Seeing the rat kings this way, Michael's group understood that their turn would soon come to be. The rat kings attacked with more ferocity and without regard for their lives, but the mosquitoes still maintained their formation and continued their attacks. Although the rat kings had hard skins, the mosquitoes were able to penetrate after a while and soon, one of the rat kings was dealt critical damage and instead of reducing its attack, it just increased its attacks, as it attacks indiscriminately and with more fervour. The mosquitoes were reduced drastically but they didn't seem to give up on their attacks on the rat kings. There were no longer any living rats apart from the rat kings, maybe that was what enraged them and didn't allow them to withdraw as no king would be okay with outsiders coming into its territory and killing all its citizens and even leaving them in a state of being exactly sack and bones since all their body fluids have been sucked out in all entirety.
Although it was their last strive while putting their lives on the line, the rats were not able to endure the attacks rained on them by the mosquitoes and while the mosquitoes were about to pierce through the rat king with the least vital injuries since they were in the air, the other one jumps in while squeaking painfully. If this was a romance movie, it did be something of like the man jumping in to save the lady from an arrow or bullet. Such a romantic scenario as a teardrop falls from the eyes of the pierced rat while it turns behind to look at the remaining rat king like it wants to say "live on". But to its dismal, the remaining rat king was being sucked of its blood and was starting to deflate from its original hefty stature. Such a wasted sacrifice and display of affection at the end as the one you tried saving ends up dying before you. The first rat king which was pierced formerly spurts our blood and the light gradually fades away from its eyes while it angrily stares at the mosquito which was heartily sucking all the blood from the second rat king. And so the two rat kings died, although they had worn out the mosquitoes to a nice rate, it did still be sure death for the group of hunters who were hiding behind a bush while watching the conclusion of the battle. The conclusion came as a shock to the hunters, cause they expected that the rat kings would almost destroy the horde of mosquitoes before dying so that they would come for a little sweep but seems their hope was crushed as the mosquitoes killed both rat kings before they could deal such great damage and they couldn't come out of their hiding area before the mosquitoes leave hence had to bid their time without making any unnecessary movements which could attract the attention of the mosquitoes towards them.
The mosquitoes kept on sucking the body fluids in the rat kings until they became dried-up corpses, they also ran through the battlefield not allowing any blood to go wasted even the ones spilt on the floor and from their dead comrades, they sucked everything and they still didn't seem full.
They kept buzzing around the space and this made Michael's group chilled thinking that the mosquitoes could come toward them at any moment. This was a critical moment for them and they all had to be very careful with any action they perform right now.
After a short while which seems like an entire lifetime to them, the mosquitoes start relocating. Seems like they are finding new prey to mummify as they move in great strides without a break in their formation for greener pastures or as the case of the mosquitoes would be, for more blood.
They finally relocate and the king elephant herb was in view to them, the herb was still in good shape even after such a terrible battle unfolded in its territory, a light wind blows at this time and it sways lightly due to the wind as if mindless of all the corpses around it.
The elephant king herb didn't seem like any treasure at all and if seen by anybody would be taken as a useless herb. From a very close view could it be seen that there was a network of veins on the herb and if your ear was placed close to the soil where it grows, a light throb could be heard which would resonate with the heart. Like there was a heart in the soil which was beating at the same pace as that of a human's heart.
The herb was grey like the colour of an elephant and on closer look, it could be observed that there was not just one but two of the herbs present, growing side by side. This new observation got both Michael and George happy and they shared it with the team. Joshua couldn't help screaming out in happiness at this moment as this meant that they could keep one while donating the other one to the village head.
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Michael tries to stop him from screaming since the mosquitoes haven't gone too far and they detect movements more easily and quickly but seems like it was too late as Joshua had already screamed before he even had the chance to warn him about such an act. After Joshua screamed, there was silence for a while as his group members looked at him in shock and fear. They all quickly scanned the surroundings to ensure that none of the mosquitoes was in view.
They were almost able to calm their breath, but a single mosquito now came in view. But before it could do anything, all four hunters used their strongest attacks immediately to kill it and it was felled. They calmed their breath to check their surroundings once again if it was the only one and after a while which seems like the longest moment of their lives, they were able to calm down and breathe in relief.
Seems like the swarm has gone far away hence they wouldn't be coming back, maybe the one that came was a lone mosquito that was left behind by the swarm as not a single blood could be found in its body after it was killed.
Michael eventually lifts his head just to have a look at the sky and was gobsmacked by what he saw, George was shocked by the new attitude of Michael and couldn't help asking, "Hey, what's u....", he couldn't complete his statement before he was cut short by what he saw above him. He gulped so hard on his saliva that he didn't notice the fact that he was almost choked.
Andrew notices the new behaviour of them both and couldn't help looking upwards, following their line of sight and just smiled in depreciation while drinking from the wine placed on his shoulder.
Joshua who was leaning on his cutlass didn't know what was happening but there were shadows on the ground which were covering the sun and thought that maybe it was the clouds and said, "Guys, it seems that they would be a great rainfall soon".
But his group members didn't even reply to him and just kept looking upwards. "Guys", Joshua couldn't help calling out to them once again but before he could say anything, Andrew shouted, "Runnnnnnnnnn".
"Huh", Joshua couldn't understand why Andrew would scream that he should run but on seeing Michael, Andrew and George running in front, he just ran with them but his curiosity piqued and he had to turn around but the sight in his back and upwards made him almost stumble but he still increased his speed. Seems like since the mosquitoes flew at a low altitude while battling the rat kings, they forgot that they could fly higher hence they forgot to check above them and hence they came to be in such a situation.
They ran at immense speed but they couldn't outrun the mosquitoes as the mosquitoes just flew above their heads while they ran through the forest and mosquitoes are usually fast. They tried their best to outrun them but seeing that such a situation wouldn't be possible, they tried attacking the mosquitoes close to them. But after attacking the mosquitoes who seem to have sucked some blood, they came to know the terror of these beasts who had the blood-sucking characteristics of a vampire.
Their cutlass could hardly make a dent in the carapace of the mosquitoes, they had a strong exoskeleton after all and after sucking blood from other beasts, that characteristic of them seemed to have grown stronger and better. Although the blood which has gathered had decreased their speed, they could exchange the blood for increased speed albeit for a short duration but they didn't see the need to perform such a useless sacrifice on these puny humans, hence they just used their normal speed. Although the force used to hit the mosquitoes made them faint-headed and fell back, that didn't last long as they would be back on track after a few seconds. The only one of them whose attack went through was Michael and he couldn't handle all these mosquitoes by himself and he was after all faster than them but for some unknown reason, George seems to be capable of keeping up with him. Perhaps Michael was decreasing his speed in order for his team members not to be left behind. Joshua and Andrew who were the slowest in the team were in the back with George and Michael in the front. This race has started putting a strain on the muscle nerves of Andrew and a large amount of sweat could be seen pouring out of his body.
But although he was strained, he still tried running with his full night and bit by bit he was getting farther away from Joshua.
Although they ran while trying to push back the mosquitoes, they were still hoping in their heart that some strong beast would help kill these mosquitoes. After all, there were stronger beasts out there who loved mosquitoes as their food.
Noticing Andrew was getting a bit further from him, Joshua did something nobody would have ever thought he would do. He pulled Andrew backwards while breaking the foothold he would have landed on to at least regain his standing and surge forward. "Sorry kid, but I can't afford to die in this place. Die in my stead, I won't ever forget you", Joshua said while performing such an act.
He wants to sacrifice Andrew to the mosquitoes to distract them and hold them off for a bit, while he escaped from their clutches. The hearts of men can't be understood after all, and some can commit vile hearts just to save themselves from danger or death.