“Relax, it's dead,” Jason said.

Hakeem calmed down and as he looked closer at the bear, it was indeed dead with an arrow sticking on its skull.

“Did you kill it?” Hakeem asked.

Jason grabbed on to the shaft of the arrow and pulled it out in a single swift motion. He flicked the arrow a few times to get rid of the blood.

“Yup,” he said.

Hakeem had a troubling time believing this. The game lover Jason could kill a bear with a bow was too much for him to processed.

“But how?” Hakeem said with his voice turning meek.

“Are you blind?” Jason said.

“Hold up, I got a lot of questions man. How the hell did you turn up like this?” Hakeem asked while pointing at Jason from top to bottom. In his eyes, Jason was a different man. Explaining things was a hassle for Jason, he stored the arrow back into the quiver and proceed in his journey.

“Are you going to be a dick for the rest of this journey?” Hakeem couldn’t handle the silence. He was in need of answers.

Jason turned around facing Hakeem.

“Look, I’m doing this because I want to and I’m not forcing you to follow me. You can leave whenever you want, but if anything happens just know I might not be able to help if I’m busy,” Jason said his piece. His goal was to venture further until he met a UC, killing the bear didn’t give him anything.

Hakeem fell silent, and Jason was right. He could go back whenever he wanted but after seeing this new side of Jason, his curiosity was itching at him.

“At least tell me where you get those night vision goggles?” Hakeem recognized the thing Jason was wearing. It wasn’t hard to recognize it since it appeared many times in the movies.

“Oh, this? I got it from Amazonia,” he replied. A couple of days before deciding to go into this venture of his, he ordered a night vision goggles from Amazonia. He learned his lesson from the previous night hunt, and it was better to be prepared rather than just winging it.

Even amidst the turmoil of the whole world, the online shopping world was still alive and well. Even in the face of global danger, money still reigned supreme. There was no way they could stop doing their business. They had already been affected by these invasions and they weren't going to stop since the money comes first.

“Amazonia sold these things?” Hakeem was bewildered, he never knew one could buy such a thing from the internet.

“I got it at a bargain price, three hundred bucks for a piece,” he said, “so you’re tagging along?” Jason asked.

Hakeem nodded and the duo ventured deeper into the cold dark forest. Jason was walking carefully with the aid of the night vision, while Hakeem was stumbling at every step as he could barely see a thing. The darkness of everything around Hakeem sensitized his sense of smell, the soil beneath him and the decomposing leaves on the ground made the atmosphere close and thick. With his sense of vision impaired, all of his other senses were heightened.

Jason, on the other hand, was accustomed to the night of the forest. The second time would always be more comfortable than the first time. After walking through the forest for four hundred meters, both of them saw the light. He turned the goggle up as he saw a clearing right in front of him. Hakeem was smiling seeing light for the first time. Both of them walked closer to the edge of the clearing, the moonlight was shining bright under the night sky. It was a full moon a blessing to those who couldn’t stand the dark.

Hakeem couldn’t wait to get out of the dark forest but Jason held him by the back of his collar. The tall man stopped on his track as he regained his balance from falling. He was about to curse at Jason but Jason’s words made him stopped.

“Get down,” said Jason.

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Both crouched even closer to the ground.

“Lie down,” said Jason.

“What?” Hakeem said.

“You’re too big,” Jason said. Hakeem did what he was ordered to and lay on the ground.

“What is it? Is it a bear?” Hakeem asked.

“No, even worse,” Jason grimaced seeing the creature appearing at the opposite edge of the clearing. It was standing upright on its two hind legs with a buckler attached on its left hand. It was standing like a human but it was far from being one. Dense fur covered its entire body as its head was the head of a wolf. But what caught Jason’s gaze was the bunch of heads hanging on its waist. He couldn’t see it properly but he knew that it might the victim of this wolf humanoid. It kept those heads as if they were trophies.

“Scan,” he said.

Kobold (Scout)

Humanoid creatures resembling a wolf said to be descendants of Beast of Gévaudan. Strong and agile yet their biggest strength was their ferocious teamwork. It also boasted a high sense of smell even stronger than a common wolf.

Species: Demi-human

Level : 31

Elemental Weakness : Fire

S.Ability : Howl, Call of the Wild

It was a first for him to use this skill at a monster and seeing the description, his eyes glanced back at the kobold. Jason saw the kobold was sniffing up in the air and as the wind breezed over the clearing, the kobold suddenly turned at the direction of Jason and Hakeem.

Shit, it spotted us.

Jason turned down the night vision as his sight gained a clearer picture. The kobold was running towards them. It was fast and so was Jason. Jason got up and within a single motion, an arrow tore the air apart. Hakeem was nervous and as he saw Jason got up and shot the arrow, he thought it was another bear being killed. But again, he was wrong.

“Awoooo,” a terrible howl rang in the air. Hakeem out of curiosity shifted his body into a crouching position, then he saw what it was that let out that ear trembling howl. His eyes went wide opened as he saw what it was.

“A werewolf?” Hakeem said. His whole body was trembling from the sight of the creature speeding up towards their way.

Shit, I missed it.

Jason frowned as he missed the head. His arrow managed to hit it right at the shoulder. He nocked another arrow and walked slowly towards the charging kobold. Another arrow flew and struck the kobold at the torso then the third one came striking the torso and then fourth piercing through the kobold’s thigh. Jason was shooting non-stop as if he was on rapid-fire. He didn’t falter facing against the kobold.

Soon, the kobold was only a few feet away from Jason but it was already on its knees. They were fifteen arrows jutting out all over its body. The frown on Jason’s face showed he wasn’t happy. This kobold here has good instinct, it couldn’t dodge the arrows fully but it could misdirect the arrow to another path. Jason was aiming for the head and not even one of it hit the head. The frustration was clear on his face.

“Woah,” Hakeem said with jaw gaped open. He glanced back to the sight of Jason who was approaching the wounded monster. Hakeem was speechless as he has no words to describe Jason’s incredible skills.

But right at the moment, Jason was a foot away, the kobold suddenly attacked slashing at him using the dagger hidden behind its waist. Hakeem was about to alert Jason but it was too late, the slash was too fast.  Yet what he had expected to see didn’t come.

“What?” Hakeem said. The kobold's last attempt for its survival turned into naught as it hit only empty air. Jason appeared from behind as both of his arms wrapped over the thick neck of the kobold. With Jason’s strength, the kobold slowly fainted.

Thud.

The kobold’s body flopped to the ground. Without realizing it, Hakeem already stood tall on his two feet. He stared at the sight of Jason who was five feet seven inches, who managed to defeat a kobold using only a bow and his two arms. It was too shocking for Hakeem that it felt surreal. He was already surprised seeing Jason killed a black bear but now defeating a monster from the crack, this was on a whole other level. It went beyond common sense, as he himself knew that even soldiers couldn’t even defeat these things.

“Hakeem, come here,” Jason said.

The tall black man approached the fainted kobold with hesitation. Soon that hesitation brought him right in front of the fainted creature. His eyes were wide open as he still couldn’t believe that he was in front of a monster. A monster that came out from a crack.

“How did you?” Hakeem had a lot of questions.

“Kick it,” Jason said as he didn’t have time to answer Hakeem.

“What?” Hakeem fell into confusion once more.

“Just kick it,” Jason said.

“But why?” Hakeem hesitated. He didn’t fear going up against people since he did play quite aggressive during his days as a basketball star of his high school but this was a whole other situation.

“Just kick it, I’ve got no time to explain,” said Jason.

Hakeem kicked the kobold right at the head. The kobold winced and let out a sound, Hakeem bolted a few meters away out of fear. Since Hakeem did his part, Jason stood in front of the head of the kobold. He took out the fixed blade dagger from his bag and plunged it right into the skull of the kobold. Jason twisted the dagger a few times before the kobold finally let out its final breath. Jason stood up and wiped the blood off from the dagger.

Hakeem was about to walk towards Jason but then something appeared in front of him. He retreated a few steps back out of surprise and saw what it was. He read it from top to bottom and then a sudden realization just hit him. Glancing at Jason, he asked.

“Is this how you defeat it?”

Jason grinned at Hakeem as he said.

“I’m not gonna babysit you, so if you want to follow me, get stronger.”