Near the northeast outskirts of the village, where the citizens rarely roam about, as there are rarely any vital resources that could be gathered there that the humans need or if there was, there are better parts of the forests where it could be easily obtained.
It is said that at that place the trees are the tallest, and as well as the sturdiest, even to the point where no tools or apparatus that the humans had invented so far can cut down the trees, not even the tier of magic spells that most humans had achieved in this place. Aside from that none of the trees here can bear fruits, as they had been theorized to be the one absorbing all the nutrients of the soil at that part of the forest, to the extent that only their own species can live there, no flowers, no plants, and especially no other species of trees, heck even weeds can't survive here-
That is why that part of the forest had been called by the natives here "The Land of the Avarice Tree"
...
'What's taking her so long?' Philip wondered as he walked around in circles, because this time he was the one to arrive first.
But just as Philip was about to search for her, because he was beginning to worry about her, as it had been one hour since the time that they agreed upon-
Whoosh! Whoosh!
"Phiiiiiiiiiiiilip! HAHAHA" There it was, that loud red-haired woman running at him with a smile that reaches from ear to ear, as she waved at him with her right hand, full of energy as usual-
'Sheesh that woman, where does she get all that energy from? It's like she has infinite of it' Philip thought with his eyes closed and a -mile on his face, not knowing that letting his guard down would prove to be fatal for him-
As Ada then speeded up towards him without halt-
Fwhoosh! Fwhoosh!
But just as the worst disaster is about to happen to Philip, he opened his eyes, sensing that something was wrong-
"Huh?"
"HUh?!"
"HUH?!" Philip panicked and in an instinctual reaction dodged the incoming Ada in front of him-
And bam! with no one to catch her, Ada dove headfirst into the ground-
CRASH!
"W-Why didn't you catch me?!" Ada spoke as she winced in pain.
But Philip just replied in a cold-hearted tone, "I'm sorry I felt danger"
"S-Seriously who do you think I am?! W-What do you think I'll do to you?!!" Ada questioned him furiously-
"..." Philip could not answer, so he just remained quiet-
"See! You can't even think of an answer!!" As Ada pointed her fingers at him.
"T-That's just my revenge for you being late" Philip retorted hesitantly-
"Don't change the topic!!!" Ada screamed.
...
After a few minutes had passed, with the clashing and butting words here and there, the two eventually made up.
They had to, they had no other option, because they both agreed that they had more important things to discuss, but who knows, that too may have just been a facade, because somehow, it as if though they had began to grow on each other.
They then continued on with their conversation, planning strategically on what they were going to do next, which unsurprisingly enough, both of them are really good at-
"So, what do you think Philip?" Ada asked Philip to confirm the things that they had discussed prior and to gain further insight.
Philip started speaking in a serious tone as he expressed his opinion on the matter, "I think that even if the loss of effectiveness of the amulet is just a one-time thing, we still should not ignore the possibility of it reoccurring once in a while or just like what you said, every night, and even worse we still can't rule out the possibility of its effectiveness wearing overtime instead of it just fixing itself overtime."
Ada then shared her own insights on what could happen going forward, "So, basically these are the things that we had confirmed thus far based on what happened yesterday. So, if we assume the worst-case scenario, we're gonna have to prepare thoroughly, after all the window when the village is safe might get shorter and shorter, and if we take into consideration the strength of the beasts that we just fought, we also can't disregard the possibility of the beasts that we'll be facing from then on forward to become more powerful, looks like we'll need to get even stronger then."
"Yeah, and as we have discussed we are going to be starting the "Hundred Year Plan of Breaking Traditions." Philip nodded in agreement to Ada.
In which Ada also nodded on what Philip just said as a sign that she too also agrees, "Yeah, let's meet later tonight, we'll see if there are any beasts that appears then"
...
Philip and Ada then placed a dummy made of similar materials to the scarecrows in their village on their respective beds before sneaking out, which looked nowhere near like them, however, it was enough to fool the eyes of the adults in their home should they ever check up on them, thus they were prepared this time, unlike the other night-
"AHHHHHHHHH!!! I swear! I'm going to make those whoever dared to steal my scarecrows pay dearly!!" The farmer who was quiet suddenly screamed in anguish as he was having dinner with his wife.
"Yes-Yes! make sure to finish your meal and be healthy enough to make them pay!" As the wife joined in with her husband happily, as earlier she was really worried why her husband had suddenly gone quiet, but as it turns out it was just this, so she finally had gotten peace of mind, and just thought that this whole ordeal was silly.
This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the village...
Swoosh! Swoosh!
Rustle! Rustle!
Crack! Crack!
Ada and Philip traversed the forest once again, but this time they were a bit earlier around the time when the beasts started appearing.
So, they lied in waiting, for any traces that they could detect, for footsteps, for anything out of the ordinary-
Tap! Tap! Tap!
And there it was, the slight sound of footsteps at the northeast outskirts of their village, even fainter than the last beasts that they have encountered, so this time almost only Philip was able to detect it.
The two then, without hesitation, immediately headed over the place where sound was coming from, so that they could guarantee that they can complete their jobs this time without leaving any sloppy mess-
Tap-Tap-Tap-Tap
Whoosh! Whoosh!
The closer they both got, the more detailed the sounds of the footsteps became, and at the same time they could most certainly hear that when compared to the bull-esque beasts that they fought yesterday, the beasts this time is unquestionably faster and a division down in the weight class-
Tap-Tap-Tap-Tap
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Luckily for them, it was a smooth journey from the southern part of the forest to the northeastern part of the forest, as there were no obstacles, nor did they encounter anyone that hindered them.
...
After arriving at their destined location, they immediately hid on the tree branches, with the intent to repeat the same strategy that they did before-
Crackle! Crackle!
This time due to the difference in the environment, the beasts could not trample on the Avarice Tress that were on their paths, so instead they just slid past on the tiny slips and cracks in between them, and from beasts' point of view, underneath the trees, there were only darkness with slight rays of sunlight. Because the Avarice Trees dense dark green leaves overlap with each other, they were spread out in a manner that they occupied almost all part of the skies above them, in addition to that, their brown trunks were also so much thicker than the average trees to the point where they grab the very little space between them. It is like they were all just a single tree, it is most nearly impossible to differentiate them from the own-
TAP! TAP! TAP!
As Philip hid in the darkness, where his eyesight is unaffected, he saw two monsters that he could not describe as he had never seen anything like it.
It was smaller in build but had horns that are very similar to the monstrous bulls that they had encountered yesterday, they were dark skinned in color and looked a bit more savage, they were very similar to a wildebeest that had adapted to make their bodies suitable for this environment.
So, Philip with the same strategy in mind, without hesitation leaped out of the tree and ambushed the beasts using his fists-
Whoosh!
However, he had only managed to hit one, the other one dodged him midair using its pure reflexes-
CLANG!
On the other hand, the one that got hit in its back with Philip's fist smashing downwards, suffered little to no damage at all. It was the first time after waking up in that long coma where Philip felt that something was rock solid, because as an example, he could easily smash the boulders around the mines in their village. So, it left his right fist stinging for a bit-
'How fast could that one be to dodge my attack?' Philip thought as he crashed into the ground-
CRASH!
Meanwhile Ada casted the fastest element of magic spells, because even though Philip could see in the dark, she could not. So, she only relied on her other senses to hit her spell, like the sound that was made when Philip smashed the wildebeest on its back-
"Lightning Strike!"
Crackle!
It hit her target and shocked it for a bit, on the other hand she did not bother attacking the other one with her spell, because although she could hear the slight traces that the wildebeest make when they run, they were too fast for her to catch on, only when there is a definite sound that pinpoints their location could she ever hope to hit them with her spells. Thus, she held on to the magic spells that she prepared, as to save mana and not waste them-
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Philip who now fell down on the ground took the aggro of both the Wildebeest-Esque creatures, so in response to that he ran while conserving his stamina and started bouncing off of the sides of the tress-
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
Whoosh! Whoosh!
However, it seemed like the beasts could also do the same and keep up with his speed, in fact that was how the beasts traversed this weird forest-
Fwoosh! Fwoosh!
Swoosh! Swoosh!
So, in response, Philip began expending his stamina and tried to trick the beasts that was tailing him by speeding towards one of the trees, where he then bounced off the air and changed his trajectory, so that the beasts would be unable to stop themselves and hit the sturdy tree in front of them-
Whoosh-Whoosh!
Swoosh! Swoosh!
But with the beasts' agile bodies, they were easily able to turn their bodies around and also bounce off of the tree to disperse the momentum that they had built up-
Swoosh-Swoosh!
Swoosh-Swoosh!
It's a good thing that Philip outmatched them with his speed, however that wouldn't be for long, as whether it be on purpose or not, the beasts acted as if they had some semblance of intelligence.
Firstly, every time that Philip would slow down, the beasts would try to go into the direction of the village, as if they knew his intent of protecting it. Secondly, they also paid attention to Ada because their actions showed that they were wary of whoever attacked them from trees.
So, this put Philip in a deadlock where he had no choice but to continue using his stamina, as the beasts alternated between the threat of attacking him or the threat of attacking the village-
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
Whoosh! Whoosh!
But Philip was smart, and he used the time when he still had a lot of reserved stamina to come up with a plan, he was not just running away from them-
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
Whoosh! Whoosh!
He kept on running, leading on the beasts to somewhere with a tighter space, even tighter than the one where they were at, while Ada followed them closely-
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
Whoosh! Whoosh!
He then performed the same trick that he did as before, but this time the moment that the one of the beasts bounced off of the tree, he used his second dash to bounce back into the beast to grab it by the neck, where he then used his own strength and momentum to increase their speed to the point where they were unstoppable now. He basically wrestled with the Wildebeest-
Tap! Tap! Whoosh-Whoosh!
SWOOOOSH!
Now, the purpose of why Philip lured them into a tighter space began showing its purpose and started coming into light, as when they had already reached their maximum speed, seconds later after Philip grabbed the beast, all he needed was to guarantee that the two of them would hit something, because the beast would surely be the first one to absorb the impact.
With that in mind, even though Philip was hesitant at first to perform this maneuver, as the beasts was similar to him in terms of strength, because what his plan did not take into account for was, what he would do when the space gets tighter and tighter as the wildebeest continued to struggle more forcefully to shake him off while their momentum keeps on increasing-
BANG!!!!
WHOOOOOOOSH!!!
Crack!
Luckily, Philip need not to increase the strength of their collision, as it caused numerous shockwaves forceful enough to blow some of the ginormous leaves from the trees around them, which coincidentally enough, was also at the same time the neck of the beast snapped...
The battle from then on forward was a simple game of cat and mouse, because the remaining beast fled and tried to run away from them. Of course, Philip was faster than it, so he quickly caught up and restrained it, while Ada just casted her spells.
...
With the ordeal settled, the two had had confirmed two things, firstly only a certain area of the radius where the amulet is effective at night disappears, as confirmed by their two encounters.
Secondly, going forward they will most likely be facing beasts every night, as for the strength of the beasts, it is hard to confirm yet because the bull-Esque had a much higher endurance and the wildebeest-Esque creatures was faster and tougher.
They both seemed to be closer in strength.
...