Back to the Darkjade forests again

While Sej did not know what the Apail families thoughts on him were, he did realise that he could gain some resources for his friends from them. But that would leave him more and more in their dept. Sej saw no problem in this though as he had. Nobody to rely on but them. He was still a kid and having the Apail family at his back gave him a sense of comfort. He needed them as his support emotionally. If he did not have them, he would be much more scared of the new environment that he was in now.

On coming to this revelation about himself, he could guess where Caras anxiety and Henry cowardice may actually stem from. They had given up their homes and left their parents. It was for a brighter future but even so, they lost a lot in the process. It would be like going to boarding school but failing to even be able to call homes. Nor could you return for the holidays. YearS away from everything you ever knew and a possibility of never seeing it again. Sam was lucky to have the support of his brother here. Cara and Henry were not so lucky.

A child by his parent's side would have more courage to take the act or accept the unknown. The greatest example of this could be seen from the dark. If a child was in the dark alone, he may be terrified, but if his parents held his hand, he would be fine and could even fall asleep soundly. Even though they had joined the Apail family as well, they were not exactly standing out. They were one of many to join and were not noticed.

Though this was opposite to the truth, as they were friends to Sej, they were tagged by the Apail family early on as potential elite cultivators. They did not know that though nor would the clan choose to act now as that would reveal Sej.

Even with this understanding, what could he do, he could not provide the support they were looking for. All he could do was try to make them feel more relaxed.

The group quickly went to sleep. Soon a new morning came and the group had a small breakfast of porridge which they got from the villagers. They were kind people who had enjoyed the show that the group provided yesterday. Though it was not the best food, it was warm and better than what they prepared, which was just a few breakfast bars.

Making their way to the forest fully equipped in the battle gear. The team felt confident towards the second expedition. With past experience and training, it was far less scary than the first time entering. Soon the group came to the forest entrance and stepped foot under the cover of the trees.

After walking forward 1.5 miles, into the forest, the team came across small monster beast tracks. The track was very fresh so the monster beast was nearby. Sam was able to identify these tracks as his father once took him camping in the wilderness back on earth. He learned a lot in that experience.

Having decided to follow the tracks the team travelled for only 10 minutes before a sound was heard up ahead. It seemed to be a battle. Howls could be heard from more than one type of creature. As they approached close and hid behind the tree trundle to take a look a vivid picture presented itself before their eyes.

A boar that was a meter tall and had large bulky skin. It was wrinkly and had too large tusks and two devil horns on the die of its head. It was fighting a small fox that had three tails. Sej assumed that the fox tracks were what they were tracking as it matched the size of the creature. The fox was only half a meter tall but was agile, it kept avoiding the boar rams while swiping its small claws at the boar.

Only slight scratches could be seen on the boar. It showed the great defending power of the boar which was called a 'hell boar'. The fox had shining fur that was pink in colour. It was known as a 'charm fox'. It was very popular as a pet for a girl at the sect but was not worth much.

They were a common monster beast on the planet and it was not hard to capture a few. As a result, supply tended to be far more than demand and any sect member could also go out and capture one on their own as it was quite weak.

Cara herself did not take a liking to it. She thought it was too feminine for her tastes. But she could not deny that it was cute.

It seemed that the 'hell boar' had ambushed the fox who was travelling along.

Sej signalled to Henry to target the fox leg. He wanted the fox alive for Emily as he was going to ask her a favour. It would only be right to at least give her something in return. He also prepared himself to rush the boar. He did not want the boar to kill the fox when I was injured.

As the team got ready to move on their targets, the fight between the boar and fox became deadly. The fox wrapped one of his tails around the next of the boar and attempted to strangle the boar while also manoeuvring around to the back of the boar.

The boar tried to lock on to its target but fainting to find the fox and having trouble breathing, it started to rage. It charged away dragging the fox with it along the ground before flinging itself with a nearby tree. The sudden impact of the boar only lightly injured it, but the fox went flying ahead of the boar hitting another tree quite hard.

As the fox unsteadily stood up, an arrow flew out and stuck its left hind leg causing the fox to collapse. It cried out in pain while collapsing. Sej charged out going straight for the 'hell boar' while it also slowly recovered from the impact. He stabs at the midsection of the monster beast causing its skin to split and the sword to enter 10 centimetres inside its muscles. As the boar roared from the pain and anger, it pulled away from Sej. As it pulled away, Sej also pulled back his sword but I had gotten jammed in the boar. He pulled and pulled but failed to retrieve it as the boar eventually overpowered him and managed to retreat.

Meanwhile, Henry went and retired the three-tailed fox. Cara and Sam also went to flack the two sides of the beast creating a triangle formation around the 'hell boar'. The boar charged at Sej for revenge. Cara and Sam chased the 'Hell boar'. Seeing this occur, Sej did not know what should be done without his weapon and could only dive out of the way toward Cara hoping she could help him.

While doing this he also shouted, "Don't stab it, muscles will lock your weapons in its body, normal arrows will not have any effect against its skin!" Taking this advice, Cara slashes at the monster from its back as it was turning around for a second charge. The skin was sliced right open by the sword. Sam also came and smacked at its hind leg with his spear thinking to make the boar collapse.

It did not collapse as after Cara slashed it back, the 'hell boar did a rear kick towards Cara and inadvertently knocked sams spear away. Both Sam and the boar were not flying. The boar slammed into another tree. Cara taking this opportunity sprinted forward and completed a clean slash at the board neck. This incapacitated the boar until it slowly died with anger and fear in its eyes.

The battle was over. Henry managed to knock out the fox while Sej went to check on Sam. Overall this battle was easier and safer than the battle the team had last time in the forests. No one on the team vomited this time which was a great improvement in overall fighting ability and the teamwork lowered the danger massively. Sej went to retrieve his swords which was much easier to complete now that the monster beast was deceased.

The group started to clean up the battlefield. And take a rest. As for the three-tailed charm fox, Henry had bound its legs with some rope and also removed the arrow. He also applied some medicine to it hind leg before asking Sej

"What did you want with this fox. It's gonna be a hassle to deal with today." Henry was doubtful of Sej's motive but more than that he knew that he would have to take care of the fox. He was the only ranged fighter and so could keep the fox safe in a fight without Impeding his fighting ability.