The next morning before even the sun rises, Hero was awaken by something. A faint rustling sound, followed by footsteps. That was approaching, closer and closer. Through the walls of the tent, he could see light, coming closer, it was flickering, it was no lantern, it's a torch. He was in a blur state due to last night but his instinct tells him to reach for his saber. Something is outside, and no matter who or what it is, he has to be prepared for it.
"Hey look there is a campfire and some tents there."
It was a men. And according to the sound, it's quite young.
"Yeah, let's check it out. The charcoal is still sizzling, someone has been here before."
Two of them. Great.
"Who are you guys?"
Hero turn around and through the tent wall he could see a figure emerging out from the tent beside his. Its Norman, he is out for the day.
"Nice question, but first who are you?" He questioned back.
"We are, uh soldiers from the plains?" One of them answered. "Yeah, we are scouting around our base for suspicious, erm, illagers." Another one added. "Are you an illager?" Upon hearing this, Hero put his sword back to his case and lift up the curtains of the tent before heading out. "I guess we have some miscommunications out here." He said as he stood in between the two. "We are adventurers, and we decided to head towards the plains to settle down."
"Oh, adventurer. That's fine then." One of them answered. "Fancy for us to settle down and rest a bit?" "Sure." Hero took out his flint and stone to lighten up the campfire and together they sat beside the campfire, munching on baked potatoes shared by the trio.
While dining, Hero take a good clear look at the duo. They almost look identical, as if they were twins, or maybe they really are. They are short, small, but undeniably well built. They have silky dark hair. Their eyes were small, almost as if they were squeezing their eyes. They wore the same golden brown shorts, iron boots with bronze shoulder platting that looks identical to a tiger's head. They wore the same shirt, but one is red and another is blue. Besides their shirt color, and strangely as a soldier, they didn't seem to carry any choice of weapon. No sword no shield and barely any armor. But from these two, Hero senses something, telling him that they are the one that he didn't wanted to mess around with.
"Oh looks like we've got guests." Rose let out a yawn as she walk out of her tent, followed by Brine. Looks like they've been awoken by all the commotion. "This is…." One of them asked. "Rose and Brine. They are with us." Hero explained to them. "Nice to meet you." They greeted. "What's your name again?" Norman cut in.
"My name is James his name is Andy." They boy in red shirt replied. "I know a man name James before." Hero said suspiciously. "This is really a small world ain't it?" Andy let out a chuckle to hide his nervousness before James cut in "We are twins." "Oh twins, nice." Brine exclaimed. "So are you guys heading to the plains too?" "Yeah." They nodded together. "Just back from our, um, weekly patrol." Andy say. "How about we tag along with you? You seem to know the route better than us." Hero asked as he threw away what's left of his baked potato.
"Um…." James turn his head around hesitantly but Andy snapped his answer before his twin could decide. "We can, of course." "Great!" Hero snap his finger and stood up before heading to his tent. "We shall move shortly after. Won't be long." The rest also finish their share and proceed to tidy and pack up their belongings. "You idiot! We didn't even know these guys! Why do we wanted to tag along with them! We got a mission to do!" James pulled Andy to the corner of the camp and whispered angrily. "Relax, they got a map. It's a safer bet. As long as we keep hidden, no one will suspect a thing." Andy rolled his eyes. Just when James was about to say something Hero's shout interrupted them. "Are you guys following?"
"Yeah! Coming!" Andy shouted back before giving James a trust me sign and the duo headed back to the camp. Together the gang traverse again across the maze like jungle, with danger coming from every corner. As they dwell deeper, more and more unpleasant surprise came on. As if human eating plants and flesh hungry tigers weren't bad enough, they met with something even worse. The king of the jungles, the lord of the skies.
"Guys, I heard something." Brine's over human senses detected something. She heard something was approaching, circling above them. A huge flapping sound, telling her that whatever this thing is, it is no good news. It is no bird. Just then, they heard a loud shriek as all of them lift their heads up. "Khaaaa!!" A huge dragon like beast was dive bombing towards them, spitting green slime substance towards them, in which they barely dodged it by hiding beneath one of the thick jungle woods. The acid missed them and spat onto one of the trees, the area immediately melt like butter, letting a sizzling sound as the trunk snaps and the tree fell down with a thump. "Yikes." Rose exclaimed, even she didn't dare to take a chance tanking an acid like that. "It's the Naga!" "The what?" Norman asked, but before she could answer, the tree behind them exploded as the beast tears through the wood like a paper shredder, twirling his way like a drill. "Duck!" Hero screamed and the rest jump out from the falling tree before each seeking for cover.
Rose hid herself at the back of a stone as she tries to catch her breath. The Naga was still circling above them, waiting for any sudden movement and seizing the perfect moment to strike. "Damn it." Rose cursed, she have learn about Naga before, a hostile green dragon usually common in the jungle. Heavily armored but agile, small but dangerous, this beast has made the phrase "better things come in smaller package" into another level. It spits corrosive venom that would disintegrate any matter within seconds and its claws as well as jaws pack quite a punch, able to snap even the toughest wood into half, like a twig. Facing this perfectly designed killer machine, was almost an immediate death sentence.
"That's a Naga right?" Andy panted as he and James hid behind the fallen tree. Andy was about to step out and fight it but was stop by James as he pull him back. "We can't fight this thing." He say. "Why?" "It's not our type. We would be kill for sure, wait for the others. Besides we also needed to research their moves for a while in case things got sticky." Andy nodded and together they hid behind the tree to spectate the whole fight.
Hero took out his saber. From what he have done towards the tree, he didn't dare to stand a one over one fight with the Naga. All he could thing is to outsmart this beast, or maybe escape, as this is the kind of fight that is avoidable. But the beast was relentless, as it kept circling above them, rushing out and trying to outrun this thing is a real bad plan, since it is able to keep up with them without any problem with this kind of speed.
It seems a bloodshed in this jungle is unavoidable.
Hero pick up a rock the size of a palm, he has fought monsters with this kind of agility before and distraction would work pretty well for it. He turn around towards Brine and Norman beside them and signal them about his plan. They nodded and took out their weapons, Norman quietly dug his banner into the ground and conjure a spell to give them extra protection in case all things go downhill. After exchanging signs, Hero finally gather enough courage and throw the stone towards one of the tree beside them.
The stone strike pass the leave and create a rustle as the twigs and branches in it snap off. The Naga let out another shriek and dash towards the tree. Hero leap out from his hiding spot and slash his saber towards the dragon while Brine fires a barrage of arrows towards it. The Naga seem to have notice the trap though, it twist its body like a pretzel before let out a spin like a tornado. Deflecting the incoming arrow and knock Hero back as he slams into a tree. Hero lets out a groan but before he could react, the Naga pounces on him, if it was not for his shield, his claws would've shred him up in not time. Hero try to keep his shield up barely blocking off the acid spat towards him, but it leave a huge hole in the middle of his shield. The Naga saw the window and was about to spat another round but Hero was ahead of him. He bash the beast with the remaining of his shield, causing both of them to fell as Hero draws his saber midair and with one swift thrust, the beast was gone.
"Niceee~" Rose emerge out from her hiding ground and began to collect what's left from the Naga. From what she know, the beast is extremely valuable when it comes to potion, even one fang would cost at least ten emeralds. Hero pulled his saber out from the beast's head and wipe it with a cloth before putting it back to his case. The beast was strong, but not much of a problem for him, since he have face demons ten time nastier than this. Norman on the other hand was busy crafting and repairing, they needed those weapon, who knew what danger lies in front of them?
"They are not bad." Adam and James who have been spectating the whole match spoke.
"But still far too weak in front of our strength." Although Hero and the team have the cooperation, weapon, combination, experience and wisdom to take out all almost everyone easily, but not these two. These are the elite warriors, born to train, train to kill, kill to serve.
They stood no chance against them.