what about the skills of the other stats? Would they be this strong too? Ark certainly hoped so, but he couldn't really be certain.

In any case, he was excited to see what the future had in store for him.

As he waited another half an hour, Ark had to get rid of two more magical beasts, but due to their lacking strength, he managed to scare them away by just relying on his oppressive aura. As he stood up to stretch his legs a little, Ark noticed that the mother and her cub were finally beginning to wake up from their deep slumber.

Though that was the case, he still continued on with his stretching. Sitting in one place was pretty annoying if it was for such extended periods of time. After they had both woken up completely, the cub was excited to see Ark sitting and waiting for them. The funny thing was, when the cub was about to rush to Ark's side, it completely stumbled and fell over.

The mother wanted to go get her cub back on its feet, but when she tried to walk, she fell over too.

Ark was a little concerned when he saw this, but when he was about to help them, the mother cut him off. "We're just not used to having this much strength, we're going to need to adjust a little before we do anything."

When he heard this, Ark was a little relieved. He was a little scared at first that something had happened to them, but it seemed like it was because they had gotten stronger. What puzzled him was how they had gotten stronger. Did they normally fall asleep to get stronger? Or what was actually going on here? Ark had no idea, but when he was about to ask, the mother cut him off again.

"I don't really know what you did earlier, but that wave you sent out seems to have made us stronger somehow and I thank you for that!"

"I did?"

"You didn't know?"

Ark fell silent, it seemed that he was the reason they had been asleep for so long. Apparently he had made them stronger, but he had no recollection of doing something like that. The only thing he could think of was his new skill, did he do something weird when he awakened it? According to the mother, he sent out some sort of wave.

The only kind of wave he could think of was a wave of mana, but he had no idea how that would make both of them stronger. In any case, dwelling on this would only make him even more confused, hence he decided that it was probably for the better if he didn't think about it for now, it wasn't like he would figure anything major out anyways.

"You shrunk a lot when you released that wave huh? What was that?"

Once again, the mother's words kept befuddling him, what did she mean by that? He shrunk? When he thought about it, something dawned on him all of a sudden. Wasn't his line of sight a little lower than before? If that was the case, then he actually might've shrunk when he got his new skill. But then another oddity remained, why?

Why did he shrink? Ark didn't understand why he would shrink just because he had acquired a skill. Nevertheless, becoming a little smaller wasn't really a bad thing though, so he decided not to think about it for now, it would only become a problem if he kept shrinking in the future, but that was not something he needed to be concerned with for now.

As he was thinking, the mother kept looking at him with a peculiar gaze. He didn't really mind though, and when his eyes met hers, he only smiled a little. Though it probably looked weird if a human was to see it, Ark's smile was heartfelt and sincere, something that seemed to get across to the mother pretty well.

The mother was still a little awkward around Ark, she couldn't really understand why he was so nice to her. Had she done anything to deserve his kindness? As far as she was concerned, no.

The first time she had ever seen Ark, he had already saved her life. Right now, he had saved her more than once, he had taken care of her cub, and he had made them both stronger. She was really grateful for all that he had done, but she was also a little apprehensive. Though she was a magical beast, her intelligence had developed since long ago, and she knew that most people always wanted benefits.

Especially humans. Even if Ark was just a wolf in her eyes, her suspicions couldn't be so easily cleared. For now, she just convinced herself that he didn't mean any harm based on the fact that he had plenty of chances to harm them, but chose to help them instead.

Ark had to admit that her eyes were as mesmerising as ever, but when he was about to say something, he noticed something in the corner of his eye. As he snapped his head around to see what it was, he could only see the bushes rustle faintly. Ark was instantly intrigued. Even though he had no idea what it actually was, he had a feeling that it was something important.

He had no idea where that feeling came from, but something deep within him was telling him that he had missed something truly important.

He looked at the mother and her cub softly, before he decided that he wasn't going to go and check it out. He really wanted to, but he felt like he had to look after them. He didn't know what he would do if either of them got hurt because he left them behind to satisfy his own curiosity. The mother noticed his eager look, and she was fairly quick on the uptake.

She could easily see that he was restraining himself to look after them, which she didn't want him to do. Not just because of his own sake, but also for her own. She felt like Ark was trying to babysit them or something, and it made her feel like a useless mother.

"You know you don't have to worry about us, just do what you want. I can protect myself, especially now that I've become more powerful!"

When Ark heard this, he felt a little embarrassed, was he really that easy to see through? Though he felt a little embarrassed, deep down inside, he was feeling elated. Of course he was a little worried, but he wouldn't be gone for long, and he really needed to replace out what it was that made him feel like that!

"Are you sure you guys will be ok?"

"I wouldn't say that otherwise!"

"I guess that's true, I'll be back soon then!"¨

Their short exchange ended with Ark turning around, and sprinting straight into the bushes that had rustled not too long ago. The mother thought that he looked just like her little cub when he sprinted into the bushes like that, and she smiled a little as a result.

The cub didn't know why Ark suddenly ran away, but seeing his mother's expression, the little cub felt at ease, and just ran around excitedly, trying to get its body under control.

After Ark had sprinted through the thick foliage, he just followed his gut, and kept on running. After 5 seconds of pure sprinting, Ark could see something just ahead of him. A small transparent white light was floating in front of him, slowly moving forward in its own pace. Ark had never seen such a thing before, and he frankly had no idea what it was.

As he inched closer, he could make out that the white transparent light seemed to resemble something, he just couldn't make out what it looked like due to its colour.

With that being the case, Ark moved even closer than before. Now that he was within 3 meters of the small light, he was able to distinctively tell what it looked like. The small light turned out to be a small humanoid figure, with 2 pairs of wings on its back, one of the pairs was fairly big in comparison to its size, while the other set of wings was right below them, and was fairly small.

As Ark was able to make this out, he was a little befuddled. What kind of creature was this? Why did this creature give him such an odd feeling?

As he was caught up in his thinking, Ark forgot that he was actually following this creature, and he stepped right on a dry branch.

"Snap!"

The creature quickly turned its head around, only to see a fairly large wolf sneaking up on it from behind. Without wasting any time, the small creature fiercely flapped its wings, and left Ark behind. Even though the creature was fast, Ark had no intentions of just letting it leave without figuring anything out first, and he quickly pursued the creature from behind.

The creature could easily make turns and take complex routes because it was flying, but Ark was still not left behind. There was nothing this small creature could do to leave him behind. Especially not after he had gotten his new skill, as he could use it to enhance his speed to several times his normal speed, which was already on par with this creature.

The creature didn't look behind it a single time during its escape, presuming that it had already left the wolf behind since ages ago. Since it had flown for quite a while, the creature was getting a little tired, and it checked around it to see if the wolf was gone already. Ark managed to spot the creatures movements beforehand, and he quickly hid himself behind an ancient tree.

Fortunately for him, this tree was thick enough for him to hide behind, and he managed to do it just in time. The creature couldn't see him anywhere, and just assumed that it had run away from Ark successfully.

Since it thought that it had successfully run away, the creature slowed its pace down considerably, and it went back to the pace it had before it noticed Ark behind it. Ark didn't play around anymore, and he activated his stealth skill before he slowly started to follow the creature from behind again.

The more he saw the creature flying around, a thought that had been at the back of his mind started to establish itself in his head.

Was this creature a ghost? He couldn't be sure, but that hazy, transparent figure couldn't be a real creature right? It didn't make sense to him, and even though he had never seen a ghost before, he imagined that it would look something like that. But could it really be a ghost? Even if this was another world, would ghosts actually exist?

Before he was able to think any more about the subject, he noticed that the creature turned right, and flew into the ruin of an old building.

Ark didn't know what kind of building it was before it collapsed to such a point, all he managed to deduct was that it was something grand, something majestic! The building was simply massive, with massive pillars supporting it from the inside, only problem was that many of the pillars had crumbled, and the entire building was filled with holes and cracks all over.

The creature flew in from a small hole in the wall, a hole that was way too small for Ark to fit through, so all he could was enter through the front door. He made sure that he was as fast as possible though as he didn't want to lose the creature now.

At this point, he was following the creature just because he could, he had no idea why he would actually follow it other than curiosity, but there was still something deep within that was calling out to him, and he felt like he was forced to follow the small creature.

As he entered the building, he couldn't see the creature anywhere. It seemed like he had still been a little too slow, and the creature had managed to lose him just when it was getting to the interesting part. Ark didn't think too much of it though, now that he couldn't see the creature, the feeling in the pit of his stomach was slowly fading.

When he was just about to turn around and leave, the feeling suddenly flared up!

Ark quickly scanned his surroundings, anxious to replace something quickly, this feeling was very uncomfortable, and if he didn't replace something that could calm it down soon, then he would almost want to kill himself. That was how bad this feeling was. It was as if he was endlessly yearning for something that was just out of his reach, it was unbearable for him.

When he was starting to lose his composure, Ark was able to spot a staircase that seemed to lead underground.

With no other options around, Ark quickly made his way to the stairs, and scurried his way downward. Even though it was supposed to be pitch-black this far underground, Ark was able to see a shimmering light ahead of him, seemingly leading the way. Since he wasn't stupid, he was able to figure out that the light was actually the creature that he had followed all the way here.

The disgusting feeling he had in the pit of his stomach slowly receded, and Ark was able to calmly follow the light ahead of him.

Even though he still had no idea where he was going, at this point, he was already committed to doing this, if he didn't, then he would have to live with that weird feeling for god knows how long, and that was something that he absolutely didn't want to do. That being said, Ark continue to follow the small light.

Deeper, and deeper, it seemed like the staircase would never end at this point, as Ark had already been walking for almost 5 minutes.

He started to grow a little worried. How far underground was he right now? And where was this weird creature taking him? He didn't know, and when he thought about it, maybe it was for the better if he didn't know how far underground he was, as it would probably just worry him even more.

With darkness all around him, and only a small white light to show him the way, the stairs finally came to an end 3 minutes later. This meant that he had been walking straight down for about 8 minutes straight, and he had no idea where he currently was. The light ahead of him suddenly came to a stop just a little bit ahead of him, and Ark wasn't really sure what he was supposed to do now.

When he was still thinking about what to do, the small creature suddenly vanished from where it was. The place turned completely pitch-black, and Ark was left all alone. Even though he had night vision, the skill hadn't level up in a long time, and Ark didn't really care about it either way, as it was just more convenient to use some light magic to light the place up.

Even if he was able to see somewhat with night vision, he'd rather just be able to see normally. That being the case, Ark conjured up a ball of light magic, and controlled it to hover around the room. He didn't dare move a single step before he shone the light around the room, to make sure that he wouldn't get himself killed by being careless.

As the ball of light flew around the place, Ark was able to notice that he was currently standing on a plateau. From the looks of it, he seemed to be suspended high in the air on a plateau, which befuddled him, since he was currently underground.

What kind of place had he come to? After looking around with the help of the ball of light magic, Ark was able to see that there was nothing special around, and that he was just on a plateau with nothing else on it. The only special thing about this plateau was the location, as well as the fact that it seemed to be connected to another room.

The connection to the other room was via a small and narrow bridge. Even though he was sceptical at first, after testing it out a little, Ark decided to walk across it. He did, however, use some wind magic to make himself lighter, as a fall from this height would probably end his life. The funniest things about that thought of his, was the fact that Ark had no idea that he was high up at all.

He had just assumed so since his gut kept telling him so.

So far, his gut had been mysterious today, and at this point, he couldn't be bothered to think about it anymore than he already had. That being the case, Ark crossed the bridge in an instant, and he arrived in the room on the other side. The air inside the room was really stale, and the temperature was freezing, luckily, Ark had a ton of very warm and fluffy fur that kept the cold away from him.

When Ark was just about to us his light magic to light the room up, his eyesight started to get blurry. The room that he could barely make out with the use of his night vision suddenly turned pitch-black, and Ark passed out.

…

Waking up with a start, Ark instantly stood up. Before he could even think, a nauseating smell filled his nostrils, almost prompting him to puke immediately. As he was anxious to replace out what had happened, Ark noticed it. Death. Blood. Decay.

All around him, these things were the only things as far as the eye could see. Corpses littered the ground, rotting and decaying, filling the air with a foul smell. Blood ran like rivers, contaminating the area with a thick smell wherever it passed.

Even though Ark was a steadfast person, he almost passed out when he saw where he was. He had no idea what was going on right now, and the fact that he seemed to be in his human form only made the situation worse. The clothes he was wearing was the same thing he had worn before he was captured by the third prince and the scary old man.

As he frantically looked around, all he could see were the same things, death, despair, blood and decay.

Seeing the faces of so many corpses, with most of them twisted in despair, Ark felt sick, was this what a real battlefield looked like? Before Ark was able to ponder too much, he noticed something familiar. He didn't really know why, but some of these corpses looked familiar to him. With the thought in mind, Ark walked a little closer, and that was when it hit him, Thufrat!

The body of a small yet robust little dwarf was lying covered in blood, with a long sword sticking through his stomach. The sword ran straight through him, and also penetrated Alenia who laid underneath him. Ark was beginning to lose his mind, what was going on here? He desperately tried to come up with ideas, he pinched himself, he did whatever he could to wake up, this had to be a nightmare right?

Ark was on the verge of going insane, when he noticed another oddity. Not far away, two corpses laid next to each other. These corpses were so badly mangled that Ark had a hard time seeing what kind of animal they belonged to, as he could clearly see that they weren't human.

Before he could walk too close, something hit him, was that? Not daring to waste any more time, Ark quickly sprinted up to the two corpses. After some careful inspection, he was sure, it was the cub and the mother!