บท 70: Moontaur Sisters

It wasn't difficult to locate the two calves. Zero found them using the map and strangely, they were represented by red dots too. He didn't think too much about it. It must be the functionality of the application after all.

The calves were little girls who looked around nine or ten. They were dark skinned and yellow-eyed. The horns on their heads were tiny compared to the Ingo brothers as dubbed by the brunet. Mii told Zero that these girls were half-beasts just like the Ingo brothers. The girls looked more human with their human bodies. If one ignored the horns, tail and patch of fur growing on their chests, they could pass off as completely human, unlike the rabbits.

The moontaur sisters were huddled together. They wore nothing but leaves sewn together. Zero didn't pay any attention to it. His eyes were focussed on the rope around their hands. The sisters were tied to the base of a tree and looked very tired, possibly hungry too.

Seeing that the Ingo brothers were distracted, he snuck down quietly. If Mii was present, she would roll around in frustration at the boy's exceptional sense for trouble.

The older sister with white hair spotted Zero first. She gasped and Zero put a finger to his lips quickly. The younger sister with blonde hair looked over her shoulder and was surprised by the brunet who tip-toed over to them.

Wordlessly, Zero undid the ropes. The moment the ropes came loose, they stood up and made a run for the forest, abandoning Zero. The sudden movement threw the boy off balance and he fell onto his bottom painfully.

The commotion made Mingo come over with his daggers unsheathed. Mii was probably running in circles from worry as she urged Zero to run away quickly.

By the time Zero looked up, the daggers were already coming down.

Karma activated and sent the attack back to Mingo who howled in pain at the slash he received. However, Zero did not escape unscathed. The force of those blades was not reflected, only the injuries.

Hearing their brother's howl, Dingo and Jingo hurried over. Mingo's fur was now soaked in crimson and Zero felt like vomiting at the smell of so much blood. However, there was something more important to do so he held back the urge to puke.

Getting up on shaky legs, Zero turned around and teleported out of sight into the trees again. The Ingo brothers seethed at having both prey and attacker escaped. Zero watched them curse for a while before heading back to the campfire to treat Mingo's wounds.

The shockwave from the attack earlier numbed Zero's arms. They were shaking too badly to be of any use so he decided to stay put and rest in the tree, hidden within the safety of leaves. This reminded him of Gaia and Truen by extension. Zero wanted to cry now that the danger was over but knew that making a sound would compromise his hiding spot. Silently, he watched the rabbit brothers finish their meal.

It was still dark at night so it was difficult to see if the movements in the bushes were caused by the wind or by animals. However, with Zero's exceptional other senses he knew that it was neither. The moontaur sisters were back. His eyes darted over to the direction of the movement quickly and he held his breath.

What have they returned?! Zero wanted to scream at them to run away but couldn't.

Luckily, the brothers weren't aware of the sisters creeping up on them. Zero saw how they approached from two directions. The older sister was approaching from behind Jingo and the younger sister was approaching from behind Dingo. They were now within ten steps of their target and Zero wondered if they were going to attack the brothers for killing their mother.

He was half right.