Chapter 11 Kengiri

Shizu, using her metal umbrella, swung in a full horizontal attack that made the surrounding wind audibly swish. In the next moment, it struck 3 gengiri and they were blown back.

Parts of their insect carapaces broke off and they then laid motionless on the ground with purple blood leaking out of the newly revealed purple flesh of their bodies. Shizu then turned her head in the direction where Kajima and Azi were battling with their own foes.

Kajima faced two gengiri, one directly in front and another on his right flank. Kajima struck out with the tip of his halberd as he skewered the gengiri in front through its maw. The tip traveled until it was out the back of its head with a gush of purple blood.

He then pulled the tip of his halberd out deftly and spun to swing his weapon horizontally with the axe of the halberd. On one full revolution of his body he decapitated the gengiri on his right and continued his motion. Following through he split the previously skewered gengiri across its midsection.

More purple blood poured onto the white snowy ground.

Moving to the left to support Azi, Kajima stood to the side to aid him if he was in danger. He would let Azi have this fight to himself to better understand how to defend himself. So, like a hawk, Kajima watched over him.

Azi, who was facing off one gengiri, was on the defense as he was still unfamiliar with combat, but he held his ground as he gripped his shield tightly. With each strike from the gengiri, he could feel the impact travel up his left arm and slightly rattle his mind.

His stance was awkward as the snowy ground made it difficult for him to move the way he wanted. The snow covered his leather boots up to his ankles and the cold seeped into his body to take some of his body heat away.

His left hand was starting to become numb as well from the cold and the gengiri's strikes. He could not properly brace his shield and his inexperience would soon show its effects.

When the gengiri moved to strike, his left arm could not reposition his shield in time. Lunging, it bit into the leather armor and in response to this, Azi pushed the gengiri away with his shield and jumped back to get some distance when he was able to separate it from his shoulder.

His left shoulder was grazed by the gengiri's lunging attack with its sharp jaw, luckily the leather armor was tough and prevented a deep gash from forming. The armor now had a noticeable cut that went into the leather revealing a bit of his skin, and a few drops of Azi's blood now stained the brown shoulder armor.

The gengiri landed a couple paces away from him and lunged back a few more in reaction to Azi's sudden movement and from Kajima's glare. It did not perform a follow up lunge and instead took its own stance with its gaze on Azi. It was scared but knew the boy in front of it was weak and could be easy prey to kill and eat.

Hearing the ominous clacking of the gengiri's jaw made Azi shiver a bit but composing himself and digging up a bit of bravery he decided that he should try for a killing blow rather than be on the defensive to tire out the gengiri.

He was not confident in his strength so he initially felt that he needed to prolong the battle to ensure he would be able to slowly damage the gengiri, but he now decided to end the fight before his left arm became too numb which would leave him vulnerable to the gengiri's attacks.

Holding his shield up to cover the majority of his left side he then took a somewhat crouched stance with his left foot in front. He then positioned the short sword he held in his right hand pointing forward at the gengiri. He put power into his legs and rushed forward in a low crouch.

The gengiri struck out to attack Azi's exposed right side but was instead met with the flat of Azi's shield, who had moved the shield under the gengiri. Pushing his shield up he stabbed his short sword twice into the underbelly of the monster.

One jab cutting deep into the fleshy body of the gengiri and the other stab landed in the exact same spot as it pierced a deeper hole into the monster's belly. Purple blood stained his short sword and began to flow onto the snowy ground.

Azi quickly pulled his sword out and performed a backstep to observe if the gengiri was still alive. He was relieved to see that the gengiri slumped to the ground with purple blood pouring from its body. Calming his senses down he took stock of his surroundings and then himself, which made him realize that he had a tingling sensation in his arms.

During the exchange, Azi could feel his arms slightly tingle after every strike he made, and he believed that it was due to his excitement and fear. Remembering the fear and excitement Azi became inattentive as the feeling of fear made him remember his time in the black void.

Azi was drawn away from his thoughts by Shizu who was shaking his shoulder and calling to him.

"You ok?"

Pausing for a moment, Azi nodded that he was ok. Shizu turned to Kajima and reported.

"No other enemies nearby on my side, how about you Kajima?

"It is clear over here as well. Azi! You okay?" Asked Kajima.

"I'm alright, just a small graze on my left shoulder. Hand me the bottle of alcohol and a bandage. I'll fix myself up." Said Azi as he patted the snow off of his clothes.

The forest of Shisayama was a dangerous place as not only were there monsters and predatory animals. There was also an assortment of poisonous plants that could easily make you sick if its pollen got into a wound. This was what Azi was taught by Kajima as his first lesson in forest survival.

After bearing the slight pain when applying the alcohol to the graze he had on his shoulder, he then began to wrap it with a bandage. Shizu helped him through the steps of properly securing the bandage so that it did not fall off while in combat or while moving.

"Thanks for your help Shizu. So, what's the plan? Should we head back?" Asked Azi.

"Yes, we have already reached the boundary of our search area as we already made it to the clearing just before the path that goes up the mountain. I don't think we should head back though. With our pace we would still be in the forest during the dead of night.

The forest is more dangerous to travel through at night due to how we lack the ability to see through the darkness. We will set up camp here for now."

After Shizu finished explaining, she looked to Kajima and motioned for him to begin unloading the camping gear he was carrying. Azi helped Kajima set up two tents, one for him and Kajima, and the other for Shizu. They were small but would get the job done as a temporary shelter.

Not wanting to hinder Kajima and Azi, Shizu looked around and told the pair. "I will take a look around to ensure that the surroundings are clear."

After a nod from Kajima and Azi, Shizu left the two to set up the rest of camp. During this time Azi learned how to light a fire, how to find the right tinder, and how to create a fire starter with a stick and some bark. What interested Azi was Kajima's lesson on medicinal herbs and edible plants.

Pointing to a nearby plant, Kajima explained.

"This plant with the heart shaped leaves are known as Alole and the insides of the plant's stem is edible, but it is better used as a skin ointment that helps with sunburns and dry skin. You can use it as food in emergencies or help keep the skin on your feet from getting too dry and from developing calluses.

This yellow flower here is called benweed and its non lethal poison causes intense pain to humans if exposed to wounds, but if you mixed it with water and then boil the mixture down you can create a poison that dulls the senses. It can also be used if mixed with a lot of water as a way to get rid of stomach parasites since most common parasites have no resistance to benweed."

With focused and attentive eyes, Azi was hanging off of Kajima's every word as he had a giddy expression on his face due to his fascination with the knowledge Kajima shared with him. Azi's lesson came to an abrupt end as a loud crashing sound could be heard coming from the direction of where Shizu had walked away.

It had only been an hour since she left so she could not have gone far, but Azi thought to himself.

'Just what in the heck is she doing now?'

*******

Shizu's Point of View (POV)

Shizu was making her way through the forest near the encampment Kajima and Azi were setting up when she noticed a strange outcropping of stones that had a few destroyed trees atop them.

Each tree was massive and was broken as if it was ripped in half across its length. As she thought about what could have moved and destroyed these trees, she made her way to get a closer look at the spectacle.

She suddenly stopped her movement as she began to hear a slight rustling from the rock outcropping. The rocks were covered in snow as their surfaces were caked in a white color. Taking a few moments to look around, Shizu concluded that the rustling was just her imagination.

Not seeing anything out of the ordinary, she turned away to return to camp, but before she took a single step, she heard the previously rustling noise and this time it was much louder.

She looked back and was horrified by what she saw. The rock outcropping was moving as it seemingly rose up revealing an insect like maw and its thick and fleshy legs as it got to its feet and charged at Shizu.

A long white blur dashed at Shizu and she reacted, guarding herself with her metal umbrella she successfully avoided getting directly struck to her body. But she was blown back and was pushed into a nearby boulder which sounded with a hard impact that rang out for all to hear.

She quickly got to her feet and began engaging in a defensive battle with the newly revealed foe. Taken off guard Shizu could not retaliate as the enemy continued its assault with its claws and maw. It was a Kengiri which are similar to the gengiri but were much larger as they stood at a height of 3 meters and a length of 3 meters.

It had a white carapace that blended with the snowy surroundings, but what was much more menacing than its size was the two lobsters like claws it had. The Kengiri's that make Shisayama there home would rarely make a nest in the forest and instead stayed high in the mountains in caves, so Shizu was caught off guard by its appearance here in the forest.

After clashing with the Kengiri for a while, Shizu could hear Kajima's voice behind her yelling out to her. "Get back, quickly!!"

Azi and Kajima had rushed over to see what was happening, a top Kajima's back was Azi as he could not keep up with Kajima when he went at a full sprint.

Shizu jumped back but was not quick enough as she was again blown back by the Kengiri's claw arm strike that impacted her umbrella.

"Shizu. Damnit. Kajima, Toss me to her." Declared Azi.

In response to this Kajima nodded in agreement as the situation was dire and by grabbing the scruff of Azi's shirt, he threw him to where Shizu was lying. Kajima then charged forward to meet the foe as a distraction.

In Azi's mind he thought to himself.

'Okay, so how do I land this?'

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