The next morning, Wyne and Mil were up and ready to continue their hunting. They ate the wolf meat they had left over before sprinting toward the woods. The target of their hunt that morning was the most difficult species on their list of missions.
Their prey was a pack of Demonback Apes.
These were considered some of the strongest superior-grade creatures as they were on the brink of becoming magical-grade creatures. In a pack of 10 Demonback Apes, there was a good chance that one had evolved and become a Silver Demonback Ape. Silver Demonback Apes had not only double the physical capabilities of the Demonback Ape but it also had a bloodline ability called Comrade Empowerment.
This ability did not make it stronger with each pack member it had but every time a pack member died, its physical abilities would increase by 10% for each pack member slain for an hour. Even when hunters tried to slay it first, the Silver Demonback would command the others to block blows for it. No matter what, the Silver Demonback would prioritize its own life and could even slay mid-tier mages who let down their guards.
Wyne and Mil began running through the forest while following the map to some caves located near bamboo. This was the ideal location for Demonback Apes to stay since they preferred to live in caves and their favorite non-meat was bamboo.
The pair arrived at the edge of the clearing before the cave and knew they were in the right location. Several Demonback Apes were sleeping on the grass outside of the cave with bones of various creatures filling the area.
Demonback Apes were large grey apes with black fur on the back of their fur that looked like a demon's face. These creatures were about 2.5 meters tall and their bodies were made of almost pure muscle with the exception of their bellies, one of the few weak spots they had.
Wyne and Mil looked at each other and began signaling with their hands.
'Sleeping outside. We got a Silver one,' Mil felt frustrated. Silver Demonbacks were one of the most troublesome magical-grade species to hunt when they had a pack.
'Bloodline abilities or we doing this the hard way?' Wyne already knew the answer but he still felt the need to ask
'The fun way of course. We move in hard and fast, killing these guys before the Silver comes out,' Mil smiled while summoning her bow from her cuff.
Wyne shook his head and did the same. Both notched a single arrow, unaware that they had attracted the attention of several senior students in the area.
"No way. Those two 1st years are about to hunt a pack of Demonbacks led by a Silver Demonback."
"You think they don't know what trouble they are getting into?"
"Probably. Black Magic students too."
"Black magic students?" a girl with red hair and eyes asked. Sally walked out from the group to see who was stupid enough to attack a pack of Demonbacks but she was surprised when she saw it was Wyne and Mil.
"Oh. You guys don't have to worry about those two. They will be the leaders of the Black Magic students for their year," Sally wasn't worried about them but sat on a log and started to watch. She wanted to see just how powerful the two were with her own eyes and not through their stories.
The other students saw that Sally had decided to watch so they also sat around and wanted to see what was about to happen. Even though Sally looked very friendly, she was ranked in the top 3 of the Black Magic students for her year and the top 10 of all the 2nd years. Her words of praise made everyone want to see just what they were capable of.
Two arrows soared through the air and shot into the throat of one Demonback who was sleeping. The creature began to grunt in pain and roll around causing the others to stir.
Seeing that they were starting to wake up, the pair of hunters continued to fire arrows aimed at the same spot. The Demonback only had 4 spots where its muscles and bones were not too thick. Those would be its eyes, throat, abdomen, and pelvic area. The latter two would not result in a lethal blow while the first was too difficult to hit in their sleeping positions.
They were able to kill 5 of the 7 Demonbacks before the surviving pair let out a roar and started charging in the direction of the hunters while their companions choked on their blood.
Wyne put his bow away and equipped his cestus while Mil summoned her chakrams. They jumped down from the tree and charged toward their prey.
Wyne met the pair first, greeted by two giant fists aimed at his head. He leaped over their bodies and landed on the ground behind them before striking at their backs. The Demonbacks let out a roar of pain. They turned around and slammed their hands against the ground where Wyne was, missing him by just a second.
As Wyne began retreating toward their cave, they began to give chase but before they could make it far, something soaring through the air passed by them from each direction and cut their throats twice.
The two Demonbacks grabbed at their throats, feeling the blood leaving their bodies at a rapid rate. They tried their best to keep it from leaving but were unable to do anything.
Mil walked over to their bodies with her pair of chakrams dripping blood onto the ground. She wiped both on the fur of the apes before storing the bodies in her cuff.
Wyne had arrived in front of the cave and began to store the bodies and arrows they fired in his cuff when he heard a loud roar accompanied by raw magical energy coming from the cave.
Wyne immediately retreated to Mil's side before summoning his bow once again as both of them aimed their bows at the entrance of the cave, ready for the Silver Demonback to emerge.
The giant Silver Demonback Ape appeared in the morning light. The massive breast was even larger than the previous apes, being 3.5 meters tall. The grey fur was now shiny and silver while its eyes were glowing with spectral, blue light. The creature had 7 spectral flames on its body, with 1 on each elbow, 1 on each shoulder, one in the center of its chest, and the last two coming from its eyes.
"They were impressive. Definitely have had hunter or ranger training before."
"Yep. But this is the hard part now."
"They killed 7 so that guy has about 2.7 times the strength of these other Demonbacks. Are going to step in? We need to kill the Silver Demonback anyway so you can evolve your familiar."
"No need," Sally responded. "We can trade for the Silver Demonback core later. Now, we just watch and see just what these two are capable of."