Once the bleeding stopped, the warrior who had thrown the first spear carried the body. We resumed walking right after that. The tension was higher now, just like Aldrui said, with the warriors carefully listening to the wood’s sounds and trying to minimize the noise they created. I did my best to mimic them, walking like they did, and checking my surroundings. They looked at me approvingly as we moved forward for some time.
About one and a half hours later, we found another beast. This was yet another weird animal from my point of view. It was an aicor. It had four small legs, smooth brown skin, and a long, elongated body, which it used to rise vertically and stand on its hind legs to grab fruits from trees. It looked like a weird dachshund, except that its head was similar to a bird’s beak. With a total height of about half a meter, it wasn’t the most impressive creature out there, especially since it was also an herbivore. Its jumping power was low, but the strength of its small legs was impressive, allowing it to propel that long body until it stood almost vertically.
Just like the previous time, we hid until the moment was right. Since its body was smaller, we had no choice but to come as close as possible. Unfortunately, it sensed our presence when we were around fifty meters away and immediately started to escape at full speed. All the warriors, including the one who was holding the heivo and threw it on the ground, raised their spears and threw them at full power.
Out of the five spears, two managed to hit their target, one of them belonging to the leader. The aicor lost a lot of speed and was soon caught up by the warriors, who finished it swiftly. After some short rejoicing, we now had two carcasses for the tribe.
“Keon, today’s hunt is going very well. Now, we have the minimum amount of meat for the tribe, but it’s still early. What about this? We’ll let you throw the first spear at the next beast. This will be good training for you.”
I was surprised warrior Aldrui allowed me to participate, on my very first hunt, at that.
“Is that fine, warrior?”
“Yes. Don’t worry if you miss. As you saw, it happens even to experienced warriors. We hunt as a group because we can rely on one another.”
“I’ll try my best.”
This was a great opportunity for me. Considering I might need to hunt alone in the future, I couldn’t pass on the chance offered to me.
Our search for prey went on. It was now the afternoon, and we didn’t have that much time anymore, considering that we needed to go back to the cave before nightfall. There were longer expeditions that took several days, especially if the goal was to hunt blessed beasts, but this wasn’t one of those. Nighttime was the most dangerous, especially without a decent shelter.
Finally, after around two hours, we found what we were looking for. It was yet another jumping heivo, of similar size to the previous one. We stopped at the seventy-meter mark, and Aldrui signaled me to play my part.
I was quite excited and took a second to calm down. I couldn’t exhale loudly unless I wanted to alert the beast, so I closed my eyes for a moment to focus. I then put myself in shooting position and observed the creature. It was currently jumping using its powerful legs, trying to reach a specific fruit high in a tree.
Looking at it going up and down like so, I was taken by a random thought. Didn’t this look like… a woman bouncing over a man in cowgirl position? I tried to replace the animal with a woman to see if it worked and… well, it wasn’t too bad.
Next to me, Aldrui shook me a little with a reproaching glare, and I bit my lips, trying to concentrate on what I had to do again without letting my inner perversion take over. It was hard, but I barely managed to do it. A few seconds later, the heivo was distracted and the leader gave me the signal to fire.
This was something I had done an incredible number of times during training. I put as much magical energy as I could into my spear and tried to aim right. I then threw it hard, hoping it would reach its target. I felt the other warriors inhaling next to me, maybe impressed with the quantity of magical energy I had used, only to see my spear missing the beast, only grazing its skin a little.
“Damn it.”
I knew I shouldn’t speak, but the frustration was too big and I couldn’t help it. Of course, the jumping heivo tried to escape, and all the warriors sent a spear together to try to correct my mistake.
“Gryaaaahhhh!”
However, right at this moment, we heard several loud cries coming from over our heads. We looked up hurriedly, only to see three flying beasts attacking three of our warriors from the skies. Since I was in the center of our formation, I hadn’t been targeted and could only watch my companions get attacked in a daze, unable to react.
‘Get a grip, Keon!’
I wasn’t the same clueless child as before. I quickly regained my composure and tried to understand what I could do to help. The flying beasts were large and dangerous creatures named Chiwe. They had three pairs of wings, a mouth full of fangs, and a long, lizard-like tail.
They had taken us completely by surprise, attacking us when we were the most vulnerable. Just like most of the beasts in this world, they were very smart and knew when to attack and when to retreat.
In just one assault, three of our warriors were injured, bleeding profusely from their claws.