Roawr!

“Came from the east, someone must be fighting over there. Let's head over.”

As we are rushing over, a tree trunk a man tall came spinning in our direction. We deftly dodged the projectile with inches to spare and continued our rush with abet more care.

Entering our vision is a clearing of broken trees. A team of hunters are cornering a tier 4 shimmering kavu.

From the sidelines we could tell they did not need our help. We stood by the side and waited in case of anything.

It would seem like everything is going to be fine but the battle had drawn some of the local denizens to come and visit. Knowing that those guys already have their hand full, we had a small discussion and gave them a shout out.

“Thank us later”

Then we start our approach and begin our preparation for the coming battle.

Eric started digging pit falls all around. When he is done, i would cover them with my vine. My vines would be able to tolerate tier 3 and below beast going over them and would break if a higher tier beast steps on it. A natural pitfall for the strong. We can manually kill the tier 3 and below anyway.. Amy can just flame the pitfalls until the trapped beast dies. Perfect cycle.

Barely finishing the set up, our first prey arrived. A bash from the trilobite, a concussive mental attack from me and joyce and some trap binding from me, we subdued the first one. No blood no fuss and a tier 3 rock tiger is down on the ground. If it is a pair, we will keep it. If not it is a good night to them. Tier 3 s of no challenge thanks to me. Lord level mental attack is almost too much for them to handle. Joyce is there just there to make sure my attack is not too severe or to add a finishing touch. My fine control still sucks. I have killed 27 beast accidentally already.

One by one we take them down. It is not an easy feat. tier 4 and tier 5 beast are starting to appear from the scent of blood that is beginning to permeate the air. With me and joyce as control, everyone still has a fighting chance. Not to mention, with my extensive knowledge, i know where most of their critical weakness are. With tier 4 beast i deal almost no damage to them. A tier 1 vine can barely penetrate their skin. No one to blame though. The plan be more efficient in energy and not be more powerful. I am already very powerful in a sense for my age. A tier 1 fruitless user subduing a tier 3 user is rare enough..

It is a hard battle for the team of hunters, the shimmering kavu is of the light element and has the ability to heal. Small wounds heal quickly that makes the battle hard and long. Only the occasional major wounds helped with weakening the beast. The team is a well trained team and must have been together since the very beginning. Looking at their well coordinated strikes and timely rescues we can see how many close shaves they have been in. they form of mainly tier 3 masters and a tier 4 master which seems to be their leader.

We really had to stay on a lookout for them, a light element beast core of any tier is something every beast seeks. Just gaining a slight increase in regeneration is a boon to any beast.

After keeping a lookout and taking down 2 other tier 4 beast, It is over, they managed to subdue the kavu.,it is a good core i must say for the healer that they have. Light element beast are hard to find.

Night has fallen. it is a moonless night knowing that it is not safe here, we cleared out from the area of devastation and set up a new base camp a distance away with the team of hunters. Settling in with them, we waiting next to the bonfire as the healer absorbed the core.

“Hi, i am Gattsu, i am the leader of this group and we are the band of the hawk. Thank you for helping us keep other beast away.”

“You are welcome i am Amy and we are from the academy.”

“The academy!” Gattsu looked at me in surprise before continuing “it is for this boy eh, this is quite deep into the woods for a tier 1 novice, is he up to the task?”

“He is. He is a support class right now, but he is even able to bind even a tier 3 right now.”

Gattsu once again looks at me “hey kid! What is your name, I want ….”

Gattsu stopped in his words. He could feel that icy cold stare coming from Joyce.

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The tension held on over there and it felt like the temperature had dropped at least a degree or so.

Around the corner, there was a muffled cough from Daniel that sounded like “mother hen.”

That broke the tension and Gattsu rose his hands in surrender. Still he added “the offer still stands for the future. Think about it.”

We further chatted about our haul and exchanged stories of our escapades while we waited for the healer to complete her absorption.

At the moment of absorption, it was rather an amazing sight. It could be seen that the healer was slightly glowing. That gentle soft glow slowly spread out and about 20 hands of space around her was glowing as well. The light spirit energy have gathered all around her as she began to absorb them as well. It was a true fascination.

As the light show ended, everyone approached her to congratulate her.

Just then my mental radar picked up a presence approaching our camp. Not wanting anyone else to know that i am first to notice, i mentally spoke to Joyce “we are getting company of 1 coming from the north. It seems to be a tier 5 and coming fast.”

Joyce then reacted and acted as if she is the first to notice and relayed the message. With the healer at the center, we prepared for combat.

There was no time for pitfalls so there was no helping it that i was almost useless. a splash of vines at the eyes is still a good distraction if need be.

With everything in place, it was just a waiting game.

Cold sweat beaded on everyone’s forehead. The beast is coming and it is coming in fast. It is 1 tier higher than Gattsu so the risk is much higher. I may be a novice spirit lord but i without the corresponding skill to match. I only have the skills that Joyce though me so i only know tier 3 spirit master attacks. That alone is inadequate to stop a tier 5 beast. A tier 5 beast also has some form of budding awareness and that itself adds a certain level of risk.

Then the horror broke out. It was a crow feathered octopus with claws at the tip of the tentacles.

“MIMICK!!!!”

“This sucks.”

“Formation B-3. fan out”

I look at Joyce and Amy and ask, “mental link with them?”

They look at each other and nodded.

The benefit of being lord level, multiple connections of mental speak at one time with ease. We have to pretend that the connection comes from Joyce though, too dangerous for them to know that it come from me.

With the connection set in place, it was action time.

I was to keep distracting it and binding it. There was also the laws of physic where i dump a well timed big and thick log right on the head to stun it with the help of gravity and vines.

True to its name, it began to copy the characteristics of our attacks. It began to gain a hard shell like Eric’s tree, wings like Amy’s tree and the various tree qualities the belong to the band of the hawks.

It was fine trying to survive its attack but the main problem was its ability to stretch and its ability to fly. Its razor sharp claws whip through the air cutting through the trees that we manifested. Like a octopus we could not cage it, it would squeeze through the smallest of gaps and escape. The only way to win is a battle of attrition.

The mimick has no natural predator left in the immediate area because of its speed and offensive ability and right now it is furious. These weak little things are attacking it and now it just wants to kill these insects. Sending wave after wave of claws and firing feathers at the insects that is annoying it it learns of the skills that they have. It is always the same. The instinct to learn and attack.

The only problem is that it still lacks the ability to scheme and plan. It is just a small step away from doing so. Becoming a tier 1 lord would grant it that. That on its own is the saving grace.

Slowly the attacks become less frequent, the feathers stopped flying as often as it would usually have. Everyone understands that it will be soon now.

Everyone inched closer as the circle slowly tightens on the mimick. Daybreak is about come and it had been a long night.