‘What the hell is that?’ Tus studied the red eyes poked their way around a tree. They were still for a moment, before the thing that controlled them gave a high pitched scream.

Twigs broke as that creature charged forward. The light of the trees showed off its ‘humanoid’ body. It was small at three feet in height with very dark, red colored skin. Underneath it were four legs that ran in sync and it had four arms that each held a dagger. Its two eyes were purely red without any pupils to speak of. While its mouth was absent, a jawline could be seen. The other features on its face were its dog-like ears that were directed at the sky and a sharp pointed nose that could probably serve as a woodpeckers’ beak.

Its speed was slow at first, but that quickly changed as a red light enveloped its entire body. As it came closer to Tus, the ferocity that it showed kept increasing while its’ scream grew more intense as if it had encountered its sworn enemy.

Seeing the internal energy rising from the creature, Tus grew alarmed. ‘Is his going to be another gorilla? How do I fight against the internal energy?’ He glanced at the feather, ‘I guess I’ll give it a shot.’

Tus waved the feather and the silent blade of wind moved forward. Before it reached the creature, most of it had already dissipated. The remnants caused the creatures’ internal energy veil to shimmer and distort. Its speed temporarily slowed down before it charged again with renewed vigor.

‘If one doesn’t do it, then I’ll wave it again and again!’ Tus grew agitated as it came closer and started frantically swinging the feather like a baseball bat.

Invisible wind blades shot out one by one and hit the creature. By the time the first one hit, seven were already unleashed. The internal energy was pierced through and a gash opened up on its arm with purple blood spilling out. The creature gave a muffled scream as it continued to charge forward. However, the second and third hit that created even deeper gashes on its chest. The fourth and fifth hit its arms and legs. Two of each kind of limb separated from its body, causing it to stumble and fall. The six and seventh struck its shoulders while it was falling that appointed two slices of flesh that had the revealed its purple bones.

The creature writhed on the ground before it stopped moving entirely. Once it did, both the creature and its blood vanished without leaving a trace.

Tus waved the feather another ten times before he realized that the creature had already fallen to the ground. He panted as he watched the scene unfold. ‘At least this feather works, or else I would have died.’

Gargoyles’ cynical voice came from inside the tent, “Why are you acting so flustered for? This isn’t your first rodeo, is it?”

Anger flashed in Tus’s eyes. “For one, I don’t know what this rodeo is that you speak of. Two, that thing can use internal energy. Without this feather, I would have been killed!”

Gargoyle sarcastically said, “Oh my! Watch out for the guy with a feather! He can kill weaklings so easily.”

Tus thusly ignored Gargoyle and sat back down in the grass.

For a few minutes, peace and quiet returned to the landscape before another horn blew, signaling the next wave.

Tus stood up and patted the dust off of himself. He moved back to the boundary between the forest and the grass, looking for every sign of the enemy. Soon, he was greeted by two pairs of red eyes.

‘With every wave, there will just be more of these guys?’ Tus saw the four armed, four legged creatures rushing toward him while glowing in the red energy. They moved in a single direction towards him.

He swung the feather while being a bit calmer, and they were downed in the same way as the previous with their limbs separated.

Tus sat down again, taking in deep breathes.

This continued for two more rounds, each one adding a single creature every time. The fifth wave showed a change.

There were four red creatures and one creature that looked like them except it was larger by a foot and it had a purple line that circled its head. The line emitted a dim light that wasn’t internal energy.

‘I’m guessing this is a leader of some sort that will lead the regulars.’ Tus thought.

The creature with the purple band made a noise and the four regulars spread out with exact distances from each other. The leader roared and they all charged at the same time with their internal energy pouring more intensely onto their skin. The leaders’ purple band became bright, spreading its own energy that purple. The purple energy and the red energy were light water and oil with the purple energy sinking closer to the skin

‘Two different internal energies?’ Tus was shocked for a moment before he started running to a side to make a larger distance from the furthest of the regulars on one side. He took a deep breath before he waved the feather three times, cutting off a few arms from the nearest regular. It disappeared as it fell to the ground.

The others roared in anger and charged even faster. The leader fell back, allowing the other three to move ahead as it used them as a shield.

‘That is inappropriate to use your kind like that.’ Tus started another barrage of feather-waving as he fell back. Two of the regulars died while falling down and the last one had all four of its legs cut off. The leader overtook them and it made a muffled roar full of violence.

The blades of wind hit it, but the internal energy of the creature reduced their cutting power, leaving only shallow cuts.

‘I guess I’ll have to move closer?’ Since the cutting power was related to distance. Tus knew that he had to move closer to the creatures’ striking range in order to actually harm it.

When he came to this decision, he reversed his retreat into an advance.