บท 71: Teacher?

Once everyone was done with their warm-ups. Reynard gathered everyone and made them recall what the do's and don'ts are.

"Look for fights when confident."

"Don't hesitate to run."

"Don't wander too far nor too long inside."

...

With the teens' eyes trailing on Reynard, he slowly went to Alex who was standing by the side.

When he got near, he saw Alex trembling ever so slightly. Reynard seemingly ignored it, since the group of teens' were also having ragged breaths.

He grabbed Alex's shoulder as if he was his best bud and said, "Alex here, has survived the days of the scorching sun and biting coldness of the desert at night. He will be helping us with the assessment."

Before Alex could react, Reynard looked at him then laughed and whispered, "Don't worry, you're just going to be a spectator. Since these kids are still somewhat afraid of fighting.", while patting his back.

Alex shrugged his shoulder in helplessness. 'Seems like they aren't as barbaric as I thought.'

"So, –uh, you do your thing and I'll be –uhm by the side whenever you need help.", Alex acquiesced in his proposal and said to the teens.

"Alright! Take out your weapons and give the medicine kit to us.", Reynard said.

One of the teens were forced to go back and get the kits and then gave it to Reynard afterwards.

"Let's set off."

The group moved away from the waterfall and slowly went in deeper into the forest.

The morning fog shrouded their visions and the tall trees blocked what is left on the moonlight. It made it harder for the group to see far ahead.

After walking for a few minutes, Reynard asked the group to stop.

"We have our first prey on the north eastern side. Who wants to volunteer to fight the insect?"

"Insect?", Alex asked.

"Yes. This part of Sherwood is mostly infested with insects. They are pretty hard to deal with and they reproduce at a dreadful rate.", Reynard begrudgingly said.

Insects really are a pain to fight against. Their exoskeleton are like shields all over their body and they retained their agility even though they became as big as humans.

Someone finally mustered up some of their courage and volunteered.

It was the guy who was forced to get the kit. This time though, he wasn't forced into fighting, but it was his own initiative.

'Quite commendable.', Alex nodded his head in appreciation.

Reynard appeared by his side with a smile on his face and said, "I know right."

Everyone watched as the youth in brown approached the enemy. The insect was similarly approaching the youth and it finally came into view.

'Is that an anteater? Wait, no. It's green.'

"A Weevil? Kid's lucky. This insect is mostly a herbivore. They're also kinda cute.", Reynard said.

Herbivore? Cute? What are you talking about? Look at its eyes!? It's huge! It's almost as big as my head. Its eyes are look dumb, but is surely filled with intelligence. This Weevil is definitely up to something.

The youth in brown finally raised his weapon as he stood still, staring at the monstrosity before him.

His weapon of choice was a bigger than average Garden Shears.

'One uses Sickles, some uses Rakes and now this guy is using Shears. Seriously, only the Big Baldie has a good weapon.' Alex kept his thoughts to himself as it seems that Reynard was still able to hear him through his mumblings.

Seeing the gleaming shears of the youth, the Weevil was taken aback. It was originally walking around looking for some nuts to eat when it saw the humans.

It planned on sniffing them if they have any corn in their possessions. Yet the kid in front of it, started brandishing his weapons in an attempt to fight it.

The Weevil turned around and slowly walked away.

This stunned everyone.

They didn't expect the Weevil to turn around and walk away. If it did indeed flee the fight, then it should've ran away, not walk away slowly.

Someone finally chuckled.

It was obvious that the teens were trying to suppress their laughter.

Upon hearing this, the youth felt humiliated and anger was filling up his heart and mind. He was staring daggers the bum of the Weevil wishing he could cut off its whole body in half.

As he was about to run towards the departing Weevil. Someone pat his shoulders. The youth looked menacingly at Alex who was standing behind him.

"Don't lose your mind over it. You might have not noticed, but the Weevil moving its head sideways when it was walking away. What do you think that means?"

"It means that it doesn't care." The tone of the youth sounded uncaring. It was obvious that he would still rush up towards the Weevil the moment the hand clamping on his shoulders was lifted.

"No. It is regarding you as a threat. The moment you enter its range, I bet you would be slammed hard by its snout and then you would lose your life in the next second.", Alex said as if he hadn't noticed the anger in the young man's voice.

The words were like a bucket full of cold water poured all over his hot head and he started shivering. The youth was actually quite timid and only mustered up some of his courage to appear capable in front of his peers.

"Now go ahead and appear as angry as you can. Angry on the heart but cool on the head, alright?" Alex patted the young man's back as a sign of encouragement.

He nodded his head and walked towards the Weevil as if he was in a hurry.

The youth finally noticed that the Weevil was indeed looking at him even though it was walking forward. His body trembled as he realized that he just averted a disaster.

He made up his mind and ran towards the Weevil.

As he was about the reach the Weevil, the cunning insect turned around with astounding speed and swung its snout at him.

But the youth already forged a plan ahead of time and was able to react in time and dodged backwards.

The swing had great strength but it missed widely turning its head to the other side. This move exposed the side of the green Weevil and the youth took the opportunity.

He smiled widely and immediately went to cut off the middle leg.

The shears were sharp yet, the leg was also tough. It took him about three seconds to cut off the leg.

It was all the time the Weevil needed. Even though one of its leg was cut, it swung its snout at the youth, but was blocked by the shears.

The force behind the attack, forced the youth to slide back a couple of meters away.

The youth's arms were numb and his legs were also trembling. He hadn't expected the power of the Weevil to be so great.

The youth was so shocked that he didn't notice that the enemy was charging right at him.

"Don't just stand there. Move!"

Alex's voice snapped the youth back into his senses and was only able to raise his weapon to block the attack.

This time, the youth flew back and slammed hard into a tree.

The power behind the attack was superb. Taking on the brunt of charging Weevil. It was natural for the youth to slam against a tree.

Alex looked at the youth and then at Reynard. He noticed that the Big Baldie was looking lackadaisically at the scene.

He originally wanted to step in, but since Reynard wasn't doing anything, he wouldn't intervene. Nonetheless, he still crept a bit closer.

Looking back at the youth, he noticed that his eyes were shining brightly. It wasn't the eyes of someone who just received a fatal attack. It was the eyes of someone who doesn't falter.

As the Weevil charged once more, the youth positioned the shears at the height of the insect's head.

The Weevil was unable to stop in time and the momentum of its charge pushed it forward and its head pierced by the shears of the youth.

The shears dug deep into its head and its body slammed the youth hard on the tree.

Blood bursted out of the Weevil's head, its green blood and brain matter splattered all over the young man's body.

As for the young man, his eyes were closed and blood was flowing out of his mouth. His conditions were unknown.

Reynard appeared beside the corpse of the Weevil and kicked at its side fiercely. Its body flew a meter away along with the shears still stuck on its head.

The body of the young man fell, but was instantly held by Reynard. He supported the young man and crouched down.

He then 'magically conjured' the medicine kit with his space ring and opened it. He took out a bottle and took a green pill then quickly fed it to the youth.

"I knew that Weevil was up to no good. What a devious insect.", Alex shook his head.

"We will continue once Zimo wakes up.", Reynard said to the group.

"What about the corpse?", Alex asked.

"Let it be. Although it's edible, its taste is quite foul.", Reynard smiled.

Noticing that the teens were just standing still without doing anything, Alex said, "Take in what you've seen and imagine you were the one fighting against the Weevil. This will make you fight much better in the future."

This will be a long day.