Barghests are naturally tremendously strong, however, that is only true if they aren't weighed down by dozens of infections. In fact, these infections not only weigh down Barghests but even become great weaknesses for them as seen in the fight beforehand.
Although these new challengers were merely young, they were untouched and had no weaknesses to exploit, unlike the adults who were riddled with past wounds. They were smaller than adult Black Hounds, though not by much.
Looking around Jeffrey could see that not everyone was in perfect fighting shape like himself. Despite winning the previous encounter, everyone else was fatigued and took multiple wounds across their body, with Eugene being the only fatality. With this new batch of challengers, it would be a slaughter…
for these guys.
Deducing it to be unwise to stay with this group 'till his death, he planned to leave when it looked like they had no chance of victory. The scout leader was very mean to him after all. It wasn't like Jeffrey couldn't win if he was alone, but he had to care for the little white chick. Before the battle he had stuffed it into a pocket he sewed onto his tunic for carrying miscellaneous items. As such he was very careful to not take a hit in fear of it accidentally killing the little white chick
The three young Barghests, advanced and slowly surrounded the quadrio. Mimicking the actions of their predecessors. There weren't enough of them to create a full encirclement, but their prey was in no way shape or form to flee, and if they tried to flee. Well…
these Barghests wouldn't be letting them go so easily.
"Oh, my, stars," Karl the scout leader was too exasperated to make any better comment at this moment. There was no weakness to exploit with these young Barghests. And due to the absence of any wounds, they were probably just as strong as the adults that the group just faced.
Everyone was grim, minus a certain someone, whose countenance remained expressionless beneath his solid black bandana.
As the Barghests slowly approached, the gust of wind suddenly swept over every being present. And a singular feather floated down from the sky. It fluttered and swayed in the wind, alternating between a luminous red, yellow and orange.
The sun was high in the sky. There was a lot of light present, obscuring the sight of this luminescent feather.
This feather drifted away from the perimeter of the encirclement of the young Barghests.
Jeffrey knew what sort of feather this was and his eyes lit up. It was a firebird feather!
His father had told him that the feathers of a Firebird would bring great fortune. And despite not understanding what it meant, the connotations behind those words sounded amazing.
But alas, he had never managed to obtain a feather. Now was his lucky day!
Rushing towards the direction of the feather. A Barghest stood in Jeffrey's way only to be slammed across the face with a hammer followed by a sickle, drawing a stream of blood from it. The pelt of the young Barghest was tough but not tough enough! This gave the group the morale they needed.
"Hehe, I should have known that little cubs would be weaker than the adults," Although these young Barghests were unharmed and in perfect condition, there will always be a large difference between an adult and a child. This was true for all races.
As Karl rallied the other two into a defensive position, Jeffrey bolted toward the feather chased by one of the Barghests.
Nearing the feather Jeffrey let go of his hammer and lunged forward, jumping up and grabbing a hold of the feather. Yes! He had done it, now he would be able to get the great fortune that came with it!
But Jeffrey celebrated too early.
Hearing something approaching Jeffrey turned around, the Barghest still chased and charged right into Jeffrey, jaws open wide! There was no dodging this.
Impulsively moving into a defensive position, he guarded with his right hand in front. Unfortunately, it was also the hand that held the Firebird feather!
Jeffrey noticed too late, he only realised what had happened after the Barghest mauled and mutilated his precious feather.
Jeffrey stood stone still. Fully processing what happened two seconds later. Having fully processed the situation, he grabbed the jaw of the Barghest and shoved his shovel down its throat. It tried to resist, but it was nothing but a youngling. Unable to fight against his forceful attack.
After the shovel was shoved right through the Barghest did it stop moving. Jeffrey was deeply saddened by the loss of the Firebird feather. By the time he was finished having his way with the Barghest, the remnants of the feather had already scattered to the wind.
…
Walking back to the group he found that Karl and company had managed to defeat the other two young Barghests. They all sat down to recover their wounds. Many scavenger birds circled overhead of them.
"Jeffrey, you're back," Jim greeted, the impulsive scout seemed to be resting with his eyes closed as Karl replied with a nod. All of them looked worse for wear and Karl was slightly salty that Jeffrey had sustained virtually no wounds with only a couple of scuff marks.
Looking into his pockets he saw that the little white chick was a bit squished and was wriggling around in his pocket making that "Chii, chii," chirping noise.
Taking out the little white chick, Jeffrey fetched some leftover Cockerel from his rucksack, and fed himself and the little white chick. He did not share with the others, despite their envious, begging looks.