Chương 33: Complications

The next several minutes was a rush to gather his things and move to a spot where he could see what was attacking the sniff hogs. Climbing into a tree not far from where he left them and hopping branch to branch until he was close enough, Blick froze when he saw the two dog looking beasts. Black fur that stood on end, long thin legs built for straight line sprints, tall but thin, diamond shaped head with ears from the top. These things looked like tall starved dogs. And they were strong.

Each was carrying an entire sniff hog in its jaws and trotting easily away from the creek. Another hog had been butchered by the creek. So they were fast enough to get the jump on three creatures almost their size and take out one before chasing down two more. Blick could easily see himself taking down a couple of the sniff hogs with surprise on his side, but these black hounds didn't seem injured in the slightest. Either they were too sneaky or just too fast for the hogs to react to.

With how dark their fur was and being a well lit day he assumed it was the latter. Ok so those things hunt here, he thought to himself. So far, both directions he had explored from his tree home lead to a predator's territory. That made sense when he remembered his early years. He would just keep searching and hopefully he didn't get found by something stronger than himself. It took three whole days before he saw another predator.

He had seen some birds, a fat ground animal with what looked like armored plates on its back, and even some small nesting furry things in the trees. The longer he sat still in a new area the more small wildlife he found. The only thing notable was how absolutely silent everything was. There was a lot of life here. It was just better at hiding than the last forest he hunted in. His mistake was always looking down as he roamed the canopy. He hadn't seen the bird at all.

One minute he was jumping across a gap in the trees and the next he was hanging by his cloak. The fabric grabbed around his short neck and he reached up fast to remove the pressure. Looking up he saw the belly of a massive brown bird. Three talons on two feet had his cloak hooked. It lifted him too high too fast and he wasn't going to risk the drop. With a reinforced pull the bird shifted to the side as he threw himself up to latch onto the birds claw. Smiling to himself he said "Now who has who?"

Feeling his climbing the bird turned its sharp beak his way and tried to bite him mid flight. Knowing the thing only had the talons and beak to use left Blick with options. When it reached its head down to eviscerate him, Blick reached out and stuck his claws into the side of its neck and pulled. He had spent so much time throwing himself from tree to tree he had gotten use to the reinforcement needed, and did so by habit now. They tumbled end over end a few times as Blick used the bird as a climbing wall.

Its flesh gave easily to his reinforced grip and he wasted no time climbing on its back. The bird barely corrected its flight before they crashed into the trees and it flapped several times to slow its fall once it was upright again. It spun and twisted, flipping over several times. Blick was locked in. Clawed hands latched onto the part where the wings connected, and feet dug into its side. He had the bird in the tightest bear hug he could manage while it thrashed in the sky. Blick was growing irritated.

His cloak was ripped to shreds, his blueberries had been lost to the wind when he went upside down, the leave sac he had on his thigh was slashed and almost all the meat had been lost. And this damn bird wouldn't stop doing barrel rolls. Lashing out in anger he balled his fist and punched the giant bird in the back of the head. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. Hollow bones made a crunch and Blick growled out loud in frustration.

One hit to the head had knocked out the only thing keeping him airborn. They were crashing fast. Grabbing each wing with an outstretched hand he pulled them up into a very impromptu lift that just barely broke the straight drop before they smashed into the tree below. Branch after branch crashed into Blick as he reached out trying to grab anything he could. He was on top of the mangled bird when they came to a stop and he knew that was all that saved him. The bird was twisted. His arm was twisted.

He had a branch sticking out of his thigh and through the bird as well. The damn bird didn't even twitch. Untying his cloak and extra items he untangled himself from the mess and with a growl and tears in his eyes he ripped his leg free of the branch pinning him down. That's when he heard the padded feet. Despite the pain from his arm and leg he threw himself too the side. Just in time as the large black ball of fur flew past with a snarl. He hit the ground hard and rolled to a stop several feet from the bird.

The two black animals circled around to stand between Blick and the bird. They were making a statement. This was their food. Blick was in no shape to argue the point either. Animals didn't kill for no reason. There was a large fresh kill right there and he wasn't even a third of its size. Having lost nearly all his supplies in the slight he growled deep in his furry grey chest and stepped back with a hobble. The fight was about pride. He didn't need to die for meat. He had nothing to prove to himself.

The fact they didn't push after the failed sneak attack was proof to him that these two considered him a threat also. He wasn't prey. He could find more food, make another cloak, and mend his injuries. Blick stepped back again and again putting distance between them. Not turning his back to the fast animals he continued backing up until they turned and started in on the bird. He didn't immediately walk back to his tree home. Blick found a fairly large tree nearby and made a difficult one armed climb up it.

Resting on a thick branch he assessed his arm. The bone was clearly crooked. This was beyond what he had knowledge of. Closing a hole was one thing. Bringing two jagged bits together without being able to see them, and planning for the stuff in between that got chewed up. It was so much more complex. He knew mana could fix it. But how much would it take. Too much is how much. He trembled with the pain and the exhaustion from just an attempt. It wasn't even close. This wasn't going to work.

At least not without several days of effort. And he had to eat and drink something during that time. Two solutions came to mind right away. He could strap his injured arm to his body so it didn't flail around. It could buy him some time to slowly work on healing it. That week or more of being injured may be too big a risk. The other option he had in mind was condensing another drop and that would maybe double the speed he could heal it at. Cutting a week into a few days.

It just was frustrating because his daily circulation still hurt quite bad. If he gained another drop would he even be able to use his technique? From what he could understand it had nearly doubled the speed he could force his meridians open. And that was his main priority at the moment with his cultivation. Cultivation wouldn't matter if he was dead though.