"Uh, are babies supposed to grow like that?" Arila nervously asked.
She was weirded out to say at least, as the circumstances deemed it so. These past couple of days had been odd, and things didn't really stop there!
These demons were nearly twice the size now, for example, at least in comparison to their first days of life. Gustav didn't exactly know how old they were, but these changes were still drastic.
What happened in that space-ship while he was asleep, remained a mystery. The lack of such information, made it even more difficult to ponder things over now!
Rapid bodily growth was absurd, and nature didn't usually work like that unless the species in question, was destined to be huge.
This raised other questions that Gustav couldn't wrap his head around. Mole-like creatures weren't supposed to be gigantic, rather, they're supposed to be more like little rats instead; Although they don't belong to that family of animals.
"If they grow more, we're gonna have to name them as demonic bears... Oh, we'll need a lot of meat, sheep." Gustav joked, but in actuality he was spooked.
As he sat idly by for example, all that meat was gone, the whole thirty kilos! Everything had been devoured under just a few minutes, which further encouraged the aforementioned theory; Food helped them grow rapidly!
Scared that they'd absurdly get hungry again, he nervously added. "Let's get to work then, we gotta earn more meat for you little bastards. All that sheep meat that you love, haha!"
He was a bit scared, but slowly became enthusiastic as well. Their bigger size could equal to more ores. If they dug up a second pile before the mid-day sun arose, it would be considered nothing less than a blessing!
In related aspects, their efficiency wasn't yet fully grasped. If these demons weren't ordered to stop and relax, for example, the resulting amount of ore they could dig up, was absolutely unpredictable!
Gustav wanted to test these metrics, which was why he encouraged. "Kids, we need as much ore as possible. Do your best now, and quit working when you get tired. I need to know how much y'all can work, so we can make a better plan for later."
He didn't know how much they understood, but he still made sure to deliver the message, by flapping his arms around as well.
"Work until you're hungry again," The mammoth rephrased, and rubbed his belly for detail's sake.
The rest of the team caught up, from the looks of it; They beamed towards the flat-lands, right after. These demons truly seemed like bear-cubs now, Gustav was stunned by their size once again!
"Man, we really can't let them get hungry. I'll try not to piss them off." He expressed, and tried to embrace the recent structuring motive.
"They won't get hungry, and erg, I'll stay away too. When they dig out a hundred ores, I'll go meet those farmers again. We'll have more meat in no time." Arila added, as they slowly walked out of the village.
Gustav chuckled to that little plan, and he felt a bit pampered. Sure he understood that the lady was a bit terrified, as she didn't want to be eaten; But her hospitality was still golden, and pure hearted.
All that fun they had last night, couldn't be the main motivator. She was just a very helpful person, and he wanted to return the favour.
"Hey uh, thanks for all the help. After we handle all this crap, maybe you and I could hunt some humans together or something." Gustav proposed.
They kept track of the demons in the meantime, based on the claw-prints they left behind. Their big claws had sown a line across the grassy-field, so it wasn't difficult to follow them; Likewise it wasn't necessary to hurry.
Anyway, that recent offer didn't make much sense alone, and the silence it caused was a strong indicator.
For that matter, he also had to add. "Dunno if you work all day, but if I can keep my head around here for long enough, then maybe we should work together or something?"
Arila didn't immediately answer to that either, but this time around she was seemingly happy about the offer. She considered it as a motive to spend more time together, which was half true.
Gustav had an aforementioned motive, he wanted to spoil this lady with riches, for gratitude's sake. Apart from that, Arila was very useful so it was worth it to keep her around.
"We'll see about that. I do love my job, so it's hard to pick between it and you." She said, embracing honesty.
It was pointless to bug her about it after that, as Gustav was going to reward her regardless. They had other matters to attend to now, the demons demanded a cautious approach.
They've crawled far out of sight, and the small hills here helped them escape any common point of view. He still didn't plan to rush though, for recovery's sake.
Arila still supported his every step, and they could make use out of a slower pace as well. The loot they scavenged from those dead aliens, proved to be a decent way to waste some time.
"How can I shoot with this thing?" She asked, and played around with the tube that shot out light-rays.
"Dunno, but you should probably be careful with that. It almost blew my snout off, I can still feel the burn." Gustav warned.
The sun's heat slowly weighed him down as well. Since he wasn't over-worked at the moment however, it was easy to endure the heat; He even had enough energy, to attentively fiddle with the loot!
"Hmm... why do they keep these anyway? No swords, no hammers, it couldn't be a strap on." Gustav experimented.
The dark utility belts were blandly shaped, with some additive lines of green. Boring at best, but he hoped to find something useful out of these.
"This shit has thorns too," He grunted, and recalled the blaster's features.
Mammoth's had tough, rugged hands though. So with little effort, he pressed down on the portions which looked like long-thorns, and felt a small click afterwards.
Gustav didn't think much of it, but he was wrong to be so careless. Something tough filled his hand, and quickly expanded into a tube-like item, much like that blaster which they already found.
"Ah... so that's where they stash them?" He lightly celebrated, as this was a pretty dangerous weapon.
Their use was still an enigma though, as he was yet to figure them out. If luck was by their side, they hoped to not use them for a while either!
These foreign technologies were scary, but would surely become a necessity soon enough. Advanced enemies could only be fought with advanced weapons!