Zectas Volume III: Malediction of Veneficatl Valley (16 page)

She stared at the screen for almost a minute. An ability increase from Intermediate to Advance usually meant an extra added bonus, but she couldn't believe that the wish she made earlier would be granted.
Sierra looked at the black werewolf strangely and Rear suddenly spoke to her. "Alpha Sierra, what's wrong?"
"I can understand you. Can you understand me?" Asked an astounded Sierra.
"Of course. Both of us have understood you right from the start." Answered Rear.
"And what about you, Phen? Can you understand me as well?" Sierra looked at the gray werewolf.
Phen responded with a nod and a grunt.
"Hmm, I guess I can only understand you, Rear."
"Hahaha. No, you can understand him fine. He just doesn't usually say anything."
Sierra clicked her tongue and lightly ruffled the fur on Phen's head. "You had me going there."
Phen bowed his head. "I apologize, Alpha Sierra. That is how I usually communicate."
"Alright, alright. I see that the two of you have followed my orders. Good. Now, let's resume our hunt."
"Ahem..." Rear spoke out. "With all due respect, I think now that you've gained the ability to talk with us, we should also use the Pack Mental link."
Sierra's eyes lit up. "By Pack Mental link, you don't mean that I can get information from this connection, do you?" The bookworm inside her thirsted for new knowledge.
"Yes, that's one of its functions, but we often use it to for quick strike plans. As our Alpha, you have the ability to open a link with us by using a specialized  members list. I heard that you can also see other information from specific pack members."
Sierra nodded her head and excitedly waited for Rear's next instruction.
"Just say 'Engage Pack Mental Link'."
"Alright, let me try that now. Engage Pack Mental Link!"

Through the knowledge of the Pack Mental link, Sierra learned that Phen and Rear were called Betas. The second in command next to Alphas.
She tried accessing Phen's mind and a window which contained different folders popped up.

Sierra was bombarded by the information in Phen's folders and had a hard time exploring all of them. When she opened the Fighting Abilities folder, it showed her a video of Phen executing a specialized ability.
However, the folder that caught her attention was the one labeled Inaccessible. She wondered what that was and asked Rear about it.
"That's usually where a pack member holds personal information that they don't want to be shared with the rest of the pack, but as our Alpha you can access it by using your Alpha Rights."
Afraid of what secrets her pack members might hold from her, Sierra forced Phen's Inaccessible folder open and found a humiliating image of Phen being urinated over by a red werewolf similar to his size.
Phen held his head down in shame. Sierra felt guilty after she saw the embarassing video, but she held it in. "I'm sorry, Phen, We'll get that red werewolf."
Sierra patted the gray werewolf. "Perhaps next time you'll get to confront that red werewolf head on."
Phen bowed down. A bewildered Rear followed the gray werewolf and lowered her head as well.
Next, Sierra accessed Rear's mind. She scoured through Rear's folders and found one about the purple berries.

As Sierra read through the information on the purple berry, she heard Rear's voice but didn't see the black werewolf's mouth moving.
'Alpha Sierra, I'd also like to report that we've found a herd of war elephants one kilometer west of here.'
"Good, good, but how exactly are you doing that? You know, talking to me without moving your lips?" Sierra asked with a raised eyebrow.
'Same thing. Through the Pack Mental link. Just enable Pack Whisper and you can speak normally through your mind.'
Sierra searched for the settings tab in the Pack Mental link and customized it.
'Wow! Alright, I think I've already taken too much time exploring the Pack Mental link. Let's head towards those war elephants!'
With the Pack Mental link enabled, Sierra's movement speed increased by two. It wasn't much of an increase numerically, but it reduced their travel time by twenty minutes.
When they got to a cliff overlooking the location where six adult war elephants and four calves were currently grazing, Sierra discovered that Phen and Rear's original pack had arrived before them.
Fortunately, Smoke's constant reminder of being vigilant rubbed off on Sierra. They arrived without the werewolves detecting their presence.
With her Advance Animal Instinct ability, she counted that the werewolf pack had thirty-two members present. Due to her recently increased Advance Lycanthrope Control, Sierra was focused on adding more members to her pack.
From above the cliff, she saw that all of them were smaller than Phen and Rear. The thirty-two werewolves' fur varied from red, brown, black and gray.
'Which werewolves would you recommend first, Rear?' Sierra asked inaudibly through their Mental Pack link.
'Well, red werewolves have high health but low attack. Brown werewolves have average abilities. Black werewolves are like me - they are great stalkers, while the gray werewolves have high attack and low defense.'
'Okay, we will go for the black werewolves. I will get ready to hold those two werewolves hidden behind that rock. Phen and Rear, you two will surprise them and lead them straight to me.' Sierra pointed at a pair of black werewolves directly below them.
'As you command.' Rear replied while Phen grunted. Both of them immediately followed her orders. Sierra ran fast and got into position.
Sierra waited confidently for Phen and Rear to intimidate the designated werewolves. Just as she expected, the two black werewolves ran with their tails behind their legs towards her.
They tried to stop when they saw a red werebear right in from them, but it was too late. They ran straight into Sierra's paws and she assimilated them into her pack.
Now with four werewolves at her command, she quickly gave out more orders through the Pack Mental link. She went after four more black werewolves nearby and added them to her pack as well.
As her werewolf pack increased, Sierra got bolder and bolder. She almost roared out loudly. She wanted to call all of the other werewolves' attention to her, but her judgment got the better of her and she held back her roar.
Sierra had already gathered twelve werewolves when she spotted another group huddled further ahead. She went after six black werewolves hidden behind the trees.
From their posture, she knew that they were still waiting for a signal to attack. She needed to move fast before the werewolves would leave their posts and attack the war elephants.
Just when Sierra's werewolf pack got into position, they heard a distinct set of howls. The targeted werewolf pack jumped out from their hiding place and ran after the war elephants.
However, the non-assimilated werewolves were the ones caught off guard when they discovered that there were only twelve of them left. The war elephants charged straight at the twelve surprised werewolves.
The non-assimilated werewolves scattered and ran into bushes and trees only to be caught by Sierra's werewolf pack. They were held down by Sierra's werewolves until she got to them.
One by one, she converted all of the captured werewolves until she had thirty-four werewolves in her pack. After she assimilated all the werewolves, she ordered them to regroup and circle around the war elephants.
Sierra interpreted the war elephants' confident demeanor. She concluded that the war elephants knew of only twelve werewolves near them. Once her newly expanded werewolf pack had them surrounded, she growled out loudly and the whole pack joined in.
With thirty-four werewolves at her command, Sierra felt that her body had become faster and stronger. She divided her pack into four groups. Each group took on one adult war elephant.
Since there were six adults among the tusked beasts, Sierra faced one of them alone while Phen and Rear faced the remaining one.
Sierra's werewolves overwhelmed the war elephants with their numbers. The war elephants tried to fend off the werewolves with their trunks and tusks, but once they were pinned down to the ground, it was game over for them.
Phen and Rear's war elephant charged at the gray werewolf head on. Phen did not shy away from the challenge. He took the brunt of the force of the war elephant's trunk directly.
The gray werewolf was pushed backwards, while Rear came from behind and ripped off the war elephant's tail. The beast turned around, giving Phen the opening he needed.
With his sharp fangs, Phen took out a big chunk of flesh from the war elephant's throat and blood gushed out from its neck. Rear followed by pushing the war elephant to the side until it tipped over.
Once it was laid out, Phen and Rear went straight for the throat and kept biting away until the war elephant's head was separated from its body.
Sierra's target was rapidly approaching her.  A war elephant's basic attack was to charge straight into the opponent with its tusks.
Sierra stood her ground and the war elephant's tusks hit her stomach. Yet, she was not pushed back nor did the tusk penetrate her body.
The war elephant's attack only managed to deal 1,000 damage points against the red werebear. Sierra felt that this newfound strength came from being the Alpha of a werewolf pack.
The red werebear placed her massive arms around the war elephant's neck and snapped it like a twig. Then, Sierra climbed onto the beast's back and delivered a heavy blow to its spine.
The war elephant fell to the ground and shook vigorously. It could no longer control its movement due to its dislocated spine.
When she saw that her prey had been paralyzed, she called for pack members who were still waiting on their turn to feast on the war elephants.
From the Pack Mental link, Sierra learned that a werewolf pack followed a hierarchy. Those of the lowest class would wait for the scraps left by those above them.
She wanted to change that and gave this untouched prime prey to the Omegas, the runts of the werewolf pack. As the Omegas ate, she noticed that most of the werewolves who belonged to this group had red fur.
Sierra decided to call them her Red Omegas. She did not know why, but the red werebear felt a strong connection with them.
She took only a portion of the meat and ate on top of a rock. The adolescent war elephants escaped unharmed. She ordered her pack to leave them alone.
She only wanted to hunt monsters that were already fully grown. Her werewolf pack could not understand the reason for that order, but all of them obeyed without question.
All thirty-four werewolves were being well fed with the six war elephant feast laid out before them. As her pack ate, Sierra decided to examine her pack through the Mental Pack link.

Sierra's werewolf pack greatly increased in size and she had a hard time keeping up with the new members. She decided to call them by groups.
She divided them according to their specialties which coincidentally followed their hierarchy. The pack listened to her thoughts and she called out their new group names.
'Gray Gammas, Black Deltas, Brown Epsilons, and Red Omegas.'
Immediately, her werewolf pack stopped eating and grouped themselves according to the new criteria. Phen joined the Gray Gammas, while Rear joined the Black Deltas.
Sierra would not allow her two seconds-in-command to join other groups. 'Phen and Rear, please step forward. You two shall remain in your own group called the Betas.'
Once all her werewolves were in place, they all howled loudly together.
AAAWWWWWOOOOOOOOO! AWWWW AWWWW AWWWWWOOOOOOOO!
Sierra smiled as she listened to her pack's howl, but an alarming yet intriguing information came to light when she delved in the Pack Mental link. She discovered that her pack's former Alpha still existed.
She wanted to face him and challenge him for the rest of the original pack, but she knew better. In order for her to win, she had to train together with her werewolf pack and turn them into an unstoppable force.