AN: Check out my other novel, "Of Arms and Arcane" https://www.scribblehub.com/series/872408/of-arms-and-arcane/

During the deforestation around the outpost and two days after, things were quiet. The activities of these invaders on new lands clearing trees from the area has scared away most of the creatures from the area, the braver ones were content to watch from a distance as the expedition cut down tree after tree.

 

One of those watching was the pack of carnivorous tree lizards who now had a taste of these new men’s blood and were biding their time to get more.

 

On the 3rd day after the deforestation around the outpost, people's nerves began to calm down. All petrol and hunter and gathering parties have returned within expected timing, and besides a few bumps and scrapes when running into solitary predators, there were no casualties.

 

The consensus was that the deforestation scared away the pack of carnivorous lizards. This caused the sentries to slacken their guard. With the wide clearing and more lighting on the walls, the sentries were confident that nothing could sneak up on them.

 

That was until tonight. It was another cloudy night, and at the treeline of the clearing, yellow slit-pupiled eyes reflected the light of the torches on the outpost wall.

 

The lizard pack leader slowly and carefully made its advance in the pitch darkness toward the lighted food source and was soon followed by the rest of its pack.

 

The lack of cover was somewhat of an issue, but it was no problem for these predators who could crawl low to the ground when the occasion called for it, and it did, the lizards moved from tree stump to tree stump to minimize their chances of being seen, and once they got close enough where the light of the outpost could almost reach them, the lead lizard released a low clicking noise which brought its pack to a stop.

 

After a few more soft clicks, some of the lizards broke off towards the left and right of the outpost’s perimeter while the leader lizard and two others stayed to keep watch of the wall sentries for any sudden movements.

 

After some time, clicking noises came from the left, signaling the rest of the pack that an opening had been spotted.

 

When the rest of the pack congregated at where the opening had been spotted, what they saw was a sentry not looking out into the darkness but down between his legs. 

 

The sentry was sitting, with his spear leaned against the wall and his hands led down between his legs where his attention was with a face of concentration.

 

The lizard pack had no idea what the man was doing and they did not care. The only thing they cared about was that he was not looking out in their direction.

 

The only problem was how to get to their target without alerting the sentry. Without trees, they had no proper cover or elevation to glide down on their target, and if they rushed the wall, sure, they could be quite fast on the ground when charging but would make a lot of noise doing so. 

 

That left them with one option, to glide low to the ground as much as possible to reach the wall and take out the sentry as quietly as possible.

 

So the lizards, starting with the pack leader, dug their claws into the ground and started sprinting.

 

When they were about to be close enough to be seen in the light of the torches on the outpost wall, they used the tree stumps scattered around the area to jump off and spread their arms and legs, letting the air catch on the membrane connecting them to glide toward the outpost.

 

As the sentry was sitting down and concentrating on whatever was between his legs, he heard a thump on his section of wall, which made him look up from the piece of wood he was whittling for fun, just in time to see a mouth full of teeth clamp on his head and yanked him over the wall.

 

The shout from the sentry’s fall alerted the nearby sentries and tents, and by the time the other lizards made it over the wall, the members of the expedition were streaming out of their tents with weapons in hand.

 

The lizard pack leader who was still parched on top of the wall saw that this was a lost cause, and gave out a few rapid chirps to signal the retreat.

 

As the lizard ran away, the only thing the expedition could do was watch the man who was thrown from the wall get dragged kicking and screaming into the darkness, and soon he was no more.

 

—

 

When morning came, Chieftain Dhun instructed more guard towers to be built and mustered hunting parties to track down the lizard pack and kill them if possible. Unfortunately, tracking down the pack of lizards proved to be impossible.

 

All they found was a blood trail that led up the nearest tree in the direction of the lizards’ retreat with the man’s remains scattered around. And going any further into the woods had the hunting parties run into other predators that were attracted by the bloodshed.

 

When news got back of the failure to hunt down the pack of lizards, Grud volunteered to hunt these lizards down on his own.

 

“At least take some men with you.” Dhun plead.

 

“No, if what we observed from these beasts so far, they are hunters of opportunity. They will stay hidden among the trees if we are too many in number and will attack us with full force if we are too few. I am confident of defending myself and escaping if the latter happens, but what of the men who follow me? They may not be from my tribe but they are our people. I was requested to come for this reason, to protect as many lives as possible.”

 

After more arguing they came to a compromise, instead of running into the woods to hunt down the pack of lizards, Grud would stand some distance away from the main gate with hunters ready to rush his position the moment he starts to get overwhelmed.

 

—

 

Night came and Grud made all the preparations he could think of. He found some private time to empty his balls with Mita’s help, got a hearty meal, and an afternoon nap to prepare for his potential night fight.

 

This was all in the hope that the pack of lizards would underestimate him as a lone easy target outside the protection of the walls.

 

When he was ready, Grud strode towards the gates of the outpost. He was covered in his Monster Centipede Armor, but unlike its previous smooth surfaces, now there were grooves carved in the armor and those grooves were filled with crushed monster core glue to make a pseudo body’s mana structure on the armor which greatly decreased the mana lost when empowering the armor.

 

Besides his modified armor, Grud had a hand axe and knife strapped to his sides, his trusty bone spear, and on his shoulder was a tied-up bundle of twenty throwing spears, practically everything on his body was made of monster parts.

 

Before the gates were opened for him, Grud was met at the gate by Chieftain Dhun and the shamans that came along with the expedition.

 

“Before you walk unto battle, let the shamans perform the ritual of strength, so that the Great Spirits and our ancestors may watch over you and give you strength.” Dhun said before stepping aside.

 

Which was the cue for Grud to stab his spear into the ground, drop the bundle of throwing spears, and assume the position of his arms held up by his sides for the shamans to do their thing.

 

Four shamans surrounded Grud as they chanted and lit herbs to smolder and smoke, then took turns drinking something from a bowl. As they chanted, the shamans dipped their fingers into their paint bowls and started painting on Grud’s skin.

 

At first, Grud felt nothing, but soon, the eyeballs of the shamans started to roll back into their heads and their bodies seemed to move on their own as they continued to paint Grud’s body.

 

As they painted intricate symbols, patterns, and animals on his body, Grud felt the tingle of mana on his skin which soon seeped into his body. When Grud pumped mana into his eyes to see where this mana was coming from, he expected to see it coming from the shamans painting him, but no.

 

The mana was coming from the surrounding air itself, and as it entered his body, he felt his muscles tense and filled with power.

 

When the shamans were done, they collapsed one by one, only to be caught by the men on standby and dragged away to rest, and when the last shaman fell, Grud looked at Dhun was a look of readiness in his eyes, and nothing needed to be said as they nodded to each other and the outpost gates were opened.