In the gargantuan dark forest with giant trees seemingly protruding to the heavens, the red crimson illumination of flares glowed throughout the area, giving light to the young warriors within it.
*BANG!!!* *BANG!!!* *BANG!!!* *BANG!!!*
Along with numerous gunfires flashing along with the crimson light, their echoes of resembling that of thunderclaps. One radiant light from the third son's barrel brought upon the screech of the monster.
*BANG!*
*GRREAAAAHHH!!!*
The screech of the giant monster, Akantha, brazenly echoed through the dark forest, resulting in the rustling of leaves and bushes. The recruits shooting at it from afar had to cover their ears just to resist the ear-piercing scream.
Though while the recruits stopped firing, the third son of Astarte, Dante, didn't have any intention of stopping or even delaying for a single second.
"Xandra, pin it down and make sure to shackle it into the ground."
Dante ordered with a serious tone while Xandra immediately nodded and conjured numerous giant nails, pointing them at the limbs of the Akantha. It took a second, but after their creation, Xandra didn't waste time any further and propelled them to the monster.
*TANG!* *TANG!* *TANG!*
They pierced through the Akantha's limbs, and it was now shackled onto the ground.
Seeing such a scene, Dante couldn't help but smile to himself while pointing his barrel at the remaining eye of the gigantic monster. Some might be curious as to why he wanted to blind the monster, but it primarily was because he needed to level the battlefield.
Without sight, it wouldn't be a problem for them to try many ways to kill the monster.
"You should regret causing trouble by hunting Kryftis in the dark forest."
Dante uttered with a cold tone before pulling the trigger of his rifle, resulting in an echoing clap.
*BANG!*
With the pindown Akantha and its vicinity to Dante, it would be foolish for him to miss. So as a result, the remaining eye of the Akantha exploded, and its screech got even louder than before.
*GRREEEEAAAAHHHHHHH!!!*
It was longer and louder as the ground the monster stood on started forming cracks. Many branches fell from the trees and leave dropped like water droplets.
Even Dante himself had no choice but to cover his ears, and Xandra did the same. Roshan, on the other hand, appeared to be not bothered by the scream. Which made Dante confused upon noticing it.
As Roshan had more sensitive senses than Dante, he was a bit sure that Roshan would be the one most affected by the ear-piercing scream. Though, it looks like he was wrong.
In any case, the screech of the Akantha faded as a couple of seconds passed by. It looked like it couldn't maintain its scream, but as Dante gazed at the gigantic monster. He furrowed his eyebrows, a little bit annoyed by what he was seeing.
"It's hiding in its armor as a final defense against us."
"This is annoying."
Dante muttered to himself as Xandra stopped covering her ears, slowly standing up in a light-headed manner. He looked at her and questioned.
"Are you okay?"
Xandra looked at him with curiosity, wondering what he was trying to say. She couldn't hear anything other than a long distorted ringing.
It was at this moment he realized what had happened to Xandra. He raised an eyebrow and walked to her before hugging her under his pale arms.
"You temporarily lost your hearing. I guess that was too much for you."
Dante softly mumbled while hugging Xandra. Xandra, though, was confused as to why Dante hugged her out of nowhere. It was then she realized that she had lost her hearing. The screech of the Akantha was highly ear-piercing.
Which actually made her wonder how Dante managed to go through that without damaging his eardrums.
"Oh, god! I can't hear anything!"
"Please help me. I c-can't hear myself."
"What's going on?"
"Why is my ear bleeding?"
The recruits began reacting one after another after awakening back to their senses. They were horrified to discover the loss of their hearing. Their screams kept echoing one after another, which annoyed Dante.
"All of you shut up, even if you can't hear me."
"It will take a couple of minutes for you to hear something."
"If not, you will need medical care."
Dante coldly uttered while seriously staring at them.
Noticing Dante's cold gaze, the recruits stopped themselves from screaming and calmed down. Minutes later, most of the recruits regained their hearing. Though some had serious damage to their eardrums.
"Being deaf for a short while was quite an experience."
Xandra remarked as she stretched her body. It was her first time losing her hearing, and it was a unique experience in itself. She then looked at the monster and questioned.
"Did we defeat it?"
Dante gazed upon the monster, slowly shaking his head, and calmly replied.
"It still is alive, simply hiding under its powerful defense."
"Our guns wouldn't be able to penetrate it, so it thought that it would be safe under its shell."
Hearing Dante, Xandra sighed to herself and murmured. "It still hasn't ended, huh."
"Well, we only have to do the final step, then we will finally defeat it."
Dante said with confidence, as he wasn't willing to let such a good prey of experience and biomass go. It would be too wasteful that Dante wouldn't be able to sleep for weeks if he did not kill the monster.
The recruits looked at him after hearing his words, while one of them gritted his teeth and yelled at Dante.
"What do you mean we? There's no point in risking our lives anymore. The damn monster can't even see and move from its place."
"I'm out of this crazy group."
After yelling at Dante, the recruit retreated back and headed to the second checkpoint of the marathon. Seeing him, they gulped and immediately followed. To them, there was no point in risking their lives for something that wasn't even included in the test.
Dante sighed since he understood their reasoning. He let them go as he didn't want to force anyone to stay. Some wanted to see the tomorrow of their lives. And it wasn't his right to stop them from seeing that.
But as many recruits left the area to retreat back to the second checkpoint, he noticed someone staying behind. It was none other than Xandra, the leader of the group.
His eyebrows lifted themselves as he questioned.
"Shouldn't you go with them? I'm sure you need medical checkups after that screech."
The edges of Xandra's lips rose after hearing Dante as she replied.
"While there is nothing to gain from killing the Akantha. As a daughter from a noble household, it's my duty to make sure no beasts that try to hurt me are left alive."
Her reply was somewhat cold, which made Dante smirk.
"Your words were rather cold for a daughter from a noble household, Xandra."
"But I guess you're right. A fang for a fang, an eye for an eye, those who exude hostility will meet one." Dante stated as the two of them stood before the monster.
They coldly gazed at the proud monster who formerly almost killed a group of recruits. It was hiding under its shell, only waiting to be slaughtered.
"So what do we do with you?"
Dante coldly asked.