Mikhail looked at the azure lizard silently sitting on his shoulder as he continued his trek north into the wilds.
He had just crossed a hill with a lone tree at its peak not too long ago.
If he turned around now, he wouldn't be able to see the tribe anymore.
"It's been thirty minutes… I should start running into some burrowing beasts soon for you to hunt."
The lizard had turned its attention to him, but it only looked at him blankly. It couldn't understand humans, after all. Not yet, anyway.
Mikhail turned his attention away from the young lizard and looked out onto the sprawling plains, seeing a couple of Anzus in the distance. They were one of the stronger beasts in the area, so letting Sharyl try to hunt them wouldn't end well.
And he wasn't in the best shape, having just finished his training.
He squinted, focusing harder on the terrain before him.
'Come on, come on…. There's gotta be something towards the beginning of the list that I can put Sharyl up against.'
His gaze swept from left to right as he searched in earnest, until he spotted some movement amongst the tall grass. His focus honed in on the movement, and that's when he found exactly what he was looking for.
It was a reptile, its body covered in pale-yellow and brown scales. With a continuous row of black spikes that went from the back of its head to the tip of its tail. It was a bipedal beast that stood up to about Mikhail's knee.
A strong beast. But not one that was too strong for Sharyl to handle. Something Sharyl would have difficulties killing, but not something that could kill it. At least, he didn't think the Oryctodromeus would be able to kill Sharyl…
But that's why he had borrowed a spear from the weapon shed in the training area. His eyes drifted to the wooden token tied around the pole just under the spearhead.
[Legal Use]
Atticus had tied it to the spear so that he wouldn't get stopped by the Peacekeepers.
'Well, Sharyl might have difficulties with them, but my presence will probably cause them to run off. And even if they don't, they'll become food for the two of us.'
Mikhail continued his trek, moving silently as he duck-walked, his head just barely peeking out of the cover of grass from time to time so he could keep track of Sharyl's soon to be food.
Eventually, they got close enough that Mikhail would've been spotted had it not been for the brown armor helping obscure his presence.
He silently pointed to Sharyl, and then the beast. He made a clawing motion, trying to convey that Sharyl should go attack him.
It took a few tries, but eventually, Sharyl scuttled off of Mikhail and made his way over to the beast that was twice as big as he was.
Sharyl looked up at the beast that was casually chewing berries off of a bush, and bared its claws.
Merry had taught it how to hunt, but today was the first time it would hunt on its own. Against a far larger beast, no less. But it trusted Mikhail. Sharyl had seen the large human fighting, and it knew that if worse came to worse, he would be fine.
Thus, with a burst of wind, it shot out of the cover of the grass.
WOOSH!
The Oryctodromeus immediately turned to face the source of rushing wind, ripping a few branches out of the bush. It threatened to get in the way of Sharyl's target, but it nimbly landed on the branch, scuttling across its three different branches.
In an instant, it had crossed the branches and then jumped off.
Before the beast could even react, Sharyl's claw tore through the soft flesh of its eye, coating the little creature's hand in blood and goo.
The beast squealed angrily, swinging its head back and forth as Sharyl's claw dug deeper.
The pain was driving the beast mad, and after failing to throw the damnable creature off its head, it opted for another approach. With another enraged squeal, the beast threw its head to the ground.
Sharyl ripped its arm out of the beast's eye, and quickly scuttled over to its other eye.
The beast's head slammed into the rock, disorienting it, and in the next moment, it was made completely blind.
It thrashed about aimlessly, its squeal echoing throughout the surroundings. The spikes on its back began to release a black smog incessantly.
Within a matter of seconds, the beast would be obscured by a cover of Shade.
Sharyl, meanwhile, quickly hopped off the maddened beast, and pointed its head at the beast's ankle, waiting a few seconds before they both lined up. At that point, its closed maw opened to reveal a glittering azure light.
And in the next instant, a beam of water shot across the small bald spot of the savannah.
The beast's angry squeal was caught in its mouth as it fell to the ground and landed on its jaw.
The beast continued to thrash about aimlessly, but Sharyl quickly dove into the smog surrounding it.
Mikhail lost track of Sharyl as the cover of Shade grew too thick for him to see through, but the ensuing squeal of anguish told him all he needed to know. Sharyl had successfully hunted down the big beast.
And with little to no effort, on top of that.
Mikhail stood up, approaching the scene of the fight as he waved his hand through the smog, making it dissipate into the surroundings faster.
He saw Sharyl calmly sitting on the corpse's head, and near him, evidence of what had happened.
'So he used that water beam of his to destroy its brain… What a cunning creature.'
"Good job, Sharyl!" he said with a round of applause.
"You want to head home now?"
He knelt down and offered the palm of his hand so that Sharyl could mount his shoulder again, and the little lizard was quick to climb up.
The two then returned home, and enjoyed some decent dinner.