"ROOOAARRR!"
They both brought their attention to the source of the sound to see a large tiger staring viciously at them.
"Hmmmm! A tiger. It's good this one didn't die," Ray said casually.
He noticed that Sylph's expression had changed. She had a slight smile on her face making her look even more beautiful, but to Ray it was also weird.
"What's with that creepy smile?"
"It's cute," she replied almost causing him to face palm.
"Cute huh?" Ray was sure that if it was two years ago she wouldn't find this animal cute. Well neither would he have acted this casual.
The tiger roared once more after deciding who it would go for first.
Ray.
It charged straight to him, but was a little confused why he wasn't trying to escape, still, it went on with its attack.
"Huh! Why me!" Ray complained.
When the tiger reached 3 meters away from him, it leaped forward while opening its 'powerful' jaws to claim its prey's life.
Without using his golden aura, he stretched his arm forward causing the tiger to bite it.
Ray looked in ridicule at the tiger who was trying its best to bite through the tough skin of its prey.
The tiger who believed that this has to be the tough part of its prey's skin quickly leaped backwards and stared at the most delicate part of most animals it had hunted which also had thick skins.
It leaped forward slashing its claws at Ray's stomach, but still, it had the same result.
The tiger was totally confused, it had never seen an animal with such a tough skin.
This 'tough skin' was actually Ray's clothes which were strong enough to withstand medium calibre bullets without receiving much damage.
It decided to change its strategy once again. If it couldn't kill its prey through biting, then it would have to suffocate it.
The tiger leaped towards Ray's face with its mouth wide open.
He quickly moved his hand grabbing the neck of the tiger. "Sorry, but I don't swing that way."
It tried to release itself from Ray's grip but all its struggle was futile.
Sylph strolled towards them before stretching her hand to stroke its furs.
"Not bad," she muttered. She had always liked animals from the cat family since she was little. She once had 4 cats, 2 panthers and a leopard. She always dreamt of having a lion or tiger.
"You want to keep it?" He asked, noticing the affection she had.
"Sadly, I can't," she sighed.
The tiger on the other hand had never felt so insulted in its entire life.
Whenever and wherever it showed up, the other animals would flee for their lives and only few could challenge it. But now it was being treated by this creatures the same way it would treat a rabbit or its cub, no….., even worse. At least a rabbit could escape on few occasions.
"We aren't allowed to kill them right?"
Sylph glared at him.
"Just asking, not like I was going to kill it." He clarified before glaring coldly into the eyes of the tiger, causing it to shiver slightly.
"Now, you would run away deep into the western part of the forest as fast as the wind can take you."
"Huh?" He had confusion written all over his face. He could swear that the tiger nodded.
He shook his head before releasing his grip on its neck and the moment the tiger's legs made contact with the ground, it scurried towards the west.
It seemed like somehow the tiger was able to understand what he had said.
He looked towards Sylph who watched the tiger run away in amusement.
"Did you notice it?" Ray asked, as Sylph's expression turned into a frown.
The tiger had some serious injuries on its body which showed that it had either come in contact with the abyssal or another strong animal, but the fact that it came from the east indicated that it is most likely the former.
It was surprising how it was able to come out alive.
They continued their journey and the deeper they got into the eastern area the less alive animals and the more dead animals they saw.
"It's worse than I thought." Sylph muttered.
"Yeah. That abyssal really did a number on them."
They could see different dead animals with blood splattered all around.
Ray wondered why wild animals loved antelopes and it seemed the love has been extended to abyssals, as antelopes had the most deaths.
He noticed Sylph's expression change when ever she saw a cat family animal dead especially when she had seen a cub leopard.
Ray believed that she now had more than one reason to kill the abyssal.
Sylph could no longer sense the abyssal which meant they were close to it so their cautiousness increased.
If the abyssal is a higher abyssal like he thinks it is, then it couldn't be taken as lightly as he did when facing the lower abyssal. If he underestimates it he would end up with minor injuries or at most, life threatening ones or maybe his life. Although he doubted that last part.
He was ready to grab his sword at any moment and although Sylph wore a poker face it was noticeable that she was a little bit more serious. As for how she really felt in the inside, only she knows that.
They walked deeper and deeper and still hadn't come across the abyssal.
"Are you sure this is the location?" Ray asked but received no response which was beginning to annoy him.
"Don't let your guard down. It's either here or had noticed us coming and changed its location." She suddenly spoke out.
Ray hoped that it was the former as the latter would end up being a headache.
They barely made a sound as they moved.
'Should she fly up and scout the area?' Ray didn't know if that was going to be a good idea. He was about to suggest it when he suddenly heard a rustling sound about 200 meters away.
A normal human wouldn't be able to pick up such a sound at such a distance, but normal they were not.
They slowly advanced to the source of the sound which they were sure wasn't an animal.
They went past some shrubs before their sight was greeted by a lupine creature which was two meters tall, had a muscular build. Instead of a single tail it had two with red glowing eyes and long powerful jaws, teeth and claws.
Noticing the arrival of the uninvited guests it turned it's gaze towards them.
If someone normally saw such a creature they would be frozen in fear or even worse, but the two uninvited guests had confusion written on their faces.
The reason for this was because the abyssal in front of them wasn't a higher abyssal, it was a lower one and as for how they knew at first glance it wasn't something that they could just explain.
It was similar to the way how we could tell the difference between a boy and a girl's face despite having the same number of eyes, ears, nose and skin colour without actual differences.
It was believed that the A-genes could detect stronger A-genes from a pure breed. Which meant that aberrants could tell the difference in strength between abyssals. The same way abyssals can do between each other.
But abyssals can't detect anything from aberrants which also means that aberrants can't tell who is stronger between each other.
The abyssal let out a mighty roar but they were both unfazed by it.
"Something's wrong," Ray frowned, and Sylph was no different.
If it was a one on one or two vs one battle then the abyssal could come out victorious, but slaughtering a group of Eta rank wasn't something a lower abyssal could achieve and he heard there was a 198 of the top 200 ranking among them.
There was no way this abyssal would be able to kill them all. Unless it had a very lethal ability which they took for granted, and he doubted that.
"Is this the abyssal you were sensing?" He asked Sylph.
"I can't say for sure. I can only differentiate between abyssals, humans including aberrants and animals."
Ray let out a sigh.
This meant that she could tell if an aberrant is present but can't tell what level or type of abyssal it is.
The abyssal was enraged as it saw the two of them chatting away in it's presence.
The reason why it hasn't gone after them was because it loved when its prey helplessly runs away before it gives chase and ends their miserable lives.
But the two creatures in front of it weren't even bothered, talk less of them running away.
After letting a certain orange and black striped creature get away, it wasn't willing to lose anymore prey no matter what.
It gave a loud terrifying roar much more greater than that of the tiger, at least that's what it thought.
"Do you like wolves? I think he's kind of cute," Ray teased as Sylph waved her hand dismissively.
Having had enough the abyssal charged at him with its 'powerful' jaws slightly open.
"You remind me of that tiger," said Ray walking towards it slowly. "The difference is, you won't be coming out alive, but one things for sure. You're both hilarious beasts."