Bird-footed lizard

Over the last three weeks, the local militia had finished setting the Frisian horses and spikes, it was arranged in such a way that anything bigger than a human would be forced to travel through an arranged path, well in the range of the engineer siege weapons.

Obviously, this path was constructed with an ideal situation in mind, but it was not rare for the behemoths to see through the danger of a straight narrow path and some creatures would navigate through the maze of pointy objects using their agile bodies while the particularly ferocious ones would simply force their way through the obstacles by smashing or throwing them away.

But this too was accounted for, every second spent on an obstacle, was a chance for a siege weapon operator to adjust the aim and end the threat. If it wasn't enough, giant bolas and net could stop the monster long enough to deal a mortal blow and if for some reason, none of this was enough, there was always the pitfall.

The failing of the system was that intelligent behemoths would observe and learn from the failures of their brethren and for this reason, it was important to never leave any survivors, which was much easier said than done.

Today was a maintenance day, a time for the vanguards to maintain the various traps in the forest. As usual, Arc was complaining about the task.

- I swear, if those damn monkeys have messed with the traps again, I'm going to hunt them all! For free! (Arc)

- I would not condone killing them all, but it would not be such a bad idea, some of them have some valuable poison in their pouches. (Chris)

- Don't you have enough money? You're making a killing with those vines of yours. (Arc)

- I don't understand why you stubbornly refuse to harvest them, the pharmacists say they'll buy it, no matter the amount. (Chris)

Chris pepper turned to be worthless just like Arc thought, but she soon after found a precious vine, used by doctors and veterinarian all over the kingdom to put their patient in a state a deep sleep.

- You're the one who found it, and you're already donating one-quarter of your gain to the team. It just pisses me off that who made more than my entire life-saving in three weeks. (Arc)

- I did not expect you to save money, how much. (Chris)

- A bit over two crowns. (Arc)

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Chris was taken aback, that was more than her own saving before she found the vines.

- And here I thoughts you were blowing all your money on girls... That's because you never say anything that Bel think you're an idiot. (Chris)

- Come on, no one would be dumb enough... Okay, maybe that's going too far, but there should not be many idiots ready to spend all their hard earned money on a random girl before marriage. I was only spending most of my daily income on her, you know, for the dream. (Arc)

- That reminds me, did you see the change in attitude recently? (Chris)

- Yeah, now that we're done with the first site, people are starting to think we overstayed our welcome. I wonder if resident hunters have to deal with that... (Arc)

- I'm sure they do, but most of the time they're local, it helps soften the frictions. And, with all the building and digging, the expenses are piling. (Chris)

- Whose fault is that? (Arc)

Both vanguards shut up, they are nearing the border of the forest, not a place where one wants to be noisy, lest he wants to be prey. Slowly and carefully, they go through each of their trap, always on the lookout for a sign of dangers or Behemoth's activity.

Looking at one of the deadfall trap, Arc whispers.

- Damn monkeys, they did it again. (Arc)

Chris answer just as softly.

- No point getting furious, next time we'll put some snares around the traps, that should teach them not to approach them. (Chris)

- If only it were that simple. (Arc)

- We need to refresh the stink bomb on the serpent. (Chris)

- Yeah, I know, two of the worst possible tasks in one single package. (Arc)

A stink bomb is made by fermenting animal excrement, it allows to easily find a target no matter how well it hides without, but it only lasts for a limited time. In the case of the serpent, it has the added bonus of not making the other animals warry, helping it in its hunt.

As they approach the source of the smell, Chris takes a well-packed flask from a sealed pouch in her side bag. Then take a special arrow from her quiver and fix the flask on the special head, shaped like a screw.

But on their way to the smell, they find traces of devastation, something enormous fought here... No two enormous things fought, and neither of them won judging by the absence of corpse and the two trails, one leading deeper in the forest and the other straight to the river.

Chris point the direction of the smell and Arc acquiesce, confirming the state of the giant serpent and renewing the smell bomb comes first.

Seeing the state of the ophidian, it appears that it was the victor, for while there are many claw and teeth marks on its body, there is no deep wound either. After renewing the scent, both hunters go the other way to follow the other trail, but this time, they go up the trees before reaching the river. Indeed, going straight into an unobstructed area when there is a behemoth on the loose is nothing short from suicidal.

Observing from afar, they find their target, a gigantic bird-footed lizard with yellow and black feathers. There's a long gash near its left eye and seen stains from coagulated blood can be observed on its side and tail. The giant beast is crouching in the water, probably trying to cool its numerous wounds.

The hunters look at each other and make the retreat sign at the same time. That's trouble, big trouble. While they themselves have never fought one of them, its reputation is one of hunter-killer.

At least, not everything is bad news, the beast is built for speed and power. Its natural hunting ground should be in plains, not forest which means there is a way to take advantage of that. Just as silently as they came, the two hunters go back to the city.