RB Chapter 92 Hunting

The grasslands rustled, in part to the wind, and the other part due to a few figures treading through them.

It was Eric's group and they were quiet, only the sounds of their bodies wading through the tall grass was heard.

Dora was leading the way, her face a mask of seriousness. Even Eric was having trouble reconciling her current self with the past one.

'I thought she was a slut. It looks like she isn't simple.' He moved his gaze away towards the others. All of them were seriously monitoring their surroundings, even miss Njibwa next to him. She was familiarising herself with sensing the air currents. 

Dora was occasionally sniffing around. She was wearing a dark blouse and pants. The blouse was having trouble containing her mounds and she was occasionally wiping sweat from her brows while also shifting them to a more comfortable position. Eric saw that even Chloe was having the same problem.

"Its about 30 meters in front of us! It hasn't yet sensed us. I will pounce!" Dora whispered. 

'She can sense smells and determine position, probably even Elena can too...'

"Elena and Dora will strike. Remember, never underestimate any creature, no matter how harmless it might look!" He warned.

"The rest of us are going to stay here." He ordered.

Dora took off her boots and threw them towards Eric. Black fur grew out of her legs and feet. Her nails, on the fingers and toes elongated.

Eric almost felt a chill go down his spine when he saw the sharp edges. The same transformation was undergone by Elena, except that she had brown fur. The two girls crouched down. 

When they did, the atmosphere surrounding them completely changed. Their aura waned dramatically as if they had entered stealth causing all the others to be taken back.

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'I have to depend on myself if I want to survive!' Dora had such a thought pass through his mind.

She slowed down her breathing and her brown pupils gained a vertical slit. She could feel Elena beside her coupled with everyone behind her. Her senses had been heightened to the point that, piecing together the information from her ears and nose, she could form a mental map of everyone near her.

She once again breathed out slowly and focused all her senses to the front. 20 meters at her front, a vague apparition took form in her brain. She was relying in the scant information produced by her various sensory organs to piece to gerher an image of the creature she was targeting.

The image in her mind was vague because this was her first time in the wilderness and she was meeting the creature for the first time. If she managed to build up more experience in the future, she would be able to figure out what type of creature she was hunting, just by the smells it released and the sound of its heartbeat!

'Its feeding.' She could hear the telltale signs of chewing. 

'Wait!' She ordered herself. She was a little bit nervous. Even though she was in a very calm state, her heart was anything, but! It was beating erratically, making her breathing slightly irregular.

She didn't know how it happened, but a few seconds later, she sprang out, instantly reaching maximum speed! This had happened because her instincts had somehow found that it was the perfect moment to attack!

No cracks were left on the ground, and very little sound had been produced, the mark of a predator!

Her body collided with the tall grass but she didn't feel anything as fur had also from on her entire body plus the face. At the 10m mark, the creature still hadn't sensed her. It had only taken her half a second to reach that distance, owing to energy channeling and her own abilities. She could feel Elena a bit at the front, but she didn't let anything faze or try to break her concentration.

As it became closer to that second, Elena reached first! She swiped downwards with her claws.

Her body was a few feet off the ground and she was swiping with her left palm. The critter had entered her sights. It resembled sheep, but with a little bit more fur and its horns had a few protruding points on its forehead.

Elena's mouth had opened a little, spotting triumphant grin only for a chill to run down her spine when the creature's eyes gazed into hers.

That gaze was indifferent, no panic contained within, and when she looked down, she found a few blood stains.

'Shit!' She cursed. She had also smelt a faint trace of blood but she had ignored it thinking that the creature was a herbivore!

(Boom!)

A shockwave rolled out. The sheep had taken the initiative to jump up and meet her claw with its forehead. The grass in a circular formation around them was flattened, exposing, Dora.

Elena stayed midair, while the sheep was pushed back into the ground. She had channeled a significant amount of energy in that blow.

Dora's eyes lit up! The creature's feet had dug into the ground with that blow and it would take it a few seconds to extricate itself. This was a chance.

She breached its right side and swiped down on its back with her right palm causing the air to scream due to the speed.

(Puff!)

Her attack landed, but it was like she had just hit cotton. Except for a few tufts of wool sailing in the air, nothing else happened. Dora hurriedly backed up and Elena too landed on her left.

"This is going to be troublesome. And its even a carnivore." Dora said.

Elena clenched and unclenched her left hand repeatedly. She could feel a dull pain.

'If I hadn't channeled energy into 

my palm, perhaps, it would have shattered.' She frowned.

The sheep took this chance to climb out of the holes made by its hooves. 

(Bleeeeegh!)

It made the sound as if trying to intimidate them.

Dora didn't waste any time standing around, she pounced. According to her body language, She saw that Elena was someone who wanted to show off. 

To Dora, Elena was someone who hadn't yet found her goal, just like that guy, Eric. They were simply drifting in the wind. 

Dora wanted strength! Strength to do everything in this world without anybody's interference.

Her eyes lit up! Her goal made her feel as if her body had caught flames! A powerful momentum was released from her body causing the sheep to feel a trace of a threat. Its long buried instincts of running away from predators were brought to the fore.

She ran in an arc heading to the right side of the sheep! Before it could react, however, she vanished from its vision and then...nothing!?

As it tried to search for her, its consciousness dimmed!

Elena was current shocked! Her mouth was wide open, and she was looking at Dora incomprehensibly. The sheep had its head separated from its body.

Dora had vanished from her vision for a fraction of a second, only for a spray of blood to push the sheep's head away from its body. A thin line could be seen on its neck.

'Fast! She can kill me dozens if times in a second!' A bead of sweat formed on Elena's forehead.

Dora turned back, her breath slightly disordered, but still not weakened.

"You were hiding your power?" Elena asked, disbelief still etched on her face.

"No." The fur which had been coating her skin vanished back into it.

"These sheep are normally in groups, where could you suppose the others are?" Dora wondered.

She crouched down onto the ground and played with the wool of the dead animal for a bit. 

'Hmmm...how did it manage to stop my first blow?' She whistled. It was a signal for the others.

-------

"It seems they succeeded." Eric said and the group started moving forward.

"The creature must have been weak." Sally commented.

"Oh! You don't believe on their talents?" Eric was curious.

"I can analyse many things from a person's facial expression down to their movement patterns. Elena, is too willful and competitive while Dora was hiding her power."

"Why do you think she was?" Chloe asked.

"Simple. She is always light on her feet and her alluring personality is a figment she created. Besides, if someone can become a contender for the position of clan head, do you think that that person is simple?" She had a look of contempt.

"I thought you were more mature than that, Chloe." She narrowed her eyes.

"I don't really care for the goings of the other clans. My focus is getting stronger." Chloe answered nonchalantly but her gaze shifted slightly to the boy at her side.

They arrived at a clearing in the grass created by the shockwaves from the battle with the sheep.

"So, its just a lone...normal sheep!?" Even Monki found what was coming out if his mouth weird.

"Yes, your eyes aren't lying to you." Dora said calmly still crouching next to it.

Eric threw her the shoes the moment he walked into the clearing.