Knowing that there might be beasts behind us, or at least that there were beasts out there, baying for somebody’s blood after we killed a few of their number, was enough to motivate us to leave with haste. It wasn’t that the Gravehounds were dangerous in open combat, but their ability to avoid attacks and who knew what else by partially phasing into the shadows made them far more dangerous than their level suggested. It was a similar ability I had used back on Mundus to kill enemies dozens of levels above me, sneaking into their dwelling and striking in the dead of night. I had no desire to see that ability used against me or mine and all my current protections focused on securing entry points, something that didn’t work against an enemy able to simply phase through the wall. And I had no reason to believe they couldn’t do so, not after watching one phase through an attack of mine, or Lia’s blade.

Given how late, or rather early, it already was, we still decided to move back to the cave I dug, to wait out the day there. Judging by their abilities, I doubted the Gravehounds would be able to move during the day, needing similar shelter as we did, or maybe they turned into normal hounds during the day, I wasn’t sure. Either way, if we managed to get back to our shelter, I doubted they’d be able to attack us for now.

As we ran, I occasionally moved back into the shadows for a few steps, making sure that nothing was sneaking up on us. Once, during those moments, I heard another howl behind us, but couldn’t tell if something was chasing us or if they simply protected their territory. Either way, it cemented my decision that I had no desire to tangle with incredibly stealthy pack creatures that I knew little about, and certainly not on their terrain. It was one thing to hunt enemies that you could see coming, it was an entirely different beast to go up against something that could realistically surprise you and tear out your throat before you really knew what was going on. After all, I was the poster child for sneaking up on enemies and killing them before they knew what was going on, I had no desire to have my own tactics used against me, no thanks.

Though a part of me was fairly curious about what the strange sensation had been and I had plans to carefully investigate the corpse I had pulled from the shadows and put on Silva’s back, hopefully it would, well, shed some light on these shadowy hounds. Or at least give me something to start with, once I had a better idea about their capabilities I was far more inclined to challenge and study them. Hel, I might even try going after them in the shadows by myself, if that would allow me to circumvent their biggest advantage. From what I had seen thus far, they were hyperfocused creatures, incredibly good at stealth and avoidance but not terribly strong offensively and easily dispatched if you could get a solid hit on them. Amusingly, it was fairly similar to my own skillset, only that I had far better offence, partially thanks to my level, partially because it was my focus, as opposed to their avoidance. Something I would have to change at some point, or I might find myself in a bad spot.

Yeah, perfecting how to shadow-step and how to dodge into the shadows as these hounds had done sounded like something I should prioritise, even above improving my offensive capabilities. As the old maxim went, dead DPS don’t DPS.

Luckily, nothing happened on our way to the cave and we all moved in, after another glance out over the water. There were a few more of the strange will-o-wisps floating around, but all of them were on the other side of the lake, or somewhere near its middle. Once again, I started to wonder just what was going on here, but realistically, I wasn’t sure I could figure this one out. The water was such an incredibly potent deterrent, thanks to the tiny algae, and I had no desire to experience what they might do to my body.

It was enough that the animals were drinking it, either lacking in self-preservation or knowing something I did not. Or maybe both.

Either way, it was something we could tell the people at the farm about, maybe Kevin was interested in investigating this, or maybe not. For now, I had something else to check out, namely that weird corpse we had brought back.

Out of respect for my companions, I used the cave I had set up my throne in to dissect the corpse, though Lia happily stuck with me, just as Alex did. So, it was only Luna who was sent to bed, with Silva following her, acting as a neat combination of teddy bear and guard dog. If anything tried to attack my munchkin during the day, Silva would happily deal with it, even if the attacker came through the walls.

Now, having the time to calmly check out the body I had recovered, I realised just how weird that thing was. It wasn’t an animal, that much I could say for certain, it was utterly unnatural. The limbs of the hound were limber and stretched far beyond the stilts of a greyhound, looking almost more like needles the further from the main body you got, similar to the way shadows narrowed and stretched. To see such an effect in a creature was incredibly strange, but even stranger was the way the thing was dissolving. I only realised it now, but looking closely, I could see that it was fading away, somewhat similar to the way something I conjured faded back into the Astral River.

Sadly, I had no idea what that might mean in this particular instance, only that these things were far different from anything I had ever encountered, something that was only confirmed when I started to dissect it.

First, the thing was almost uniformly made from the same dark and tarry substance, without any visible texture. Touching it felt somewhat oily and a little uncomfortable, to the point that I used Darkness Magic to vanish it, something that was incredibly easy. Almost as if the Darkness wanted to destroy these creatures, or maybe just their bodies. Either way, it was something I could test out at some point, but not now.

Instead, I continued to carefully take the thing apart, only to get confirmation of what I already knew. The thing was weird, incredibly so. There was nothing to it that I could really identify, some parts of it were a different black than others, and some had a slightly different texture but all in all, it was just weird.

No organs, not even sensory ones that I could identify, no brain, no circulatory, respiratory or even nervous system I could find, the closest comparison I could come up with were the scrying constructs I had employed before. But those didn’t register as living creatures to the system, at least to the best of my knowledge, making me wonder what these things were. And where they came from, how I could tame them or at least use them.

They might be some sort of shadow-elemental, similar to the Ice-creatures I had seen on Mundus or the strange forest sprites, maybe even somewhat related to Nethersprites, I wasn’t sure. But in any way, they weren’t classically magical, in the sense that they used Astral Power, making me wonder what they used.

Thinking that the source of their powers might be the best thing to investigate, I decided to plop myself down before the slab of Ice I had placed the creature on and tried to do just that. Figure out where the power came from, or in this case, figure out where the remains went. If this process was similar to the way magically conjured things faded into the Astral River, I might be able to follow the fading here and track it to its source. I just had to be incredibly careful that I wasn’t pulled along, I had no desire to get a close look at whatever had spawned these creatures. Not until I knew more, especially a comfortable way to kill them.

Realising just how useless my magical senses were, I tried something else, conjuring a mask of shadows to cover half of my face and trying to shift that half into the shadows while the rest of me remained outside.

It took a while to make the trick work, I might not even have attempted to do so if I hadn’t seen the hounds do something similar, but I managed. And managing gave me an interesting insight. Cloaked in shadows, I could see the remains of the creature look almost as if they were boiling, small bubbles of darkness rising from it, floating into a random direction within the shadows before popping and vanishing.

It looked incredibly weird, but also fairly fascinating. And it added another interesting thing to study to my list, if things continued like this, my list would never be empty. Even after staying relatively put for a while, I hadn’t managed to make a dent in it.

Alas, the woes and wonder of an arcane researcher. There was no better path for me.