I don´t know when but after we killed the last crow, we realized that the scarecrow stopped sending his nightmare crows at us. Finishing fighting the flock off I was mentally and physically exhausted. They were nimble creatures with great teamwork and packed a heck of a peck, but the worst thing is they didn´t have any exp.

While we were being pecked, the scarecrow just watched us while commentating on our mistakes and on what we should improve on. During all this fighting my control over my own body improved drastically. Before I was awkward at using my tail in battle and having no limps, but now I could utilize my tail for various things like grabbing, slamming, and even thrusting. Sahra too got nimbler, and her attacks became smoother with less wasted movements. I really don´t know if I should thank him for "training" us or rip his core out and devoured it. Probably the latter for letting me relive my horrible past.

Now covered in scratches and injuries he slapped his wooden hands together. "Now that you have shown me that you are somewhat strong, it´s time to begin the real." Dashing towards us he threw his scythe between us. Jumping to the side we avoided it, but he suddenly pulled his hand backward and the weapon flew towards Sahra.

She immediately dropped down on her knees while her head touched the ground. The attack just barely passed by her. The scythe then made a sharp turn and returned to his hand just in time to slash vertically at me.

Tilting away from the blade it still managed to grace my cheek but got stuck in the ground. I used the chance by slithering up the hilt and on his arm before crushing it with my new learned skill crush. Breaking his right hand and the hilt of his weapon in pieces he grabbed me by my neck and threw me at Sahra where she caught me with some difficulty.

Looking at his destroyed arm that hung loosely on a few strings he grabbed it and ripped it off. Pulling a small seed out of his trouser he held it on his right shoulder before a new wooden arm sprouted from the seed that attached to his shoulder. His new arm looks a thousand times better than the few poorly held together sticks that was his right arm. Taking another seed out he did the same thing with the scythe repairing it to its former rusty "glory".

"Ha~ I don´t remember the last time I had to repair myself," said he while reminiscing the past. Getting his new fingers accustomed by clenching and unclenching his hand a few times he stabbed his weapon into the ground.

He was grinning the entire time behind the wooden mask as he walked towards us barehanded. Stopping a few meters in front of us he signaled us to come at him. To which we did.

Sahra was the first to reach him and did many fast slashes with her dagger, but none of them connected. He deflected or dodged them all while still counterattacking with a few fast jabs and kicks. Sahra managed to block them by casting a sand shield on her left hand but the brute force alone numbed her hands. Meanwhile, I cast conceal and slithered behind the scarecrow and tried to grab his leg to bring him out of balance, but he saw through my concealment and evaded my tail. However, this led to giving Sahra an opening where she managed to cut off his left arm but was sent flying by a roundhouse kick to the stomach. He didn´t bother with remaking his left arm and just took the cut-off arm and stuck it back on.

Grabbing me by the face I bit him into his wooden hand and released some of the poison in hope of doing some kind of damage even if it was highly unlikely. To my surprise, his eyes widened, and the red burning eyes turned blue then green, and back to red again.

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Flinging me towards the downed Sahra he let out a loud laugh, "Shishishishishi, this confirms it. I am leaving now, but don´t worry my children will entertain you in my place. Stay alive young snake and little princess~" Walking back towards his weapon he picked it up and slumped it on his shoulder before disappearing into the darkness.

'Heh? Did he just call Sahra little princess and what did he confirm just now? And why is he sparing us? Didn´t he come here to kill us even though he was toying with us the entire time?'

As those thoughts rushed through my head the emotionless scarecrows started to move. A few bright orbs flew towards us. Sahra cast another sand shield, but it was too small to cover every side. I used my body and covered her body.

During the battle, the scarecrow did use much more force when attacking Sahra than me and currently I have much more health remaining than her.

To my surprise tanking the fire blasts with my body did barely any damage. It was definitely strange, but I have other problems currently. When the smoke cleared, we could see that 5 of the sickle-wielding scarecrows were already dashing towards us.

Sahra who was quiet the entire time let out a high-pitched scream that stunned everyone, even me. Sprinting at the group in front she shredded them into pieces and let out her whole frustration from being toyed with on the poor scarecrows. This scene once again made me promise myself to never anger her.

Even if they don´t have a nervous system I was almost sorry for them getting shredded into confetti and their cores ripped out... almost. But luckily for me, they didn´t have blood and intestines that could be sprayed everywhere. It would have been a pain to clean ourselves without water and let alone the stench. The lantern carrying one that cast the fire spells readied for another barrage, but I slithered towards them to take them out.

A few of the remaining melee attackers blocked my patch but I just grabbed the closest one with my tail and bashed him into the rest, using him like a hammer. They were pretty light as they were just out of sticks, hay, and a few strings.

I did gain exp from them, but it was on the lower end, but they dropped brownish-yellow monster cores.

After killing all the 40 scarecrows I realized that I was standing on a pile of hay and sticks., and what felt like an eternity the "sun" finally began to rise up again, clearing the darkness and revealing once again the calm grassy plain. Not long after starring into the distance, the long-awaited system notification popped up.

*Ding*

[Congratulations on clearing the second wave!]

[The third wave will start in 10 hours!]

*Sigh*

'So we have to survive another wave heh? I hope this will be the last one...'

Looking towards Sahra, I could see that she was collecting the hay and clothes they were wearing before putting them under the tree.

Smiling wryly at the sight I scratched my head. Not wanting to just idly sitting around and letting Sahra do all the work I grabbed the brownish-yellow cores one by one and piled them next to where Sahra was making a bed/nest. Finished making the stack I laid next to her on the makeshift bed enjoying the light morning breeze. Sinking into the soft hay I let out a sigh.

But now that I´m not under attack and have some silence the memories that I suppressed once again haunted me. Sahra who was always keen on reading emotions noticed my distress even though she was dead tired and pulled me into a hug. I can never thank her enough for just being there for me in this unknown world I have been thrown into. Without her, I would have been long dead.

So lying next to each other she began to produce a rhythmic beat. Calming down and sorting my thoughts out I let my past rest and concentrated on the presence. 'It is finally time to move forward I guess...'

Now opening my status to see just how much exp I gained during the 40 vs 2 battle.

Seeing my stats, I remembered the last words of the scythe-wielding scarecrow. 'Hah, so that explains everything…'