Before long, the skies turned dark. Night had descended, drowning the forest in a sea of darkness. Coincidentally, it was a new moon tonight and the clouds concealed all the stars that guided a sailor’s way.

Henry and his companions were finally out of the ruins by nightfall. They stopped at a clearing just a mile away from the ruins. They decided to camp here for the night, all for the sake of Alani. Even if she wasn’t in the equation, Henry and Rayne would have kept on going.

“Ah~” Alani sighed in great relief and she sat down on a log. “Finally. I swear my feet would have fallen off if we kept going.”

As tired as she was, it was not worse than sex with Henry. At least she was able to still be conscious after a whole day of walking. Since she was a hunter, her stamina was far better than the average person, although this was the first time she had walked so much in a single span of time.

It was only possible due to Henry’s presence scaring away all of the monsters, so Alani only needed to focus on walking. In the past, they would take frequent breaks in their adventures as they needed to occasionally fend off monsters and constantly be wary of any imminent threats.

Having Henry by her side was devoid of these two major problems and thus, allowed her to walk the whole day completely free of worries that would otherwise plague her mind and sapped her of her strength, mental and physical.

Still, it was exhausting. Once Henry took his seat by her side, she let herself slump into his lap. “I’m hungry,” she said at the time as her stomach growled.

Henry glanced at Rayne and the Zeva rolled her eyes before heading into the woods to hunt for their supper.

Though they had made camp, there was no fire. They didn’t need one. Fire was used to keep themselves warm, to cook their game, and to scare away some of the nocturnal threats.

However, they didn’t need fire to solve all three of those issues. Henry himself was born of fire, he could keep himself and Alani warm. Rayne was accustomed to the extreme cold of her birthplace. This much cold was nothing to her.

As for cooking their game, Henry had a method to cook them without using fire. As for keeping the nocturnal threats away, the sheer presence of Henry himself was enough of a deterrence.

While they waited for Rayne to catch their supper, Henry and Alani indulged in one another but did not go overboard. They didn’t go beyond exchanging kisses and sweet-nothings.

“Why are we staying out here?” Alani asked after they shared a deep and passionate kiss that lasted for a few minutes.

“What do you mean?”

“Can’t we just stay in your pocket dimension? Wouldn’t it be safer that way?”

“I suppose it would be safer but where’s the sense of adventure in that? I quite enjoy all the little things nature has to offer, don’t you?”

“That is true. It would detract from the experience.” Alani tittered and snuggled deeper in Henry’s embrace. “You miss them, don’t you?”

Henry smiled wryly. “Of course. I love you all the same.”

“Well, she isn’t here but… I hope I will at least be of some comfort.”

“Silly girl.” Henry lightly flicked her head.

“Ow,” she winced.

“Please don’t see yourself as some sort of replacement or temporary relief for other girls. As I said, I love all of you equally.”

“But we barely know each other.”

“We have plenty of time ahead of us. There’s no need to rush.”

Before the mood between them could blossom into something fiery and obscene, Rayne returned from her hunt. The yield of her hunt was a fairly large boar. Alani shuddered when she caught a glimpse of the dead boar. Its entire head was twisted a good hundred-eighty degrees.

“I thought you would catch something bigger,” Henry remarked as he stared at the carcass.

“This is the biggest one I can catch,” Rayne grumbled and took a seat across from the two lovebirds. “The other ones had fled far away from us.”

“Ah, the problems of the strong,” Henry feigned a dramatic sigh.

Rayne rolled her eyes and began draining the board. Just as she was about to cut the boar into pieces, Henry stopped her and took the boar from her.

“What are you doing?” Rayne asked.

Henry didn’t answer her and simply wrapped the carcass in his arms, hugging it.

Just as weird ideas were sprouting in the heads of the girls, steam rose from the carcass of the boar. The two immediately understood what Henry was doing. He was raising his body temperature to a high enough degree that allowed him to cook the boar.

After a few minutes, the entire boar was cooked and he passed the boar back to Rayne.

The Zeva made quick work of the boar and turned it into pieces of appropriate sizes. The smallest portion went to Alani but that portion itself was already more than enough. For the rest, Rayne got the bigger portion since Henry wasn’t exactly hungry yet but he figured he would eat some just for the sake of it.

As the trio ate their supper in silence amidst the darkness, a light in the distance caught their attention just as they were finished with their meals. It wasn’t difficult to guess who were the ones who made that fire.

“Fools,” Rayne scoffed as she took a big bite of her meat. She chewed it thoroughly but quickly before swallowing.

“What is so foolish about them?” Alani asked.

“They made a fire.”

Alani stared blankly in response to Rayne’s reasoning. “They made a fire to keep themselves warm and keep the beasts away.”

Rayne chuckled. “That is the usual method.”

“So, what’s wrong with that?”

“This place is anything but usual. The beasts and the monsters here are stronger and more ferocious than the ones that lurked in the shallow woods. Any source of light would only attract the monsters here. That wee bit of fire would not deter them, it would only rouse their curiosity.”

“T-that’s terrible…” Alani gasped. “Aren’t they in grave danger right now?”

“More than that. It’s certain death unless, of course, they are stronger than they appeared.”

Alani turned towards Henry.

“Not our problem, Alani. If they didn’t know about that, they should have. We are not obligated to care for them.”

“You’re just going to let them… die?”

Henry remained silent. That was his answer along with a glance.

Alani cast her gaze down when she saw his eyes. Cast her sympathy aside, she had promised but she had already broken it when not even a day had passed. “I-I’m sorry…”

“There’s nothing to apologise for. It’s not easy to change who you are.” As Henry said that, he glanced over to Rayne.

“It’s difficult… knowing that I could potentially help someone avoid their demise but I chose not to.”

“They won’t die, if that’s what you’re worried about, but they won’t exactly come out unscathed either.”

“I bet a harvest of eggs that they will lose a limb or two.”

“They managed to make it this far. I don’t think they are as clueless as they appeared to be.”

Right then, a howl swept through the woods but there was a grating feel to the cry as if the one responsible had asthma.

Instinctually, Alani squirmed into Henry’s embrace.

Henry narrowed his eyes. “Did that howl come from a wolf?”

“A Runic Wolf,” Alani answered. “Monsters exalted of Murux. They are extremely dangerous due to the variety of spells they are capable of casting. It is believed that not even decapitation is a sure way of killing it.”

A grin spread across Rayne’s face. “Sounds like fun.” She rose to her feet. “May I?”

Henry looked deep into Rayne’s eyes and pondered deeply for a moment before giving his permission. “You may,” he said. “But do not engage with the boy and his party. If they attack you first, return here immediately.”

“Understood, Master.” Rayne took a bow before dashing towards the sole light in this vast sea of darkness.

“Will this be alright?” Alani asked.

“We’re about to find out. I’ll be honest, I’m also quite curious about these… Runic Wolves. I’m interested in what kind of ability I will gain from consuming their Murux Heart.”

Suddenly, Alani felt guilty. She knew she was the reason Henry hadn’t already joined Rayne in the hunt. As much as she didn’t want to think about it, she was clearly deadweight. Everything would have progressed faster if she wasn’t here.

While Alani was drowned in her gloomy thoughts, a growl emanated from behind them.

“Impressive,” Henry mused. “I could barely feel it approaching.”

Although Alani had yet to lay eyes on the monster, its mere presence was already sending shivers down her spine. It made the reality all the more apparent. She did not belong here. She was only here by the grace of Henry. She was nothing without him. She—

“There there. Don’t get all gloomy on me now.”

A hand rested on her shoulder, the hand of her lover. Feeling his warmth, the negative thoughts dispersed as if a curse had been lifted. She felt weak. Her body turned soft. If it wasn’t for Henry, she would have collapsed to the ground.

“Everything is alright. You are right where you should be, by my side.”

Alani smiled upon hearing Henry’s words of reassurance. She took a deep breath before straightening herself. “I’m fine,” she said.

“Are you sure? You were just—”

“It’s normal. It is what everyone feels when they are in the presence of a being that towers over them in nearly every aspect. It’s one of the biggest causes for the demise of many hunters. They lost all hope in escaping or living when they faced a monster of unparalleled strength.”

“That’s… good to know.”

The growl turned into a roar and the Runic beast broke into a sprint.

Henry spun around and flung an Aura Blade at the Runic Wolf.

Much to his surprise, albeit only a small amount, a thin ethereal formed around the beast and the Aura Blade was deflected. The Runic Wolf continued to charge towards them.

Also, to his disappointment, the Runic Wolf didn’t look that different from a normal wolf. It was simply bigger, its fangs were longer, and there were runes running across its body. Aside from those three features, there was nothing superficially special about the Runic Wolf.

Henry gathered lightning at his fingertip until it became something akin to a blinding beacon. Once the point of convergence began to tremble, it started spinning in a spiral.

The Runic Wolf leapt at Henry once it was close enough.

At the same time, Henry shot the converged lightning at his fingertip.

The same barrier manifested around the Runic Wolf but this time, it failed to protect the Runic Wolf from harm. The spiralling lightning bolt pierced through the barrier and proceeded to tear right through the Runic beast’s head.

Henry shielded Alani from the splatter of the carcass as it hit the ground.

“That was annoying,” Henry grumbled and approached the carcass. He wasted no time in dissecting the Runic Wolf and dug out its Murux Heart, which is of a deep cerulean and it was quite round.

“Whoa…” Alani gasped. “I have never seen a core as big as that and it’s so… pretty.”

“It sure is pretty,” Henry said and popped the clump of Murux into his mouth.

Though it wasn’t Alani’s first time seeing Henry consuming a Murux Heart she sure as hell didn’t expect Henry to just eat it without much hesitation. After all, a Murux Heart of this size could sell for hundreds of gold.

Immediately after Henry had completely consumed the Murux Heart, a series of meaningful and intricate runes appeared on his skin. It resembled the tattoos he had in his true form but these ones appeared to be more organised and eloquent, not that he understood what these runes were indicating.

“...A core of that size can feed a family of four for two months…” Alani muttered regrettably.

Aside from the runes, Henry didn’t feel any changes or additions to his arsenal of abilities, which was quite a letdown.

Or was it?

More Runic Wolves approached them and they encircled the two as they did so.

Alani drew her swords, her eyes widened at the sudden appearance of so many Runic Wolves.

Henry looked at the Runic Wolves, not letting a single one out of his focus. As he prepared to lay waste on these monsters, a certain realisation dawned on him. An opportunity, so to say.