"Is that a wild boar?" Lev whispered as low as he could but loud enough for them to hear his question.
"Yes," Kaz answered.
"No. Not wild boar, more like— wide boar," Glib tried to make a joke. He was silently laughing at his own joke.
Lev didn't get the joke because he couldn't find what part of the joke was funny. Actually, there was nothing funny in that joke. Even a 5-year-old kid could make better jokes than him.
"You're bad at making jokes."
"What should we do?" Kaz deliberately asked in a hushed tone.
Glib analyzed the situation they were in. Assuming that the possessed boar had only its raw strength and no other powerful power or skills, and Lev and Kaz only had their sticks with them and possessed no elemental power, then their chance of surviving was less than 10%. How much more if the shadows started attacking too, then the chances would be 0%!
"We should silently leave that possessed boar. We have no chance of defeating that," Glib swept his gaze on the ground and saw a small pebble.
"Throw that pebble to distract the boar away," Glib pointed out.
Kaz nodded. He slowly knelt on one knee and held the pebble on his right hand. He looked around to check where he could throw it. There were only trees and dry leaves around them, and some few sticks and dead logs lying on the ground. He aimed at the empty log that was about 8-meters away from them.
PACK!
The stone made a hole in the old empty log, producing a cracking sound that was loud enough for the boar to hear.
The possessed boar growled and quickly charged on the area where the stone was thrown. Loud stomping sounds echoed around the forest and the dry leaves made crunching sounds on every footstep that it made. The unfortunate trees that were blocking on its path violently crashed down, leaving trails of logs, branches, sticks and dark leaves.
The two were already long gone when the boar started charging, the noise that it made perfectly masked their own.
.....
Phew. Lev blew a puff of air. His body still hasn't recovered from all the actions that happened last night, and now, more running. He massaged his sore muscles on his legs and sighed.
"How far is the seed?"
Glib, who was constantly on his guard, hushed him. He closed his eyes and recalled everything that he remembered, "I already roamed the edges of this forest. For 15 years I searched here and there but found nothing. There's only one place that I purposely left unexplored, and that's the heart of the forest where hundreds of spiritless beasts roam around it."
"Well, I guess that's there, then," Kaz shrugged his one shoulder.
"If there's a hundred of that boar-like beast that we saw back there roam around that part, then how are we gonna survive there?" Lev was worried for his life. He just wanted to live a peaceful life where he could be truly happy.
"Glib, do you have the same exploding stone that you used against Lola?" Kaz wanted to see what things they have, and maybe, just maybe, he could make something out of it.
Glib vigorously shook his head. "I have no more left. I already used one of my treasures against Lola and that's all that."
"One of your 'treasures'?" Kaz raised his eyebrow, catching Glib.
Glib tilted his head and wondered why Kaz was asking that. Then he realized that he made a mistake. He shook his head and waved his hands.
"No. I don't have any more stones and other stuff with me."
"I see. I guess that's that, then," Kaz acted that he was about to give up on this mission. "We don't have things that could be used against those monsters. There's also a chance that maybe the seed isn't there, and I guess that's the end of everything."
Kaz started to walk back, but he was expecting Glib to show the treasure that he was hiding.
"Fine..."
Glib sighed and pushed his tiny hand into his pocket. "I had two runestones with me. Fire and light. The former was used last night and..." He pulled out a stone with some yellowish-white markings embedded in it. "This here is my greatest treasure. I risked my life getting one of these."
Glib made a fake sniff, pretending that he was about to cry.
"What else?" Lev probed deeper.
"Do you want candy or gum?" Glib gleefully asked as he pulled out a small wrapper that contained a round, green candy.
"I meant things that we can use."
"Well, candy is something that we can use, am I wrong?" Glib innocently mumbled while sucking the candy.
"No, no, you're right," Lev sarcastically answered as he facepalmed. "We could offer candies and gums to the monsters and maybe they would let us explore there to search for the seed."
"That won't work, you silly," Glib was sitting on Lev's head as he answered him with a cute giggle.
"I was being sarcasti— Ugh. Nevermind."
Lev didn't know whether Glib was purposely irritating him or he was just purely innocent. But either way, he could not get angry at that small, cute creature. He was just too adorable to be smacked.
Kaz was holding his chin with one hand and the other with a stick that was being used as a cane. His mind raced, thinking for a plan that they could execute with safety.
He looked around, searching for objects that could be of use.
"Does that stone of yours explode too?"
"If you're talking about the same explosion as last night, then no," Glib returned the stone back to his pocket where it was safe. "But it enhances the other elements."
"How so?"
"You see, if a light element combined with an another element, then that element would greatly improve. Example, if a light is mixed with a kindling fire then the fire would evolve into a raging fire."
Glib was excitedly telling him about the things the light could do. Lev was also listening and was trying to come up with an idea.
I see... Kaz inwardly mumbled. I need something that could create an explosion which is big enough for all the monsters to hear. A fire would be a great idea but we don't have something that could produce fire.
Kaz looked on the stick where he was leaning his weight. Rubbing two sticks together and creating friction buildup could definitely start an ember but he quickly eliminated that idea. Although it was a good idea, spinning and twisting a stick in a wooden board would make a screeching sound and it would attract monsters. The last thing that he ever wanted was to be a food treat to the beasts.
He sighed. Thinking and planning was a hard thing to do, how much more was the execution of the plan.
A cold wind blew on Kaz's face. His eyes wandered here and there, imagining things. His imagination made his brain analyze things and solve critical thinking problems.
Wind? No. A strong wind wasn't enough. Lev subconsciously looked at the branches that were covering the sky, wondering what time it was. They lost track of time when they entered the deeper part of the forest. He raised his left arm and checked the time on his wristwatch.
4:08 p.m. 02/29/25
He placed his arms back down and the stick to the ground. After doing the action, his eyes suddenly went wide. He realized something that could help them. His watch!
Kaz walked closer to Lev while Glib was enjoying sucking the candy. His eyes were filled with luster and confidence.
"I have a plan."