《Hive Evolution》 Prologue ¡­. .. ¡­ no good... ¡­......... subject ...... is... ... ¡­.. ¡­ ¡­ . .. . ¡­¡­unresponsive. . ..... ¡­ .. ¡­¡­¡­. .. ¡­. .¡­.. ¡­¡­.. .. ¡­... ¡­... ¡­ ... ¡­. ¡­..... . ¡­ ¡­.. ¡­. ¡­.... .. ¡­ confirm.... ¡­. nding... ¡­. . .. . ¡­..... ¡­. results.. .. .... .. ...... Subject ¡­ ¡­ ..e waking up... ¡­. ¡­.. ..... ¡­.. .. . .¡­faster ¡­..... ¡­ ..commended ¡­.. ¡­.. ¡­ .. ¡­.... Task.. ¡­.. ¡­.plete.. .. ¡­ ¡­ . . ¡­. ¡­....... .. ¡­.. .. . ¡­.. Execute command. ***** ¡­.. Subject 016¡­. ¡­ ailed¡­ Sear. .. ...for nex¡­ . ¡­¡­ . .ject... ¡­. . ¡­ ¡­ ¡­. . searc¡­¡­¡­not ¡­¡­ .ed.. ¡­inputting new .. ¡­¡­ .. data.. .. . .. ¡­ .. . ¡­.. ¡­ ¡­.. . .. ¡­. . .. ¡­¡­. New subject acquired ***** *Ring Ring* ¡­ *Ring Ring* ¡°Ugh...¡± Eren woke up the ringing of his phone on the table next to his bed. Groggily, he reached over and grabbed his phone, hitting the answer button at the same time. ¡°Hello? This is Eren.¡± he answered. ¡°Hey Eren? I was just calling to make sure you were on your way.¡± Jena¡¯s voice came out from his phone. Jena was his coworker at the rundown caf¨¦ he worked at part-time when he wasn¡¯t going to classes at university or slacking off at home. ¡®Steve¡¯s Coffee and Chill¡¯ itself wasn¡¯t too much. The cafe was named after the owner Steve from when he was near Eren''s age when he first opened the doors for business. For the small suburb he lived in, it wasn¡¯t the best cafe around, but it was the best area to meet up and hang out for most of the university kids. This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°It¡¯s not time for our shift yet, but I was a little worried since you¡¯re usually early, and you weren¡¯t here yet.¡± ¡°Huh, what do you mean?¡± I looked over at the clock mounted on the wall across my room. It read 8:25. Dumbfounded, I stared at the clock for another moment before the situation finally registered in my head. ¡°Shit! I¡¯m so sorry Jena! I overslept and didn¡¯t wake up to my alarm! I just woke up!¡± ¡°Oh! That¡¯s ok Eren. Take your time! I can go in and start preparing for when we open. It¡¯s the least I can do when you always cover for my mistakes at work. Don¡¯t worry!¡± Jena quickly responded. ¡°Still, I¡¯m really sorry for making you do this Jena. I owe you one! I¡¯ll be there as soon as I can.¡± Eren said back to her. ¡°Alright! I¡¯ll see you in a few!¡± *Click* The phone went silent and Eren immediately began tossing around in his closet searching for his work uniform. He had already gotten out of bed as he was speaking with Jena. ''Shit! When was the last time I¡¯ve ever been late for work?'' His boss, Steve, was pretty lenient with his workers and was fine with a few mistakes every now and then, but Eren prided himself on always being on time for everything no matter the occasion. Of course, on-time for him meant at least ten minutes ahead of the scheduled time. Arriving on the exact time designated to meet always felt wrong to Eren. Work usually started at 8:30 so that the employees could prepare all the things necessary for the store opening at 9:00 in the morning, but Eren usually got to work at 8:20 without fail each day. As Eren continued to rush in getting ready, the lit-up screen of his desktop caught his eye as he was on the last button of his dress shirt. The pop-up box on his screen seemed to proudly declare: -Hive Evolution- Hive Evolution was the game he had been playing last night, but for some unusual reason, Eren had been completely absorbed into the game. More so than he had ever been before in any other like it. When he had finally looked up at the time, it had been several hours past the normal time he usually went to bed, and when he had gotten up from the chair, he was suddenly overcome with fatigue. He guessed that he had collapsed onto his bed and had fallen asleep immediately after his head hit the pillow. The game itself wasn¡¯t an entirely new concept. It was simply a mix of an empire building and role-playing game with the addition of an alien like species following a hive like system. Nonetheless, Eren was completely enraptured into the game, and that was why he was late to work. He grabbed his car keys and ran out the door, putting aside any stray thoughts of the game for another time. He had a job he needed to be at. ***** As the last customer left the cafe, Eren let out a breath of relief. While normally he would be a bit tired at the end of a full day shift, he was beginning to feel the creeping slips of consciousness from the lack of sleep the night before. ¡°Good work as well today guys!¡± He called out to the other workers. Besides Jena who had left earlier from working a shorter shift compared to his full day, there were a couple of other part-timers working that day. After hearing a few replies of ¡®good work¡¯, Eren started walking to the back of the cafe to collect his belongings. Work let out at 9:00 at night, but on a few days such as these when there were no customers, Steve let his workers out early. After letting out another sigh, Eren walked out the back door to his car and pulled out his keys to unlock his car. Following the lull of driving, he quickly began to start dozing off at the wheel again. He turned on the radio to try to stave off the sleep as he stopped at an intersection on the road. When he looked up again, he saw a green light so he immediately stepped on the accelerator to hurry home. *HOOOOOOOOOONNNNKK* *SCREEEECH* Eren immediately turned his head to the right where he heard the honking, and he saw a truck barreling down the road towards him incredibly fast. At that moment, the world around him seemed to slow down to a stop. His car was small, and getting hit by the truck would probably destroy the car if it were to hit. He vaguely thought of the cost to repair the car if his car were to be completely totaled. Looking out through the corner of his eye, he noticed that the stoplight he had thought was green was still red. He had ran a red light but had probably thought the light was green from sleep deprivation or a hallucination of some kind. ¡®Is this it?¡¯ he thought. ¡®Sorry mom and dad¡­ I¡¯ll be moving on before you guys. Damn, and I didn¡¯t even ask Jena out¡­ What a pity...¡¯ At the end of that thought, time seemed to return to normal, and Eren could hear a faint high pitched screaming that seemed so far away. He caught the eyes of the truck driver and saw that the truck driver¡¯s eyes were wide open and he seemed to be in the middle of a scream. He had tried to stomp on the brakes, but at the speed he was already going, it was impossible to stop in time. In the next moment, the truck collided with the car, and Eren felt the airbags bursting open. However, despite the efforts of the airbags to save him, Eren had already been slammed to the side of his car as the car flipped over multiple times. The feeling of being crushed didn¡¯t seem to register in his mind though, and blackness was already starting to fill his sight. The screaming in the distance began to grow quieter, and Eren soon succumbed to the darkness. ***** Greetings Subject 217. ...Huh? Do you wish to live? I¡¯m not dead yet...? If not I mean... sure¡­ I guess I¡¯d like to live. Do you wish for power? Power? Well¡­ I guess if I had the power to not to be hit by that truck, it¡¯d be nice. Do you wish for change? Sure...? I guess my life was a bit borin- W-wait. What¡¯s going on¡­? Conditions met. Subject responses are positive. Positive? Beginning sequence. Wait. What sequence? What are you doing? Terminating subject¡¯s conscious. What?! My consc- Subject in stasis. ... Execute Command Chapter 1: Encounter ¡®Water is fun¡­¡¯ Eren was drifting around underwater. Or whatever it was he was swimming in. It felt like water, so it was probably water. This was all Eren had been doing for¡­ he didn¡¯t know how long. His sense of time had become hazy. Was it a long time? Maybe it was just a few minutes. Well, it didn¡¯t matter. The only thing he cared about was that the water was warm. And comfortable. He didn¡¯t really know how he was breathing underwater either... but that was fine. It felt nice to be in. ***** ¡®The walls are too tight¡­¡¯ After swimming for a while, Eren noticed that the walls were starting to feel a bit too close. He wasn¡¯t claustrophobic or anything, but he was starting to feel uncomfortable in the water. Well, not that he could do anything about it. The water was still warm, and that was what was important. ***** ¡®Huh¡­? How am I breathing?¡¯ After swimming for even longer, Eren began to notice the situation he was in. Breathing underwater was impossible, yet here he was perfectly fine. ¡®And why are the walls so tight?¡¯ The walls were definitely closer, and Eren could hardly move without bumping against the walls anymore. He had an odd feeling as though that if he were to try, he could probably break out of the walls just by pushing against it hard enough with his hands. Specifically the tips of his fingers... But he didn¡¯t. Something told him that it wasn¡¯t quite time to do that, and he was perfectly content listening to it. The water was still warm, and he didn¡¯t mind that feeling. ***** Now. With that command, Eren reached out with his fingers and slashed the walls that were surrounding him. The walls seemed to burst out from the cut running across it, and the water that he had grown fond of spilled out haphazardly onto the floor. The sudden lack of water exposed Eren to the cold air though, and he immediately began shivering, missing the warmth from being enveloped by the water. The sudden brightness was the next thing Eren noticed coming out from his confinement. It was darker than he thought it had been inside the walls- ¡°Hack! Hack!!¡± Even though being in the water had enabled Eren to breathe, the sudden lack of water around him caused him to begin coughing violently, forcibly expelling any remaining water in his lungs. He breathed in his first breaths of fresh air in a long time, but in the midst of it, he felt his body grow weak as he collapsed onto the floor, completely overcome with exhaustion. The rapid change in environments was too much for him to handle. He curled up into a ball and clamped his eyes shut to block out the outside world. The simple task of breathing took nearly all his focus and energy. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. ***** Weak. A sharp, raspy voice resonated within his head. ¡°What?¡± He thought he heard someone. He cracked open his eyes to see if anyone was around, but the moment he did, he gasped and scrambled back as fast as he could in horror upon seeing the creature that suddenly stood before him. A monstrous creature, several heads taller than him, was peering directly into his face. It was mostly completely black in color save for a few dark purple highlights and had an appearance similar to a praying mantis, but the only difference it had compared to a mantis were the large pair of dragonfly-like wings on its back and the two hind legs that it stood on. The size of the creature wasn¡¯t what terrified him though. It was the scythe-like arms slowly swaying back and forth as if waiting to strike at him. It was the image of a seemingly perfect and silent predator. The raspy voice rang within his head again though, interrupting any further thoughts. The Hive Queen is weak. Weak? Eren didn¡¯t know what the creature meant by saying that, or rather he couldn¡¯t understand what the creature was saying even. His mind was in scrambles. Run. Don¡¯t move. Get away. Freeze. But he stayed completely still for fear that he might provoke it. He desperately hoped that it couldn¡¯t hear the racing of his heart. The Queen is weaker than the last. Much weaker¡­ Failure¡­? No. Unimportant. The Queen will spawn the Hive. The Hive will protect the Queen. For a little longer, the creature peered closely at him, as if wanting to say something else. After a slight pause though, it simply blinked once and slowly crept away. Taking a few steps, it completely disappeared from view, vanishing into the background as if it never existed. ¡°...¡± ¡®What in the world was that¡­¡¯ ***** Several minutes after the creature had left and Eren finally managed to calm down enough to think properly, he began to feel a sense of discomfort. Of course, it very well could have been from the fact that he had just been faced with a monster words couldn¡¯t describe. But this feeling was different. It was a feeling of a dull numbness all over his body. Not painful in any way nor was it all too bothersome. It was just as if something wasn¡¯t quite right. Like sticking your foot into the wrong pair of shoes or putting your shirt on backwards. Was it the fact that he suddenly found himself in an incredibly large forest? He had never really enjoyed hiking or camping of any kind. Despite living in a pretty small town where he could find fields or forests just from driving down a certain direction for long enough, he almost hated having to be outside in nature when he didn¡¯t have to be. He always longed to escape his boring small town life for the cities. However, Eren didn¡¯t feel as if the forest was the reason for his discomfort. He didn¡¯t fully understand the feeling, so instead, he decided to try to gather an awareness of his surroundings. The moment he tried to stand up, he immediately noticed what felt so odd. His hair was grown down to his waist and tickled his neck as it swayed in the wind. He always kept his hair short to prevent it from becoming a mess, and while he knew that some guys could pull off the long hair and still look professional, he was not one of them. Especially when he wanted to live in the city one day. He never neglected an opportunity to fix his appearance whenever possible. City folks were always well kept weren¡¯t they? Well regardless, the long hair immediately began to annoy him. The first chance he gets, he would chop it all off. The most important thing for now was to find a way back home, or to at least out of the forest. He tried to grab his hair and pull it all behind him, but the next thing he noticed was that his hands looked as if they were covered in some kind of purple material. He took a closer look at his hands and instantly understood the source of his discomfort. His entire body felt lighter than he was used to, but the skin around his entire body felt heavier, like it was covered in some kind of smooth yet hardened material. The skin wasn¡¯t the only change. He immediately noticed the height difference when he tried to stand up and look at his body. How short had he become? He couldn¡¯t remember the last time he had felt so close to the ground. Eren poked at his arm to test how hard the substance his skin was made of, but he then noticed the sharp claws that seemed to be on the tips of his fingers. Was that how he managed to slice through the walls of whatever he was in before he encountered the mantis-like creature? He supposed so. Nonetheless, he knew that whatever he was, he doubted he was still a human. ¡°What am I?¡± Eren wondered out loud. His skin was changed to some kind of hard purple material, and he had claws on his fingers. What else had changed? Suddenly, he began to sense a significant lack of something. His mind hadn¡¯t acknowledged it at first, but when he consciously thought about it, he noticed what that missing something was. He looked down. Then he looked back up. And then looked back down again. It was gone. Chapter 2: The First Step A few minutes had gone by since Eren realized that his partner that had been with him for his entire life was now gone. He had given himself a thorough checkup to try to understand his body a little more. But instead of his body¡­ it was completely a her now. ***** A few more minutes had gone by. Eren was now completely aware of her body... and she had somewhat come to peace with it now. Not really. Her head hurt from slamming it against a tree multiple times, but it was enough to return her to her normal functioning train of thought. From analyzing her body, she discovered that the purple material that was attached to her was some sort of natural body armor similar to the carapace of insects on Earth. She didn¡¯t entirely know if the purple color was necessary, but that didn¡¯t linger in her mind for too long. She couldn¡¯t take it off, and even if it was slightly uncomfortable and wasn¡¯t the best color in a lush green forest, it did seem incredibly durable. It would probably serve as protection from whatever might try to harm her. She tried testing how hard the carapace was with her new claws, but those barely left a scratch against her armor like skin. The claws, however, were much sharper than she first thought. She poked at a nearby tree with a claw, and it had almost pierced completely through the outer bark of the tree with just a slight bit of force. She then tried to slice the tree as a cat might have done so. The results? From just a small swipe, the bark of the tree was completely torn off, and the harder parts inside the trunk had a shallow mark from her claws. Couldn¡¯t she cut down a tree with just her claws then? Wait, this wasn¡¯t important. What mattered far more to Eren was the state of her attire. Considering how she had just been born, or whatever she had been since she had just come out of an egg, she was completely naked. The only thing that covered her in any way was her purple carapace, and that itself was about as thick as regular skin. Her private areas were practically completely exposed, and even if she had accepted that her body was now that of the opposite gender, seeing it every time she looked down was a bit too much. In order to find something suitable to wear, Eren searched around the area for anything that might have worked to serve as material for clothing. There obviously weren¡¯t going to be clothes just lying around to wear, but if she could manage to salvage some decent materials, she could probably make something useful to cover herself. Seeing as how she was in a forest though, there weren¡¯t many things to use. She was only able to find some leaves and branches. The only possible solution Eren could see with what she had was to try to tie some leaves in a way for it to wrap around her waist. There wasn¡¯t much she could do with just leaves¡­ After struggling for a little while to gather enough leaves and tie them together, she was able to successfully make something that resembled a skirt. For now, she considered her clothing problem settled. ¡®It¡¯s just a skirt ¡®cause it¡¯s the easiest to make. Skirts are fine. Totally fine. Guys wear them all the time too, right Eren? You know, kilts?¡¯ Her chest was, thankfully, still flat, and so she refused to try to cover it. Being forced to hide what she didn¡¯t have gave her a sense of having lost something important to her. Anyways, with the problem of her wardrobe or lack thereof settled, Eren decided to turn to the next problem she needed to address. Her encounter with the weird creature when she first emerged into the forest still made chills run down her back. She didn¡¯t know if there was anything she could do about it until she understood more about her present situation, so she decided that trying to get out of the forest was her first priority. Once she got out, she might be able to find someone who could explain what led to her being in the forest¡­ if they didn¡¯t run away from her considering her strange appearance. Eren began walking forwards in the direction opposite of where the weird creature had left. Even if it didn¡¯t hurt her, having to come across it once more wasn¡¯t something she wanted to happen. After walking for a little while, she spotted a small hill a little ways away. She decided to try to climb it to see if she could get an understanding of her surroundings by getting a look over the forest from higher ground. Perhaps this way she would be able to determine what direction she would walk towards. When she finally got to the top of the hill though, she was shocked by what she saw. No matter what direction she looked, there were only trees, trees, and more trees. The only thing for as far as she could see was a vast forest of green. The forest of trees seemed to go on forever, but in the distance she could see a silhouetto of a mountain. Setting her new destination as the mountain for now, Eren decided to keep walking. It wasn¡¯t like there were any other better options that she could take. And so she walked. And walked. And walked some more. ¡®So thirsty¡­¡¯ The sun was already beginning to dip below the horizon, and while fortunately, it wasn¡¯t too hot, Eren hadn¡¯t found anywhere water to drink from. Every now and then, she saw some small animals like rabbits or squirrels and once even a fox-like animal with sparkling silver fur. She figured the last one was just her imagination, but she knew that there had to be some source of water nearby just by the fact that those animals were alive. Despite this though, there wasn¡¯t any sign of a creek or river, and she was still slowly getting thirstier as time went by. Hungrier too when she thought about it. So she tried not to. Think about it that was. Once more, she saw another squirrel run past her and then scurry up a tree.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. ¡°Where are you getting your water?!¡± The squirrel simply looked at her for a second, tilted its head, and then disappeared from view. ¡®Sigh. What would yelling at a squirrel do anyways¡­¡¯ The sky was beginning to grow darker as she continued to trudge along. Her legs were growing heavier and her feet felt as if they would fall off from her legs. What was the point of going on? She wasn¡¯t even herself anymore with this new body and all. No one could possibly miss her either. She was already dead. Even if she could get back home, what could she tell anyone? ¡®Hey guys, it¡¯s me Eren. I know I got run over by a truck, but it¡¯s still me¡­ I just look like a purple monster.¡¯ No one would believe her. She stopped walking to take a short break and leaned against a tree. The rest felt so blissful, and she slowly felt her body sinking into a sitting position. Her hands fell to her sides and they brushed against the grass. Absentmindedly, she pulled on the ground, experiencing the odd sensation of the blades of grass against her claws. The mud felt pleasant as she grabbed a fistful of it and rolled it in her palms. The mud¡­ Mud¡­ Eren¡¯s eyes shot open. She turned her body, and behind the tree, she could see a small river running its course. How she didn¡¯t hear the splashing of water she didn¡¯t know, but she could hear it loud and clear now. The next thing Eren knew, she was knelt against the riverbank, gulping down water as if her life depended on it. The water was so unbelievably good that it felt as if all the suffering up to this point had been worth it. ¡®Wait, wasn¡¯t the suffering the reason why I¡¯m thirsty in the first place? She took it back. She¡¯d rather not have to be that thirsty ever again. After drinking for a while and her thirst was quenched, Eren lied down on the ground next to the river. Her leaf skirt had fallen off at some point, but all the walking had drained her of all her energy, and she was too tired to care. The ground was too comfortable. Her stomach also hurt a bit from drinking more than she needed to, but she welcomed the feeling. The feeling meant that she wasn¡¯t thirsty anymore. It simply meant that she was no longer thirsty. ¡®Now if only I could get some food¡­¡¯ ***** The last of the sun had finally disappeared below the horizon, and although the clearing around the river was beginning to become dark, Eren could somehow still see clearly. Was it something else to attest to her new body? *Growl¡­* ¡°Yes yes, stomach. I know. I heard you the last four times.¡± Eren said aloud. She was once again, walking in search of something that could sate her body¡¯s needs, this time though, in search of something to eat. She walked alongside the river to make sure she wouldn¡¯t have water problems, but nothing she found seemed to be edible. Eren looked up towards the sky, and she saw the two moons shining down at her. She had seen the two moons when she lied down on the ground next to the river earlier and was completely shocked by what she saw then. Looking over her body for the first time was one thing, but seeing the moons had confirmed her suspicions. ¡®I¡¯m in a completely different world aren¡¯t I¡­¡¯ One of the moons was a bright blue color. It was shattered with only half of the moon being whole while the rest of it was in pieces scattered around. The other moon looked identical to the one back on Earth though. They seemed to be revolving around each other, albeit very slowly. It just served to be another proof to the fact she was no longer on Earth. ¡°Sigh¡­ well, I already died in my last life, let¡¯s make the most of this one! I can¡¯t say that my last one was very fulfilling at all.¡± And with the newfound vigor powering herself up... Eren decided to lie down and head to sleep. She was tired. ¡®The food problem can be tomorrow me¡¯s problem.¡¯ And with that, Eren felt her consciousness immediately begin to slip away. ***** ¡®Shit!¡¯ Eren was running as fast as she possibly could, which actually wasn''t very fast at all¡­ It wasn¡¯t for the lack of trying though. Her short legs significantly lowered her ability to run, and with all the tree roots all around, it took everything she had not to trip over- ¡°Gaaahhh!!¡± She tripped. Eren scrambled back onto her knees, trying desperately to find a good footing, when she felt a warm breath on her neck. Without turning to look, she swung her hands behind her and immediately started running again. The monster behind her let out a small yelp of pain, but the chill down her back kept her legs moving when she heard another growl that followed it. Blood dripped from her claws as she was running, and she cringed slightly when she felt some of it was splatter on her body. A second monster was already gaining distance on her but this time, filled with rage rather than that of an aloof predator¡¯s desire to play a game of cat and mouse. ¡®Since when did wolves have red fur and suddenly want to eat people?!¡¯ ¡°Awooooo!!¡± ¡®Right. Ever since I came into whatever kind of shithole this world was.¡¯ Without any prior notice, Eren was forced awake from her nap by the sound of red colored wolves barreling towards her. Two right behind her, several more beginning to encircle her. The fact that she even managed to wake up before the wolves were already on top of her was nothing short of a miracle in itself. The difference in speed between the wolves and her were astronomical however. These wolves lived in this forest, a part of their playground. They were uninhibited by the terrain and moved with ease, weaving through the trees as if they didn¡¯t exist. In contrast, Eren was practically a toddler in the hands of the wolves, running blindly in whatever direction was away from the wolves. It couldn¡¯t be helped though. The most exercise she had gotten in her past life was probably walking to her car to go to work, and the most exercise in this life was the grand total of a day of existence. Her muscles screamed in pain, unused to suddenly being forced to overexertion after an already exhausting day¡¯s worth of constant walking. As the pack of wolves were already beginning to overtake her, she figured that any more running would be useless, especially against wolves that could run much faster than any human could. Eren ran towards the nearest tree and began clambering up as fast as her short and pitiful arms could. The plan almost seemed to work until one of her claws caught onto a snag of the tree. While trying to pull her claw free, a sharp pain in her left leg yanked in the opposite direction. One of the wolves had leaped up and bit down on her leg, furiously trying to pull her down into the reach of the pack of wolves now surrounding the tree. Her right leg slipped from underneath a branch after losing balance, and her one free hand was barely clinging onto a branch to hold herself up. The only thing Eren could do was desperately shake her leg, kicking in hopes of making the wolf let go. A second wolf jumped up in order to bite her as well, but in the midst of the struggle, Eren somehow managed to swing the first wolf into the course of the second wolf mid air. It forced both to fall to the ground in a strike of pure fortune. Not wasting a breath, she secured her footing once again and scrambled away from the reach of the wolves. ¡®Holy fuck.¡¯ Gasping for breath, Eren felt her hands go numb from grabbing onto the branch too hard. She relaxed her hand and adjusted into a more comfortable seated position where she could avoid having to hold herself up with her arms. ¡®12..13... 14 wolves. Where the fuck is my tutorial?! Where¡¯s my lone goblin or slime as the first mob?! Isn¡¯t this too realistic? They¡¯re hunting together as a pack, not as one or two stray wolves. How am I supposed to survive when there¡¯s literally 14 wolves trying to kill me first thing in the morning? And they¡¯re waiting for me to come down as well. What is this shitty difficulty spike from the get go?¡¯ Below the tree, the wolves growled in anticipation, waiting patiently for their prey to come down. Without any way to break the stalemate though, they simply laid down in wait.