Going Hunting (2)

As Max left his home the warm sun greeted him outside, shining bright in the middle of the sky.

'Beautiful day, as expected' Max thought to himself as the corner of his mouth started raising up, his lips now forming a firm smile.

Sunny days were always his favorite especially now, in the spring, where the sun would shine but it would not be especially warm outside, where after a good hunt there would be a cold breeze to congratulate him showering his warm and exhausted body in a gentle feeling of relaxation.

On the gravel path, slowly walking over to the other side of the village to reach the village gates, Max was looking around, admiring the village.

He would never get tired of looking at children playing or training outside. It made him feel happy as he could see himself as one of the kids, running and jumping around the place, or holding a wooden sword, hardly swinging it with his shaky hands of a 10-year-old.

Going forward, he noticed more and more children, which was normal. The center of the village was the safest place around, being guarded by warriors that will be able to hunt any unfortunate beast that may lurk in so deep into the village. It would be normal for the parents to let their children stay around the center as it offered more protection.

As he went forward he began approaching the center of the village, where the academy was. Slowly walking around it, the smile on his face slowly faded away, he remembered that tomorrow he needs to head back in, where the boring lessons would take place, and the fact that he couldn't leave the perimeters of the academy for two whole weeks didn't make his mood get better.

He passed the academy, and as he made his way to the gates, he began to recall the hunt from two days ago, in which one of his teammates got injured while fighting a Low-Grade Magical Beast.

The truth was that it wasn't his teammate's fault as he was to one that became careless and was about to be killed by his mistake. His teammate was able to save his life from the clutches of death and he was grateful for it, he won't make the same mistake again.

Hazed, and deep into thought he had yet to realize the fact that he already closed in to their meeting point, and that one of his teammates was approaching him.

"Max?..." Ken waved his hand in front of Max, waking him up from his dreams "Getting careless again? Anna got injured because of you moron and you still do the same thing." Ken, visibly annoyed commented to Max.

Max flinched as he was too absorbed into his examination of the fight. He wanted to do better, not to get others hurt because of his negligence so he always thought of ways to improve his fighting style. He looked at his friend Ken, and then behind him, at all of them who were youths of about the same age.

"Yea... I am sorry, just thinking of something.. has Anna healed?" Max said, anxiety creeping in his voice.

"She is mostly healed, go take a look for yourself, it will leave a scar though.." Ken looked in the direction of three girls, each dressed in a different attire that made you get an idea of their class.

Anna was the girl in the middle, dressed with a robe for mages which aided in the circulation of magic. She was one of the special people that managed to awaken their magic before the age of 18. She managed to control her magic even though you normally wouldn't be able to do it at such an age.

She awoke about one year ago, and has been training diligently to control her magic, and had done so successfully. Max's group inviting her to go on hunting trips together which she accepted and became a great asset in battle.

Her wind magic greatly helping them. Being able to aid them as a support type, increasing their speed or defending them from attackers, this was what Anna was the best at doing. The only downside was that she didn't want to take an offensive side, mostly learning defensive spells and helping her teammates through support which wasn't a bad thing of course.

She was the one that pushed Max away from the life-threatening attack. She boosted herself with gales of wind and reached to Max in the nick of time, safely pushing him away, but got injured instead. A long horizontal slash of wind hit her on the arm, leaving a nasty scar even after healing. It could only be healed with a high-end aloe for treating scars from what it seems, which was a problem. The problem was that such medicine was really pricey, noblewoman usually buying such items for containing their beauty.

On her right was Ashley, the assassin of the team, she is the person analyzing the battle from the high-ground while also picking targets that try to run off. She helps in guiding the battle, sometimes helping to get that split-second needed for a finishing strike.

She wore a leather armor made out of one of the magical beasts that they hunted, it was quite resistant and the dark brown color made it easier for her to hide on the battlefield. She had 4 daggers on her waist, two on each side, with a longer machete-looking weapon on her right side just above the two daggers. A bow and a quiver were also present on her back, this would be the main weapon she used as arrows were less expensive than the daggers she had on her.

Although filled with weapons, she moved nimbly with them, and it didn't disadvantage her on the battlefield as normally she wouldn't even get close to fighting on the front lines, after all, she would help in leading the battle which isn't possible while fighting on the front lines.

On Anna's left was Rya, she was equipped in some light armor with a long sword scabbard on her left side, her weapon sheathed. Her role would be fighting alongside Max and Ken, the so-called frontline trio. She would combo with Max in attacks, being the initiators of the fight, while Ken would take the opportunities they made while fighting the enemy.

She was talking with Anna, apologizing for not being able to protect Max as normally she should've been the one that saved Max in that instance but because of her slow reaction Anna ended up getting to Max first.

Max and Ken slowly walked up to the girls, Max had a set of armor with a shield on his back and a spear under it, holding a bag with his left hand. He deserved to be called the 'tank' of the team as he looked tough and sturdy, but his looks didn't disappoint either. He was skillful in using the sword, but using the spear made him have a more versatile way of fighting alongside his team so he chose to learn mastery of it while alongside his shield he made a pretty powerful combination.

Ken, on the other hand, equipped with a set of light armor as well, had 2 sheathed parangs, one on each side of his body. With those 2 trusty weapons of his he would have Max's and Rya's back when fighting, sometimes being able to surprise attack the enemy with nimble movements and skillful handling of the long blades.

As Max and Ken got closer everyone greeted Max while he did the same. They talked with each other about random stuff, getting to see Anna's condition while doing so.

After some time exchanging pleasantries with each other they got up from their seated positions. Max nodded as he began walking forward, they didn't need any more words at that time. Everyone arranged themselves in a way that would help them get into formation faster if they were to be ambushed by any beasts.

They passed the village gates and the hunt officially started.