Near a boulder twice her height sat an orange-haired girl with yellow eyes. She used her index finger as a quill while urging the energy in her body to inlay a diagram. The diagram looked similar to the number '8' and the surface that was used as a canvas was that of a flat piece of rock.
The upper part of the number '8' was many times bigger than the lower part, forming a contrasting shape. In the lower part, Cailey kept the monster core of the Spear-Tailed Goat and placed an Energy Berry above it. Within the upper part, Cailey kept the long spiralled horn they had severed and began to inscribe various diagrams surrounding it.
Cailey ingeniously used her ability to send out part heat, part energy through the tips of her index finger, using the concentrated heat to inscribe on the rock surface. She drew many symbols of '?', with its bottom portion touching the boundary while its hook portion wrapping around the spiralled horn. Cailey stopped when she had drawn 6 of such diagrams and wiped her forehead.
She then swallowed an Energy Berry and rested her sore arms. After 10 Chants had passed in silence, Cailey had recovered her energy. She concentrated at the centre of the spiralled horn and placed her index finger above it. Her finger first emitted heat that slightly darkened the surface of the horn; trace amounts of pure energy also leaked out of her finger and formed into a visible diagram.
After she was done, Cailey inspected the rune she had inscribed. On finding that it correlated with the one in her memories, Cailey took a moment to swallow another Energy Berry and rested. Pinta had already finished her task and sat on a nearby rock, silently watching her work with anticipation.
10 Chants later, Cailey had once again recovered as she inserted her energy into the '8' diagram. The diagram lit up with light as all the intricate details inscribed within it also flashed to life. The Energy Berry placed above the monster core melted and fused into the core. A moment later, the monster core melted into a red fluid that began to travel towards the upper part of the number '8'.
The moment it entered the upper part, the rune inscribed on the spiralled horn flashed to life and sucked the red fluid towards it. The red fluid enveloped the rune and formed a layer above it before slowly fusing into it. After the red fluid had completely fused into the rune, trace amounts of red light flashed throughout the spiralled horn, permeating through its insides.
A Chant later, the light died down as Cailey picked up the spiralled horn. It had a sharp tip on its front, like a needle, while its rear end was cylindrical in shape. There was a faint layer of crystal that covered its surface that made it easier to hold. The red crystalline substance had also seeped into the small cracks at the blunt end, reinforcing its sturdiness.
"This is passable," Cailey remarked, not intending to control her prideful expression. She lifted it and held it in her hands, measuring its overall weight, its distribution of mass throughout the shaft, its ease of use, etc.
"I will name it Goat Spear!" Cailey exclaimed and noticed the figure of Sarah approaching her, carrying a couple of hip bags in her hands. Her dress was completely bloody; something a single wash cannot remove.
"Here, try it." Cailey threw the Goat Spear with difficulty. Sarah had intended to catch it, but when she noticed how heavy the spear was, she sidestepped to allow the Goat Spear to fall on the ground. Crouching down and picking it up, Sarah noticed how well crafted the spear was.
It was a little taller than her, weighing only a single Bole, equivalent to the weight of a newborn baby. It was difficult for Sarah to use it normally, but when used in conjunction with her 'Divine Might' skill, it would prove to be a terrifying weapon. Since it only had a pointed tip, the goat spear could only be used for thrust attacks. But on seeing its sharpness, Sarah felt like it was more than enough to kill her foes.
When she noticed the pleased expression on Sarah's face, Cailey's expression turned smug as she sent an arrogant look towards Pinta, the desire to mock the latter present in her eyes. Sarah blinked in surprise and immediately thought about the way to prevent them from squabbling another time.
"Girls, shall we move? I encountered two Spear-Tailed Goats during my patrol and managed to kill them with difficulty." Sarah said as she threw the two new hip bags to Pinta. Pinta caught hold of them and stuffed many leaves in one bag and filled the other with Energy Berries.
She strapped the hip bag with Energy Berries on her right while the hip bag on her left seemed to be filled with a certain salve. She hung the hip bag filled with leaves across her neck and adjusted it to prevent hindering her movements. After filling their respective hip bags with Energy Berries from the shoulder bag, Cailey volunteered to carry it since she didn't have any other luggage to carry.
Sarah dragged the Goat Spear with her as she pointed towards the direction of the brook where she had killed two Spear-Tailed Goats. The girls were slightly shocked upon her description of fighting against the two goats which was equivalent to an action-packed play. Sarah had obviously fabricated most of the details to her favour, of course, to avoid their suspicions.
"A-Amazing!" Pinta exclaimed the moment she saw the two carcasses. It took the joint efforts of the three of them to kill a Spear-Tailed Goat, but here, she witnessed two Spear-Tailed Goats, singlehandedly killed by her comrade.
'I should investigate the Washer family once this test ends.' Pinta thought. The fighting skills Sarah displayed had baffled her. She was shocked at how a level 1 warrior possessing only a single unit of energy could take down two monsters in one go.
"Give me some time. We can start our hunting in earnest once we are equipped with some weapons." Cailey said as she inspected the two horns of the dead Spear-Tailed Goats. The spiralled horn of a Spear-Tailed Goat that had extended to 2 Dobin was now only a Dobin in length. It was also shrinking as time passed, a trace of energy leaking out of it into the surroundings.
Cailey set it aside for now and inspected the other spiralled horn. It spanned half the length of her hand as it hadn't elongated. Using the sharp tip of the Goat Spear to slowly chip away at the end of the spiralled horn, Cailey busied herself.
In the meantime, Sarah started to dissect the Spear-Tailed Goat and fished out a monster core from it. She then washed herself with the water from the brook while Pinta acted mysteriously, scooping out some water and pouring calculated amounts of them into the hip bag on her left.
She then removed her shoe and gently placed her feet into the brook, hissing in pain as the water washed her feet. After rubbing it clean of dirt, Pinta scooped out a little bit of the salve from the hip bag on her left and smeared it on her wound. She then bandaged the area and wore her shoe.
After seeing that she didn't have much to do, Sarah climbed atop the nearby boulder and rested. She kept an eye on their surroundings while Pinta accompanied her to laze around. The two watched Cailey in work as they chitchatted about trivial stuff.
"Say, that boy who tried to pick a fight with me in the auditorium. Was he your brother?" Sarah asked.
"He is not related to me by blood. But, he is from the Delton family," Pinta said with embarrassment. If that fool had not been moved away by the invigilator, then Sarah would have beaten him to a pulp.
'I don't think I am in a position to raise my hands against a noble. My head will roll on the floor if I dared to do that.' Sarah thought after guessing Pinta's thoughts. It was then; she saw a group of injured people running towards the centre of the forest, a trail of Spear-Tailed Goats hot on their heels further behind. Due to the nature of the forest with thick vegetation, the Spear-Tailed Goats could only circle around through the routes with sparser vegetation.
As if directed by someone, the Spear-Tailed Goats spread around the forest, slowly but surely trapping the running group of people in the middle.
"We have to run. There's trouble!" Sarah jumped down the boulder, helping Pinta descend as she rushed towards Cailey.
"Give me a moment, I'm almost done," Cailey said as she threw a Spiralled horn towards Pinta. There was a red crystalline coating on its surface. There was a formation before Cailey as she activated it, creating another spiralled horn with the red crystalline coating. She hurriedly inspected it and stood up, patting the splinters on her dress.
"The goats are chasing a group of people to the centre of the forest. We should run towards an area with thick vegetation and avoid confronting them." Sarah said, already having thought of an escape route. She had scouted a couple of locations for such purposes. The trio began to run towards a certain direction where Sarah had noticed thick outgrowth, avoiding the group of people altogether.
…
"Henwill, I spot a group of three to our left, running to the edges of the forest." A boy with silver hair and blue eyes said.
"Let us meet up with them. I will soon crush that cult bastard." Henwill said, eyes spewing out with venomous hatred. He then turned around and shouted, "Friends, follow me. There's another group at the front; we will join hands with them."
Excluding Henwill and the boy who spoke to him, there were 15 people, a mixture of boys and girls, with varying injuries, silently following after him. They nodded their heads without expressing any dissatisfaction, gritting their teeth to keep pace. Anyone who fell behind would be pounced upon by the goats and face a fate worse than death, so they ran without rest.
"Hedroll, the trees in this area look dry enough. Set them on fire!" Henwill said and looked at Hedroll who shared a similar appearance to him, create a small sparrow. The sparrow that was red in colour let out a faint chirp and flew around the trees in their surroundings, setting the dry leaves on fire.
It then opened its beak and unleashed a laser beam that hit a think trunk, boring a hole through it and hitting another on its back. The two trees instantly caught fire, lighting up the darker surroundings while emitting copious amounts of smoke. The surrounding trees quickly caught fire and began to burn.
After setting the place ablaze, Hedroll sent the red sparrow to the sky, using it to trail the trio of girls. He then relayed the location of the three in real-time to Henwill who commanded their group and changed their directions accordingly.