Demon continent Alsace in the year 237 in the 7-month Yasum on the 6 days after the smashing of the empire
He had made himself comfortable on one of the trees near the cave, from where he had a view of the cave entrance and could follow the activities of its inhabitants. The inhabitants were lion-like big cats. They were about the same size as lions and lived in a pack similar to them. If he continued to take lions as examples, then the males had a mane similar to lions, only this was somewhat shorter, but this extended over the back to the buttocks of the animals, where this decreased in length. The females were one head taller than the males if his assumption was correct. He had not yet looked at them with his other senses, because he did not know yet how receptive these animals were. Both sexes were of a deep black and the teeth that appeared with many a yawn or playful bite had something of moonlight and also it seemed to him so that these would really shine. On both of their two tails, they had a tassel, which seemed to be the only spot of color in this part of the forest. They jumped back and forth on Lux-like paws, sometimes changing to the color of their tassel. They made no noise as they did so.
He wanted to try something, which is why he looked for a small stone or a branch on the forest floor. After a short time, he had what he was looking for and set about testing his theory. How and why had all the sounds in this part of the forest disappeared and why was it only in shades of gray. On his way to the cave, he had already noticed that he could hear his own footsteps only through himself. But how did predators want to hunt in such an environment, by what had they been triggered and could he possibly replicate this effect? Just because he didn't hear the sounds didn't mean that the cats didn't hear him, maybe they did. This is why, with a little telekinesis, he catapulted the branch he had seen on the ground into a bush right next to the cave entrance.
Immediately after it landed in the bush, a reaction came from the cats, they came running out of their cave and shot towards the bush. He hadn't heard any sounds, but the cats had apparently heard one. He had watched them from a distance through all his senses, but couldn't really see what had been going on, or rather he couldn't tell. So he repeated the test a few times, after which the cats calmed down each time. He thought he remembered their names, or at least a story by Sappho and Sia, in which similar events were described as he found them here, Hangistkata was their name if he was not mistaken. The story spoke of silent predators with night-black fur and claws and teeth like the light of the night, which he thought fit quite well.
He watched the reaction of the Hangistkata the next time even from afar and tried to learn as much as possible. He wasn't sure how good the Hangistkata could smell, but so far none of the Hangistkata had smelled him and for now, he didn't want to know.
So he could observe that the flow of arcane energy around the cave changed when throwing objects came against something. Whereupon he tried the range and for the moment could not test further, because he could not see far enough.
But also the Hangistkata changed their tactics, they seemed to learn that they would not find prey in the places from where the noise came for them. That's why they didn't all run anymore, only two ran towards the sound and were more careful than the times before. The other four meanwhile stayed at the cave and seemed to patrol. Either a predator was doing exactly what he was doing and then moving into the cave or Den of the Hangistkata, or they were more intelligent than he had thought. Since he could not rule this out yet, however, he did not take his eyes off his surroundings as he continued to observe and try.
In a gray world it became dark faster he had to conclude, then, as the evening approached and he had meanwhile dared to create a source near him, on which the Hangistkata ruled, he had difficulties to see them in the blackening forest. In exchange, he was able to view what was happening up close with his other senses.
This part of the forest seemed to be under the influence of the Hangistkata, like a kind of divine aura protecting holy places. And every sound was immediately transmitted to the Hangistkata, how the Hangistkata took influence he did not quite know yet. Since it seemed to him that they were working magic to influence the world around them. Magic which could be useful should he learn it. This was the case in some legends, heroes learned from animals, so why not him.
During the night, the Hangistkata were even more active than during the day. As one of the Hangistkata ran along under his tree into the forest, he was able to get a clear look and to his surprise, he found that this Hangistkata was level five and had quite a solid core. Previously, he had not been able to see them with his senses, as some users of Arcane Energy noticed this, and the one Hangistkata also seemed to have noticed something, as he stopped only a few feet from his tree and seemed to look around and sniff. But also like all other demons, monsters, or animals he had seen in these lives, they felt far weaker than he remembered level five to be.
For the rest of the night, he refrained from making any further attempts, since he did not know how good the animals' senses of sight or smell were. He tried not to fall off the tree all night long, while falling asleep on it from time to time, and also tried not to snore, which according to some soldiers from his old life was quite loud. Which he didn't know if he snored in those lives as well. So he spent the rest of the night always between awake and asleep.
The next morning he could feel his whole body, every one of his muscles aching. If he could have heard it, he was sure he would have heard his bones cracking.
But since he still hadn't figured out the secret of the Hangistkata, they were the only ones who would hear it. Which immediately made him look around. It seemed, however, that none of the Hangistkata had noticed it, so he remembered that he had never tasted from what height they perceived something.
That was what he was doing or wanted to do today, but first, he wanted to get off this tree, so he waited until he couldn't see any of the Hangistkata and climbed down. Yesterday he had only eaten jerky and a little fruit he had found in the forest. But today he wanted to eat something fresh, something he had hunted and prepared with his own hands.
The tracks of the Hangistkata were barely visible, but he still tried to look for them, but could not see them until he came to a part of the forest that had a little more color than the part around the Hangistkata's den. He also had not yet seen them dragging their prey to the cave. He decided that he didn't want to spend a lot of time hunting, so he tried to find something smaller that he could easily kill and then prepare. After only a few minutes of searching, he found a rabbit. He accelerated his body with a thought and grabbed after the hare, in the same movement he had broken its neck. After which he prepared it with a little magic telekinesis, all the time taking care that no predator or monster approached.
After eating something, he makes his way back to the Hangistkata's lair to observe them further and possibly get behind the secrets they hide. Since he was able to get away and was more accustomed to the surroundings than last time, he was now able to recognize the tracks of the Hangistkata better than he had been able to this morning. So he arrived back at the Hangistkata's structure and was about to climb the tree again when he noticed a change in the arcane energy.
He ducked down to the right just in time to see one of the Hangistkata jump over him; it would have caught him for sure if he hadn't dodged in time. Already he could see the others, which came out of their hiding places to encircle him.
Now he had to act quickly if he did not want to end up as a Hangistkata eater. He had no feeling of fear or that he would fail against the six Hangistkata, but still he was level one and his opponents were all between level three and five. For he did not want to die again, as he was still not sure why he had survived with his I, even though he had a viable theory which he did not want to test now.
So he used a body art technique similar to the one he had used to catch his lunch and grabbed one of the tails of the Hangistkata which was still about to sail over his left shoulder. No sooner had the animal noticed the touch than it was flung backwards by him onto one of his comrades. The world seemed to regain color briefly until it caught itself. At the same moment that he came out of his spin with which he had thrown the Hangistkata, he was already attacked by another Hangistkata. The two that were to his right and left came at him and seemed to want to encircle him in a smaller circle, which he was not going to let happen, the Hangistkata behind him was getting ready to attack around the tree. When Lerna landed on it and wrapped around it in a flash and bit it in the throat. Meanwhile, he had entered the mind of the animals to be able to read their next attacks and possibly who it occurred to copy their magic. At the same time, he dropped razor-sharp wind blades on the two Hangistkata lying in a tangle on the ground and attacked the Hangistkata to his left. Again, he accelerated his body using body art and plunged a dagger into his opponent's throat.
At least he wanted to, but the animal's hide was armored well enough by its step that the blade broke, he clicked his tongue when he saw his broken dagger in his hand. The beast had nevertheless flown a few feet away from the impact and crashed into another tree. While those on the ground were still trying to free themselves from each other and the first sounds of pain could be heard, the Hangistkata which had just been on his right came leaping after him and narrowly missed his back. In the same movement in which he had dodged to the left, he turned on his own axis and gave the animal a powerful kick in the buttocks, which sent him flying into the same tree as his comrade before him. This time there was also the sound of wood bursting, accompanied by a howl that almost drowned out the cracking of bones.
Suddenly the world was back in color and the sounds returned all at once, which blew his mind at first. This morning, when he had walked out of the part of the forest that was affected by the Hangistkata, the sounds and colors had slowly returned. Not like now, where they hit him like a slap in the face.
A hiss was heard and a whine and whine sounded around him and the Hangistkata began to limp away from him. The one female in front of him bit the male on the neck and pulled him away toward their den. The large Hangistkata male that had fought Lerna limped past him with whiskers down and head tilted down.
This was not what he had expected.
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She couldn't believe it, these idiotic, overgrown housecats had dared to attack her charge as if these stupid monsters could win against a titan and his guardian. She could only shake her head, no sooner were they in real territory than her charge was lost in thought, watching these cats. What on earth did she see in them? They weren't even tasty, as their meat was too colorful or tasted like night, and anyone who had tasted either would never eat a Hangistkata again.
She had impressed upon the pack leader that he had to behave accordingly and show respect in the presence of a titan. Her charge wanted to watch them, so they had to grant her that favor. A sigh escaped her as she watched the retreating Hangistkata.
