"They formed themselves to a circle while the young man over there carcassing the beast?" Clover noticed the weird formation of the group of people they made to guard the young man at the center.
Although this formation seems to be ordinary, they just have finished a battle. So they would need to have a rest, right?
In addition, the people guarding had solemn expressions on their faces, as if someone evoked their forgotten desire, causing them to be more proactive than before.
"Should I reveal my presence now? Well, they should not mind if I appear to them."
As he was about to make his step, he noticed something that caught his interest. His gaze landed on the back of the man holding the hammer rested on his shoulder. The man was in the northern part of the circle, so his back was among all the people who belonged in the circle formation.
As his back was among them, and they also respected privacy, they didn't notice the peculiarity. Only Clover had felt it, or he thought so.
"Why was that man's aura feel so familiar? And I'm not the only one who noticed the peculiarity, huh?"
He looked towards the man who shots the black leopard in its eye before. Clover could see that the man would occasionally peek his eyes at the back of the man holding the hammer.
The man while Clover looked at him in the distance. He could tell his height, which was slightly higher than him, who had the average height of the boys. In addition, despite reaching the initial stage, the man was so skinny which made Clover feel curious about him.
One thing that Clover noticed that any mortal who has reached the Initial stage was the bulking of their muscles as if they had Gym for over a year. But the man seemed not to be affected by that side effect, as he was skinny like a person who had experienced malnutrition since birth.
"He also didn't reach the middle stage either. Since his bones seem to be frail. I only suspected him to reach the Initial stage because he could cut the skin of the black leopard before with ease," He asserted.
He continued: "Moreover, only the cultivator who has reached the initial stage have their senses enhanced. If not, how could that explain that he shot the eye of the leopard, which was faster than the sports car with one bullet?"
His claim made logical sense. The man holding the hammer also hasn't suffered from the side effect of reaching the middle stage. Like him, after entering the Middle stage, the bulking muscles he had, puffed and disappeared.
"Maybe I'm the only one who suffered from that kind of side effect." He tilted his head before he shook it.
"Let's forget about it, I should ask them later about it, then. I only came to the human settlement to gather info regarding Eleanor and Rose. I didn't come to find troubles. That's right, I did not come for that," muttered Clover while nodding his head, felt amused by what he said.
…..
In the circle formation. A man who was also guarding - the young man carcassing the beast and placing them in his leather bag - whispered in a distasteful voice.
"How could he stomach the distasteful stench of the beast? Was doing that kind of job for over a month break his mind?"
"I don't know bro. But if you put it that way, it made sense," answered the man standing beside him.
Although he was putting on a solemn expression, the stench smell of the beast could sometimes twist his expression. His lungs occasionally stopped moving, as if he was intentionally stopped his breath. He couldn't cover his nose with his hands either, anyone would follow him and that would incur the wrath of their leader.
Besides, they also noticed the change of attitude of their leader, as if his wrath was in control and sometimes he was kind to them, albeit he was too direct.
"Humph! You boys acting so sissy. Some of you have been hunters for more than a week while most of you followed the leader for over a month, yet you couldn't stand the normal stench that us facing every time we won?
Shouldn't you all feel triumph? If the disgusting smell wasn't from the beast, but one of us? Do you think that we still could have the energy to stay idle and gossip to the one who contributes to this hunt alone?" A feminine mature, mocking voice chimed in on their gossip.
After they heard her mocking voice towards them, at first they were about to argue with her statements, but then after hearing that the corpse stench may be one of them, they realized, Do they still have the leisure to gossip idly?
They would literally mourn a loss of a valuable person since that person fought for the survival of humanity. With that, the silence finally came in, and everyone on guard waited for the man to finish taking out all the valuable parts of the corpse.
"Humph. What a wimp!"
The woman didn't stop there and scoffed at the boy's behavior. Although they were a little angry, they couldn't do anything about it, the woman, first of all, was the third strongest person in their group.
Both of her hands were wrapped with brass knuckles, and if to consider the rankings in terms of hand-to-hand battles, there was a rumor that even the leader holding the hammer was defeated by her in fist fighting.
She was Eliza, rumored to be once a member of a reputed military. She also worked for a government that its country considered to be top-class in terms of military forces.
The claim that she was once a Military when she came to the Human settlement was approved by Frederick from the uniform she used. The clothing was very fitted for her, similar to the outline of the cloth of the military, and this caused her to be a renowned seductress of the human settlement.
But, when they realized her inner side personality, it was like a switch that suddenly turn off. She disdained men the most that she wouldn't even mind torturing both their body and soul when they tried to pester her. That's why men feared her despite her seductress body and face.
"Hmm?"
"Everyone! Prepare!"
All of a sudden, the man who gossip to his other member suddenly roared at the top of his lungs. He raised immediately his sub-machine gun loaded with a few bullets on his rounds. That's why he didn't fire immediately and caught the attention of his teammates.
Everyone after hearing the sudden shout didn't doubt him, and immediately position themselves with their guns raised and pointed in the direction of the shout.
"Stop!"
It was Eliza who commanded him, causing her teammates beside her to slowly lower their weapons, while their gaze never darted anywhere and wholly focused on the man who landed in the trees.
"Whoa! Whoa! There! I'm a human, you see? Don't mind these fur covered behind my backs," It was Clover who assured them that he wasn't an enemy.