"Tell me something, why would.... well..... on this God-given Earth, would a bird take a bath, huh?"
"Well, you should be asking them, not me. I am just telling you that birds do bath. I saw one where I used to stay."
Nolamine said. They were running in the forest and he was arguing with Langa. No one would tell you how they ended up talking about birds taking a bath.
"Was it cursed? It must have been cursed, cause I have never seen one. Well, if it could do that, then why don't it start wiping its ass too, so to make things interesting..."
"Hey, hey, hey, I saw what I saw. There was a pool of water while I was walking to school and there it was. In the water, bathing and shaking its feathers."
"Awe Nature, Mother of Sanity, please strike down that bird wherever it is right now! It might have been possessed and shaking its filth everywhere. "
Langa said looking at the sky, clearly concerned.
"Why, why in all that is peaceful and euphoric would Fourth torture me with partnering me with you two? Are you two sane? Talking about a bird taking a bath... A bird taking a bath?! While we are on the hunt for a Black Crobal in the middle of the Dark Forest of Lament."
Analka protested, as they had been on about nothing since they entered the forest. It was dark and ashy, the trees still barring leaves but looking black and sickly. Black goo would ooze out in some of them, forming pools of the goo here and there, with it producing bubbles like it was starting to boil and teaming.
Dark Forest of Lament, its native name was 'Khalile', meaning cry, as anyone who found themselves there would perish, leaving behind those who would cry and lament them.
"This is where most of the beasts live. They made this place their own long ago. You mostly find small or newly turned beasts in the other parts of the forest but they will eventually end up here. This is where their food is, after all."
Langa said, now serious. He had let his conversation with Nolamine get out of hand and now he was trying to act cool to Analka.
"What is their food?"
Nolamine asked.
"Other beasts, of course. After they turn, it is the only thing they eat, with humans being their main delicacy."
He said, trying to scare him, but Nolamine was not fazed. Killing beasts was now something he was getting used to. Humans were a different story.
"Nolamine, our masters asked us to let you lead the hunt once we have located the Black Crobal. We shall be your support. Feel free to ask for help, as one of us would have trouble taking on one by themselves. That is why we usually travel in threes, just in case other beats try to interfere and take our prey or pare up to try and eat us."
Nolamine nodded.
They ran to a clearing where they knew most of them would be seen now and then by other hunting groups. It took them about an hour of continuous running to get there. They would see some beasts at a distance from time to time but Analka seemed to sense them together with Langa and they would avoid them, not wanting to waste time on them.
"There it is.
Analka said, kneeling down behind a dark boulder so as to hide. Langa was happy that they would not need to look for it all day long. It was in a clearing, basking in the sun. Not that far from it was a spring with clear water, something that seemed out of place in a place like that.
Nolamine observed the place as he noticed a hill about three hundred meters away from where they were. Something told him that he should be cautious during his first-ever hunt.
He looked at the Black Crobal and it was massive. He did not want to fight another snake, but that was what it basically was. A black snake, as big as a fridge and about twelve meters long. It looked like it could swallow all three of them in one go.
There were other beasts that were flying around it, as they circled it without landing on it. They had told him about them and they called them Crobats. They lived off of it as they would suck the blood from the fist-sized ticks that sucked its blood. There were four of them.
They were bat-like beasts that saw using their eyes and eagle-like claws. They would suck the Black Crobal's blood from the ticks, which would in turn also suck the blood from the Black Crobal. It was dangerous to hunt, but by hunting it you got to kill three beasts that live off of each other. The two names were similar because of that.
The only saving grace for Nolamine was that they were the first beasts that he was going to fight that had no human features whatsoever.
After checking that there were no other beasts around that would try and join the fight, Nolamine gave the two a node and came out from behind the boulder and dashed in.
His feet were quick and so fast that in seconds he was in attacking distance. His feet were now so light that he was like a gentle breeze sweeping through the open field as he ran, his strides so powerful, leaping him forward like a male lion chasing its prey.
In an instant, two Crobats were down. Their heads fell on the ground, decapitated from their bodies, and them still flapping their wings as they fell down thereafter.
Nolamine had leaped through the air when he was close to them. He had picked the two closest to each other for his first attack. Fourth had still not taken back the dagger he had been training with and now he was holding both his mother's dagger and Fourth's.
He felt the difference in quality when chopping the two beasts' heads off, but that was the least of his worries, as the Black Crobal had woken up and was looking at him like it had seen gold.
It towed over him as it slithered backward while on guard, looking at his right hand, which was carrying his mother's dagger.
'So, they do get smarter when they turn from animal to beast.'
Nolamine thought as he dashed forward without fear.
It hissed at him, showing him its fangs as it rose from the ground, looking like a massive cobra. He noticed that its underbelly was plated with armored scales that looked tough, protecting what should have been the weaker part of its body, its underbelly.
"Waaaaaahhhhhhh...."
Sound, kin to a siren sounded out, so irritating and disorienting that even the Black Crobal banged its head onto the ground and lashed its tail around trying to make it stop.
It was from the two Crobats that were left. They had both gone on the attack after seeing two of their own now dead and sprawled on the ground. It was also the reason why Nolamine had gone for them first rather than trying to get the first hit on the Black Crobal while it had not noticed him.
The Crobats siren attack only lasted seconds. They had dropped down on the ground with a dagger in each of their heads.
The throwing technique that had only irritated the Sepcapto in the parking lot had landed on its target perfectly this time around.
Mi-sun had been making him train the technique every day after his training sessions whether he was tired or not. The hard work had paid off.
The problem with such a technique was that he had now thrown his only weapons away. But, the sirens had given him an advantage as he was not affected by the attack, only fueling his irritation and thus lighting the runes in his eyes, making him more powerful.
The Black Crobal stopped thrashing about and looked for him to see what it thought was its prey was doing after losing sight of him for a second. In the time it took it to locate where he was, he had made it to the closest Crobat and had taken the dagger out of its forehead.
The Black Crobal slithered about as it hissed and moved forward, raring for a showdown. It had no reason to be concerned, for the dagger that even it knew was dangerous, as its instincts told it to stay away from was no longer in Nolamine's hands.
He had Fourth's dagger as the other Crobat was meters away from him. He looked at the Black Crobal straight in its eyes as he prepared for a one-on-one battle that would test his new strength and polished movements.