Spirit Taming

Chapter 421: Rough Feelings

The sudden downshift in energy was enough to make some fo the group unsettled. Grace, Reese, and Isa were clearly a little off. It wasn't that Isa was not prepared to kill anyone, but she knew exactly the danger and fear that those who had been ambushed by bandits would feel.

Being a merchant, Isa was able to meet many people who had escaped with their lives because of bandits trying to rob them. Seeing that there were three carriages here just proved that people had died because of the scum they had just worked to kill in self defense. It was tragic and Isa felt for the loss of lives because of them.

This was different for Reese and Grace. These weren't monsters like the blood moon cult members that pretended to be students in the tournament. They weren't so far gone that these people were becoming monsters. Reese had rationalized his actions because he was able to fight them as monsters. He dehumanized them easily. That was very similar to how Grace thought of it.

This made the current encounter their first time fighting people that were more human in a way. People that had chosen willingly to become cruel and kill others. It was very awakening but also very sad. Not that Grace or Reese were completely upset over it in a way that said they would not have joined their positions to defend themselves. This was for their survival.

The very same could be said with how they had to act at nova academy.

Unfortunately for both of them, they had seen that the academy had rich and snobby people. They would look at killing the two of them as if it was nothing. Therefore, the academy had also been surviving. This account was just a real moment of survival in the wilderness when the robbers could care less who or what people were.

These were just younger tamers that could give them some valuables that they could sell illegally. Nothing more.

"We need to get moving. If you need a guard, stand in the middle. But we have to push through the forest the right way. Ella and Maria just found the place we went off trail. We will erase the markings as we leave so that there won't be anyone that falls for this. It seems that this trap was a new trap set up for the last day or so.

Ella's brother should be safe and sound." Clark covered his bases while he grabbed everyone else to get moving again.

Professor Wright had handled everything else. Her beast had left to handle everything that needed to be handled such as the communication with the Nebula guards and any other matters that could come up. It was good that she was watching toon since the man she had captured would have been the strongest one they would have to face.

She had also been sure to make them all feel they had done the right thing. They had done their best to survive.

"How much does this put us off?" Brad asked the simple question that they were all thinking. Ella had turned her head when she heard it and frowned slightly.

"We will need to run for at least four hours in the darkness if we want to catch up in the same amount of time that it would have taken before." This sounded bad. Even an hour in the darkness of a wilderness was dangerous. But a frozen forest that would get colder in the night and would also be filled with new beats that were set to hunt at night.

It wasn't just the temperature that scared them. They all knew that moving anywhere at night was an entirely new event for any tamer. There were rarely nighttime survival classes in Nova academy until the tamers were older because of the radically increased dangers. These dangers were beasts that had the best qualities to hunt in their environment at night.

The dark and the cold would be the home turf of the beasts that came to hunt in the frozen forest at night.

Clark knew all of this. It was forefront in his mind as he looked at Isa. "Do you think your winter witch can handle coming to work with us while we move tonight?" The reason he focused on Isa was simple, the winter witch was the best counter to the cold of the night while it would also deter the weaker ice type beasts naturally. It was a winter witch, not an ice maiden.

"I think we can manage. She has been mostly sleeping since her body is not what she understands yet." Isa was clearly a little worried but knew that if she let her partner out in to the cold of the night, she could allow the two of them time to bond more. Along with the added bonus of gaining more ice type energy.

This would help the settling of energy and the understanding of what might be needed to help her partner grow further.

Just because a beast was unsure of what it was going to be like after a sudden growth did not mean there had to be a lot of worry. It just meant that there would need to be time to settle things. The strength that would come from understanding the growth that took place would be immense in comparison.

But without this time to slowly reach the understanding of a new bodily change, it would be the same as throwing a tantrum. It was why some hot headed tamers and their beasts in richer families were known for going out of control. They would never stop letting their beats grow so there was never a chance to be able to understand the strength they had.

This was often known as mad beasts. Beasts that had no idea of their strength and had absolutely no control of their own emotions. An annoying thing for guards to deal with. But just as Clark's family had been victims of such a thing, many others had. But if there was a powerful figure behind them they would get away with it.

These thoughts hit Clark a little harder than he wanted but managed to shrug it off. "We are heading out then. When the sun starts to set, allow your winter witch to take the lead. For now, Ralph, you will charge ahead for some time. When things get colder, let your partner rest. Brad, you should have a little more energy back.

I want your steel shield out to hold the back. The battle left the smell of blood in the air. We will have some beasts coming to look for scraps."

As much as they all wanted to keep their schedule on track, Clark was right. They would be held back even more than four hours if they did not maintain their pace and safety. Especially since it was clear that they would have other beasts coming to cause issues. They don't need professor Wright staying as their protector unless it was a powerful beast. They had to deal with the weak ones.

"You say that like we don't already have a few coming to look at us. There is a white bobcat right there." Jerold pointed out the odd shape in the snow and Clark tossed the black throwing needles at it. Jerold had spotted it first which was very impressive.

"Good eyes, I didn't see it right away." The piercing needles disappeared and reappeared in Clark's hands. The needles still proved to be an ideal buy for him since the runes attacked them right back to him. It was extremely valuable lately since he had been limited in his battle space or he had been facing weaker beasts that his spear wasn't needed on.

The white bobcat had not seen the needles coming and had been pierced in the neck easily. Jerold was just as impressed with how Clark had not hesitated at all. Instead, he had somehow acted in the moment that Jerold had warned him. It was just more evidence of how Clark's mind had been enhanced by the potion and the trial he had gone through in his dreams.

Without wasting any time, Isa stored the body of the white bobcat away while looking at Clark. She was just as amazed by his swift actions as hse was by how Jerold had been the only one to notice that a white bobcat was stalking them while waiting for more of its group. An intimidating feeling hit her since she felt that she was weaker than the two in these respects.

It was a push for her to get stronger as well. She just had to help her partner get closer to the strength she already had as a powerful ice type beast.

"We should leave now. We can handle the little beasts as they come. We did not gain much blood or any other scents on our bodies. But we can use some things to deter following us." Ella was sure that they had other things they could use to deter beasts for now. She also wanted to maintain their schedule. Time was of the essence.