Terrible Night III

By the time the guards arrived at the scene, their spears had more than half of these beasts.

The leader shouted. "Formation C." His team quickly changed formation after removing their spears stuck in the body of the dead beasts.

"We're saved." Someone cried out and the rest shouted victoriously.

"Ready!" The head guard shouted. His team members got into two straight lines, one behind the other.

"Set!" They aimed their spears at the remaining rabid jackals approaching them.

"Shoot!" He shouted for the third time and his ten squad members threw their spears with all their might.

Stab. Stab. Stab.

Their spears went into the bodies of the beasts and came out of the other side and then pierced a second beast.

The first set of beasts penetrated by the spears all died and even some of the second set died upon contact.

The few remaining beasts, some stuck with spears on their bodies, rushed towards the new enemies.

The squad members pulled out their swords which were strapped to their waists and began to cut the beasts one after another.

When the beasts fell, only the three pack leaders remained.

'I don't feel good tonight.' The squad leader sighed.

"You guys attack any one of those three and I'll take care of the other two." The leader said and his members rushed towards one of the three beasts left. These three all had three rings on their fangs.

Two of the beasts rushed at the same time toward the squad leader.

"Let's get it over with." He pulled out a sword that reflected the red light of the moon.

He dashed at the two beasts and drew an arc in the air. The beasts sensed the mana in the sword and jumped backward.

"You don't wanna die so easily?" The man asked the beasts whom he knew did not understand his speech.

One of the two hounds barked at him and rushed in closer, trying to cut him with its claw. He dodged the claw and his sword passed through one of the limbs of the beast.

Thud.

One of the front legs fell to the ground and the beast howled painfully. The second tried to rush in but before it got close enough, the man's sword cut through the injured beast's neck.

He didn't stop there as he turned to face the other beast. Its second was dead so it was easier dealing with it.

Thud.

It got split into two from its waist. The man swung his sword once more to get the smelly blood off its blade.

He looked at his members. They had the upper hand and the battle would end soon.

He took off his helmet and it revealed his face. Scarlet eyes and hair like blood, a slightly wide nose, and mouth. Both his cheeks were, however, scarred with an 'X' mark on both sides. His skin was a lighter color than most people's.

He walked from one dead body to another inspecting them closely before moving to the next.

When he didn't seem to find what he was looking for among the dead ones, he moved to the survivors. Many were injured and only a few were unscathed. He looked closely at what they wore and moved around each of them.

Shaking his head, he asked them. "You're the ones who arrived today right?" They all nodded in agreement.

"Then where are the rest of you? I thought you guys were at least sixty in numbers but together with the dead ones, you guys don't add up to more than forty." The man said to them.

"Some of them left when we arrived." Someone answered.

"I see. That makes sense." If he didn't find what he was after, that meant it wasn't here. It must've left.

"Captain Greyhn, I found someone over here and he seems to match the description." His squad members had dealt with the last beast and were now going around looking at the dead bodies when one of them shouted.

The man named Greyhn walked towards the member that had called him. "It seems he had died before the others got attacked, seeing how he was missing a lot of parts in such a battle." The guard said when their leader got close enough.

"That's plausible." Greyhn nodded.

"Overall black clothes and he's quite young. Seems this is our man, but he's dead." Greyhn shook his head.

Turning away from the lifeless body, he called out to his other team members still doing searches on the bodies. "He's dead. Let's return with the others."

When the survivors heard this, they became happy.

Soon, the guards began digging a pit and when they were done, they placed the corpses into the pit and covered it.

The injured ones were carried by others and they journeyed back to the squad's base.

*****

The two moons had been replaced by a brighter sun.

"Hey, wake up. What do they call this place?" Luke woke his teammate from sleep.

"Excuse me? Ah, sorry, it's called the beginner's hunting ground." Kyne still seemed sleepy.

"So, do you plan on becoming the hunter or do you wish to be hunted?" Luke asked.

"I want to become a hunter." The sleep in Kyne's eyes had vanished like they were never there.

"Good. We'll be running nonstop for the next two hours. And after that, we'll get something to eat. We'll sort out the rest of our routine after we've eaten." Luke said, climbing down the tree.

"Yes. Pardon, Isn't two hours too much?" Kyne asked.

"Do you want to be hunted?" Luke replied to his question with another question.

"No. I want to hunt." Kyne finally got to the floor.

"Then show your determination within these two hours." Luke replied.

He took out his dagger and started clearing the tall grasses around the trees. He cleared round the huge tree they had slept on. Soon, it looked like a circular path around the tree.

He stretched himself, ready to begin his race around the tree. "You don't have to run as fast as me. Just make sure you continue moving till the two hours are complete." Luke said and the moment he finished speaking, he started his race around the tree.

Kyne soon joined him and they both ran around the huge tree nonstop for two hours.

"That was crazy." Kyne panted as the race came to an end.

"Yes, it was." Luke was also breathing heavily. He had maintained a certain speed throughout the race and it took a toll on his body.

"Now, let's go find something to eat."

Luke walked towards one of the dead beasts and took out his dagger.

"Don't tell me you're going to…"

Stab.

Luke's dagger was already inside the beast before Kyne could object.

He cut out a large piece and they both headed to the pond they had found the previous night.

Luke washed the blood off the meat and when they made a fire, he placed the meat close to the fire together with the fishes they had caught.

Soon, the smell of the meat covered everywhere. He cut a small part of the meat and placed it in his mouth.

Surprisingly, it was delicious unlike what Luke was expecting.

"Don't ask any questions and just eat." He cut a part of the meat and handed it to Kyne who did as told. The meat turned out nice.

"When we return, we'll cut out the part we can eat and keep it safe. That tree will be our base and we'll be hunting more doglike bas***ds so you better be prepared." Luke said with his mouth filled with meat.

When they finished, they washed themselves, especially Luke who had been bathed in blood. Filling their containers with water to drink later, they walked back to the tree.

Arriving at the tree base, Luke only found the three-ringed rabid jackal.

"Something was here." Luke said warily.

"Not someone?" Kyne wasn't totally convinced.

"Yup. It was something and not someone." Luke answered.

"The hunt will now truly begin." Luke brought out his dagger and Kyne did the same thing.