The next morning, as soon as there was light, Zachary, Heather, and the rest made their way slowly back to the beach. Along the way, they passed by many signs of the previous night's battles. Trampled undergrowth, fallen trees, bloody splatters everywhere; there were even a few bodies scattered here and there. They belonged to both beasts and humans. All the anima crystals had been taken, even the ones inside human heads.
“Who do you think did it?” Shuhua asked nervously.
“Shh,” Nellie shushed her, “We’ll know soon enough.”
Zachary glanced at Heather who shrugged.
"Whoever did this was very thorough," She said, “It could be any of them.”
The rest became quiet, thinking about the culprits that would even mutilate human corpses. They continued onward in silence, following the path created by their summons. Her mantis, Toby, was at the front. Now fully healed, it was full of vigor and ready for another day of killing seagulls and anything else that deserved death.
When they arrived at the edge of the forest that lined the cliffs, they caught glimpses of the other prisoners who had survived the night. The group from Riverside Village was still intact. They seemed to have suffered no losses. The Dark Star Gang was still there as well as their rivals, the Daybreakers although their numbers were harder to gauge. There was also Aaron White and his crew, riding around arrogantly on his forest elephant like he owned the whole place. But aside from these larger groups, there was hardly anyone else.
“Zach,” Heather whispered, “This doesn't look good. The smaller groups have disappeared. That navy captain said there were sixty-some survivors. But I counted only around forty.”
“Only forty?” He asked.
“Yeah. And the people who killed others last night, they have gained a definite advantage in their seagull score. We can’t slack off today if we want to catch up,” She turned to the others behind her, “Understand? We can’t slack off today.”
They all nodded.
They soon made it to the clearing from yesterday and found it unoccupied. After clearing the debris and setting the trap pond again, they settled in and waited.
The Republic marines arrived in waves. They repaired their dugouts and defensive positions while summoning more farm animals and livestock. A small group then left on their eagles to lure the seagulls.
"Keeww!"
"Kew!"
The horde returned, once again covering the entire beach in their shadow.
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The same chaotic battle began once more, with packs of seagulls diving at anything they saw as food. Although the beasts had suffered plenty of losses, they had also filled their stomachs. Therefore, they were just as eager as before to fight it out with the invaders.
Zachary and his group relied on the same trick as before. Dream’s allure was irresistible as always. One seagull after another flew down and was killed or captured.
Zachary did most of the capturing with his spare soul orbs. Since they were worth double the points, he could afford to use some anima crystals from dead seagulls to advance his mantis, Timber. He was confident in Elmont, especially with the vine growth ability. However, since the survivors had already started killing each other, he needed more strength. Wander’s reminder came at the right moment. Now was not the time to be stingy. All that mattered was getting home.
The morning passed slowly. The battle continued. It was a meatgrinder that took lives without mercy. Many summons were still wounded from yesterday. They weren’t as fierce as before and fell to the sharp beaks and deadly talons of the giant seagulls. Whether it was soldiers or survivors, it didn’t matter. Who could heal their summons completely in a single night? It was impossible.
Because of this, Zachary and his gang’s performance far surpassed the others. They steadily reaped seagulls and collected points. Their moods improved and their spirits rose. At this rate, getting into the top sixteen was assured.
However, things rarely went according to plan. Today was one of those occasions. Before Zachary had gotten his fill of seagulls and points, the flock in the sky suddenly retreated.
“What happened? Why did they leave?” Carlos asked.
His question was answered by an ear-splitting cry. A powerful gust of wind followed as something huge flew overhead. With each flap of its six massive wings, leaves were blown off their branches. Smaller trees even snapped in half.
Zachary dived to the ground, covering his head as he was showered in debris.
“It’s the seagull boss!” Heather shouted although her voice sounded tiny and distant. “Get back!”
As they frantically ran for the deeper jungle, the expert rank seagull started a killing spree along the beach. With a few flaps, it created a ferocious windstorm that engulfed a squad of marines. Humans, beasts, and even boulders were engulfed and torn to shreds.
“Ahh!”
“Help!”
Miserable cries mixed with dying wails.
The overlord of the seagull horde had finally seen enough of these pesky invaders. It had to avenge its fallen brethren.
The powerful seagull didn’t just attack the beach. It also cut down the trees that lined the cliff. Each flap of its wings created invisible blades of air. Like giant scythes reaping stalks of wheat, the attack sliced through the forest and everything hiding within.
“Duck!” Wander shouted.
A glowing green shield appeared behind Zachary, barely blocking one of those wind blades. Still, the force of the impact sent him flying several meters. He tumbled to the ground and rolled a few times before being caught by Doro.
“Doro.” He groaned as he tried to get back up.
Before he could say anything else, a huge tree that had been sliced in half started falling toward him, creaking and groaning and gaining speed.
“Dig!” He shouted.
Doro grabbed his body and sank into the ground. It was just in time as the earth above his head shook with the force of an earthquake.
A few moments later, Zachary reemerged, spluttering and spitting dirt out of his mouth. He looked around at the absolute wreck that surrounded him. Barely any trees remained standing. He could see the cloudy sky and the giant seagull that circled above. Only, it wasn’t alone.
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