The young Altered Hunter almost fell over backwards as he recognised the Werewolf’s face. The beast had reverted into human form, revealing a teenage boy’s naked body filled with visible scratch and claw marks, injuries sustained from his against the other Werewolf.
‘What do I do now?’ The young Altered Hunter was in a panic. He had never expected to actually know the Altered he had been ready to kill. Just to check whether his mind was playing tricks on him, making him mistake the other’s identity just because of the green hair, he went to turn over his body one more time.
Due to the darkness, the Altered Hunter got closer to get a better view of the other’s face. However, just then the boy on the ground abruptly opened his eyes, his vision hazy and his body in pain. Everything felt weak and tired, but he suddenly found a familiar face in front of him.
“B-Blake!” Gary blurted out, still finding it hard to move. Touching his face, the Altered Hunter remembered that the other had destroyed his mask, the one item that was supposed to hide his identity.
‘He saw who I am! He knows I’m an Altered Hunter! I can’t let him go now! He’s an Altered in the first place so… I just need to get rid of him.’
Blake looked down to the short sword in his hand, yet he couldn’t find the strength to grip his hand around it. He had been ready to kill the Altered, but now he hesitated. It didn’t help that Gary was no longer attacking him, looking defenseless and confused.
‘I… I can’t… He’s my classmate. I have no idea how he became such an abomination, but I know that he helped me. He even took a hit for me from those Eton High thugs.’
“My head hurts like hell!” Gary said groggily, as he lifted up his body. Feeling a little chilly Gary soon noticed that he had no clothes on whatsoever, and he was slowly starting to realise that he was in the middle of an unfamiliar forest as well.
“Why am I here? What the hell happened? And why am I naked!” Gary bombarded the hesitating Blake with a barrage of questions, as he picked up the largest leaf he could see to hide his nether regions.
“Huh? You mean, you don’t remember? You don’t remember how you got here or what just happened?” Blake almost shouted, swinging his short sword about. Looking at the illegal weapon in his hand, Gary finally noticed the strange clothing his classmate wore, as well as the batons on his waist.
‘He looks pretty much like a younger version of that other guy… wait… no… how can that be?!’
It was then that Gary was starting to put the pieces together. The last thing he remembered before he woke up was the system notifying him about his transformation starting and then experiencing a type of torture that he never wanted to relive again. He could guess that his Werewolf self had headed for the woods…
“Wait, Blake, I don’t care who you are! What about Tom, is he okay? Did I hurt him? Did I hurt anybody else?” Gary asked, grabbing the other by the shoulder, letting the leaf fall down.
Blake could tell that the other was genuinely concerned but he didn’t understand what was happening to Gary. As an Altered, the other should have been in full control of his actions, even if this might have been his first full body transformation. It didn’t make sense for him not to remember anything.
‘That’s right, Tom was with those other guys… I have no clue where he is now, but I still need to decide what I need to do. Gary knows who I am and what I am, but he doesn’t seem to care… but I can really believe his word and let him go.’ The Altered Hunter hesitated.
“Tom and your other friends are just fine.” Blake answered. “At least they were when I last saw them.”
Gary let out a sigh of relief, although he wasn’t sure who ‘those other guys’ were. However, he had one sure-fire way to check where Tom was. At the moment, he was unable to see any of his Markings, so he needed to make sure and immediately opened up the system screen.
[10/120 Energy]
[You are unable to sustain your Werewolf form]
[While your Energy is extremely low, emergency/passive healing function is unavailable!]
[20/100 HP]
His stats were at the lowest Gary had ever seen them before, but he found it interesting that the reason for him reverting to a human seemed to have been him running out of Energy. If that was the case, then he might have just found a way to avoid turning during the next full moon. Of course, he would have to find a different way to deal with his bloodlust and it would mean his fighting capabilities would be severely limited.
[Mark 2/5]
‘Two out of five, that means…Tom and Gil are both still alive! I didn’t kill anyone! But why the hell am I here then? And how did I run into Blake?’ Now that Gary realised that his best friend was at least still alive, and he had managed to get through a turning, he looked towards Blake.
“Hey…come on Blake. I know we’re not the closest of people, but you have to understand… I’m not an Altered or at least not a regular one, so can you please let me go if I promise not to tell anyone? I mean we’re teammates, right? You remember, me and you did good together on the field today…”
The naked teenager was slowly stepping back at this point, trying to figure out where to run or even what direction to run. It was then, Blake put the short sword away as well and lifted up both hands.
“Gary…I’m not going to hurt you… I owe you for helping me out. It’s just my family-”
A loud howl interrupted him, and they both looked into the direction of where it had come from.
Blake couldn’t explain anymore, for he knew this wasn’t neither the time nor place for the two of them to talk.
“Gary, I don’t have time to explain, but you have to get out of here!”
The high schooler was inclined to agree but he didn’t know where to go. Heck, he still wasn’t sure where exactly he was. Looking around, Blake realised the other’s problem.
“It doesn’t matter, just run away from the noise! If the others find you, they won’t let you live!” Blake pointed in the opposite direction of where the wolf cry had come from.
Gary started running, picking up the leaf.
“Hey!” Gary said, turning around. “I won’t forget this, Blake. Your secret’s safe with me!”
Squeezing his hand tightly, Blake held his head down in disappointment. Not only had he failed in killing an Altered, he had even gone so far as to actively help it escape, missing his chance of getting closer to obtaining his first star, and becoming an official hunter.
If this ever got out…