The mysterious person entered Damian's room, placed a flask with a green liquid on his bedside table, and left. All done without making much noise or leaving any tracks. Damian could tell the person knew what they were doing.
'But why are they trying to frame me? What did I do?' Damian wondered.
He had recently arrived in the castle, and had barely done anything other than walk around, eat, and sleep. Of course, he had explored the locked doors which he shouldn't have, but no one knew about that.
Damian was not fond of the idea of having a flask with poison inside his room, so he put it inside his Spatial Ring, and would discard it later before it brought him trouble.
After that, Damian returned to doing the thing he was doing before someone invaded his room: sleeping. He needed to get well-rested for the guard test the next day, which would surely be somewhat difficult, but nothing Damian was worried about.
"Is everyone here?" Miller said, gazing at the many people in the throne room.
Among those people were young men and women, but most of them were middle-aged, with the exception of a few elderly. Those were the ones trying to get their hands on a nice job as a guard, like Damian, who was not there!
The throne room door swung open as a man passed through it, gasping for air.
"I am sorry for the delay," Damian said.
Damian looked around and most people there had weird gazes, as if they were looking at a clown.
Some even whispered, "He cannot arrive on time and thinks he can get this job? What a joke."
"Silence," Miller said.
No one said a word after that.
"As I was saying," Miller said, looking at everyone present, "a guard here in this castle must know a little of everything. You must know how to fight, how to track, how to hide during the night, and so on.
"For that reason, your task is to hunt down a Night Shade Wolf, and bring it here. The first six will pass to the next stage."
The people present started to whisper again. A Night Shade Wolf was not a weak creature, and hunting one alone was difficult! Damian was the only one who was not concerned about it.
He raised his hand. Speaking without permission would not make him look good, so he waited until Miller allowed him.
"You can speak," Miller said, pointing at Damian.
"Is it starting now? Can I go?"
"Yes, you can. Go on," Miller said.
While everyone was panicking about having to hunt a Night Shade Wolf, Damian already left the room, quickly passing by the library before leaving.
'Night Shade Wolf… Night Shade Wolf… Found it!'
Damian grabbed a book that had information about the beasts in the nearby area, and that also included the Night Shade Wolf. Perhaps the other participants knew more about the creature, but Damian did not live in the area, so he was clueless about it.
After that, he left the castle. Lucas, someone he did not see recently, appeared near the gate, stopping him.
"Damian! Good luck in your test!" Lucas said.
Lucas was doing a special training with Natasha, as she was the one responsible for it, but that would soon end because she was leaving.
"How's training going? Is Natasha a good teacher?" Damian asked.
"Honestly, she is acting strange lately. We can talk about it later! You can't lose time."
Damian was curious about Natasha, but completing the test to get the guard job was more important at that moment.
"Alright. We can talk after I finish this. Maybe tonight or tomorrow morning?" Damian said.
"That fast? You know it is not easy to catch a Night Shade Wolf. Yes, I overheard the test."
"I have my ways," Damian said, leaving the castle through the front gate.
The others who were taking the test were leaving as well, and some even left before Damian—he lost some time to get the book in the library.
A Night Shade Wolf was different from other wolf beasts. It did not live in a pack but alone! But that made it even more dangerous than a pack!
According to the book Damian had, a Night Shade Wolf could turn invisible, and its stealth abilities were key to its sneak attacks, killing a victim before it could see it coming!
That skill coupled with the fact that the wolf hunted alone turned it into a dangerous enemy. That's why most of the guards were scared after hearing what beast they had to hunt.
Damian left the castle and went to the nearby woods. The book he grabbed in the library had some information about the wolf, and apparently it lived in the trees!
The thought of having an invisible beast above his head made Damian uneasy, but like them, he could turn invisible as well!
'Using my abilities here… Could someone see me?'
He was not the only one in that forest, and using his abilities carelessly may attract unwanted attention, and that was not something Damian looked for, but would if that was the only way for him to hunt the beast in time.
'I should first look for some tracks.'
Damian would not look on the ground but at the trees! The forest had massive trees, and the Night Shade Wolf not only slept in the trees, but also used them to walk around!
Looking for footprints in the snow was impossible! The wolf knew very well how to cover its tracks—in the few moments it walked on the snow.
With his superior strength and agility, Damian jumped, reaching the higher part of a tree. If the wolf could do it, he could as well!
Damian scanned the area, looking at the tree branches, the leaves, and any part of the tree that might indicate something was there, but he found nothing.
'Let's jump to the next tree.'
And just like that, Damian jumped from tree to tree, looking for the Night Shade Wolf's track.
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