章 11: Chapter 11 : Hunting the Gorilla
"So, Sarfak, what can you tell me about the dwarf tribe?" I asked, trying to make conversation as we walked around trying to trace the gorilla's whereabouts.
"Well, you are a stranger, so I cannot give you any detailed information. I will give you the general one though. We are a warrior tribe that is tasked by God to protect nature. From what, at first, we didn't know. But everything changed when we met humans for the first time, more than 100 years ago. His name is Magus, I think."
I was dumbfounded at this information.
"Wait, is this Magus the first one who managed to manipulate the energy inside our body?" He snorted.
"Of course, he would say that to his fellow human. The truth is, the dwarf tribe and the other six tribes have manipulated magus since the beginning of our world. That is why we are the ones that God gives the task to protect nature."
"Then, why did the energy name as his name?"
He shakes his head at the bewildered look on my face.
"Lad, it is not the energy that named as his name. It is he who is named the same as the energy. Let's just say that his parents were someone with a strong obsession with magus." I nodded, accepting his answer.
"If the elven is given the same task as yours, where do they live now?" I cannot help but be curious.
"Well, they live in Kenai, a mountain in the north of Pangea. It was filled with snow and ice, a very harsh place indeed. And like this forest, Kenai Mountain is also a high concentration magus place, so you can expect the resident to grow bigger and stronger than normal."
I grimaced imagining that place. It seems like Tibet in the South Region, but harsher.
"So, what happened when Magus came here for the first time?"
He stopped walking and turned his attention to me. His expression turned grim, a surprising emotion for a cheerful person like him.
"We thought he didn't have any malice intention, so we welcomed him like an old friend. It turned out to be wrong. He stole our treasure, kidnapped a lot of kids from our tribe, and sacrificed them for a very sacrilegious ritual to use our magus manipulation power. I heard he did the same with the elven and five more manipulator tribes to use our power."
My face paled at his explanation. If what I guess is true, the treasure that Magus stole probably is the Blessing of Magus, and one of them is at the twin's hand. This is bad. But before I can ask, his face suddenly changes once again to his usual cheerful and loud.
"You don't have to worry that we will hate you, though. After what happened with Magus, we placed very strong barrier magic that will not allow everyone with malice intent to get closer to our place. The fact that you managed to get this close to our village without getting killed is enough for us to know that you are good, even if you are a human, hahahaha."
I smiled awkwardly at him, not knowing what to say.
"As for Magus the human, let's just say he didn't have a good ending, with seven natural magus manipulator tribes hunting him down. I was just 5 years old at that time, but I can remember we made a huge party and paraded his head for seven days before we sent it to the elven who did the same thing. It was a fun moment, though. Hehehe…"
I shivered as he showed his feral grin. I really don't want to know about it.
"Wait, when did that happen?" I suddenly realized something.
"Around 70-80 years ago. What's wrong?"
"So, you are 85 years old?!" He shrugged.
"Yeah, but I am still young though. After all, a dwarf is considered an adult when he is around 100 years old." My eyes bulged out at him, then laughed out loud.
"What's funny, lad?" He asked confusedly, didn't know why I laughed.
"Sorry, but it is funny though. You are old enough to be my grandparent or even great-grandparent, and I just punched you before. Hahahaha! That is gold!" He clicked his tongue in annoyance.
"I may be old for you. But dwarfs have a longer life span than you humans. So don't you dare to say I am old, you get it?" He glares at me threateningly. I just wiped tears from my eyes and waved my hand.
"Yeah, yeah, I am sorry.. By the way, what happened to the chimera before? Why did it follow you if your target is the gorilla?" I asked, trying to change the topic.
"You mean Laika? I don't know, maybe she wanted to come with me? She is my father's familiar, but recently she is just sulking around after losing her cub, so my father let her wander out, searching for her cub. It has been two weeks since I last saw her, so I don't really know why did he follow me, though"
I snapped my head at what he said.
"What do you mean losing?"
"Well, it is what it means! One month ago, her cub suddenly vanished from the village. All of the people in the village helped to search for the cub, but we still could not find any clue. The mother, the chimera we saw before, was devastated, so my father let her wander around as long as it is still in the forest."
"Is Chimera a common animal in Pangea?" I asked him carefully. He looked at me as if I am some sort of idiot before replying,
"Common? Lad, Chimera is a lot of things, but I can be sure that common is not a word to describe them. In fact, I bet that there are no more than 10 of Laika's kin in the entire world right now. And if there are many of them, it is better if they just hide as far as possible. Humans will hunt them down if they found out the chimera's whereabouts." He is getting somber on this topic.
However, I stopped paying attention to what he said after he confirmed that chimera is extinct. One month ago was also the first time the strange aerial attack from Britain to the Northern began, so it is very suspicious to be a coincidence that the chimera here was losing her cub and Britain suddenly got a chimera at the same time. After thinking for a few seconds, I decided to tell him the truth.
"I don't know about the other chimera in the world, but I think I met a chimera twice smaller than this Laika a month ago." I dropped this information carefully. He narrowed his eyes at me and said with a serious tone,
"Are you sure?"
"I am confident that it is a chimera. Its feature is unique it is hard for me to forget."
While I may only face it from the simulation, I know the accuracy is near 70%, so I am not afraid to tell him this information.
"Okay, we will talk about it later, and my father will probably join our conversation. If not for Laika's cub, we may be able to protect one more chimera from being hunted. But for now, we are already near the gorilla. I can smell blood here, and it is not coming from the gorilla. Let's go!"
While I followed his lead, I can see corpses from a lot of giant animals everywhere. The smell of blood here is very strong, stronger than any battlefield I have experienced in the military. It really makes me want to vomit. Sarfak probably sees my face, so he gives me a warning,
"Don't vomit. You will lose your energy for the next battle if you do that."
"From where did those corpses come?"
"That gorilla killed it. Those corpses probably think it is a good idea to attack the gorilla when it got hurt by your shot."
My face paled at that. There are a lot of corpses, starting from Tapir, Jaguar, Hyenas, and tigers, I think there are corpses for every kind of animal in this forest. It suddenly makes me think, how could we kill this beast?
Suddenly, a roar is coming from our west, loud enough to make me gulp nervously. Sarfak gives me a signal to walk slowly and carefully.
"Okay, how many times can you shoot right now?" He whispered.
"I still can shoot four times," I said after checking my gun. He nodded at this information, still focused on the source of the roar before. And after five minutes of walking in a silent and tense atmosphere, finally, I can see the gorilla once again.
If the first time I saw it I didn't feel anything except cautious, now after looking at the animals he killed, I feel a bit threatened. We hide behind a tree five meters to the east of the gorilla. Then, the gorilla suddenly snapped his head and stared intently at the tree where we hide right now. Sarfak, noticing the gorilla's expression, whispered to me calmly,
"It already noticed my magus. I will attract it, use the time to hide."
Before I can reply, the air around us is getting colder, and I can feel a giant pressure coming from Sarfak's presence.
'So, this is what magus can do.'
I thought as I realized what Sarfak did. He tried to hide my presence by overshadowing it with his magus outburst. I jumped behind, taking cover at another tree about nine meters behind Sarfak. I tried to gain my focus, holding my breath and looking at Sarfak carefully. Then suddenly, I witnessed the most epic one-on-one battle in my life.
The moment Sarfak's magus burst into the air, the gorilla roared loudly and rushed to Sarfak with a speed that any human will have a hard time following. The moment it stands in front of Sarfak, it tried to throw a punch, but Sarfak just takes a small step back, calmly stomping his right foot to the ground. And then, suddenly, the ground beneath his feet raised for at least 1.5 meters, blocking the gorilla's punch.
Sarfak jumped quickly from his place, trying to avoid the fragment of the ground that he used as a shield before. The gorilla didn't give Sarfak times to think or make another block as it moves like a madman (or mad animal in this case) to get closer to Sarfak while still throwing a consecutive punch at him.
Sarfak who didn't have any time to do his ground trick again can only avoid the punch. Mage or not, getting punched by a gorilla twice bigger than you will crush your body. For a moment, it looks like Sarfak is in a desperate situation. He didn't attack for once and only avoided the punch. But when I look at him carefully, I know he has this moment under control. His eyes are moving rapidly, glancing at a lot of spots to bait the gorilla.
All of a sudden, he took his bow and arrow from his back and shot it instantly at random direction, or so I thought. But this is where I was wrong. The moment his arrow vanished from my vision, a painful roar suddenly can be heard in the direction where Sarfak aiming before.
Then, I suddenly know what is Sarfak planning. He tried to find something to distract the gorilla's attention from him by killing a random animal far from the place I hide because, from our first interaction, he knew that this sudden distraction is all I need to shoot my target. But Sarfak didn't stop right there. I don't know what he did, but the moment the gorilla turned its attention to the roar, the ground beneath the gorilla is moving for a second, throwing its balance out off guard.
'Smart move, that will make my job easier.'
The moment the gorilla is off balance, I, who have been concentrating on the gorilla's movement since the beginning, didn't waste time and shot from my place. The moment my shot landed on its target, the gorilla shrieked loudly and kneeled down in pain. Within a second, Sarfak who is several meters from the gorilla suddenly rushed toward it with a sword that came out of nowhere. When he is near, he slashed his sword toward its neck, cutting his head.
Its head fell down and rolled to the ground. The next second, Sarfak who has been avoiding the gorilla for 15 minutes suddenly slumped, laughing out loudly.
"HAHAHAHA!! FINALLY, I SLAIN THIS DAMN GIANT GORILLA!!!!"
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