The tide of scuttling armoured legs and forelimbs nervously scratching at the ground was opposed by a silent and dark comet that was Karl who padded softly in his loping sprint. The Beakhound’s sleek form rushing sinuously towards the skittering horde was antithetical to the Burrower’s seemingly mechanical rush.

Then the two forces collided.

The bystanders watched as the Crow-wolf tilted its head and snapped at the leading Burrower that lunged at him, without missing a beat or bleeding any of his forward momentum. Karl’s beak cleaning snipped through the interlocking joint between the head and thorax of the creature as it flopped to the ground lifelessly before being quickly forgotten. The Beakbound then quickly turned his head into a downwards swipe at the next jumping burrower and spiked the creature with the downwards curve of his beak before thrashing his head violently and quickly dislodging his victim.

Now truly amongst the horde, Karl started to swipe his front paws left and right silently even as a angry snarl was plastered on his face and murder glinted in his eyes. His sharp claws rented carapace with a horrible crunching sound before blood and grisly began to leak out of the disembowelled victims.

But even if they were massively outmatched in size by the wolf-like Beakhound amongst them, the Burrowers still did not relent as they started to rush onwards in an attempt to dogpile their assaulter. Their front forelimbs that were designed to push earth and grit aside, now used as a crude weapon as they attempted to burrow and claw into the fur to get into the flesh of the Beakhound. But where ever Karl was, soon there would be a small macabre clearing of broken bodies with small little puddles of blood quickly pooling about before seeping into the ground.

The Burrowers tried in vain to press their advantage in numbers against the goliath, for he was too strong and too fast for the small and weak subterrain insects to pin down. But nevertheless they pressed on seemingly against their own instinct to survive as if compelled by an invisible hand.

The carnage only played out for a few moments, but the bystanders watched on in captivated silence as the older Beakhound wrought slaughter upon the army of Burrowers. The gap in levels and ranks between the working hunting-Beakhound and the rank and file Burrowers, was just simply insurmountable.

“Should… uh, we help?” asked a nervous Nosal as he tugged at his brother’s sleeve with his other hand holding onto his wooden sword limply by his side.

“Yeah ummm, I think we should just let him do his thing and see if he needs help cleaning up,” replied Kano as his eyes too were glued to the monstrous Beakhound that leaped about whilst reaping the lives of the poor Burrowers.

Aligning by the feet of Kano was the returning Dittat and Gelg from their shameful and hasty retreat earlier. The young pup barked in excitement whilst wagging her tail as she watched her elder decimating the Burrowers whilst Dittat struggled up the back of Kano’s clothing to gain a better vantage point upon his shoulder.

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When he finally finished climbing up the little Woodwurm was absolutely still in shock and chirped quietly as he watched, awestruck at the display of overwhelming power.

Leering sideways at his partner who was dumbstruck and actually silent for once prompted Kano to send him a soothing little message, You’re going to be even stronger than that one day.

As if not hearing him at first, Dittat continued to watch on before he snapped out of the mesmerising display to turn to his partner.

You really think I’ll be that strong Kano? replied a higher pitched version of his own voice as Dittat touched his face with his feelers with his beady little eyes looking up.

I’m sure of it, not soon, but we’ll get there someday.. together, answered Kano before he lightly touched his partner with his moist nose before the two of them turned back to watch the show.

Gelg who was barking and yapping excitedly through the gap in the stakes was about to charge forwards before a wooden sword slammed down to bar her way. Then the diminutive little sparrowhawk was hoisted up by one hairy arm that was glowing green before coming up into a hug by Nosal’s chest.

I think we should let him do his thing, Nosal suggested through his link.

Oh HEY! You smell weird.. but not bad! I want to go fight with uncle Karl! He looks like he’s having fun! Let me down please! Oh what’s that smell!?! came a whole slew of barking and yipping thoughts in a clear and high-pitched voice as Gelg replied through the link. Throughout the whole time the little brown puppy was squirming about and yapping away but Nosal still did not relent in his grip. Gelg soon relented in her struggles as they all settled down to watch Karl’s dance of destruction.

The Crow-wolf never stopped and never paused. Ever move caused another Burrower to be crushed, sliced, impaled to simply bisected with the economy of movement rewarded in death as capital. The seemingly endless horde of Burrowers dwindled inversely to the amount of time that the one sided battle was carried out and as soon as it had started it came to an end.

As if a command was given, all of the surviving Burrowers turned tail and sought shelter amongst the many exits to their network of tunnels before disappearing down underground.

What was left inside the cordoned off patch of farmland was a large swath of dead crops and a smaller patch of absolute carnage beside a small breach in the stakes that picketed the area. Dead Burrowers were strewn about as if having fallen down with the rain haphazardly, with a few twitching bodies here and there, as the nervous system of some of the fallen failed to catch up to the demise of the host.

“Umm brother… I don’t think we will be getting any levels for that,” Nosal finally spoke up with a sad tone to his voice.

Kano on the other hand started to realise that he had missed out on a golden opportunity before the thought of the earnings that would soon to line his pockets cheered him up again.

“Worry not little Nose, theres more of them left for us to chip in and help Karl… plus theres still the Queen in there somewhere,” replied Kano with his voice full of confidence and his musk of joy.

“Yeah… but how do we get them to come out?” asked Nosal before lowering Gelg who was starting to wriggle in his arms down to the ground again.