CHAPTER 24: [The curse land] - [Taste lost] - [The after match of the slaug

Now that the battle had gone to an end the eagle army had taken what remained of the temple and killed all the monkeys, the army slowly started to transfer their barracks inside the temple's wall.

Gu-washi had woken up soon after receiving blood and had chosen to stay close to Ying-ba while he was still in a coma, leaving the position of temporary chief of eagles to Gu-shisan.

Because of the tactic they had used during the battle the wall was almost untouched. Only the temple had really suffered from the fight between the two 'titans' of this battle, it had been almost entirely brought to the ground.

What was a few hours before the biggest and most powerful force that inhabited the curse land at the time. The fight had finished faster as they had anticipated and with fewer casualties as they had prepared for.

They had been expecting the monkeys from Kaan temple to have joined the monkeys from the Ubaoo temple, creating an even greater force than the Ubaoo temple already was.

It couldn't be said to be an easy victory but it had a better ending from what they had anticipated. The soldiers had calmed as they had the opportunity to slaughter the ones that killed their parents, wives and children so the mood had gone back up.

The eagles weren't too worried about their lord as the doctors made an announcement on his condition, he was expected to wake up a few days later as he had fallen into a deep coma. His brain had shut itself down before it was destroyed by the sound waves of Myott's attack.

A few days later.

The lord had just woken up and after learning about the victory from Gu-washi he summoned all the generals, the first questions he asked his generals were on the aftermath of the battle and on the current situation.

Once he had finished he turned his head to Gu-washi and after thanking him for his actions in the battle even though he was engineered, he asked him about the opponent that had put him in such a miserable state.

"Gu-washi, who exactly attacked you so that it seemed like it was a one-sided beating, the place we found you had been completely destroyed so that we couldn't even find any information about your attacker or on what exactly happened."

"I…,I don't remember my lord. I have been thinking about it since I woke up but I simply can't remember anything about the person that I faced or what happened. It's like my memories after I arrived where the arrow I had shot didn't hit my enemy have been removed from me, every time I try to remember I feel like I am looking at a void where they should have been."

"I didn't expect you would remember much, I had already determined that your opponent was very strong. But he might be even stronger than I thought he was if he is able to erase the memory. I will ask for special emergency rockets to be made so that if any of you encounter an enemy you can't fight you can send a signal for help."

"My lord, we are deeply indebted to you."

"Now that we have removed all these questions out of the way we will move on to our strategy meeting for our next battle. Show me the way to the strategy tent." Ying-ba said as he got up having gotten back his strength and headed outside the tent.

Somewhere, in the forest.

"Run, you must bring the message to the temple, you must report that we are under attack!" A monkey in his forties said as he stopped running and turned around, finally facing the opponent that had been chasing him for the past few days.

It was none other than Damian that had been monitoring the battle and had seen the two monkeys escape when the tides had turned against them in the battle. He had decided to stop them from escaping and alerting the other temple as he had a plan in mind.

He wanted to use the eagles to enter the rooms of the monkey masters as he had understood that he got two great opportunities by doing so.

Having followed them for a few days they were now only five days apart from the Kaan temple.

He had lost their tracks multiple times as they changed paths often so that they couldn't get caught up with. From their way of proceeding he could tell they weren't simple runaway soldiers but actual train messengers.

As he had finally gotten them in his sight he knew that he couldn't miss the opportunity as he may not get another opportunity to stop them before they reached their destination.

"Human? Why are you following us, why are you appearing when we are at war. Are you on the eagle's side?"

Damian smiled as he heard the words of the monkey.

"Damn human, you only brought discord to our forest, we should have known that you would go to the eagle's side, as they are the supposed victims." Seeing Damian's face he turned to hatred and he ran in Damian's direction.

Damian, who had stopped in his path as the monkey turned around to face him, rotated his body clockwise to dodge the fist of the messenger. As the monkey moved past him he had a devilish smile and its pupils looked like a great storm was raging in them and they left a trail of lightning as he moved his head very fast.

With a swift chopping movement he used his hand to break the neck of the monkey that fell of all his length on the ground.

Damian then picked the pace to catch up with the other messenger that had escaped in the direction of the temple

A few hours later.

He finally found a fresh footstep that the messenger had left, meaning he couldn't be too far from this location. Damian got close to a tree, bringing his ear in contact with the tree

He could hear the vibration of the animals in the area.

Damian focussed to isolating the sounds of the animals living in the forest and after fifteen seconds he was able to find the light but very quick sound of the running monkey.

He resumed his chase now that he had found his prey and after repeating the same process to locate the monkey he finally got a glimpse of his back before he disappeared behind a trunk.

Damian quickly followed after him and within the next second he was met with the messenger's back. He leaped forward and was able to get a hold of his leg. The messenger who was running at full speed was destabilized and fell to the ground, breaking his ankle in the process.

The monkey got back up and tried to escape Damian a second time, but as he was injured he became a lot slower and Damian could now easily follow him as his foot was leaving deeper marks on the ground.

Damian decided to take a break in his chase so that he could recuperate his stamina. After a few hours of rest he got up and started following the easy to spot footstep left by the injured monkey.

The monkey who hadn't stopped running during all this time had now almost depleted all his stamina, so he decided to rest after checking if Damian was still on his tail.

A day later.

The monkey had resumed his journey while moving at fast speed as he didn't want to cross Damian's path ever again. He had slowed down his pace compared to before as he wasn't chased anymore.

What he didn't know was that Damian had already found him and was currently following him from above, jumping from tree to tree while looking for the perfect opportunity to take him down once and for all.

The messenger suddenly heard a sound and turned his head only to see Damian's fist coming dangerously close to his face. He tried dodging but he couldn't react in time and was hit by the attack's full power.

The messenger was instantly killed as he had barely undergone any training in offensive martial arts. As a messenger he had mainly been trained so that his speed and stamina were top-notch.

Now that Damian had killed the two messengers his plan could be executed, with it he would have access to all the temples and he would be able to complete the challenge The Protector of the forest had given him. There was one thing he was sure off, that he would be victorious.

After hiding the body Damian went back in the direction of the Ubaoo temple as his plan would start there, the place that was a while ago the most prestigious in the forest.

TO BE CONTINUED…