The corpse that symbolized my victory lay burning in the fire that I had made, another piece of the puzzle for my trap.
Just luring in one beast at a time would not be efficient, and yelling would only work if one of them happened to be in earshot. While they did have sensitive ears, and their range was fairly long, their sense of smell was on another level. By burning the body of one beast, the smell of it's flesh would attract others from miles around.
It was a big gamble, but it was a necessary choice as time was sensitive and numbers were needed. Now that I was equipped with two pointy weapons, the process could be sped up. Also there was the case of my Spirit Energy getting too low in one on one battles.
Spirit Energy was discovered shortly after the first ability users appeared. It is the energy used to activate and maintain the skills of ability users. The more one uses a skill, the more Spirit Energy is taken and used to fuel that skill.
An H rank user like me does not have an abundant pool of Spirit Energy, whereas an SSS rank has nearly an endless supply. The only positive that came with being weak was that the stronger a skill is, the more Spirit Energy is needed to fuel it.
A skill like my mist ball and mist blanket only used a small amount of Spirit. If it were put in point values, I would have a pool of about fifty Spirit points, and my mist ball would cost one point per use while mist blanket would cost three. Therefore, mist ball would have fifty uses until my Spirit pool emptied, whereas mist blanket would get sixteen uses.
Spirit Energy regenerates after a user gets a good amount of rest without trying to use it. Sleep is not required to fill the reserves as just sitting still will begin to fill it. It is unclear where this energy comes from as some scientists believe that Spirit comes directly from food in the body, while others say that the energy comes from the nutrients in the Sun.
Whatever the case may be, my Spirit pool was small, meaning that my best advantages were natural strength and the element of surprise.
I returned to my branch and waited for my prey to arrive. Not long after, I began to hear combinations of growls and shrieks beyond the tree-line, I readied myself for a fight. I activated mist blanket to cover my position and waited. Suddenly, three beasts charged into the clearing and began to brawl as they moved toward the smoking corpse.
This was a good chance to let them weaken themselves and kill them when they became too tired. I did not want to let them kill each other as I had no idea if Pain had a way to tell if I had dealt the killing blow or not. This meant that I needed every single beast to die by my hand and strategy was the key to victory.
The group of beasts clawed and bit at each other, fighting for the right to eat the cooked meal in front of them. I noticed that one of them had begun to slow down and fall to the ground. The two remaining barely noticed this because they were too focused on the now one on one they were locked in.
The shorter of the two leaped into the air and spun around, swinging its tail towards the face of its opponent. The taller beast was prepared though, as it grabbed the tail with its claws, sinking them deep into the flesh. The short beast howled in a mix between pain and anger as it tried to wriggle free for the former's grasp, it was hopeless though. The taller beast yanked on the tail and pulled it backwards, it then plunged its clawed hand through the stomach of the smaller beast.
While not a fatal wound, the poor thing was in a lot of pain. I decided that it was my time to act. I again leaped from the tree, readying myself to take down the beast that was still standing. I moved swiftly, trying to maintain as much stealth as possible as I snuck up on my target who seemed occupied with feasting on my most recent victim.
Once I was close enough to the large beast, lunged and it and swung my pointed stick at the side of the beasts neck. The beast seemed to notice and attempted to duck, but it was already too late. I buried my splintered half staff into the neck of the distracted beast, knocking it down. I didn't take a moment of rest as I began stabbing it in a frenzy until it stopped moving.
No sooner had I killed the first one that I nearly had my head smashed in by a tail belonging to the beast that tired out first. I managed to roll to the side and stand up just in time to dodge another attack. I used mist blanket once again to hide myself and go on the offensive.
The beast was understandably confused as just seconds before, the area was clear of any vision impairing obstacles. I on the other hand, had already planned my attack and was in the midst of ending another life. My stick entered the neck of this beast as well as this attack was sure to end in victory.
Too tired to fight and worry about it's wound, the beast collapsed in a heap. I made quick work of it and the one that had been injured, extracting the cores and placing all three bodies into the fire.
Checking on my time, I realized that I had collected four beast cores in only half an hour. If I kept this kind of momentum, then my success was all but won.
I was pulled away from my thoughts as I could hear another group heading toward the temptation of my trap. I smiled in anticipation, Pain would be proud.