"good, let's move everyone. we will work on our formation as we move. Just like that they were off on their first mission. Damon had summoned Javalin and she was now in his cloak's beast storage.
Damon had been punished for being a few minutes late by having to watch their rear the entire trip. it didn't bother him really. walking in the back was hardly a real punishment to him.
they had just reached the area where him and jack were hunting and where sir Hughes called for them to return. the forest was loaded with bushes and tall grass along the forest floor. the trees were thin but there were many of them side by side. the bark on the trees were a dirty white and unlike regular tree bark it looked like skin. Damon was walking with oculus active the entire time especially since it was still dark.
he could see everything perfectly without a problem. many small beasts were in the trees watching them. around twenty yellow glowing eyes would appear and disappear high above. he made sure to inform his squad of this as they continued to move.
Vora was pushing them at a very fast pace. she had been given a tablet and with it she could map out their direction and had already selected their destination. the route they were taking would get them there a few hours early.
Damon soon noticed more eyes and began to zoom in seeing their body heat.
"we are being surrounded slowly on the ground and in the air. Damon said calling for everyone to stop as he walked to the front to inform vora. yes I already know, these beasts are simply curious that's all. they will not attack. I can sense their fear so let's keep moving." she said confidently.
vora eyes had changed as well. she was looking through her beast eyes the whole time and had seen everything Damon was talking about but she also sensed the beasts feared them and believed they were just curious.
That was until multiple whistling sounds could be heard in the air coming from up ahead straight towards them. Damon eyes zoomed in on the direction of the sound. it was barely visible because of the distance and how small it was along with the darkness surrounding them but thanks to oculus he saw many thin sharp objects cutting through the air.
Before he could say anything Vora's hand began glowing just before swiping it sideways. a small amount of her explosive aura left her fingertips in a wave colliding with the projectiles destroying them.
"you two, guard our right side and you two pay attention to our left side. kimbo you be our rotator switch from each angle every few seconds and I will watch the rear Damon said loudly. they were currently walking in a one to one and two to two formation with kimbo being the man that focused on all sides putting a pair of extra eyes on all angles just in case any of them missed something.
light rain surrounded them as Damon flexed his fingers. Javalin tried to come out but Damon nudged her back in. "these are small fries girl I can deal." he whispered to her. Damon focused on his rain pushing it out with cloud control. he could tell his training with monsoon helped greatly. it felt as if he didn't use the system to activate it but just with a simple thought. unfortunately that wasn't the case.
"vora, continue to move ahead, if anything gets in my rain I'll know about. right now we are clear at least 30 meters ahead." Damon said in which vora looked at him for a few seconds before giving him a head nod. they began to pick up speed as Damon constantly moved his rain around them and ahead making it affect everything it touched except for them.
multiple whistling sounds were heard again in the distance and grew louder and louder. "Back side and right side. Damon yelled while a web of electricity shot from his fingers. it crackled and popped as it came in contact with the same objects as before.
kimbo generated a rock wall protecting the right side. they bounced off and hit the ground. as he removed the wall he picked up one of the objects which looked like a sharp piece of bone. it was hard and sharp to the touch. he quickly realized he knew what type of beasts were attacking them.
"Bone Bats squad leader, it's Bone Bats that's attacking us. what the hell are those. she asked. it's a winged beast that only hunts at night and they come in waves and by the hundreds at times. we must take shelter. we can't handle such a number if it comes to that. they haven't even shown themselves yet. their just testing how difficult we would be to catch." kimbo yelled.
hearing this Damon smiled. "they think they haven't shown themselves. He said to himself. a few of them got much closer after Damon's attack and with oculus still active he could finally see a couple of them hiding high in the trees behind thick branches. they had long 6 foot wings and were around 3 feet tall. they weren't very wide or anything but their features were interesting. it's face was flat with a small nose. the top of its head was oddly long and part of its skull protruded out at the top making it like they had been bashed one to many times in the head with a hammer.
the bone Bats flapped its wings releasing the same sharp bones again but this time from every direction. Damon called out the attack and everyone successfully stopped them. "that's it come closer all of you he thought watching more come out after each attack.
their squad kept moving and never stopped. the bone bats were taking their time easing in bit by bit. Damon knew this and kept everyone updated as they moved.
vora had been using her keen hearing in smell to decipher a lot of what was going on behind her if minutes passed without an update from Damon. . her main focus was keeping her eyes ahead of them and on the tablet making sure they were headed the correct way.
Damon was waiting for more to get within his rain. so far a little more than ten had been on their backside waiting for an opportunity and in his range of rain.
"ah whatever, I guess you few are going to have to do. you're levels are not too high so this should stop you. suddenly small florescent blue sparks of light began coming down everywhere. "What is this, Damon is that you. vora asked in which he confirmed.
all of their mouths were slightly open except vora. the blue electrical charged drops of rain was beautiful within the darkness surrounding them. it partially lit up the area. he was using a very light rain so it didn't come down heavy.
the bone bats immediately knew it was dangerous as they tried to fly off but the ones that were already in his radius were too late. the static rain shocked them locking up their muscles. they feel out the sky and from trees hitting the ground paralyzed. "hmph, for mid matured beasts I would have thought you bunch would be smarter. Damon said to himself with a smile.
"it's fine, I can keep this up for a while. or at least until we get out of their territory. vora, if you want to keep going we can. I don't think it's any shelter nearby anyway so this is probably our best move. Damon shouted out.
vora again agreed with him with a simple nod. "hmph, he makes a decent second in command after all and his ability can cover a good distance like I've heard. she thought.
"Everyone, keep up she's speeding up." Damon yelled. vora began running and so did everyone else. Damon intentionally stayed behind everyone while his rain followed as well. after ten minutes of running and no more attacks were made upon them as she slowly reduced her speed into a fast on guard walk.
Day break could be seen a little as the sky became lighter. they had reached a swampy area just before sunrise. They took a short fifteen minute break and Damon's power was deactivated.
Tara which was another female mongrel and blane a soul master was tasked to search the area within a mile radius of them to scan the terrain. Damon sat down with his back up against a tree. he was sitting at the edge of the swampy area when he saw ripples in the water.
using oculus he searched for body heat within the water and saw nothing but he felt he was being watched. "I can't see you, but I know you're there." Javalin, he called out. Javalin crawled out from under him. "are we being watched. Javalin shook her head up and down. vora was near and watching the water as well while they waited for Tara and blain to return. kimbo had set up a twelve by twelve rock wall behind them with only one entry way besides the swamp side.
Damon gave Javalin a nod and she dived in the water. A minute later a small area began to bubble and get hot. seconds later Javalin emerged with a slimy looking creature. it took her some time to pull its body out the swamp. the creature was long and yellow with dark brown spots all different sizes. it's face looked like a bullfrog while it's body resembled a fish with no fins. it has small webbed feet and was around five foot long and 3 feet wide.
using inspect information popped in his view.
{pollywog swamp frog, mid mature beast}
{Ability -poison gland.}
a poisonous amphibian meat eater that swallows and stores leftover meals in its throat sack. the pollywog skin is elastic and can be used for many things. this creature will lay and wait in muddy waters for its prey. its eyes can be used as medicine for vision enhancement for a short period of time.
reading the information Damon wondered if it was widely known for its skin and eye usages and thought it could be useful. vora walked over seeing the whole thing but instead of being interested in the creature her eyes were glued on Javalin.