"Who has the gut to attack the ship carrying the students of Magus Academia????"
One of the passengers asked in puzzlement as he reaches inside his robe.
As if on cue, the remaining number of the man left within the ship's deck reached inside their robes and took out a wand.
"Wow! Everyone here is a warlock! They all knew magic!!!"
Mu Lingxi shouted in amazement in her mind. But soon realization struck her.
"Everyone was capable of protecting themselves, but how about me???"
"It was a flock of Harpies!!!!"
"Harpies?!!! Shoot! Why now?!!!"
"This gonna be bloody."
Heated discussion started to resurface as the remaining men in the ship's deck converse to one another.
Mu Lingxi at the corner grimaced as the severity of the situation unfolds. She tried her best to shrink as small as she can at the corner. Praying that she will remain unnoticed.
After a while, they heard a shrill sound. Just the shrill itself was enough to send someone into a state of fright.
The screeching sound came from the approaching flock of Harpies. It pierces right through one's ear, threatening to damage their eardrums.
The raucous, hell-raising voices of the Harpies continues to attack their psyche as it carries despair and slough of despond as they flew nearer to the ship.
Mu Lingxi shivered upon meeting the said harpies for the first time. She saw the face of a woman, attached to a human head, but all humanity ended there. Because the rest of its body resembles a huge blackbird.
"That is their version of MANANANGGAL!!!"
"MEOW"
[It's more like a TIKTIK for me....]
"Whatever it is Janus, I don't want to end up as a meal for them"
"MEOW"
[ No worries, those bunch of idiots are nothing but a BALUT for me...]
Janus boasted as he puffs his chest. If he was in his panther form right now, maybe Mu Lingxi might feel the chivalry that her cat was trying to impose.
But right now, Janus looks nothing but a cute little cat puffing his cute little fur chest.
"Errr.. aren't you going to transform first???"
Mu Lingxi reminded her cat nicely, but Janus did not heed her advice.
"MEOW"
[Shhhh.. Trust me. We can manage.]
It did not take long for the Harpies to arrived. At the same time, the warlocks in the ship shoot lights from their wand.
The ship was soon engulfed by blinding lights as the warlocks and Harpies continued to battle.
A hint smell of blood mixed at the air and permeated the surroundings.
Despite the chaos happening at the ship, Mu Lingxi was left unscathed at the corner. It was as if the Harpies chose to turn a blind eye to her.
"HEEEEEEEEEELPPPP"
Screamed a man as he was lifted on the ground by two Harpies. It was as if the two birds with a woman's face were trying to snatch the body of the poor man to one another. They ended up tugging at both ends.
"NOOOOOOOOO... Please... Someone... Please make them stoooooooppppp!"
The man keeps on shouting as pain assaulted his body.
Mu Lingxi can't watch idly as she saw the man being tortured like that.
"Janus!!! Quick... help him...."
"MEOW"
[I'm sorry I cannot. Little lass, that man over there is a warlock he must have other means to survive. But you don't have any! I'm afraid to disappoint you but I have to stay at your side.]
Mu Lingxi understands why Janus said that, but she can't help but feel that it is not the right thing to do.
"Please help him... Someone help him.. Please...."
She was not sure why, but hot tears spilled in her eyes as she cried in despair. She feels so useless.
It did not take long for the man's body to get turn into half and his innards and blood spurted below.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOO...."
Mu Lingxi knelt on the ground. Witnessing someone's horrible death was too much for her. Her legs lost its strength as soon as she saw the torn body of the man being thrown at the side by the cruel Harpies.
*******
the term 'MANANAGGAL' and 'TIKTIK' both came from Filipino folklore
They are the common local mythical monsters in the Philippines
The TIKTIK are bird-like creatures of death that prowl the night in search of food. Their diet consists mainly of fetuses because that's probably the human equivalent of veal or something, and they're really finicky eaters. But some say they prey on full-grown human beings, which they scoop up with their powerful legs.
MANANANGAL, on the other hand, has a half pair of normal lady legs and half winged-flying-nightmare-fodder, It has a taste for the hearts of the unborn, but it has been portrayed (especially in movies) to hunt and feed on adults.
BALUT is a native delicacy in the Philippines. It was a developing egg of a duck with an embryo. The Vietnamese also regularly eat the same sort of fertilized duck eggs, which they call hot vit lon.