Time to hunt - Black Crobal. Part 3

Dust flew up to the air as a fight between a massive beast and a young boy ragged on at a clearing in the dark forest.

Nolamine was holding his own, but he now understood why it would be hard for even Langa, someone who he was sure was more powerful than him to struggle to take the Black Crobal down.

When the fight started, it had lunged at him and opened its mouth, revealing its two huge front fangs. Nolamani had jumped out of the way without any problems, as even though the Black Crobal was fast, its size made its attack powerful but not focused on speed.

The problem came after dodging. In his hand was Fourth's dagger that was well made. One that she used to use a long time ago and that was lethal in her hands, but for Nolamine, when he tried to plunge it into the beast's hide, sparks flew. It was like he had tried to cut steel with steel.

"Mmm, he is doing ok."

Langa said as he watched him.

"I would have killed all the Crobats in one attack, but with this being his first fight with beasts of this forest, his faring better than any of the other young hunters in the village. Most of them would be dead by now."

Analka said. The ground was vibrating slightly as the Black Crobal moved, still trying to take a bite out of Nolamine and him running out of options as his dagger only left scratches on it.

"Let us see."

Langa said. He and King had renewed their bet, this time Langa betting that Nolamine would die in this hunt and King betting that he would come back alive. King would lose too if Nolamine asked for help from either Langa or Analka. The prize was still the same, asking Analka out for a dance.

With the two in hiding and all alone, thinking that it was his chance, Langa thought about cheating and tell Analka that he liked her.

"Boom!"

"I like you, Analka."

He said in a soft voice right as Nolamine had dodged the same attack as before and went at the back of its tail, grabbing it with both arms like a bear hug since it was too big and slamming it from side to side.

"Huh? What did you say?"

Analka asked. She had not heard him because of the sound of Nolamine manhandling the beast and it slamming onto the ground.

"Nothing, I just said he was doing great."

He said, his mouth dry and his heart pumping faster than a steam engine. Analka looked at him as he sweat, not knowing what had gotten into him. She turned and focused on the fight as it was not the time to deal with Langa acting like he was raring for a fight. Well, that's what she thought.

'Fuck, why is this scarier than fighting the worst beast I can possible think of?'

He asked himself as he looked to the fight, not wanting to look at her as he was horrified at that moment, thinking he no longer wanted to even know what her answer might have been, whether good or bad. Afraid to face a reality where he was forever in the friend zone.

The Black Crobal shook its head after being slammed onto the ground. It was surprised by its prey's strength. Nolamine had switched onto melee attacks with his fists as the weapon he was using was useless because of how thick armored the beast was.

Even though he thought that, his body remembered Fourth's training and as a result, his thought process changed. He knew he was currying a good weapon and he just was not using it right.

He looked at the beast's hide and saw that it was not just leaving scratches, but deep ones.

"I just need more power."

He thought.

He also thought about the emphasis of all Fourths training, to be precise, lessen useless attacks and movement in a fight in order to target specific areas so as to end the fight quicker.

He looked at the beast in the face as it opened its mouth again and he knew he had to get away. They had told him about its 'go-to' move when it was threatened. It did not like to use it as it meant it would not be able to eat its prey afterward.

He ran across the field as green liquid came out from its open mouth like a jet spray aimed for Nolamine. It was an attack similar to a spitting cobra's.

The ground instantly melted and that was why it was so lethal to hunt. It produced acid that would prove fatal to even the disciples when hit by it. That and its incredibly hard scales were the reason it was ranked by the village's scale of the beasts around as a D-class beast. Nolamine could not help but think of how powerful an S-class beast would be if the Black Crobal was only a D.

The ground melted and Nolamine was running out of space to evade. He could not step on it and that limited his movements around the field. He had no choice, he had to proceed with his plan and trust his strength.

The beast shrieked and threshed around in anger. Nolamine had turned to what now seemed to be his go-to move. He had thrown the dagger, and like an arrow shot out from a bow, it traveled as fast and in the blink of an eye, it had stabbed the beast deep into its left eye.

He did not hesitate as he dashed in, with him taking seconds to get right in front of it as it writhed in pain. Trusting his strength and with fire in his eyes, he struck its head with an uppercut that resounded throughout the clearing, producing a powerful sound as he sent it 7 meters up into the air and then falling on its back.

He was not finished yet, as even a punch that powerful could not kill it and at most, he thought he had stunned it. It was his chance though. The beast had been making sure he was further from his mother's dagger, making him fight at a distance from it through its attacks, with it not going near it too, clearly scared of it.

In seconds, he had ran over to it, and finally, it was in his hands again. His trust in it and knowing what it was capable of made it reverberate with his blue eyes.

He ran back to the beast as it was getting up. It looked around with its one good eye as it tried to find him on the field again, but it couldn't.

A dagger went into the top of its head while it was looking around. Nolamine had jumped so high up in the air that he had been above a 12-meter snake that stood about 5 meters as it reared its head above the ground.

The dagger, as predicted, had gone straight in without any resistance at all. Thereafter, he had pulled it towards him, slicing the top of its head and skull open in one move, and punched into the now open skull of the beast.

There was nothing it could do as it died with his arm up in its head and holding some of its brain tissue with his hand. It slumped down onto the ground as he jumped off of it with his nose as high as it could be as pride kicked into full gear.

He went and took Fourth's dagger from its eye and as soon as he did, he closed his eyes in disappointment.

He had remembered something they had told him. That its eyes were one of the most valuable materials they needed to harvest.

"That man is going to kill me."

He said, thinking about Stunga. He was a quiet old man, but many said that he had a temper equal to that of a demon if you came with harvested materials that were damaged.

He walked back and looked at his prey and smiled. He wanted to know what Langa and Analka thought about how he had managed to kill it by himself. He was fascinated by the couple of ticks that were around its neckline which were still latched on it and sucking its blood. He wondered what they were used for after harvesting them.

"Huh???"

He said as he lifted his dagger up in front of his face. A spear that was aimed for his head hit his mother's dagger, splitting in two and going around him, the two pieces landing a distance behind him.

He had been still on guard as his intuition told him to keep an eye on the hill he had noticed earlier.

Four young men and a woman finally showed themselves and walked over to him. When they got to him, they looked at him up and down, noticing that he was wearing no armor.

Nolamine looked at each one of them. They were wearing brown beast-hide pants with only the woman wearing a crop top that was made from the same kind of material. They all had dreadlocks with small beast bones at the tips of them and all their noses were pierced with a bone going through them.

Their bodies were decorated with white ash, the same ash the villagers had used to decorate their bodies during the celebration to welcome Nolamine back to the village.

They were carrying spears, except for the woman. Nolamine looked at her with intent. It was obvious that she was the one who had dared to try and kill him.

Whoever they were, what they were doing there, or how powerful they were, at that point, it did not matter.

If a bat was flying around the clearing at that moment, they would have heard Nolamine's mother's dagger giving out a slight vibration sound as he held it tightly.