Chereads / Havok, Lunatic of the Darkness / Chapter 24 - Chapter 24 - Observing the falcon

Chapter 24 - Chapter 24 - Observing the falcon

Havok woke up the next morning and ate the rest of the meat from the legs, leaving only the chopped-up meat from the abdomen in the cabinet. He took the cougar pelt that had been hanging on the wall. He put it on along with the pants from the elk that had taken some damage with all of the fighting he's done, but they were still wearable for the time being as they were the only bottoms that he had. Havok got all of his weapons and his backpack and headed out to observe the falcon.

Havok jumped from tree to tree as he searched for the falcon's nest. He knew that it would be somewhere up high, and trees were the best option for that. He spent hours searching and still came up empty, he was slightly aggravated that it was taking this long. It was then that he heard something that made him smile.

Caw! Caw!

Although he couldn't see the falcon, he tracked its location by the sounds it was making, and it should be the only mana beast in the sky as this was its land and it would not allow another to threaten its rule. Havok activated 'Darkness Dash' and made his way over to where he heard the falcon, constantly checking the sky trying to find it.

"Where the hell is this damn bird? Hmmm. Hahaha! I found you." Havok caught a quick glimpse of the falcon diving to the ground and grabbing its food. He got close enough to track the falcon without being caught. He did this for the whole day and continued to track it until it went back to its nest. Its nest was located on the top of the tallest tree in its region and looked over its domain like a ruler should.

Havok watched from a distance as he climbed up a tree that had a clear view of the falcon's nest. Havok got comfortable as he sat down on a branch and leaned back against the tree trunk just observing the falcons' habits.

Whenever the falcon slept, so did Havok. The falcon went to hunt two times throughout the night and Havok trailed it. The main reason he was scouting the rulers now was so that he would not get blindsided when he came to kill them. He had yet to see the falcon actually fight yet, it just swooped down and snatched up its prey without any resistance.

After another day of following the falcon Havok was ready to go back to his cave and get some proper rest, but he decided to stay through this night and return home in the morning. His decision paid off because a challenger came to the falcon's territory. However, the falcon was preoccupied in its nest and didn't seem to notice. Havok recognized the mana beast, it was a bobcat that he saw when he was scoping out the inner region.

It had bright red eyes and light brown fur with black spots. Its height was about up to Havok's chest, and it currently was carrying a fox in its mouth. The fox seemed to be alive, it was just unable to move. The bobcat carried the fox over to where the falcon likes to hunt, which was not far from its nest, which is why Havok could see it despite being a good distance away. Also, all of his senses became slightly enhanced when it was dark. Havok had a decent guess about what the bobcat was doing.

The bobcat chomped down on the fox's neck killing it and leaving it next to a grouping of bushes where it went to hide and wait for the falcon to come get a free meal. The falcon seemed to smell the blood and flew over, however, it didn't scoop up its free meal right away. It was vigilant and circled the area a few times, trying to see if there were any other beasts around.

The fox was stronger than the prey the falcon usually hunted which was why it made such good bait, there was practically no way that it would not eat a free meal. Havok watched and was surprised by the level of intelligence the bobcat was displaying. He knew that mana beasts were not stupid, but this was above what he expected, it clearly had a plan and was executing it flawlessly up to this point. "It did good to get this far, now let's see if it can finish the job. Hopefully it has the strength to match its wits."

The bobcat was well hidden in the bushes next to the fox and the falcon clearly didn't see it because it dove down with tremendous speed and right when its talons grabbed the fox, the bobcat made its move. The bobcat leapt out of the bushes and swung its paw at the head of the falcon. Clearly it wanted to kill it as quickly as possible. The falcon didn't get to be the ruler of the southern region through luck. Right when the attack was about to land the falcon swung one of its wings to block the attack.

Boom!

The two animals were blasted several feet apart. A few feathers were ripped from the falcon's wing and blood was dripping on the ground. The bobcat didn't suffer any damage. However, the attack didn't land properly, and it was clearly angered.

The falcon moved faster than Havok could, unless he used a tremendous amount of his mana with 'Darkness Dash', which would not be a smart thing to do in the middle of a fight.

"Damn, its speed is going to be the first thing I need to find a way to neutralize. Its reaction time was good. The bobcat missed its opportunity to end this quickly and it didn't do enough damage to slow down the falcon. This will be wrapped up rather quickly."

Caw! Caw!

Rawr! Rawr!

As they stared at each other, the falcon seemed to be infuriated, as if it was ridiculous that this weakling would dare to trespass in its territory and then attack it. The bobcat was just pissed that its plan was foiled.

A few seconds later the falcon flew into the air and flapped its wings in the direction of the bobcat releasing a gust of wind that landed on the ground and sliced it apart.

Shuu. Bang!

"Its affinity is wind!" Havok knew that the bobcat would die because it clearly didn't have an affinity.

The bobcat was not idle. It was sprinting around dodging the falcons' attacks using trees to obscure the falcon's vision. The falcon didn't seem to give a shit as it just kept attacking. Everywhere the bobcat went the falcons attack followed it like a shadow and destroyed everything in its way, trees were blown apart along with any beasts that were stupid enough to not leave the area when they heard the falcon coming their way.

Shuu. Bang! Shuu. Bang!

Havok trailed them from a decent distance making sure to not catch the attention of the enraged falcon. The bobcat continued to run around as it was unable to counterattack because the falcons' attacks were relentless. Also, the falcon had the advantage of flight which was not something the bobcat could overcome.

The bobcat was beginning to slow down, and the falcons attack finally connected.

Shuu! Bang!

The bobcat was blasted away, and blood painted the ground all the way to where it landed 20ft away in a miserable state. The attack left several deep slashes all over its body. One of its legs was completely severed while the others were still attached to its body. The cougar would not be able to move with how much damage it took.

Rawr!

The bobcat unleashed a roar out of anger at failing to kill the falcon and the falcon wasted no time and sped towards the bobcat. The last thing the bobcat saw was the falcon's talons swiping towards its neck, cutting its head off as blood splattered all over the ground.

Caw! Caw! Caw!

The falcon called out as it stood over the dead body of the bobcat. It seemed to be letting any mana beast in the area whose territory this is and this is what would happen if any of them tried to fight it. The falcon left the bobcat's head there and grabbed its body and flew off towards its nest.

Havok finally got to see the falcon fight even though it was a one-sided fight he saw what he needed, so he headed back home to rest because though he got some sleep over the past few days it was not enough to offset the mental exhaustion of staying vigilant around the falcon.

"Finally, home. Ugh! I smell like ass, a few days without a shower should not be something I do regularly. I need to take a bath then head to bed. Killing that falcon is going to be a pain in the ass. I will create a plan after I visit the other 3 rulers." Havok quickly rinsed off and slid in the bathtub. After a while he got out and dried off with the cougar pelt, then went to bed.