The couple walked away from the scene maintaining a minimum of stealth. They walked for about three minutes before reaching a safe spot under a large willow tree easily as tall as fifteen meters. Zel sat down and rested his back against the tree's trunk before entering his Core as usual.
Inside, he found everything identical to before, except there was one more Core present, it was the wolf's. Curious to see what would happen when absorbing the Core of a creature much different from a human, he looked at his own soul and noticed that now, there was a black tail, the once pointy ears now had some fur and had increased in size. Additionally, there was some fur on his four limbs, and the red eyes felt as if they had inherited the night vision of wolves.
"That's much worse than I had expected… A goblin, a creature similar in shape to humans, only changed my ears a little after absorbing two of their Cores, but a wolf already modified so much after only one absorption. Not good, not good. A human dies because of their soul when their Internal Temple collapses. By seeing mine, I'm still far from that point, but there are already some cracks in the walls. If I had to do a rough estimate, I'd say I can only consume five more wolf Cores before dying, or maybe a dozen goblin Cores."
Zel inspected his Core and noticed that the damage to his soul, which was connected to the Internal Temple, had already become noticeable. "Now the only thing left to see is what I can do with a wolf's body."
He extended his arm and looked at his palm with a calm expression. Slowly, he imagined his arm becoming one with that of a wolf. During that period of time, fur emerged from his skin, quickly covering his entire arm in grey fur and adding sharp nails to his fingers. The process was painful, but he endured. After all, it was just pain.
"Oh? Unexpected…" He said. Thanks to this experiment, he found out that he wasn't simply replacing his body parts with those of a beast, but he was simply copying them. "My arm did not become the foreleg or the hind leg of a wolf. Instead, it simply became similar to that of a wolf… I still have only my elbow and wrist along with my thumb. This skill is more mysterious than I thought." He pondered, thinking of possible uses. "Compatibility? Is there such a thing?" He thought, realizing something important. "A wolf has four legs. From our point of view, it has no arms. I basically tried to transform my arm into a leg, so maybe that's why it was different from the original! Legs and arms obviously can't get along! Maybe, if I try modifying my legs…" Zel quickly focused and reverted his arm back to normal. Gritting his teeth, he forcefully turned both his legs into those of a wolf.
A great pain afflicted him, the lower half of his baggy pants ripped, his legs warped and his bones broke to allow the drastic change. He grabbed the soil with his hand, tightening his hands into fists for a few seconds that felt like a whole minute to him. When he opened his eyes, his face was full of sweat. He stood up, wiping his face with his sleeve, and noticed he was a few centimeters taller. Looking down at his legs, he noticed that his legs had turned into those of a wolf! "As I thought…" He paused, thinking of everything this meant. "With this pair of legs, combined together with my speed-enhancing skill, Strong Legs, my speed will not be limited by humanity's weak body! Our legs are inefficient at running, our feet spend most of the time in the air, and all of that time is precious since it could be used to go even faster! By changing my legs… I should be able to improve my maximum speed by at least fifty percent. If I had the forelegs of a wolf, it would increase further, but then I'd lose my thumb and therefore wouldn't be able to use my dagger. Without strong attacks, getting injured is too easy, I can't risk that. The legs alone are a qualitative change already."
Zel pondered for a minute, thinking of everything he could do with this kind of power. In the middle of that, his Core shared another piece of information he had apparently unlocked. "You have unlocked the prerequisite to activate Monstrous Evolution, Sets. From now on, you can create imaginary copies of yourself inside your Core and warp their bodies as you desire. In order to activate the ability, just think of its name with the intent to activate it and think of a specific set you've made. If the set doesn't exist, nothing will happen. Warning, depending on how different your body is from your original self, the more Core energy it will consume over time!"
Hearing this, Zel's eyes widened as his mind exploded with thoughts of all genres. His smile widened, almost reaching his eyes. "How foolish of me to think I could only have one mutation! To think I could be this blind… What a thrilling experience. Core Abilities are really no joke. All the fools that will receive their own Core Ability Orbs on the day of the final exam will be overwhelmed by such complexity. Sigh, my Core never said I could only use a beast at a time, why did I assume that? The human mind is truly pitiful. Leaving that aside though, this new information is extremely valuable. If I can create sets, which probably act as loadouts, that means I can create one for each situation I can encounter! But now I don't have the time to do everything, I'll just make a single set with the wolf legs and eyes and the goblin ears fused with those of the wolf. If I transform into this, I will be faster, see better now that it's night, and hear as if I were a wolf!" He laughed in hysteria and intent to try out his new power. "As for this set's name, it shall be called Fight Mode." Names did not have to be complex, even a simple yet boring name could work.
Returning to the real world after a few minutes, he stood up and reached Lira who was patiently waiting a few meters ahead. "Took longer than expected." He said, not apologizing since to both of them, an apology was just a whole bunch of words.
"I can see that. Let's go now, I want to kill the remaining two wolves."
"Yeah, let's hurry."
The two walked through the village's outskirts under the night sky, birds flew from one tree to the other in search of partners, but very few were successful.
"It's a shame small creatures have a special kind of Core that can't be absorbed… The Cores humans can consume generally come from anything the size of a cat or bigger. If only I could consume a hypothetical Core that belonged to a bird, perhaps I could grow wings and fly… Who knows… It would certainly be a new experience for me. Though I would not be the first to do it, there are countless famous Slayers who are able to fly. Although rare, it's not impossible." Zel pondered. "I can't even kill insects for their exoskeletons, what a shame."
Two minutes later, they reached their destination and hid behind a bush. "The wind is in a favorable direction, our odor is moving North while the wolves are in the South, we can ambush them without too many difficulties," Lira whispered, looking through the leaves, keeping track of the two beasts.
"We have the advantage, we should attack now," Zel suggested.
"I agree, let's go." She confirmed, slowly moving out of the bush and quietly nearby rocks to hide herself.
"Wait." Zel caught up to her and stopped her, grabbing her shoulder. She looked at him in confusion, but all he did was drag her back to the bush without explanation. "Look." He said, pointing at three small moving rectangles coming from their left.
She naturally looked and saw the three moving figures. Her eyes widened in surprise at seeing them and actually used Eagle's Eyes to inspect them more efficiently. "They are the girls from before, the ones you insulted." She reported.
The two looked at each other for a split second, their expressions cold and merciless. Thanks to their mutual understanding, they decided not to attack the wolves but wait where they were.
A few hundred meters away from the two of them, a trio was approaching the wolves. The wind was unfavorable to them and their scent had just reached the noses of the wolves due to the lack of attention to the environment. "Damn it, they spotted us." One of the girls said, worried.
"Come on, let's just kill them, it's only two wolves, we are three and have ranged attacks." The most experienced of them confidently said, boosting their morale. The two wolves, only a hundred meters away from the trio, growled as they stared at them intensely with great thirst for blood: But strangely enough, they didn't move.
"What's wrong with those wolves? Why are they not moving?" Lira blurted out. "Could it be that they are protecting some puppies?"
"It's a possibility, but it's also very unlikely. Usually, puppies are given birth close to the Death Line. If there's something holding them back, then perhaps they have a leader."
The three women decided to approach regardless of the strange behavior, a big mistake. Ever since they entered the Slayer Recruit Institute at thirteen years of age, everyone was told to engage in fighting only under normal circumstances and to never face the unknown. Wolves will always charge and attack at first sight, why were they staying still? This was abnormal behavior!
The group formed a triangle and quickly got in formation. The two at the front summoned their weapons, a sword and a glove with metal spikes, while the girl in the back was wielding a bow with over twenty arrows in the leather quiver on her back. They all approached quickly and once the archer was in range, she began to aim. Using a skill to enhance her sight, she pointed at the wolves, but she also saw a third beast hidden inside a small burrow in the earth. The hidden beast seemed to sense her and slowly moved outside the hole into the field.
It was much bigger than a wolf, its size was at least twice as much! It had bright yellow eyes and a mouth stained with old blood being proof of its countless battles, its fur had faint yellow dots all over and a few scars on its torso and head, and didn't give the idea of a weak monster.
"A Mutated Wolf… Fantastic." Zel said.
"They are pretty rare, this would be my first time fighting one, is there any chance you know how strong they are?"
"This is my first time seeing one as well. I don't know what they are capable of doing, but that's not a problem for us."
"Indeed. Let those girls fight and die. If we are lucky, they might take down a wolf or two. Either way, they will slightly tire the enemy regardless. If they end up winning somehow, we can just kill them and reap the benefits ourselves."
"Let's get closer in the meantime. If they flee, it will be towards the crater, if we can get between the two, it would be best."