Chapter 914: Bestial sh (2)
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Erik turned to the others and said, "Let''s go. There are monsters to kill."
The group nodded before venturing off to follow the traces of the battle.
They began surveying the area, taking in every detail that may provide clues about the thaids'' identities.
The trees showed more than just w marks after some point; several trunks and lower branches were charred ck, with wisps of smoke still drifting from some.
Erik ran his hand along one scorched patch, feeling the deep grooves left by the intense heat.
Some type of fire had been involved in the fight, but it was a peculiar one, which reduced the number of possible thaids who could have fought here.
While moving further into the clearing, the scorch marks increased in frequency and size.
Entire sections of grass and undergrowth had been burned away, leavingrge patches of scorched earth.
Erik crouched low, running his fingers over the hot soil. The fire had urred recently, within a day at most.
"They are not far," Erik said.
"Is this fresh?" Mira asked.
"Yes. The soil is still hot."
Erik and the others kept following the trails, quickly going closer to the edge of the clearing. Apparently, the battle went further into the forest.
"They passed through here. Are you sure you want to kill them?" Erik asked.
"Yes... There is no danger, right?" Amber asked.
"Not if you stay on top of the clones. They will be fast enough to run away from any danger, so be sure to grip them well..."
The three women nodded, and the group kept following the trails until they found something. In front of them, at the base of an enormous tree,y a thaid''s corpse.
Erik dismounted from June and approached the fallen creature. Its fur was now matted with blood.
The women remained atop their mounts, observing but keeping their distance because of Erik''s advice.
The man inspected the thaid''s wounds and found out it had thousands of holes riddled in its thick hide, each puncture oozing blood.
They were hundreds, several inches deep, and riddled the bear''s body.
Its sides were almostpletely punctured, and Erik suspected internal organs had been turned to pulp.
Its limbs were syed at unnatural angles, and the bones within were shattered by some immense force.
"That''s a Luminaw bear."
"A what?"
"A Luminaw bear," Erik said again.
"It is a kind of nocturnal bear-like thaid that can cast a sort of fire that grows stronger during the night."
The bear''s face bore the worst of it-it was ader of torn flesh and shattered bone.
<It must have died quickly from blood loss and organ failure, > Erik thought, <but not without immense suffering. >
The Luminaw''s eyes stared emptily at the sky.
Its maw, or whatever remained of it, was agape, as if caught in a silent scream.
Who or what could have done this? He had seen many dead thaids, but none in such a brutalized state. Erik looked at the creature''s rear.
"It''s a female."
"Poor girl," Amber said.
"That''s a thaid you are talking about. They eat people."
"It''s still pitiful."
As Erik examined the corpse, his thoughts turned to what creature was capable of such savage violence.
Erik studied the surroundings. Beyond the signs of the brutal battle, he noticed multiple tracks in the soil.
There were paw prints of varying sizes, some ovepping, as if multiple creatures had wandered here recently.
"It seems this Luminaw bear was not alone," Erik said. "These tracks show at least two other sizable thaids were present. I think she was here with her mate."
Erik collected the blood and the brain crystal and ced them in his backpack. The others looked at him with disgust.
He kneeled by the fallen bear and examined its wounds once more. Erik brought his fingers to its torn flesh and licked away a sample of blood. It was warm, which told him this creature had
only just died.
While rising, Erik turned to the three women watching from atop the clones.
"We''re close to finding the others. Stay close and follow me."
He leapt back onto June''s back and then the group continued along the trail of prints and signs
of struggle, heading deeper into the forest at a measured pace.
Erik kept his senses alert, scanning for any new clues or hints of the direction the remaining thaids had taken when fleeing the bloody scene.
It wasn''t long before tracks led the group toward the sounds of battle: vicious roars and the
crash of trees.
While urging the clones into a swift gallop, Erik and the group broke into a small clearing nestled within the forest, but that wasn''t natural; it had been made by the two creatures fighting, exactly like the previous one they found. The difference was that this was still under the making, as the battle between the creatures was going on.
There, before them, raged a brutal fight between two massive thaids.
One was a hulking Metalfur bear, whose pelt transformed into jagged metal. The other was a Luminaw bear, its fur alight with a fiery glow that illuminated the space.
The Metalfur swiped with its ws, and the fur on it turned into metal.
"That''s why the female Luminaw bear had all those holes."
The swipe gouged chunks from its opponent but was unable to prate deep.
Only the fur did, but the Luminaw minimized the damage by beck-stepping.
It also retaliated by belching gouts of starry me, scorching the earth but ncing harmlessly off the steel hide.
It was day now, and it was at that moment that the creature''s power was weaker. Both creatures were wounded, leaking blood, and torn by gashes. The Metalfur bear was in a worse state; it fought against two opponents, after all. How it killed one in such a state was a
mystery.
Their primal fury kept them locked inbat, dealing blow after punishing blow with no sign
of tiring.
Erik took in the scene, analyzing strengths and weaknesses. This fight had been raging for some time and would see both thaids destroy each other, given their current state.