16 Get in there!

Michael wandered into the woods carrying the remaining quarter of his Alma fruit. This time, he intends to stay closer to the trap so that he can return swiftly. Michael, though, got lucky this time and discovered some lizard footprints with ease.

from the size of it, Michael could judge that it was quite a chubby one. It's not that the footprint is much bigger but it's how deep the footprints go that gives it away. This is perfect for his trap! Michael again begins to follow the trace.

more than an hour passed.

The trace again ascends upward in the trees, and Michael is very upset. This time he can't climb a tree effectively because of the alma fruit that he has been carrying around. So he did the next best thing.

He squeezed his eyes really hard trying to see further into the tree line with his sight. despite his effort, he couldn't see very well up the tree however, he spot something.

An alma lizard!?

A green body leaps between trees and disappeared into thin air like it was never there. Michael could swear that he saw it but, the lizard just vanished without a trace. upon another closer inspection, the lizard did leave a trace but, it was not new. From how dry the claw marks are the lizard must be here a while ago.

What did he just see?

Another ghost? No, Brava is not a ghost from what Michael could tell and the lizard doesn't look like one, then what is going on? He is pretty sure that he could see a lizard jumping from tree to tree and disappearing. Did he eat an Imha mushroom? why did he hallucinate?

Michael doesn't have an answer for this phenomenon, de diced to ask Gurara when he finishes this hunt. He goes deeper into the forest following the hallucination that he saw earlier.

20 minutes later...

Michael equally found the lizard! It's drinking water from the river with its long long tongue. He actually found the lizard from his hallucination? Michael is still shocked. But the lizard smells the alma fruit that Michael carries around when he sees it.

The lizard's keen sense of smell quickly picks up where the alma fruit is and rushes at him. Michael snaps out of his shock and starts running. The lizard got a head start in the chase because of Michael's shooks but, Michael still got a decent lead.

Through the aquamarine forest and zigzagging passed the mangrove root Michael got closer and closer to his trap. when tracking the monster one has to be very careful not to alert it so, most of the time Michael just walks really fast or jogs but never a full sprint. however, Now that he is going full speed he could reach his trap in half the time it takes to track down the monster.

On his way, he runs past a weird structure... a series of translucent webs between the trees. Michael hasn't seen this before but, he instantly knows he should avoid the area. The translucent web is a sign of the Ralua wet spider a predator high up in the food chain. If not for the Apex predator of this island Ralua would have had the chance to become the Apex predator. Michael who's having trouble with only an alma lizard couldn't afford to deal with such a character so, he quickly changes his route.

10 minutes later he arrives at the trap that he set. Michael doesn't have time to think about anything and jumps into a root that is shaped in a way that only Michael could pass through.

'Get in there!'

His plan is simple. He jumps through a hole that only the lizard's head could fit through and drops something on its head making the lizard hurt and hopefully killing it in the process. He is about to test out if the lizard is indeed weak to blunt damage.

pah!

The lizard follows him into the hole and its head got stuck from the sudden impact into a tight space. as planned, Michael quickly places the alma fruit down and swiftly climbed up the tree root that he prepared, then cut it. The tree root that's as big as his body fell from the tree and swung at the lizard!

Pah!

It missed! the roots follow its trajectories at first but it somehow deviates from its path making it miss the lizard. In an unfavorable condition, the lizard tries to get out of the hole between the roots but sadly its head got stuck too hard.

Michael did not panic because he had been prepared. He jumps to another root and cuts it. The roots of the mangrove tree have been cut beforehand so it takes only 3 seconds for him to sever it from the tree.

Pah!

The root got pulled down by Gravity toward the lizard's head.

Bang!

This time the root hit The lizard's head! This time the root fell right on the lizard's head making the fell silent. Michael did not trust this gesture at all and cut one more root that he prepared.

pah!

ROArrrr

Another root fell on the lizard's head, it scream one more time and fell silent. This time Michael approaches the lizard with caution. last time he thought that something was dead, it woke him up and scared him to death.

Inching closer Michael pokes it with The wooden spear. Its body moves a little bit, but the lizard's eyes are still shut. Michael with all his strength jammed the spear into the lizard's eyes.

Roar!

it cries out in pain! the spear woke it up! Michael didn't want to let this opportunity go. He goes around and punctures another one of the lizard's eyes. The lizard wiggles aggressively trying to back out of this trap Michael set up but, its helpless body can't seem to do it.

Blood gushes out from both its eyes and it gash around in pain. Michael takes another one of his spears in throws it at the lizard trying to make get it in the monster's mouth. With Michael being so close a the lizard roaring loudly the spear has more chance to go in however with Michael's terrible aim he couldn't do it.

Roarr!!!

Michael's hand is quivering as he throws more spears at the lizard. Most of it misses the mark but, his second to final spear entered the lizard's mouth and cut through its throat. Because it is blind, the alma lizard tries to struggle more and feels more agony than before.

Roarrr

Flop!

Finally, the lizard's body's gone limb. Blood spilled all over the place making the hunt look quite brutal. However this is a normal hunt, it's either you hunt or be hunted. If Michael didn't set up this trap he would be dead in the confrontation.

"YESSS!!!"

Michael scream in joy! He can't wait to tell it to Gurara. He actually hunts the alma lizard in 3 days! only 3 days! Normally for Boniha kids to hunt this type of monster they would have fought it multiple times across multiple days to exhaust the monster and finish it off.

This process usually takes 5-7 days for beginner hunters, that why the trial is set in that time frame. What Michael did was excellent by the Boniha tribe standard. So he is pretty happy right now.

rustle

Michael hears the sound of footsteps behind him. He quickly turns to check it out. Because of the recent hun Michael's mind is on full alert. If It's a threat he could handle he would fight it off so that it wouldn't steal his hunt but, if it's a higher-level predator he would dip.

However, his alertness is unwarranted because the source of the sound is none other than his uncle, Gurara.