Surviving the Onslaught of the Pack

Alex quickly fled the scene while the angry howls of the Poison Fang Hyena gathered it's other companions.

Once again, Alex found a place to hide among the trees, hiding his presence in order to find the right chance to flee.

Although the forest may be filled with more dangerous creatures, it was not certain that he would encounter them, but if he remained hidden here, he would certainly get discovered by the hyenas sooner or later.

Alex was waiting for the opportune moment when another lone hyena discovered him.

Alex quickly took action and cast a fireball using the reverse mana flow of the hyena.

A blue coloured fireball hit the creature's jaw followed by a slash of wind blade.

The jaw of the creature was cut down and began to bleed. Alex quickly distanced himself and cast another series of wind blade projectiles before disappearing into the thickets.

Similar incidents were happening all over the region. Alex would suddenly appear before a hyena, launch a sneak attack and then vanish into the forest.

By the time the Hyenas realized what was happening, six of them were already severely hurt by Alex.

The pack leader of the hyenas was thoroughly infuriated. It gave a loud howl which was followed by the howls of other hyenas.

The hyenas began co-ordinating their movements and began to form an encirclement.

Alex also quickly noticed this.

"Area scan." Alex cast another spell.

[Spell name : Area Scan]

[Type : scouting0

[Effect: release a faint mana pulse which spreads in a circular area of 100 meter radius with the user at the centre to detect any mana activity in that region.]

[Mana usage: 30 per use.]

[cost : 1 skill point.]

Alex scouted the locations of all the hyenas and began to move in the direction with the least density of hyenas.

He had to get out of their encirclement because his MP was getting low.

'I can't continue like this. I didn't think that I would've encountered the most common problem of magical novels so fast.'

Alex cast another spell and covered his tracks.

[Spell name: conceal]

[Spell type : concealment]

[effect: conceals the users presence, smell and sound created for 10 seconds. ]

[Mana usage : 10]

[cost : 1 skill point]

If Alex didn't appear in front of those Poison Fang Hyenas, they would never be able to find him.

Although all these spells were also available as skills, Alex chose to learn spells because he hadn't chosen a class yet, so if he didn't choose a class that was in line with his skills, they would be struck at the same low level.

Alex broke free of the encirclement and began to move in the forest. He decided to move in the direction which Verenia was taking him.

But, he had barely moved some distance when he was stopped by another group of Poison fang Hyenas.

This group was led by a hyena which was nearly twice the size of previous ones and also others in this group were a bit larger than those of previous group.

Realization finally came to Alex. Those hyenas that he encountered first were most likely the newly awakened cubs who were brought here by these adult hyenas to learn hunting in groups.

The high number of small animals without any mana core had attracted these mana beasts and was also a good opportunity for them to train the newly awakened ones.

The adult Hyenas look at Alex in silence for a few seconds before attacking with corrosive spikes.

This attack was much better than that of the previous group both in accuracy and speed. Alex barely dodged this attack before the same one rushed at him with a poison scratch.

The leader of the pack howled and gathered the other group nearby.

This time, there were more than forty Hyenas that had surrounded Alex both on the front and rear.

Out of options, Alex charged towards the group of the young hyenas because he knew that attacking the adults would only lead to an early demise, not to mention that the adult hyena was level 32 which was well beyond his reach. His attack wouldn't even create an itch to it.

Seeing Alex charge towards them, the young hyenas launched a myriad of attacks all directed at him, but there was a lack of coordination which provided Alex with a small window of opportunity.

Alex took advantage of this and quickly broke through their formation by increasing his speed. When he was still amidst them, another wave of corrosive spikes arrived.

Alex tried to evade them,but many still hit him.

Alex had expected a great deal of pain, and it truly was. But an unexpected system notification popped up.

[You have been attacked by corrosive spikes.

Corrosion has been negated by the special constitution of the host.]

'Does this mean that I won't be affected by any corrosive attacks?' Alex asked the system.

[The host is immune to any corrosive attacks which are below level 3.]

The reply of the system was like a ray of hope for Alex. He only had to prevent the hyenas from getting close and his chances of survival would increase.

I hope that I can find a way out of this mess soon, otherwise even if I am immune to corrosion, my HP will definitely be drained little by little until I die just by the impact of those spikes.

So, a series of events where the Poison fang Hyenas would attack Alex with corrosive spikes after small intervals, and he would dodge them while running began repeating itself from time to time. Alex, who was fleeing, would occasionally use speed enhancement to maintain some distance between him and the pursuers.

Alex also occasionally launched fireballs and wind blades of reverse mana on the Hyenas in order to keep them from getting too close to him.

This continued until Alex reached the opposite end of the region created by Verenia.

Upon reaching there, suddenly the leader of the hyenas gave out a shrill cry, turned back and began running as fast as it could, whereas the others stood there petrified.

Alex felt that something was amiss when he saw the entire pack of hyenas that was chasing him ferociously just a few seconds ago, suddenly standing frozen while shaking as if they had met death itself.

Alex also halted his steps.

'Something about this doesn't feel right. Even if it was the territory of some stronger mana beast, the reactions of these Hyenas shouldn't be this exaggerated. I can't continue to move in this direction. ' Alex had merely thought of this when suddenly all the Hyenas began to run away with their tails between their legs.

Alex was also aware that he couldn't stay at this place any longer, so he also turned back and began running away.

Using speed enhancement, Alex was able to get ahead of some of those hyenas, but they were too busy running for their own lives to care about him.

Suddenly, a spark of light spread out from the clouds and began to slowly illuminate the entire forest.

Alex's heart grew cold at this. The phenomenon happening in the sky was something he had read in one of the manuals. It was a beast domain.

When a mana beast reached tier seven, the mana around them would begin to condense to physical form under their aura and lead to the formation of their beast domain.

The situation had turned from bad to worse.

Suddenly, a bone crushing pressure descended from the sky and all the things in a large area around Alex came to a standstill.

Alex couldn't even move a muscle of his body.

All the creatures present in a radius of a few miles were also the same.

Alex saw all the hyenas standing frozen at their places. He knew that he had a chance to survive those hyenas even if it was very slim, but now he had zero chances. Even if he wasn't the target of the tier seven beast, it was certain that he wouldn't be able to survive the pressure of it's aura any longer.

He had gotten a chance to look at the domain once and the system appraisal had given him a very scary set of data.

[Name:?????]

[Race:?????? (mana beast)]

[Level: 300 (340)]

[strength:?????]

[agility:?????]

[endurance: 8,900,000]

...

...

...

Even the lowest stat of this beast was nearly nine million. Alex was sure that if he tried to look back at the beast directly, he would be obliterated by the mere pressure.

While he was wishing that the beast finished its business quickly and moved away, a sudden feeling of comfort rose in his body. All the hyenas in front of him were also freed and began running without even looking back.

Alex was also able to move freely. For a moment he thought that the beast had left, but he could still see a white light around himself.

He turned around and saw a silhouette standing between him and the light source. Looking at the light source still gave him a sense of oppression, and he subconsciously turned away from it.

'Scree.....ch' a sound of screeching which could easily shatter his eardrums gently passed by him without even a slight irritation.

"You know that this child should not exist. Something like this goes against the nature of this world, yet you want me to look after it?" A gentle voice that Alex had gotten used to in the past two days spread through the entire forest.

"Screeee....ch!" another sound was made. This time, Alex could feel a sense of pain and hopelessness in the screech.

This was followed by Verenia sighing," You do know that I won't actively interfere in any such matters, right?"

"Scree....c...h!" The voice this time was even more shallow and was tottering at the end.

"Sigh! Alright, give it to me."

After Verenia uttered these words, the pressure receded from the surroundings and the light also began fading away.

Alex turned back and was surprised that the level of the beast with the domain had already fallen to 200.

Before he could even take a look, it completely vanished.

"Didn't I tell you never to roam out of the domain I created yesterday? Just look at yourself. What mess have you gotten into this time Alex?" Verenia turned back to face Alex and asked.

Alex was sure that if it had been someone else, even an acquaintance would have irritated him when asking this question, but when Verenia asked it, he felt a sense of motherly affection.

'I wonder if this is due to very high charisma or because of the pure and calm aura that she emits.' Alex thought to himself while another question came to his mind.

Whenever he tried to think about Verenia's identity, Alex could feel a strange fluctuation around himself before he would forget all about it. It was just that a system notification about his memories being altered appeared each time which served as a proof to him, otherwise he wouldn't even remember.

"Verenia, I have been meaning to ask you this for some time but it always slips my mind, Are you a forest spirit or dryad?" Alex asked hastily as he sensed the strange fluctuation nearing him.

For a moment, Alex could see a look of surprise on Verenia's face before being replaced by a smirk and finally an energetic smile.