Bab 3: Chapter 3: Danger Looming

Night soon fell without much more happening that day. Aron was yet to return from training but Harald had already grown accustomed to the boy's habits so he paid no mind to it.

As for Harald himself, he sat cross legged at a grassy field in complete silence. He had his head lowered and his breathing slowed as the cool night breeze made his long white hair flutter.

Upon looking closer, one could see a blueish like mist emanating from Harald's body. As he did this, his sharp finger nails began to recede and look more humanoid like.

Although minor, Harald's body had some beastlike features. His eyes, teeth, fingernails, hair and toenails all greatly resembled a Limbo Strider. The more blueish color left his body, the more humanoid his features appeared.

Aron had never really seen these features as odd as Harald was the only humanoid like being he's ever seen.

'...This is all I can manage...' Harald released a light sigh as this thought crossed his mind.

"!!"

All of a sudden Harald quickly raised his head and looked to his right by instinct alone. However, there was nothing right of him, just the empty grass field he sat upon.

Harald's brows however remained furrowed as his gaze focused on a small pebble not too far from him. He continued observing the pebble until it trembled ever so slightly.

After noticing this small change, Harald didn't hesitate in quickly jumping away from where he sat.

*Hisss...*

The second he did so, a strange hiss could be heard coming from the ground. What followed was the ground where Harald was seated breaking apart. Then with a loud explosion the ground completely broke apart with pieces flying up into the air.

*hisss...*

Once more the strange hiss resonated in the grassy field, except this time it was from above the ground.

"Tch...haven't seen one of these in a long while..." Harald muttered before showing a small smirk.

In front of him stood a very large snake like creature. It had a long thick body with even thicker and harder spiky scales that covered much of its length. It's piercing green eyes completely focused on Harald as its head tilted slightly from left to right continuously. The most discerning feature however was its pair of curved horns which Harald seemed to have his eyes focused on.

'A Horned Basilisk...' He thought as he spread his feet apart slowly and readied a stance.

Before Harald could even finish preparing his stance, the Basilisk launched itself towards him in the blink of an eye.

The wind in the grassy fields blew violently when it came into contact with Harald. Despite being caught slightly off guard, Harald was currently holding the Basilisk by the mouth. One hand holding up the upper part whilst the other holding down the lower.

*hisss!*

The snake hissed aggressively and moved its body violently in an attempt to escape Harald's hold. Harald however endured it's attempt at resisting and forcefully tore its mouth.

Blood gushed from the Basilisk's head and mouth as its body collapsed onto the now bloody grassy field, it's lower body still shaking violently despite its eyes now looking lifeless.

"I don't remember them being this weak...hmm" Harald muttered in a suspicious tone before crouching down to inspect the Basilisk's horns.

'It's a fledgling, which means it's not alone...Aron!' Harald quickly came to a worrying conclusion and rushed into the forest that Aron would always train in.

It didn't take long for Harald to arrive at the clearing Aron liked to train on. The scene that greeted him was a surprising one.

Aron stood at the center of the clearing with bloodied hands and a serious expression on his face as he breathed heavily trying to catch his breath. On the ground around him were the bodies of three horned Basilisk fledglings that had also been killed by having their mouths torn.

'I've only ever told him stories about my encounter with a Horned Basilisk... for him to remember and implement that knowledge this well...!' Harald's train of thought was interrupted when he felt his instincts warning him.

Harald's expression turned serious and he quickly faced Aron who returned his gaze.

"I know!" Aron suddenly voiced without being spoken to as he could tell from looking at his father.

Harald simply nodded before both father and son jumped from their positions and came closer together.

A short moment later, the ground once again broke apart. This time however, multiple places had the same scene occur to them...the result of this was an entire group of Horned Basilisk's surrounding the father and son pair.

"Aron, I need you to..." Harald had turned to Aron and was about to speak, when all of a sudden, the boy rushed to the largest Horned Basilisk at a frightening speed. Upon reaching it, Aron immediately tore its mouth like he had done before.

But this time something was strange. No blood gushed out and no pained hiss could be heard. Seeing this Aron immediately retreated back to his father's side with furrowed brows.

"Adults have extremely flexible mouths capable of opening at very odd angles. Tearing the mouth won't be enough to kill the two largest Horned Basilisks here." Harald explained in a serious manner to which Aron nodded.

Although Aron had a rough upbringing thus far, the beasts Harald made him hunt have always been tame. This caused Aron to grow up never knowing fear just like Aron had hoped.

After hearing this, Aron immediately shifted tactics and began going after the smaller looking Horned Basilisks. He may not have fear but he knew he couldn't confront it carelessly.

The larger ones of course tried to interfere but Harald stopped them in their tracks with sheer force by tugging them by their tails.

Soon Harald once again held one of the Horned Basilisks by the head which was their weakest spot. From there, he violently banged its head to the ground from side to side. When the other large one tried to intervene, Harald threw the one he was holding down and caused the two to collide.

This in turn caused them to inflict injuries on each other due to their spiky sharp scales. The two large Horned Basilisk let out pained hisses as they tried rising again.

"I don't think so." Harald declared as he appeared above ready to strike them both down with his fists.

With a loud boom, Harald made contact and a loud hiss was heard. Harald had successfully landed a hit but only on one of the two.

The other had retreated just in time, avoiding the lethal blow and was now looking at Harald intently. Harald was not the least bit fazed and instead looked at it with a smile and pointed above its head.

The Horned Basilisk ignored this gesture and tried to launch itself at him but then all of a sudden it felt a great pressure on its head. What followed was its head violently crushing to the ground.

"What do I do?!" Aron's voice questioned from above the Horned Basilisk's head. Clearly pushing himself to his limits just to keep its head down and stopping it from rising.

Harald looked at his determined son for a moment, giving him a small nod before grabbing onto the Horned Basilisk's head as well.

"Pull!"

Harald instructed as he held on to the lower part of its mouth while Aron held the upper. Both wore serious expressions as they began pulling in opposite directions.

*hiss!*

Loud pained hisses filled the clearing as the Horned Basilisk shook and jerked its body violently in an attempt to break free.

*crack*

Soon the sound of bones cracking could be heard and the Horned Basilisk no longer let out anymore sounds. It's eyes slowly lost life but its body continued to slither around in one position.

"*sigh* This can't be good" Harald let out an exhausted sigh and sat on the ground while shaking his head.

Aron who was opposite of him took a moment to look around at the many bodies present before sitting down as well.

"What's going on?" Aron inquired curiously while looking at his father's complex expression.

"The only reason I can think of that can cause these beasts to be here is a migration..."

"Mana beasts are naturally drawn to regions rich in mana. These Horned Basilisks along with the Death Stalkers were probably on their way there, we just happened to be in the path..." Harald explained carefully to Aron who listened intently.

"What do we do then?" Aron asked as he glanced at the bodies once more. He knew very well that it would be bad if they got overwhelmed by numbers.

"The only thing we can do is migrate as well, if we're really now living in a path towards a mana rich zone then it won't be long before hordes begin appearing here."

"For this to happen only now means there was a recent Limbo Shift somewhere. The safest route for us now would be over the mountains north of here. It's best we are on high ground during our journey" Harald quickly explained before letting out a sigh and standing up.

"Limbo Shift?" Aron asked before standing up himself. This was a first for him to see his father genuinely concerned.

"Yes... every time a great change occurs it's called a Limbo Shift; this one probably has to do with a region suddenly having denser mana than before. Get yourself ready, we'll have to leave now." Harald quickly instructed but Aron hesitated for a moment.

"Won't we drain these beasts of their mana first? I only drained the three fledglings earlier." Aron asked a bit confused but Harald shook his head.

"No, it's best we leave them here to draw the attention of beasts that may come soon. Now let's go quickly..." Harald ordered impatiently and Aron simply nodded although not sincerely.

'That can't be the only reason'.... the young boy thought to himself as he walked away from the scene.

Harald remained a moment longer and looked at his claw like finger nails and let out a sigh before walking in Aron's direction.

....

[Beast Index #2: Horned Basilisk]