As soon as the creature had missed them, it braked down and took a sharp u-turn and faced them.
Now that the morning light had come, the creature was clearly visible.
It had golden far with shades of grey. It had an estimate height of 1.2 meters and a length of 2 meters. It had a musculin body that was brimming with vitality. Its seventeen inch curled horns ended in a sharp pointed tip. It had elliptical shaped eyes that were bloodshot. It snarled in an irritating angry voice as it prepared its second charge.
During this moment, Jean was clinging tightly on Casper's jacket as his heart raced in his chest. He understood very well that they were in a dire situation that required immediate reaction. But since this was a new situation to him, he didn't know the right way to react.
Therefore, he put his trust to Casper who looked relaxed despite them being in a desperate situation.
"Hold me tightly and close your eyes."
Casper commanded in a loud voice.
When Jean heard this, he was about to question him on why he told him to do that, but since he knew that the guy was trying to salvage their situation, he just kept quiet and did as instructed.
As soon as Casper turned back and confirmed that, Jean had closed his eyes, he turned his attention to the beast that was now standing thirty meters to their right.
As soon as the two gazes collided, the beast didn't waste even a second and charged forward aiming to impale the dual with its sharp horns.
In a split second, Casper had already withdrawn his right hand from the accelerator and was now pointing his index and middle fingers at the approaching beast.
In the next second, he closed his eyes and a blinding light shot from his outstretched fingers and enveloped the whole area making it hard to visualise anything within an area of thirty meters radius.
The blinding light lasted for only two seconds. But this period was enough for Casper to return his hand on the accelerator. As soon as his hand rested on the accelerator, he sent the bike forward in a jolt as the blinded beast missed them and thus slamming into a nearby tree.
As soon as the beast slammed in the tree with its sharp horns, the tree trunk turned into splinters flying in all directions. In the next moment, the top part of the tree toppled over and crashed ten meters from the tree stem.
During all this time, Jean was still closing his eyes. Else if he could have witnessed what had happened, he would have been in shock at the moment.
The act of Casper asking Jean to close his eyes could have been for the sake of protecting his eyes from the blinding light. But at the same time, the guy might have also done this to prevent Jean from witnessing what had happened.
As soon as the blinding light was off, Casper didn't waste even a second and send the bike forward in a supersonic speed as it danced between the trees.
At their back, the sounds of trees cracking and breaking were heard as the frenzied blinded beast crashed random trees to vent out its frustration for missing its target.
When Jean heard the cracking sounds, he slowly opened his eyes and immediately scanned the surroundings. When he noticed that the beast was out of sight, he heaved a sigh of relief.
Although he could have felt comfortable to ask Casper some questions about what transpired, but the cracking sounds that seemed to fade at their back still reminded him that they were not yet out of the danger zone.
Therefore, he found it important to keep the questions until things calm down first.
After moving for a period of about ten minutes, Casper broke the silence.
"That thing could have made a good meal for us. It is so unfortunate that we met it on our way to our destination. If we could have met it during our return journey, I couldn't have hesitated to kill it for meat."
At this time, the cracking sounds had faded away, now replaced by the chanting of birds and the whistling of wind.
The sun was just rising painting the world in lilac shades.
When Jean heard Casper's shameless statement, he gulped.
"So, you can kill such beast even without your weapons?"
"That's a child's play for a proficient hunter like me. But still, we have extra meat at home. Therefore killing it would have been pointless at the moment."
When Jean heard this, he couldn't believe that the guy actually meant what he said. It was just like a farce to him. The reason he didn't take his words seriously, was because from his own deductions, he could tell how strong the beast was.
Even when he heard the cracking of trees during their escape, he didn't need a confirmation to realize that what was breaking the trees was actually the beast they were escaping from.
So, with this information in mind, it was difficult for him to believe that the guy could be capable of taking down such a beast, especially without a weapon.
Now that thongs seemed to have settled down, Jean now saw the opportunity of asking his most pressing question since passing through the security barrier.
"I have some questions that I would like to ask you."
"Hmm.. feel free to ask."
Casper responded.
"Is the security barrier some kind of invisible shield or what, because I didn't saw it while we were passing through it?"
Lingering for a moment, Casper replied.
"For the invisibly, it is true as it is indeed invisible. But for the shield part, it isn't true."
With that Casper went mute, allowing Jean to digest the information before continuing.
"The security barrier is just an enchantment that was cast within a given area. It is effective in its role because it act as a maze that can confuse a possible intruder before teleporting the mazed individual to an unknown random place within the forest.
Just as Jean was still wondering how this was possible, Casper's next statement snapped him out of his reverie.
"That's how you lost the helmet."
'That was my second question, but how did that happen?'
With that thought in mind, Jean leaned forward and asked.
"If you can make me understand, how comes the helmet was teleported yet it isn't a living thing?"
Slowing down the bike and taking a right turn, Casper lingered.
"The reason lies in the principle that the barrier operates with."
Upon hearing this, Jean increased his concentration.
He was a novice individual when it came to such knowledge, so, he saw this as an opportunity to learn a thing from what he was interested in, the security barrier.
"The principle that the barrier operates in are two. The first principle is that if the intruder has a life force, it mazes its brain before the teleportation happens. And the second principle is that it teleports any moving thing that doesn't have a life force. So, the helmet must have been in the process of falling before its movement was detected after which it was teleported by the barrier to a random place within the forest."
With that, Casper went mute once again to allow the boy digest the information.
For a moment, Jean found this topic interesting. The security barrier was among some of the things he was determined to know about before parting ways with Casper. He knew that such knowledge was useful for his safety, especially that the kidnappers had started haunting him.
"It is difficult to believe that such a powerful thing could be created. Basing on how powerful it is,I doubt if such a thing could be created by normal people like us."
Suddenly, Casper's mood darkened.
"Are you trying to imply that I can't create such a thing?"
Casper asked in a voice laced with rage.
When Jean heard this, he knew that the guy was enraged, so, he didn't answer.
"Okay, if we assume that what you said is right, then who created the barrier?"
Casper asked after a short moment of silence.
At this point, Jean found Casper's statement making sense. At first, he couldn't believe that it was the guy that created the barrier because of how powerful he said it was, but after putting how the guy was able to open it, he found Casper's words making some sense.
'By the way, if he didn't create it, then who did?'
Since confirming if it was Casper that created the barrier was a simple operation, Jean chose to put the guy into test as soon as they are back from their journey.
"If you created it, then don't be mean if I ask you to teach me the same."
Jean blurted out.
When Casper heard this, he shuddered but quickly composed himself.
'See the mess that my stupid mouth has landed me in.'
Casper thought to himself.
He was regretting his act of attempting to justify his ability to create the barrier. Although he had done this to get some praises from Jean, not knowing that this was among the knowledge that Jean was craving to imprint in his memories.
Albeit, Jean was interested in learning how to create the security barrier, the moment Casper explained its true powers to him, his interest was piqued.
He already knew that there were some chances that the barrier shared some connections with the powerful individuals. So, he believed that even if he could grasp such knowledge, it would be impossible for him to put it in practice since he was a mundane.
But when Casper bragged to have created the barrier, Jean saw a light of hope at the end of the tunnel.
(≧□≦)