As Marcus finalized his deal with Ornn, he left the fe, leaving the fod to ihe bones of the va serpent.

  Seeing that the deal was secured, Marcus sent a mental and to Rok’ka, instrug the shaman to gather the small group that would be under Ornn’s tutege.

  With that done, Marcus decided to take some time for himself. He o hunt, to absorb more essend grow strohe trolls' s were det, but they were limited to what they could hunt themselves. Mareeded something more substantial.

  Thus, he flew eastward, toward nds his scouts had reported as warmer. The cold wind howled against him, but he barely felt it.

  'If I'm lucky, there might be a humalement,' he thought.

  Letting his mind wahe sery below blurred as he soared above the treetops. Then, movement caught his eye.

  A ripple passed through the snow-den forest, trees bending as something massive pushed through. His sharp gaze honed in on the beast—a fanged boar, easily twice the size of a troll, its tusks glowing with an eerie blue light as if carved from solid ice.

  'Looks simir to those illustrations I saw back then…' he mused before pushing the thought aside.

  The beast had yet to notice him. Marcus gathered mana into his hand, f a spear of densed energy. With precise aim, he hurled it toward the boar’s leg, intending to cripple it.

  The spear cut through the air with lethal speed—but just before impact, the boar moved, leaping from its spot in an instant.

  A thunderous explosion followed as the spear struck the ground, leaving a sm crater. Snow and dirt sprayed in all dires. The boar nded a short distance away, its eyes now locked onto Marcus, burning with raw fury.

  'Fast for something so big. Let's see how well you dodge this.'

  He jured more spears, ung them in rapid succession. The air whistled as the projectiles rained dowhe boar moved with unnatural agility, evading them with swift, calcuted steps. Some spears grazed its thick fur but were deflected by an invisible barrier that shimmered against the strikes.

  Frustrated, Marcus ged tactics, darting through the sky as he unleashed a relentless barrage. But the boar’s movements were almost predictive, its instincts razor-sharp.

  Then, the beast let out a deep, guttural roar.

  With a powerful leap, it shattered the grouh its hooves, ung itself straight at him.

  Marcus had been flying at a moderate altitude, yet he hadn’t expected su absurd jump from something so heavy. He adjusted his position to evade, but before he could act, the boar’s barrier erupted outward, sending shards of ifused mana in all dires.

  A few struck Marcus, pierg through his outer yer of prote. Paihrough him.

  “Argh!” he grunted, his flight faltering for a moment. He quickly stabilized himself, but the boar had already nded, shaking the grouh it.

  'Absurd,' he thought. 'Getting pushed back by a beast… embarrassing.'

  The trees around them groaned as the boar charged once more, knog them aside like mere twigs in its rampage. Marcus g his wings—thin yers of frost g to them, restrig movement.

  With a sigh, his form dissolved into mist just as the boar’s tusks would have gored him.

  The beast plowed through his dissipating figure, skidding to a stop as Marcus reappeared several paces away, a longsword now in his grasp.

  “If throwing doesn’t work, I’ll do it the old way.”

  Sensing the shift in battle, the boar snorted, pawing the ground in challehen, they both lunged.

  Marcus vanished into mist again, ref beside the beast with his sword already mid-swing. He struck at its side—but just like before, the invisible barrier dulled his attack. His bde barely left a scratch.

  Clig his tongue, he shed out with a wave of hardened feathers, aiming at its exposed fnk. Some struck, but most deflected harmlessly, boung off as though hitting stone.

  Relentless, he rushed in for arike, but this time the boar reared up and smmed its front hooves down. A shockwave erupted outward, sending snow and debris into the air. Marcus’s vision blurred for a fra of a sed.

  A sed was all the boar needed.

  By the time he ses charge, it was too te.

  Glowing tusks tore through his side, narrowly missing a fatal blow but sending him hurtling back. He barely mao stabilize himself before nding hard, sliding through the snow. A deep gash burned where the tusks had scraped him.

  As the boar rushed at him again, Marcus made his move.

  Reag within, he called upon the esseored within him. A torrent of blue fire surged forth—a fusion of the va serpent’s fme and the frost lizard’s chilling breath. The fmes struck the boar head-on, searing its face.

  The beast howled, thrashing in agony.

  Not wasting the opening, Marcus dashed in. His sword, now cloaked in the same blue fire, carved through the boar’s leg in a strike. The limb severed pletely, leaving the beast to colpse onto its side.

  But it still fought.

  Desperate, it swung its head wildly, tusks carving through the air in hopes of nding a hit. But it met only mist. Marcus reappeared on the opposite side, fire erupting in a trated strike against its fnk. The boar shrieked, flesh charring uhe supernatural fmes.

  The dance repeated—strike, vanish, burn. Again and again, until finally, the great beast fell still. With a heavy thud, its massive body hit the snow, steam rising from its wounds as the st light faded from its eyes.

  Marcus exhaled, watg the lifeless form before him.

  'Ued… I'll o reevaluate my fighting style. If a mere beast gave me this much trouble, future enemies will be far worse.'

  Extending a cwed hand, he absorbed the boar’s essence, along with its body, feeling the power weave into his own.

  Then, Marcus turned his focus inward, feeling the essence of the boar slowly merge with his being. Uhe smaller prey the trolls had offered him, this one carried real weight. Strength pulsed through his body, raw and untamed, filling every fiber of his muscles.

  This one must have lived through many battles… Good.

  His feathers shimmered as they shifted, the deep red glow of the serpent essenow tinged with an icy blue. A faint, almost imperceptible yer of energy coated his body—a protective shield, simir to the boar’s own natural defense. He flexed his cws but decided against testing its durability just yet. There would be better ces.

  Reag back, he plucked a feather from his wing. It was repced almost instantly, new growth fed by his mana. The feather felt strah incredibly light yet unnervingly solid, like a refined on in its ht.

  A thought struck him.

  Holding the feather between his fingers, he elled mana into it. The tip ignited in a glowing red ember, flickering with unstable energy. Turning his gaze toward a nearby tree stump, he took aim and flicked the feather forward.

  The moment it struck, there was a sharp thud—then a hiss. The wood bed and cracked as thin tendrils of smoke curled into the air. In an instant, the sm red glow spread like wildfire, dev the stump from within. The burning iion moved unnaturally fast, ing everything in its path.

  Within seds, all that remained ile of charred embers, crumbling into the snow.

  Marcus exhaled slowly, watg the st remnants of heat fade into the cold air.

  Iing… Very iing.

  But mere feather throwing wouldn’t be enough to survive what y ahead. He would need more—much more.

  With that thought, Marcus spread his wings wide, the air trembling with each powerful beat. He shot upward, slig through the sky like a silent predator. The cold wind rushed past him, but he barely noticed, his focus already shifting to the hunt.

  Tonight was far from over.

  -^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-^-

  A bloodcurdling war cry tore through the frozen air.

  “WAARGG!”

  A man a thick fur coat charged forward, his crude axe raised high, eyes burning with desperation. Behind him, his warband followed, ons gripped tightly in frostbitten hands as they stormed down the snowy slope toward their prey.

  For days, they had roamed these merciless nds, their stomachs empty and their bodies weary. The cold g their flesh, and their dwindling supplies left them on the edge of colpse. Then, fortune—or so they thought—smiled upon them. A kill, fresh and ripe for the taking. But before they could cim it, four trolls emerged from the storm, snatg it away as if the starving humans were nothing more than sging rats.

  The leader seethed with fury. They were warriors, not beggars! He gnced over his warband—twenty strong, hardened by hunger and desperation. Numbers were on their side. In his clouded mind, the pn was simple: surround the trolls, strike fast, and overwhelm them before they could react.

  What he failed to realize was that the trolls had already noticed them. The creatures had been aware from the moment the humans crept too close, yet they did nothing. They did not flee, nor did they prepare for battle. They merely watched, amused by the frail, two-legged intruders.

  Then the first arrow was loosed.

  A crude projectile, aimed at the most iive-looking troll. But before it could strike, the troll flicked a thick-fingered hand, swatting it aside like an annoying i. The arrow dropped harmlessly into the snow.

  The humans charged.

  Yelling, r, their feet pounded against the ice, closing in to encircle the trolls. Their ons—boipped spears, sharpeones, rusted bdes—glinted weakly uhe overcast sky.

  The trolls moved.

  Leading them was a young shaman, a sinister smirk tugging at his lips. He raised his bone-carved staff with effortless grace, drawing mana from the frozen air. A siion, and a jagged shard of ied, whistling through the air before impaling the humahrough the chest. A gasp. A sputter of blood. A body colpsing into the snow.

  The battle had begun.

  The other trolls, massive and imposing, hefted their ons—clublike arms, thick spears, serrated tooth-bdes. They moved with frightening precision, far faster and deadlier than the ragged warband had expected. Each swing crushed, each stab pierced, each strike felled another man.

  Panic set in.

  The human leader watched in horror as his warriors fell one by oheir crude ons barely scratched the trolls' thick hides before they were torn apart iurn. The snow, once pristine and untouched, turned dark with steaming blood.

  What was supposed to be an easy victory became a massacre.

  Five mihat was all it took.

  Now, he stood alone, panting, his arms trembling from exhaustion and terror. Around him, the corpses of his men y twisted and broken. The trolls loomed over him, their cold, amused eyes studying their final prey.

  The young shaman muttered something in his guttural tohen, with a casual swing of his staff, he struck the human leader’s skull.

  Darkness swallowed him whole.