The Shapeshifter 15 Fighting Against Beasts 1

Even though the sun was not up yet, they could see several villagers doing early morning stretches and some are preparing to hunt for some fish and game.

The villagers who saw them, waved their hands either to greet them or to see them off.

Alex was wondering why every single villager they met was greeting them. In the past it wasn't like this.

Every time he went out the village early morning, these villagers were the biggest of sn.o.bs there ever was.

'Maybe it was because of the fight yesterday. Yeah, probably is.'

When Arthur saw Alex's face, like he understood something. He chuckled and said

"Want to know why the villagers are greeting us?"

"I already know."

"You don't. Haha."

"Was it not because of the fight yesterday?"

"Silly. It's not. The villagers aren't cavemen. They too, had their fair share of experiences. I just told the old man of our little test today. And maybe he told everyone of it."

"Okay."

Alex pondered it over and realized that he underestimated the villagers.

He double checked the things that he brought because if he forgot something, he can just ran back and take it. His bag was strapped on his caped back. In it were a bunch of materials; rope, match, a pair of knives and the accidentally stuffed in the Wood Crystal.

He wasn't sure why he brought the crystal, he just did. Maybe he just had a sort of connection to it, could even be a lucky charm or he just didn't want another lizard swallowing the whole crystal. Who knows?

Once they were done checking their things. They exited the village and entered the sea of trees.

Outside a village will always be the domain of the beasts, though only a kilometer away from the village. Unless humanity decides to expand their territory and provoke the beast kings, they can only hide in their domain.

Alex could not help but recall of the story told to them by the old man.

…

In the past after the demons arrived, humanity had several small cities or bases. It was because of the three kings that emerged in that era.

The three kings were actually three brothers. They helped humanity stabilize their standing in this Terra, of chaotic times, where demons, beasts and humanity are fighting for supremacy.

They created three big cities that formed a triangle. The eldest named his city as the City of Sherwood, just because it was surrounded by forests. As the strongest, he built his city at the north of Azta, where he knew the Shark King was.

The second brother's dream was to see the phoenix and the dragon. So he built the city of Ember at the east of Azta where the two myths were 'often' sighted and so he guarded the unknown lands of the east.

The youngest of the three, was unambitious so he settled down at the city of Azta.

After a few years, the eldest and the second brother was a.s.sa.s.sinated. It was said that the a.s.sailant was the Scorpion King, because of the tiny b.u.mp on their necks that oozes poison.

The youngest was clearly angered by the a.s.sa.s.sin. Yet, was unable to do anything with his meagre strength. So he decided to hide himself and entered seclusion and broke into the ranks of an Emperor, which was a level higher than a King.

Even when he became an Emperor, he still did nothing to avenge his brothers. Deep in his heart, the youngest knew that with the combined prowess of the three beast kings he will be unable to defeat them.

The youngest tried a different approach and decided to nurture youngsters that might be able to be a king in the future.

In today's time, the old emperor was nowhere to be seen. Only a single king remained and protected the last three cities of humanity.

…

'That story really was the best. The old man even said that the three brothers were a man of good luck. They rose from being a mortal into a king with just a fortuitous encounter.'

'I hope I encounter something like that too. Hehe.'

The brothers, Arthur and Alex walked the path that was clearly trodden by the villagers. This served as the only road used by the villagers to go south.

They continued down the trail and finally stopped at the end of it after an hour of walking.

The sun was already above the horizon when they arrived.

What greeted them were obviously, trees. When they entered the forest, both of them turned vigilant.

In this unknown territory, they should really be careful. They soon found their first prey, a wild boar. It was nothing special really, it was only a bit bigger than a normal boar.

Arthur let his brother fight the boar. Though he knew that it would be easy.

Alex stood 3 meters behind the boar. His hands were shaking as he stood behind it, not because of fear, but excitement.

'Finally! A fight with a beast! Hehehe.'

Alex had been waiting for this since he was brought to this world. He rubbed his hands and pressed them on the ground.

The ground below the wild boar started breaking, and a trunk emerged from it. The unsuspecting boar oinked and squealed as it was launched up in the air.

'Thud!'

It fell to the ground and a cloud of dust covered its body.

Alex, focused on the dust because he knew that beasts knew, with their instinct, when is the right time to attack.

He waited for some time to let the cloud of dust subside. What emerged from it was the wild boar, lying down.

'Oink!'

It oinked cutely and looked at him, as if asking Alex to spare its life. To make it more unbelievable for him, there were even boar tears in its beady eyes. Its front leg, looks like it was broken.

'It was very weird for a wild boar oink cutely and have tear-stained eyes. It's like it has intelligence.'

"See what I did? I defeated it with just one attack!"

Alex boasted, as he went to his brother's side.

"No. You did not defeat it."

"What do you mean no?" Alex protested.

"Kill it! It will definitely kill you if you don't kill it."

"Why would I kill it?! Look at its eyes, it's clearly different than other beasts."

"Different? How so?"

Alex toned down his voice, afraid that someone would hear him.

"It looks intelligent to me."

"Intelligent? Hmmm. Okay, I'll kill it myself."

As Arthur was nearing the wild boar, it grunted and charged towards him.

It was all within Arthur's expectations. He pressed his hands on the floor and made a wall of earth.

The charging wild boar crashed its body on it. Its physical strength wasn't able to destroy the wall, much less crack it.

Arthur look at Alex with a face that says 'I told you so', Alex just shrugged his shoulders as a reply to his brother.

While the boar was still dizzy from its impact with the wall, Arthur used an Acolyte level spell [Earth Spike] and killed the wild boar with it.

The body of the boar was soaked by its own blood and was drowning of it.

After Alex saw his brother killed the boar without flinching he walked closer to him.

"What shall we do with its carca.s.s? Should we eat its meat?"

"No. We'll be using it as a bait. The scent of blood carried by the morning air will surely be enough to lure a beast."

As he said this, the wind blew hard on the forest. The chilly morning air was now mixed with the smell of blood.

'Roar!'