The silence of the forest was extremely eerie. It felt like the stomach of a gargantuan beast due to the dreary silence around us. We were walking slowly, attentive to any minor movements around us as we followed the trail of footprints. The trees around us created a canopy from which streams of sunlight fell, illuminating certain parts of the path ahead. As we continued to walk, the footprints got deeper and more clear. I increased my focus around us as we slowed down our speed even further.

Only if I could use mana…

I had thought of using mana to detect signs of life around us but ultimately decided against it. Even if I couldn’t see him, I was very sure that old man Blake was watching us from a distance. He would feel the fluctuation in mana if I decided to use it and it would let the cat out of the bag. So, we moved ahead gradually. It wasn’t long before we heard the sound of a water stream. We followed the sound and soon ended up near a small river. We were still standing a bit farther from it when we noticed a beast, almost thrice the size of us. Its fur was as black as the night sky without stars, its yellow eyes seemed sharp enough to intimidate any hunter that would be foolish enough to attack it. The beast was sitting by the river, with a corpse of another beast not too far away. The corpse of the second beast was fairly intact except the bite wound on its neck. The black beast was just sitting there, seemingly guarding the corpse.

“Why isn’t it eating the corpse?” Sirius asked quietly as we both hid behind a tree a bit far away from the beast. Sirius had his sword in his hand and I was holding my spear tightly. We both were ready to jump at any given moment but the scene of the black beast just sitting beside a dead beast seemed bizarre.

“Is it waiting for something? Or luring other beasts with the smell of blood?” I speculated.

We decided to wait for a bit. We didn’t want any unforeseen variables whenever we decided to go for the kill. The time passed slowly as Sirius and I just sat there, crouched behind a tree and gazed at the black beast. The black beast didn’t make any movements whatsoever. From time to time, it would crane its neck to look around and then, it would just go back to sitting lazily.

“Nothing seems to be happening. Is it injured?” Sirius whispered. I was thinking the same thing. It was quite bizarre all things considered.

“Perhaps. We can’t wait for any longer anyway. So let's begin.”

“How do we determine who gets to go first? Or should we both attack at the same time?” Well, it was a valid question that Sirius asked. I thought about it a bit and came up with an idea.

“Look, we still can’t rule out the possibility that the dead beast is a lure. So, let's decide who gets to go first. One of us will remain hidden nearby and jump in only if necessary.”

“But Mehr, if one of us killed the beast by himself, then how would we determine the winner?”

“Well, we have to hunt everyday, don’t we. So, the one who goes first today would be on standby tomorrow. Fair enough, I believe?”

Sirius thought about it and accepted the conditions. I held my spear and put it vertically on the ground. I placed both of my palms on the staff of the spear and said, “I will rotate the spear and the one it points to, when it falls, will go first.”

Sirius nodded. I put strength in my hands as I rotated the spear on its blunt end. The spear rotated with quite the force as the soil was displaced from beneath it. It gradually came to a stop and fell to the ground. The blade of the spear was pointing away from me, towards Sirius and Sirius seemed quite happy about it.

“Well then, my trusted aide. Let me teach you how to hunt.” Sirius smiled with his chest puffed out as he got into his ‘hero’ character. I sighed as I nudged him to hurry up. Sirius moved with calculated steps and a trained gait that showed that he was actually quite a component fighter. Even though he always acted like an idiot in front of me, I knew how talented he was. While I went toe to toe with the guards with the help of my past experience, he wasn’t that bad himself considering that he was an actual child. Sirius was, quite frankly, an absolute talent who worked hard. And his determined face, as he approached the beast, showed that.

Sirius quickly went near the beast while doing his best to muffle the sound of his footsteps. The beast was sitting not too far away from him. Sirius crouched down so as not to make any unnecessary sounds as he walked ahead. He was going in for a quick surprise attack. I waited, while looking around to check for any variables.

Sirius got ready to attack as he took his stance near the beast. Sirius was hiding behind the trees when he put strength into his legs and lunged at the beast with a burst of speed. The beast flinched and got up without missing a moment. Sirius had already reached close to it. The two, a hulking beast and a human child, looked at each other just before their clash began. Sirius' sword danced around him, deflecting the claws of the massive beast, beautifully. The beast pushed forward, threatening to smash down with its weight when Sirius jumped to the side. He quickly regained his balance and swung his sword horizontally that left a deep gash in the beast’s leg. The beast growled, loud enough to shake the nearby trees, as he jumped back to create some distance.

The first clash between the little human and the humongous beast, three times the size of a human, ended with the victory of the little human. Sirius, with the little time he had gained, looked towards me as he smiled and shrugged his shoulders.

Hoh, getting cocky.

That's when things changed suddenly. The beast that had jumped backwards, crouched down and then proceeded to crane its back. It opened its big mouth and gave a long, dismal howl. The trees around shook as the wind started screeching around us. I got ready to jump in between them when I noticed the rapid sound of footsteps approaching us. I turned around in the direction of the sound while the injured beast was still howling. The wind was hitting my body as the trees swung wildly. I calmed my heart down to concentrate on the approaching footsteps.

From a little distance away, I could see the trees getting ripped apart as the sound of footsteps got closer. The ground was shaking intensely and I held the tree near me to maintain my balance. That is when my eyes rested upon the cause of these little quakes. A beast, similar to the one Sirius had been fighting but larger, was approaching with eyes filled with rage. It roared when it saw the injured beast and lunged towards it with surprising agility. The bigger beast licked the wound on the injured beast’s leg, that Sirius had inflicted. The wind gradually died down around me but a raging storm was brewing near the beasts. They were surrounded by, what seemed like, sharp blades of wind. And that's when it clicked.

Shit… that beast was not using the corpse as bait. It was waiting for its mate to come back. And its mate… can fucking use mana!

I tightened my grip on my spear as I ran towards them as fast as I could, while screaming, “Sirius, to me!!”