“The time has finally come.”

“Really, I thought you were going to wait a while longer?”

“I did, but I have made up my mind that I leave tomorrow.

Have you decided if you want to come with me or not?”

“Heh, you are just being polite. You know really well that I didn’t give you a definite answer before because I didn't want you to rush, and end up dead.

But that is not an issue now is it?”

I smiled.

“How did you know?”

“My sensing abilities might not be that strong, but if you spend so much time with a person you definitely will notice.

So, you finally achieved the “seedling stage” did you?”

“Yeah I finally achieved it. It took a long time to, almost a whole year.”

“One year. Ha, you say it as if it was a long time when in reality you completed “sprouting stage” in 1/3 of the time it takes others.

You really are lucky.”

“ Enough of my achievements ,we have to get ready for the battle that will ensue and then bye Forest of Hundred Perils, and hello Elanor Empire.”

“You really are eager to leave aren’t you?”

My face became stout and serious.

“I know what concerns you my friend. You are afraid of the world because all you’ve known is centred on this forest. You are afraid because you don't know if the world out there will have a place for someone like you and if it will accept you.

I am sorry my friend, but I must go and find out about this world.”

Munnji smiled.

“You have nothing to apologise for. You are just doing what you think is right and following your heart, there is nothing wrong with that.

You may think you have fooled me with all this talk about the outside world and the adventures that await us, but I really know that isn’t your only motive.

You are afraid. You are afraid that if you leave without me I will succumb to death as my father did before me, fighting everyday for my life until I make a mistake and end up dead in the hands of a stronger creature of this forest.

The survival of the fittest.”

I opened my mouth to say something, but Munnji stopped me.

“You don't have to say anything else, my answer is yes.”

.....

The next morning we woke up early preparing for our journey.

We were going to go to the Elanor Empire and the fastest way there was by river. Me and Munnji had had built a wooden raft by cutting down tree branches in the forest and tied them up together with some sturdy vines. The raft was not that sturdy or manoeuvrable, but it did its job of just floating downstream.

Our biggest concern was that a giant crocodile like creature was blocking the way. It had made its home in a critical juncture of the river making us unable to pass through there.

We could easily bypass its home by walking on land but that would just take us into the territory of more dangerous creatures, so we decided to just kill it. We would lure it from its nest into dry land where we had prepared a trap for it.

....

We arrived at the spot where we had hid our raft and begun to slowly drag it towards the river bank not far from the crocodiles nest.

....

“You remember the plan?”

“Yeah, I become bait luring the crocodile out of water and into land towards our trap, you activate the trap remotely, it falls into the trap, we simultaneously attack it until its dead.”

“Okay. Ready?”

Asked Munnji.

“Ready.”

I answer.

I head out towards the crocodile that is quietly lying in the sun and without waiting any further, I attack it.

WATER JAVELIN

I call forth water to gather in my hand, give it the shape of a javelin and with all my force throw it at the crocodile.

*BOOM*

The water javelin hit the crocodile in the side with tremendous force, but that was not enough to even scratch its sturdy scales.

It immediately got up, saw me at the river bank and gave chase.

When it started chasing me the earth started to shake from its steps.

The crocodile was like a prehistoric dinosaur with its height of 3 meters and length of more than 15 meters including its tail. It had a shorter snout than the crocodiles of earth with a mouth filled with four rows of teeth two up and two down making it look just horrible.

Its scales shined an emerald light when the sun hit them giving the impression they were carved from precious jade and placed on its skin. They were the crocodile’s impenetrable shield that I couldn't pierce even a little with my power right now.

The crocodile continued to chase me for about 40 meters before it looked like it was having second thoughts. It started to slow down, but it had already fallen into our trap.

“Munnji, do it now.”

As soon as I shouted, the ground below the crocodile caved in and it fell into a hole 6 meter deep and 20 meter wide filled with pointy earth spikes. It was the trap that Munnji had been working for the last three months without stop.

It really was a masterpiece.

The ground caved in and the crocodile fell into the sharp spikes. The sharp spikes pierced the soft underside of the crocodile that wasn’t covered with scales leaving it with multiple wounds.

The crocodile tried moving in order to break the earth spikes and get free from the hole, but there was one big problem. The spikes were specially created in a cone shape being significantly wider in the bottom. The cone shape of the spikes made them not that deadly, but it made the crocodile hover in the air, not letting its short legs touch the ground.

The crocodile struggled heavily trying to escape, but only managed to widen its wounds.

It was time for attack.

I and Munnji started attacking it with elemental attack simultaneously.

STONE FIST

WATER JAVELIN

EARTH BLAST

WATER BULLETS

We continued to attack it with little result, but the damage started to pile up.

The crocodile was distressed by our continuous attacks, but it quickly regained its wits and attacked me.

It swelled its belly taking a deep breath and fired a huge torrent of water towards me.

“Not good.”

I immediately created a WATER SHIELD to stop the attack but it was not enough. The water torrent broke my shield easily and sent me flying like a ragdoll toward the walls of the hole.

*cough* *cough*

I coughed some blood from my mouth and tried to get up but I couldn’t. That attack had damaged my organs from the impact making me bleed internally, but also railed up my brain quite good. I was dazed and couldn’t move fast enough to dodge the crocodile’s next attack.

“Hold on.”

STONE HAMMER

*Boom*

It was not the sound of the water hitting me this time but the sound of Munnji hitting the side of the crocodile’s mouth and redirecting its attack elsewhere.

That gave me the time to regain my composure and head towards the soft belly of the crocodile. I arrived there in the blink of an eye and stabbed it with two sharp knives made of teeth, and immediately retreated leaving the knifes lodged in its belly.

The battle continued for five minutes of constant clashing, but not any other significant damage to either side. We pestered the crocodile with ranged attacks that did not that much damage, but kept him busy and not able to make any big attacks like before.

After a while, the crocodile started to slow down, its attacks slowing down significantly over time.

“Good .The poison has finally started to kick in. Prepare for the final blow.”

“Okay.”

Munnji started to attack more frequently and ferociously attracting the crocodile’s attention towards him, while I started preparing my killer move.

I started gathering huge amounts of water from the air to the palm of my hand and started to compress it until I held in my palm a deep blue coloured ball the size of an eye. It was the water I just gathered but just super compressed.

“Munnji give me an opening right now, I can’t hold it any longer.”

“You got it.”

Munnji reached towards the ground with one hand and pulled up a huge chunk of earth which he threw at the crocodiles head.

*BANG*

The impact was loud but the damage not significant. The crocodile once again was unscathed from that attack but it didn't matter anymore because it was about to die.

During the ruckus I arrived underneath the crocodiles belly stealthily and thrust my hand into one of the shallow wounds.

“It’s over, DEEP BLUE IMPACT.”

I stopped putting pressure on the ball of water in my palm and redirected it to expand to its normal size towards the insides of the crocodile.

*BAM*

A huge one meter wound appeared in the belly of the crocodile making its organs be seen from outside.

The fast expanding water had destroyed most of its internal organs making the crocodile bleed from all of its orifices.

....

It was finally over, we had won.

The crocodile bled to death in less than one minute ending this brutal fight.