"I'll take that as a yes. Let's move toward them slowly." Josh takes a stance and starts walking forward. I look back at the girls and nod to ensure they're ready. They nod back, and we all advance forward. Josh holds his sword up in front of himself, ready to swing.
'Snap!'
Josh steps on a branch and the three monsters flip around. They spot Josh and immediately charge at him. The rustling of the underbrush combined with the chattering of the insects is overwhelming.
"AHHHHH!" Josh screams at the top of his lungs to counter. I can see his legs shaking from the tension. Before I know it, they're upon us. Two Equuinoids jump into the air to go high, with the other going low. Josh blocks the two coming from above and takes a hit from the one below on his thigh armor. He grunts from the exertion. I step to the side and spear the grounded monster, but it doesn't do any significant damage. The monster bounces off the point of my weapon and prepares to attack again. Josh pushes off both of the Equuinoids attacking from above and lands a solid hit on one of them. The insect he hit fumbles backward a bit before regaining its footing.
[Now that the three are staggered, we should be able to deal with them.]
The undamaged Equuinoid charges in without regard for timing. Josh easily strikes it and readies for the next attack. The unintelligent monsters just attack at random. We defend relatively easily for a few more rounds when suddenly, a crackling noise begins to build from my left.
"Current Wave!"
Yellow electricity flows from out of view into the Equuinoid at the back. It seizes for a moment before collapsing to the ground.
An arrow impales another one in the abdomen. We have managed to deplete their health enough that the girls' attacks are able to do serious damage. While two monsters are focused on their injuries, Josh and I gang up on the last one and kill it. The girls riddle their targets with arrows and spells until the forest quiets again.
"Is everyone okay?"
"Yes."
"We're fine." Sakura and Shinobu run up to us from the bushes.
"How's your leg, Josh?" I ask, inspecting where he was struck to search for wounds. The insect hit him right on the armor, so he looks completely unharmed.
"It's okay." Josh wiggles his leg around to show everyone that he isn't in pain.
"You were amazing, Josh!" Sakura fawns over Josh, so I walk over to Shinobu. She looks a little uncomfortable for some reason.
"Try not to let it bother you; they always act that way."
"Oh, um, okay." Shinobu looks shyly at the ground, so I change the topic.
"Good job taking out one of those Equuinoids, by the way. Your spells are really strong."
"Thanks, I've been practicing." She perks up as soon as I mention magic. I ask her a few questions, and she explains her attack to me. "So the 'Current Wave' works by changing the properties of the mana to conduct electricity and then channeling the negative charges in the environment through a thin wire of mana that extends from you to the target."
"Wouldn't it make more sense to call it 'Current String' or 'Current Tread?' It's not really a wave."
"I don't know. That's just what it's called," she says sheepishly.
"That's strange; I wonder who named the spells?"
"I'm not sure; I never asked." I twist my head around to see if Sakura and Josh have calmed down after the battle. I see them gathering the remains, so I walk over to help them.
"Way to go, you two. We really knocked it out of the park."
"What park?" Josh asks me with a quizzical expression.
"Nevermind. Sorry if I was a little overbearing with the battle plans; I wanted to make sure it went well." I want to apologize to Sakura before she gets angry again.
"I don't mind. You know a lot more about fighting and battles than we do. Plus, your plan worked out really well!"
"Oh, I thought you didn't like it when I told everyone what to do."
"I mean, I don't like it, but I especially hate that you don't have any common sense. You're always making things worse by just saying whatever you want all the time. It'd be fine if it was just you, but we're a team; your mistakes make it harder for us too." Josh stands by with his eyes wide open, unsure what to do.
[That actually makes a lot of sense. I've had people in the past criticize me for similar things.]
"That's understandable. Please correct me when I make mistakes in the future. I'll try not to get us in any more trouble."
"It's about time." Sakura folds her arms dismissively.
"Fair; now let's get these back to the den." We have an uneventful trek back to the cave. The forest has become a place of comfort for us instead of a ward of fear. We all talk lightly while Inari leads the way. In no time, we arrive at the den. "Before we take these back to town, I think there's something we need to discuss. A while back, some bandits attacked us because I was being negligent. I didn't think about the condition of our prey when I took it to market. They were able to determine that we had direct contact with the fairies based on the way the corpses were damaged. Shinobu has only attacked one, so I think we should keep that one here and sell the other two."
"Why didn't we do that to the Punctastar she attacked or the Metapardus?" Sakura brings up a valid question.
"The Punctastar is large enough that the electric attacks didn't cause any visible damage, and we claimed to have used the spell rods on the Metapardus, which is true. It would be strange if we easily dispatched two Equuinoids but had to rely upon the spell rods for the third."
"I guess…" Sakura unwillingly accepts my answer.
"Honestly, we probably shouldn't have brought those to the guild either. I just didn't think about it until now. We had this issue originally because of an Equuinoid, and I'd like not to repeat the same mistake." I check over the kids' expressions to gauge their reactions. Sakura and Josh don't seem to mind, but Shinobu looks slightly upset. I try to cheer her up. "The roasted Equuinoid can still be used to fuel the spell rods and magic lamps, so it isn't useless. When we go to the guild, we can check what else they can be used for. The only things I know about them I heard from those bandits, so it will be a good learning opportunity for us."
Shinobu smiles a bit, but I can tell she still feels bad.
"Hey, don't get down on yourself over one little monster. If you're that worried about it, we can get you a melee weapon to use when you get stronger, okay?" Constantly worrying about Shinobu is taking it out of me. She smiles a bit which I take as a win. I help Josh dissect the burnt-up insect that is left in several piles near the entrance.
"Alright, we're about to leave."
"Very well, I'll leave Woohee here to supervise."
"Bye, bye! See you when you get back!" Woohee waves us off, and we head for town. I still have some fear in the back of my mind about the Nobles coming after us, but there isn't much to do now but keep my head down. We sell what we brought back but don't find many uses for the Equuinoid corpse. I return to the den and dispose of it before it attracts any predators. The chill wind bites into my wet hands. I can feel the remains of the monster still dripping from my fingers. The dark woods loom over me as I make my way back to the den. Another day has panned out peacefully.