Games

"Do you know why some hunters like to call their hunt, game instead of their hunt," King asked as he walked at a pace quicker than Lily. He turned his head around to look behind him, he squinted his eyes with a goofy smile as he awaited her answer.

Lily looked back at him with a sense of disgust, "It's just another word for a hunt, correct?"

"Not exactly, I mean you're right, but at the same time you're wrong," King traded his goofy smile in exchange for one that gave the impression of an innocent child. He jumped and turned his whole body around, he began walking backwards while also taking glances every few seconds to make sure he didn't trip on anything. He pointed his pinky finger, pointer finger, and thumb on both of his hands towards Lily. He then jerked his head back to lean backward slightly as he pushed his chest forward and bent his knees slightly, "Hunting is fun."

"Hunting is fun," Richard shouted back towards King, he was a few feet ahead of him. "It's so dangerous to h-hunt though."

King jumped and turned his whole body to face forward, he cupped his hands around his mouth, "If you build thou body up right and love the sense of danger, thou might enjoy hunting." King laughed as he took his hands away from his mouth.

"I don't get how putting yourself in danger like this is fun," Lily said as she swatted a flying bug off of her shirt.

"I don't know why either," King began, "I never even questioned something like that. Like Cindy having fun with Mage Ball, I find hunting as fun. I-" He stopped talking as he notice the same kind of bug that was on Lily's shirt on his own. He paused for a moment, then slapped his shirt as fast as he could. "Anyway, I-"

"KING!" Brick shouted. He was at the bottom of a small hill that lead to the same river where Allen fought a zebear. On the top of the hill was the forest where Richard, King, and Lily walked through. As well as the same forest where Allen and Cindy were currently playing Mage Ball. The decline to the bank of the river was steep enough to walk comfortably.

"What happened," King ran to Brick, he ran past Richard who tried to keep up with King, but got outran by Lily who followed behind King the moment he started running. When they all ran down the hill and onto the bank where Brick was, Lily let out a loud screech. A large zebear was washed up on the bank, its white fur was drenched and splashed with red. Its breath was low and its eyes erratically moved to look toward the group that arrived. It laid on its side practically lifeless.

"We need to heal it! Its wounded," Lily said running over to the beast. Brick checked the zebear's wounds, blood was rushing out of a noticeably large bite mark on his exposed belly. "Let it die, Princess," Brick said as he pulled his shovel off his back and equipped it.

"Rookie mistake number 8, let a dying creature die, especially when it's the very creature we are hunting," King sighed as he lowered his head, he kicked the rocks on the bank, "Pack it up, we'll turn it in."

"Just like that," Richard asked panting.

"Just like that, boring am I right? The Hunters Guild takes the creature off your hands, then sells every part of the creature off to some pirate or something. All we had to do was find some dying zebear."

"That might not be the case King," Brick said as Lily took some time to analyze the body. "This is a zebear bite mark. That could mean..." Brick stopped talking as he froze as though he was waiting for something. An awkward silence rose between the four as a neighing growl echoed down the river and into the hearts of the hunters.

"What was that," Lily asked backing away from the body while holding back the urge to puke. King's face lights up, he lifts his head in the direction of the sound as he sees the appearance of an even larger zebear with fresh scratches sprayed across its face. "That means, we can still hunt. Alright, Brick you said it was your turn right? I kind of want to show off. Damn, wait it's Cindy's turn isn't it," King squealed.

The zebear began rushing toward the group. Richard screamed, "It's coming for us," he began running away, but tripped and fell on his face. "Oh father of flames," Lily began saying as she rushed toward the rushing zebear.

'It's coming pretty fast, it has wounds on its face. Should I aim for the face, or try to disable it. I should have brought the spell book with me. I left it in King's bag. Whatever, it must have just fought the other zebear. If it's this energetic then they mustn't have used much mana. Wait zebears don't have mana, they would take more damage if I applied more mana to the flames. Perhaps make the flames hotter or more precise. Maybe a nice spread of flames. What would be the best option here? What is the most optimal-'

As Lily's thoughts raced, she heard footsteps go past her, along with the gleeful chant from King. "Ah Hydros, grant me but a cube of ice. ICE CUBE!"

'WHAT IS HE DOING? Did he just cast a ice cube conjuring spell, what the hell does he plan on.'

King stopped as he extended his arms out, he pointed his pinky on both of his hands towards the zebear. He thought to himself, 'Don't use too much mana.' An ice cube formed between King's two pinkies. It began deforming and spiking outward in all directions. 'Focus. Let your mana flow in one direction.' The spikes became uniform as they pointed toward the rushing zebear. 'Then let it explode.'

The ice cube grew forward, the further it expanded the more the ice spikes spread out enough to be bigger than the beast. It then sharpened as a cold breeze overcame Lily and Richard, they stared in awe as the ice cube became a large iceberg that pierced through the beast. The ice cube was tainted with red as the beast breathed its last.

The King of Peasants laughed.

"Did you see that!" He jumped around kicking the air and screaming, "Whoo", his fur jacket flapping in the wind as the origin of the iceberg fell to the ground, producing a massive burst of wind. "I used the weakest ice spell and made it look strong! This isn't even peak hunting, I haven't even struggled yet. This isn't even fun yet! Oh my Hydros! Keep blessing me nicely!"

King turned around to face Lily and Richard, Brick had already begun running past him to start hacking away at the ice to get to the beast. "That was so fast," Lily responded, "This isn't even your best is it?"

"Nope. I wanted to show Allen my best at the Crapper. He should know what a special hunter really looks like."