Moonshine

The laughter of the tribal disasters was loud and annoying. Nathan couldn't see them yet, but counting the laughter he could hear, he guessed there were about a dozen of them.

A few seconds passed and neither side did anything. The calamities continued to laugh as Nathan and Syril studied their surroundings. 

Suddenly Nathan saw something light up beside him and turned to see Syril's hair glowing like the moon itself. Her hair, as black as the night, now had a greyish tinge and a nocturnal glow, and the pupils of her eyes were also grey, giving her presence a mystical touch.

Nathan looked at her in amazement, and Syril returned his gaze.

"Did you fall in love with me?"

Nathan quickly came to his senses and looked straight ahead, not bothering to answer her.

Everything was different now, Syril was like a moon illuminating her surroundings, allowing Nathan to see a dozen small figures peeking out from behind the trees.

Nathan looked at the calamities with a frown on his face. Like the explanation Syril had given him hours ago, the calamities wore long masks that covered their entire faces, a loincloth and an unusually large belly for their small bodies.

Their laughter had stopped at some point, and now they were carrying their weapons. Most of them carried rustic spears, while only two had bows.

Nathan shifted his stance and waited for the calamities to make their move. Syril, on the other hand, stood calmly with her scythe in her hands, making no move.

A few seconds later, the calamities began to make war cries, and all began to attack at the same time.

A few seconds passed before the first calamity reached them, and Nathan deflected his spear, slicing off one of its arms before kicking it aside.

Then two more approached and Nathan had to be agile to dodge as they attacked.

The calamities' attacks were not as fierce as the ones he was used to, nor did they have as much power behind them, so Nathan had little trouble defending and countering.

Syril, on the other hand, did not move until the last second, just before a spear was thrust into her chest. The young woman turned her body to let the spear pass, and with a graceful movement of her arms, the head of the calamity was cleanly severed from her body.

Nathan slashed the legs of one of the calamities, leaving it on the ground screaming in pain, then parried an incoming arrow and dodged another spear before kicking the calamity.

No more than ten minutes passed before the fight was over, leaving Nathan a little disappointed.

'So easy...'

Syril approached him, her hair and eyes still glowing with that mystical glow. Then the glow gradually faded, and the young woman returned to normal.

'What a strange technique'

Nathan didn't know the function of Syril's technique, but unlike him, it was more ostentatious. Either way, his technique had helped him see better in the dark of the night, though it could also be dangerous, giving away his position.

Perhaps that was why Syril had not used it before, or perhaps he had some other limitation. Nathan didn't know.

"There were very few of them, considering there must be thousands of them in the villages" Syril explained.

Nathan's eyes widened slightly in surprise.

"Thousands?"

Syril looked at the dozen bodies, some underwater, and sighed.

"Yeah, they were probably just a scout group" 

Nathan thought to himself, fighting a dozen of them wasn't really a problem, mainly because they were first-rank, first-category calamities and their strength wasn't really that high.

The problem was that if they were going to live in thousands, then their strength was in numbers, not personal strength.

He also realized something else during the battle. His technique only worked, or was most useful, in long fights where he could wound his opponent several times.

If Nathan could end a calamity with a single blow, it was useless. But he also realized that even though he was a first rank, first category, calamities of the same level were no match for him.

"Let's go back" Syril said as she started to turn around.

Nathan nodded and followed her, somewhat bitterly.

Nothing happened the rest of the night, Nathan trusting Syril to look after him while he slept, so he didn't have to worry about the others.

As the first rays of sunlight broke through the lushness of the swamp, everyone prepared to continue exploring. They all prepared to continue exploring.

"Where are we going now?" asked one cadet, looking around nervously.

Syril and Nathan had discussed it the night before; if the village of calamities contained more than a thousand of them, then it shouldn't be so hidden. Besides, the fact that they hadn't encountered any calamities the day before could only mean that they were being watched from afar. Something that did not fit with the usual behavior of the calamities.