Cerberus

The first few days of the trial were a breeze, most of their time was spent inside their lean-to waiting and watching for any threats. Leon complained about how boring it was and Ymir seemed to agree, the only excitement was the daily hunt to find their meals for the day.

But when the first week passed things started to change around the island, Leon noticed that during his hunts he encountered more and more predators. And the nights were no longer silent screams of animals fighting made sure that no one could sleep peacefully.

On the first day of this change, the number of participants was almost cut in half. From then on the true waiting began the forest was never silent.

Then there was the big one, every other night something would roar the tone so deep it vibrated the air, Ymir seemed to also be affected he would constantly be darting around the ledge his eyes looking around for any sign of danger.

Thanks to their hiding spot they only had to fend off only a few monsters, so by the last day Leon, Machi, and Knuckles were in better shape than most.

On the last day, Leon woke up to the familiar sound of a blimp the weird thing was it was in the morning rather than the night.

" Congratulations to all of you who have made it this far, as most of you have noticed the monsters on the island have become highly aggressive. This is due to the pheromones we have been spreading throughout the island during our daily report. On the north side of the island, there is a boat your last obstacle is to make your way through the jungle and find the boat. You have three hours, good luck. "

Leon had some very choice words but before he could voice them Knuckle and Machi were already packed and climbing down from the ledge.

Scrambling to catch up Leon grabbed the sleeping Ymir before jumping off the ledge to catch up with the rest of the group. Not bothering to be silent Leon led the way he had explored most of the island in his boredom so he was the obvious choice.

One of the main obstacles in their way was the monsters, Leon had encountered alpha monsters and mapped out their territories. All of them seemed to be in an uproar, " I've heard of this pheromone before, it's called Line Blinder it's a stupid name but it's accurate. Normally animals will mark territories with urine or other bodily fluids, but this chemical blinds their nose so they cant smell the boundaries so it's a free for all until the chemical wears off. " Leon looked over at Knuckle, " How do you know about that. "

" My parents were both vets so I followed in their footsteps until I learned about all the magical beast I could discover as a hunter so I started to study to become a world-renowned Beast Hunter. " Knuckle replied his breath labored from all the running.

The rest of the mad dash was silent as more and more chaos ensued around them, Leon could feel Ymir stir from his sleep. Taken by surprise Leon wasn't able to stop Ymir from roaring, while it blended into the cacophony of sound it seemed almost like thunder to Leon. Quickly creating a Stasis Field around Ymir the Leopard was subdued, but the damage had already been done.

Ymir's roar had been a declaration that the surrounding area was his turf, and of course, there was already an inhabitant nearby. A much louder deeper roar force Knuckle to cover his ears, it was quickly followed by footsteps that shook the earth.

" Something big is coming our way, take Ymir and go on ahead I'll catch up. " Handing the cat over Knuckle Leon drew his sword as he prepared to face whatever was coming his way.

" Can we really just leave him here? All alone. " Knuckle said shifting Ymir on his arms, " You should know the answer to that by now. Come on. " Machi grabbed Knuckle's arm knowing they would only be in the way.

Leon's eyes locked onto the trees ahead of him as trees toppled over to make way for whatever was coming his way. Leon grinned as he saw his future kill, a giant dog almost fifteen feet tall burst through the forest it's three heads foaming at the mouth.

" Never faced a Cerberus before. " Leon's body started to steam as faced the three-headed mutt, " It' s been too long since I had a challenge. " Moving in three times speed Leon teleported in front of the dog to try and cut its head off but Leon was stopped by a sea of flames from all three heads.

Teleporting away Leon skid across the ground leaving furrows before jumping at the dog again, this time Leon approached from the back. Stabbing where the beast's spine should be Leon's sword hit something hard, grinning Leon pushed in deeper before twisting severing the Cerberus's spine.

The dog collapsed not able to move, quickly severing all three of its heads Leon took the time to pull out the monster's six canines. Stuffing them in his pocket Leon regretted not being able to tame the beast, it would be super cool to have a three-headed dog guarding the testing gates like the gates of hell.

Pushing his fantasies to the side Leon started to run north with plenty of time to spare.