5 Hunting Together

Marcus is currently speechless looking at the tiny lizard running around him.

"Leader! Leader! Leader!"

'Damn... What is this?'

This overly energetic tiny lizard for some reason is showing interest in him.

"Stop... You..." Using lizard language, Marcus tried to make the tiny lizard stop. But before Marcus could continue his words, he started to even hear a few additional voices joining in.

"Leader!" "Leader..."

Looking around, Marcus could see 2 more lizards running around him, although not as energetic as the tiny one.

'Ah, these damn kids...'

And as a few more started joining in, Marcus now didn't know what to do. He just wanted to join either of the crimson lizard and the variant. Why did such a thing even happen? Marcus then looks at those two leaders.

Looking at them, Marcus could also see the two looking at him. Meeting their eyes, the variant showed him a smug lizard face, while the crimson lizard, on the other hand, just evaded his gaze when their eyes met.

Afterward, the two then led their groups away. With the variant leading its group towards the west, and the crimson one leading its group towards the north, leaving Marcus with a bunch of leftover lizards.

Marcus looked at their departing figures. The way their groups move somewhat resembles that of a cavalry's charge into a battlefield.

Still, they just started moving out of the blue. Even though they are monsters, Marcus still expected that they would at least talk a little with their groups before moving out. With nothing he could do, Marcus took off his mind about them, shifting his focus onto the lizards around.

Looking around the lizards still running around him in circles, Marcus started counting their numbers.

'1… 2... 5... 10... 18... 21...'

There are currently about 21 of them.

""Leader!"" "Leader..." "Leader! Leader! Leader!"

'Don't they ever get tired doing this?'

Marcus didn't have any knowledge in leading lizards, but since it was already too late to join the other two groups, he had no choice but to stick with this group.

With all that said, having a group is better than nothing, furthermore, they could still be considered his brothers and sisters. And since he is older than them by 24 years, it wasn't really that much of a problem for him to accept responsibility.

Marcus checked the lizards in the group. Including him, then there would be 22 of them. And currently, there are two lizards that stood out the most.

First is the energetic tiny one, the one with a height about half of theirs. Checking its status, Marcus realized that it is also someone with a variant trait.

Then the other one is a quiet one-armed lizard. It attracted Marcus's attention since it was the latest of the lizards rejected by the two other groups, and also since it was the only one born with a missing limb, looking pitiful.

Well, to be honest, most of the lizards in Marcus's group could be said to be pitiful if compared to the lizards from the two groups before. Excluding the few larger lizards which were late in grouping up, most of the lizards around him are the rejected skinny ones.

"Halt!" Marcus suddenly roared, stopping them from further consuming their energy by running around in circles.

Afterward, Marcus then started moving towards the south as he said, "Follow..."

Then like a hero leading the charge, Marcus leads the group of lizards...

...

Hidden on a patch of grass, Marcus is currently waiting for an ambush. About a few distances away, he could see a large white creature.

Suddenly, a tiny lizard jumped in front of Marcus covering his line of sight.

Marcus, seeing the tiny variant's tail covering in front, then bit on it and pulled it to the side.

"-Ow!"

"Don't... Cover..."

"Sorry!"

"I... Attack... First... You... Follow..."

"Ok, leader!"

As the tiny variant move to the sides, Marcus then thought of what happened earlier.

On the way here, Marcus had already led the group of lizards for a bit of time, learning a bit about them.

When they had arrived earlier on the spot where Marcus killed a squirrel, the bunch of gluttons had immediately raced towards the remains, and on the blink of an eye, had cleaned up everything including the fur.

Due to such barbarism, Marcus learned that it would probably be a challenge satisfying the stomach of the gluttonous group.

Also, while leading the group, Marcus had realized that it would be hard for him to farm potential points from small prey.

Earlier, with this group of lizards around him. Whenever there was a small insect around their group, before Marcus could even realize the insect's existence, the others would have already killed it.

And speed-wise, it seems that the tiny variant was even much faster than him to the point that it could attack the insects in front of Marcus first even with him noticing it first. And though it would offer it to him afterward, the point is he still didn't get any potential points. Taking a bite on the insect, he didn't even received new traits and skills as merchandise from the system.

Currently, the group had killed more than 5 insects. Marcus didn't know how much potential points do such insects give, and for sure didn't even want to know right now.

Right now, since they could only communicate in simple words, it was hard to give complex orders. So, when it comes to rules, Marcus could only train the lizards one step at a time.

Currently, the only rule that Marcus is training his group with is to never attack any enemy in front without Marcus attacking it first. Though they could still attack anytime if a creature comes from the sides. It was in order for Marcus to have an easier time gaining potential points and also to avoid alerting their targets when sneaking.

Right now, instead of hunting small creatures, Marcus is thinking of hunting large animals. With such a group of carnivorous lizards, they could probably even kill a bull. So, rather than taking time on an area trying to search for smaller prey around, Marcus is currently actively searching for bigger targets. Finding a herd of herbivores would be a jackpot.

Still, with him having no knowledge about the ecosystem in this fantasy forest, he had no choice but to learn about things through manual exploration and discovery. But despite that, the feeling of adventure when doing so is fantastic. And though he only had a bunch of lizards around him, they could still be considered his companions, so the journey around has been interesting and refreshing for him so far.

They had discovered giant mushrooms and strange plants. Eat grass for a dew of water, and had even drank in a small lake of water. The lizards were very lively, sometimes when they stop on a few areas, a few would even play by wrestling and biting around. Especially the tiny variant. Despite being the tiniest ones, it had the biggest energy, initiating the attack on others and even winning.

The other life forms they had met so far were just insects. The group had dug out 3 earthworms and had killed two beetles. They had even discovered a few flying insects like butterflies and dragonflies that they couldn't kill.

Marcus was interested on the flying types wondering if he could gain wing traits from them, but they are too slippery and agile. He didn't receive a trait and skill from an insect earlier, but he still wanted to try his chance once again. However, with a group to lead, it wasn't good to waste time so Marcus had given up on them, putting them on the back of his mind. After searching around for a time, they had then finally found something big.

Marcus moved his gaze towards the large white creature again. The creature's looks are similar to that of a donkey, but unlike normal donkeys, it has a scaly forehead. And on the scales, three horns could be seen lining up vertically.

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[Stage Completion] 11.2%

[Stage:] 1

[Name:] N/A

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Remarks:

A cool white donkey with three horns.

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Though the horns make it look a little bit intimidating, the fact that it is a donkey somewhat cancels it out. It only makes it look like a cooler donkey than usual.

However, though donkeys are herbivores and doesn't give any impression of strength, seeing the three horns on its forehead, it would still be good to stay cautious about it. He should at least avoid going near its horns.

Marcus looked behind him to check his company, he could see the lizards from his group imitating him, also trying to remain hidden by crouching. Even the tiny variant started to do so, even though it didn't have the need to. It was too small that just standing inside the grass would make it even better hidden compared to the crouching them.

Amusingly, whenever Marcus moves somewhere, these lizards would always follow him. A meter to left, a meter to the right, no matter how short the distance, they would always follow him tightly. Earlier, when he had to take a piss, they were even around him, a few even piss together with him.

Marcus moved his gaze back towards the target, it was now coming closer towards them. Marcus's height is not even enough to reach its thighs, only enough for him to reach its knees. But despite that, Marcus knows that with just the right distance, he could probably even leap on the donkey's head.

Closer...

Closer...

The donkey is almost right next to them. Marcus is just waiting to find the best moment, where a few of them could jump on it easier.

Closer...

"Ready..."

Now!

"Jump!"

When the cool donkey finally arrived on parallel with their ambushing point. Marcus finally sees the best opportunity for an attack! And not letting the chance to slip away, Marcus then leaps immediately towards the back of the donkey's neck!

With a big hungry family to feed, Marcus was looking at the donkey's neck with great ferocity, shouting to it in his mind.

'Please become our meal! Donkey!!!'