Chapter 18: Shadow Beasts

With a three meters long wooden pole attached with a serrated blade made from numerous bladed talons from the skytalon, the twintailed feisty usalian jumped from tree to tree like a wind dancer as she dragged the enormously long pole before enacting a terrifying attack from above.

The power that was exerted from the momentum and the sheer size of the weapon was enough to stun the beast into place—weakened and flinched into a vulnerable position.

"How many times, I told you. Aim, on, the, head!"

And then with an evolved pair exo-muscle underneath the exoskeleton on her arms, the short-haired serious usalian hurled a boulder from the distance, killing the figwalker with a deadly kinetic trauma on the head.

"Zip your mouth, beetlejuice, my strike landed on the head!"

"You struck it on the neck, you moron. Are you colorblind? Are you blind? Should I ask Droste to craft some glasses for you?"

"Throw the blame on the figwalker for having a big neck and small head for goodness sake!"

Just as they bicker their vexation away, numerous uninvited guests could be signified by the rustling bushes and grasses.

Quadrupedal shadow-looking beasts as big as two usalian stacked on top of each other. Their form resembles so much of a tiger with muscley forelegs, while its tail sways stiffly like that of a crocodile. Its body was covered by black protruding scales that blur any light that was reflected from it, making them blend with the surrounding, which work in a similar manner with Jingo's bodily smoke ability.

Their head is shaped like a dragon, triangular and well protected by its thick scales on its chin and neck. They seemed to be a pack hunter, as there were currently five of them trying to approach Hopscotch and Karasaki, with most of them possibly hiding outside of sight.

"They seem to be one of the unappraised beasts that Pippin and Clover found in the north."

"Blurry appearance, dragon-like head, and never alone. They tick all of the boxes."

The shadow beasts slowly approached closer with cautious steps. Just before they could do anything, Hopscotch yanked out a chunk of the tree behind her with both hands and threw it onto two of the crouching black tigers. At the same time, Karasaki maneuvered her pole out of its initially awkward position and lunged a deadly slam on one of them.

The clash immediately ensued. The crawling dragons were fast enough to reach their breath in just a second, but most attempts to remove any body parts from the duo usalian were deemed null as both of them immediately dodged and launched a counter attack.

"Tch, they are more resilient than the figwalker."

"What about it, Hopscotch.. Are you scared?"

Hopscotch grip was enough to break rock bare handedly, yet she was having trouble crushing any body part of those shadowy beasts, as if their whole body was made out of metal. The same issue persisted in Karasaki's case, as her weapon wasn't strong enough to crush nor slice much wound onto the beasts' bodies.

"Welp, they definitely slowed down."

"So blunt attack, slow and steady. Got it!"

Unlike the usalians however, the beasts were significantly lacking in stamina. And it seemed like all of the blunt trauma managed to damage their inner organ in one way or another.

However, as the pack member became too exhausted to fight, it retreated from the area. Then, a whole different beast entered the conflict, replacing them.

"Should we call the Patriarch through the soul link?" Hopscotch calmly suggested.

"And let the Patriarch fix all of our problems like he always does?" Karasaki snickered. " I don't know about you, but the Patriarch himself showed us the result of our hustle. We still have all of our limbs, don't chicken out."

"Talk big for someone who barely makes any dent on them."

Then, out of nowhere, one of the beasts was struck by something. It didn't wound them nearly as much, but it was powerful enough to stagger them.

And then another projectile was sent not at the beast, but at the soil in front of the shadowy creature. The impact was enough to result in a large temporary soil screen.

The beasts tried to locate this new source of threat, but no matter how they tried, they didn't know where it was. They know the threat exists, they smell their existence. Yet their other senses couldn't.

Meanwhile, this new threat to the shadowy tigers kept on sending projectiles from different locations every time. Not wanting to take the risk of the unknown, one of the shadowy creatures that looked like the leader of the pack, tilted its head with an open jaw, signifying a retreat for the pack for the hunt of the day.

"CHICKEN! WHY ARE YOU RUNNING!??" Karasaki threw her trusty pole onto the withdrawing beast. It got deflected and the beast didn't even bother to turn around. "COWARD!!"

Karasaki was certainly enjoying the brawl with the shadowy beasts, as the battle didn't immediately end in quick decisive win like most hunts do. She seemed to take value on the experience she had for fighting something of equal or even greater in strength than her, as she was conscious of how stimulation and experience affect an usalian to a greater degree.

Knowing what was going on, Hopscotch blew a playful whistle. "Looks like someone got a new toy."

From the bush just right beside the two, Jingo popped up like a jack in the box, holding a giant mechanical prototype 'artillery' in her hand.

"... The two of you need to report to others before hunting."

"Mmm~ we're sorry for that, Jingo. We will notify one of you next time."

"... And yes, this new toy of mine is a wunderbar." Jingo's face was beaming with satisfaction even with her eternal poker face. "... The thing went pew pew. I like pew pew."