The Eclipsian Hyena roared in agony, but it wasn’t done yet. It lunged forward with surprising speed, its claws tearing through the air towards Elowen. She barely managed to dodge, rolling to the side and then sent water bullets hurtling towards the animal. Lyria and Roderic closed in, their weapons ready.
Lyria also had a weapon, but it wasn’t a huge sword like Roderic’s; it was more of a slim one like a katana, though not quite that length. The hyena, now visibly weakened but still dangerously strong, snapped its jaws at Lyria. She rolled again, this time conjuring a water wall in front of her, which seemed to be reflective and actually managed to stop the attack for a second.
Even though the hyena was injured, it didn’t take much for an animal like it to tear through the water wall. It showed the huge difference between an Acolyte and a non-graded mage.
But that was enough time for Roderic and Lyria to make their move. Roderic slashed at its hind legs. The hyena staggered, blood pouring from its wounds.
Lyria moved in for the kill. Her knife sword was blue with poison, and she proceeded to stab the beast in the side abdomen. This made the beast snarl in pain and look at Lyria with the vilest and meanest eyes she had ever seen. The next thing she knew, she was struck in her belly with a swipe of its fangs.
Blood splattered everywhere, and she was hurled back.
"LYRIA!! ... You vile beast!" Roderic shouted and swung his sword with full force, only to be parried by the hyena. It then butted its head into Roderic, sending him flying. It all happened in a second, and then the hyena turned to Elowen.
But the beast was not ready when it felt the water bullets hit its eyes. The water bullets were laced with the same poison that Lyria had used. The beast snarled in anger and started moving randomly to throw off the poison that had struck its eyes. At times, it even came close to Elowen, nearly stomping her under its paws, but Elowen dodged and just waited for the poison and the magical bombs to take effect.
And they did.
After four minutes of struggle, the intensity of the hyena’s movements dropped, and it took another minute for its body to stop completely and fall to the ground. The hyena’s breath didn’t last long, and only after Elowen felt certain the beast was dead did she go to help Lyria and Roderic.
Lyria had lost a lot of blood, and her wounds were bad, so Elowen started genuinely helping her, unlike the superficial help she had provided to Alden in the previous mission. The blood didn’t stop but it slow down and she immediately put a huge bandage on the whole abdomen.
She also moved towards Roderic, who had also lost consciousness, and started treating him for the internal injuries she was sure he had received. Elowen called upon Aric for help, as she needed their bodies to be positioned correctly and attended to with other necessary tasks. The whistle played its part again, and Aric came once it was blown.
He gave a very fake look of horror and asked what had happened, only to be told to follow her instructions and that explanations could wait. Aric didn’t need one, as he had seen the whole battle live with the help of drones. He didn’t feel a tinge of pity nor any guilt for not helping them.
He had seen how the beast had fought and felt that even with his nano armor, he would have been hurled aside. Though he might not have been injured, he definitely wouldn’t have been able to injure the beast with his fists alone. Maybe the guns he had carried would be of some use, but he needed to be fast, and from the beast’s moves, he felt he might not have been able to.
Seeing the first Acolyte beast made Aric realize that having big guns didn’t place him high on the food chain. Speed also mattered. He wondered how a human Acolyte fared in reality and thought maybe Gopher could shed some light on it.
"Aric, bandage Lyria tightly. They can’t move now, and it will be horrible for them if they do. Build me a stretcher, and tomorrow morning we’ll be leaving for the city," Elowen said as she continued healing Lyria and Roderic in intervals.
"I will go out and bring some food for the night," Aric said.
"Will you be safe?" Elowen hesitated, as the forest wasn’t very safe, but they needed food for the night and couldn’t eat the meat of the hyena they had just slaughtered.
"Don’t worry. I may be new to this, but I know how to react to dangerous situations," Aric said, reminding Elowen of how he had been able to locate the hyena.
"Go and come back fast. If there’s any danger, blow the whistle," Elowen said, as whatever Aric said was correct. Aric gave a smile and vanished into the forest. Of course, he wasn’t foolish enough to search for meat. He went back to Echorysia and ordered meat from the storage unit.
Since it was an interstellar civilization, all kinds of meat were available, including just-skinned meat. He ordered a large chicken, and it only took twenty minutes to arrive. After paying for the meat, he went back to the forest and slowly walked towards the cave.
When he showed his face, he saw Elowen holding Roderic’s sword pointed in his direction. She only lowered the sword when she recognized Aric.
"It’s me, Aric," Aric said, holding his hands high.
"I never take chances," was Elowen’s reply. Aric didn’t complain, as he could tell she was in a very bad mood and didn’t want to talk. He promptly started preparing the meat while Elowen watched over the two unconscious teammates. From the corner of her eye, she saw Aric bringing out the skinned body of a bird.
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