C10 The hunt: Part 3

"Is this really necessary your majesty? You changed the meaning of the hunt," Merhik asked looking at the huge mana screen displaying different people in different places but only one was prominent, the barren snow filled land.

"Very necessary, he's the consorts shadow, we need to see how he fairs off in certain situations," The king said picking up his cup of tea with a smile. His blonde hair was tied back revealing his face that showed no signs of aging but also eyes so deep they seemed ancient.

"You didn't do this to the other seven shadows, is this because of his history?"

"History?... Oh, you mean his mother? if I was doing this because of that I would have let the portal take him in the middle of a lava filled land without team mates but then again that would only hurt him and not his mother who caused the trouble, so in the end it would be pointless. Like I said I want to test him that's why he is in a place where he can utilize his abilities well."

"…."

"You do not believe me, that's normal considering our history but you know better than anyone I would not hurt the innocent, especially if they are useful to my kingdom. And isn't it killing two birds with one stone, if he can stop that menace in that place the demons will go back to their original habitats and the villagers could move back to their home."

Merhik kept quiet and looked at the mana screen, a new development had occurred probably the king's doing.

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Huge sharp tendril appeared from the ground and piercing some of the orcs and slightly grazing Circe's arm who immediately used a spear made of ice to cut it down. The movement was so fast that he was sure the orcs didn't know what killed them.

Almost immediately the others rushed and attacked the vines as they were finishing they heard a loud screech.

An extremely large bird was flying in the air at a fast speed, it seemed as if it was waiting for them to finish the vines, it screeched again and almost immediately birds of similar sizes came from somewhere.

Soon, they formed a black cloud and landed on the trees around them the darkness making them look even more menacing.

Circe looked at around and cursed silently, almost half the orcs were dead which lowered their power. His team mates held their respective weapons even Elor who was trembling had stood up. But it was not enough, the more he thought about it the more he felt that the king was trying to piss him off, from landing unconscious to grouping him with people who could not use mana then having monsters that required mana to defeat them attack them it was a way of making him fight the most.

[SOUND THE ALARM! CALL THE OTHERS TELL THEM TO HIDE] the queen shouted and the remaining orcs moved stamping the ground the sound coming out like bell chimes and the quiet forest became even more quite.

After a tense while, one of the birds screeched and the rest followed causing the orcs to fall holding their ears and a while later even the animals he hadn't sensed hiding fell from their hiding places.

Circe became tense.

"Soud blast," Rode said from behind him.

It was affecting only the beasts.

Suddenly one of the birds that was on top of a tree behind them jumped down. This time Elor who was better swung his sword toward the bird. The Sword landed on the bird's wing but considering how he recoiled he must have felt like he struck a stone, he tumbled back a little and the bird took this opportunity to attack him but Rode lifted his sword and cleanly struck below the birds head. And it was dead.

At the sight Circe breathed a sigh of relief, he wouldn't have to leave them to fend for themselves, it would have weighed on him for a few days.

From their strength he had already guessed that they were beginner knights but they had talent. Their strength coupled with his element should be able to push most of the birds back.

Seeing one of them dead, the birds screeched and started coming, Elor probably adjusted and instead of attacking of the wings he attacked the neck with such precise efficiency that it caught his attention. He was good.

Circe place his hands together and everyone felt the air become dry. He froze the air droplets into small rice sized ice spears and shot them towards the other birds cleanly shooting at the heart and after doing that twice the birds fell one after another.

Seeing the situation was bleak the rest of the birds fled and the orcs who were grunting on the ground because of pain got up along with the other beasts.

They tried gathering themselves. But Circe's sight was on on a black figure that lingered a while before leaving with the rest, it was an evolved beast, one with the ability to think, probably a general.

But why would a general come to such a small fight.

He turned back only to find his team mates with weired looks on their faces and and Asnir even looked scared.

"What?"

"T-they talked," he looked at the orcs and realized that they could also hear them, it would save him that trouble of translating.

İt also saved him the explanation of why he could understand them.

But the forest was weird, the beasts' in it were powerful and smart which is not how beasts are supposed to be normally.

Something was wrong and in this case it would normally be an artifact. An elemental one. For some reason beasts who leave near artifacts become smarter, that's the reason the beasts' in other continents were harder to deal with than those in Aurelia.

Considering the area the artifact probably had something to do with ice.

"Yeah I know, I've been talking to them since a while ago…wait you didn't thing I was crazy did you?"

They looked down.