Chapter 174: Night’s Hunt V
---
Sekhmet did not let the scene drift into chaos. Then he moved. Not rushed. Not dramatic. Just decisive.
He stepped to the fourth man. The one with the sack. The one who had been standing slightly back, pretending he was only "carrying goods" and not part of the cruelty.
Sekhmet grabbed the man by the collar and pulled him close.
The man’s eyes widened.
"Wait..."
Sekhmet’s fangs slid out. He bit to feed.
Warm blood hit his tongue. The man’s body jerked once, then softened as the bite stole more than blood. It stole will. It stole strength. It stole confidence.
Sekhmet drank with control.
Not too much. Enough to taste the blood. Enough to lower the man’s resistance so he could not run or scream.
Then Sekhmet pulled back. His eyes glowed faintly in the moonlight.
"Stop, otherwise they might die," he said.
Vera pulled away instantly, lips barely stained. Her posture snapped back into discipline as if she had never been hungry.
Vela pulled away instantly too, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, gaze still sharp and protective.
Bat Bat did not stop.
Bat Bat kept drinking like she had forgotten the concept of orders.
Sekhmet’s eyes narrowed.
"Bat Bat," he said.
Bat Bat made a happy sound and continued.
Sekhmet flicked his finger. A thin blood thread snapped lightly across Bat Bat’s cheek. Not to hurt. Just to remind her.
Bat Bat yelped and pulled back, offended.
"Master," Bat Bat whined, "Bat Bat almost finish."
Sekhmet stared at her.
"Control," he said.
Bat Bat puffed her cheeks, wiped her mouth dramatically like a warrior after battle, then nodded as if she had been in perfect control the whole time.
"Bat Bat controlled," she insisted.
Vela glanced at Bat Bat without moving her face.
"You drank like a bucket," Vela said calmly.
Bat Bat glared. "Twins are new," Bat Bat snapped. "Bat Bat is senior."
Vera’s lips twitched faintly.
Sekhmet’s tone sharpened.
"Enough," he said.
Silence fell.
Even Bat Bat obeyed that tone.
The four men were down now.
Not dead. But out of blood. Drinking more will kill them.
All four lay sprawled in the dirt, breathing shallowly, eyes rolled back, bodies limp. Blood loss and fear had turned them into sacks of meat.
Sekhmet’s gaze moved to the cage.
It sat on the ground where the man had dropped it earlier. It was not shaking anymore.
It was covered with a cloth, like someone had tried to hide what was inside from the world, or from their own conscience.
Sekhmet stepped closer and crouched. He lifted the cloth. And froze for half a heartbeat.
It was not a beast pup. It was not an animal at all. Inside the cage, curled into itself like a leaf trying to become smaller, was a tiny spirit.
Six inches tall.
Human-shaped.
Delicate limbs. Small hands. A face that looked almost like a child’s, except the skin had a faint greenish glow, like light filtered through forest leaves.
Its hair was messy and soft, dark like wet bark. Its eyes were huge and glassy with fear.
It looked up at Sekhmet. It did not scream. It did not attack. It simply stared at him, trembling so hard the cage rattled faintly.
Bat Bat gasped.
Bat Bat’s eyes widened so much her whole face became round.
"She is small. Bat Bat size," Bat Bat whispered, awed, like she had discovered a lost sibling species.
Vera leaned closer slightly, careful, controlled.
Vela’s posture shifted subtly, protective by instinct.
Sekhmet stared at the tiny spirit.
"What do I do with a spirit?"
He had expected something... He had expected beast. He had not expected... this.
He activated Blood Eye. His vision shifted, and information rose cleanly.
[Baby Forest Spirit.
Name: None
Overall Battle Power: 500
Status: Frightened
Emotional State: Confused / Desperate / Exhausted]
Sekhmet’s eyes narrowed.
Five hundred.
Weak.
So weak it should have been dead already if it had been treated badly for long. And yet it was here.
In a cage.
In the hands of men who sold living things like furniture.
Sekhmet’s thoughts tightened.
"Why would they capture a baby forest spirit?"
He was still staring at the information when the system rang inside his mind. Not a loud celebration. A sharp alert.
[System Note: Rare potential detected.
Evaluation: Baby Forest Spirit possesses uncommon growth path.
Recommendation: Preserve. Do not discard.]
Sekhmet went still for a moment.
Rare potential.
Uncommon growth path.
The system did not give those notes often. When it did, it usually meant the thing in front of him could become valuable later in a way most people would never predict.
Sekhmet looked at the spirit again. It was trembling. Too young to talk. Too young to negotiate. Too young to understand why its life had become a cage.
"I don’t want more responsibilities."
He reached in slowly.
The spirit flinched as if expecting pain.
Sekhmet did not grab it. He simply opened the cage door. He pulled the cloth aside and stepped back slightly, giving it space.
"Go," Sekhmet said quietly. "where you came from."
The baby spirit did not move. It stared at him. Its tiny hands clutched the bars, knuckles white despite being made of something that looked like light and leaf.
It was too frightened to trust freedom. Or too exhausted to run.
Bat Bat leaned in, eyes shining.
Bat Bat smiled. It was the kind of smile Elena would call dangerous.
"Hello," Bat Bat whispered.
The spirit blinked.
Bat Bat pointed at herself proudly.
"Bat Bat," she declared softly, as if introducing a noble title.
The spirit trembled again, but it did not recoil as much. Bat Bat was small. Bat Bat looked like it. Bat Bat was not a towering human size monster.
Bat Bat looked up at Sekhmet.
"Master," Bat Bat said urgently, "let’s keep it."
Sekhmet stared at her.
Bat Bat puffed her cheeks and continued her argument like a lawyer who had been paid in candy.