The smashing sounds were getting closer and closer to Yule and Sanna. The white stag started to pace nervously around the convenience store."Did I forget to mention that the asw.a.n.g has a sharp sense of smell?"
Yule just gulped in response to Sanna.
"We have to get out of here quickly!" Sanna ordered. She also ordered Zuna to weaponize and transform into a bow.
They stepped out from the convenience store and found that the asw.a.n.g was just meters away from them.
"I hate to be pessimistic, but if we run again, that monster will just catch up on us, and angrier than before," Yule said while the asw.a.n.g smashed more buildings and cars with its bare hands. Both of them could hear his grunting sound.
"You"re right. Since I already gained some of my powers, I have a plan and it involves our blood." Sanna said confidently, and she just saw Yule"s expression turned to sour.
"Oh boy," Yule said dejectedly.
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Sanna just laughed at him and looked at the asw.a.n.g.
*****
In this ruined world, humans were no longer the apex predator. They were replaced by the asw.a.n.g. Humans were just like little bugs to them, easily to be smashed but harder to catch.
The eight-foot-tall asw.a.n.g was like a demolishing machine, smashing everything within its vision. Most of the cars were in rubble already while the abandoned buildings collapsed after the asw.a.n.g smashed the foundation and pillars.
After searching the area, the asw.a.n.g found the convenience store where Yule and Sanna rested earlier. But the two were no longer there.
The asw.a.n.g sniffed in the air just to double-check if the preys were still in the vicinity. But the asw.a.n.g jolted, it could smell his prey everywhere. How could this be? It was like the humans were hiding in various places at the same time: from the nearby buildings, cars, lamp posts, to trash bin. All within the vicinity area.
It sniffed again and found out that they spread their blood all over the area.
Now, the asw.a.n.g couldn"t pinpoint where they were hiding. It was blindsided.
*****
Minutes before the asw.a.n.g arrived at the convenience store, Sanna and Yule returned to the store. She ordered Yule to cut himself. Yule went big-eyed from what Sanna just told him.
She rest a.s.sured him that she would cut herself also, so she could spread their blood within the vicinity area which would blindside the asw.a.n.g. The asw.a.n.g was very dependent on their sharp sense of smell.
This strategy would buy them time to defeat it.
Sanna pulled a knife from her weapon"s belt located at the upper part of her left leg.
Yule grimaced when he sliced his palm and spread it on a huge cloth. He was thinking about how unsanitary this action but their lives were on the line. Then after his turn, Sanna also sliced her palm and spread it on the cloth. When their blood was already spread enough on the cloth, Sanna cut it into pieces.
"Now what?" Yule asked still feeling the cut on his palm.
"Zuna! Normalize!" Sanna ordered to her bow. The bow turned to a ball of light and molded once again into its original form.
"Zuna get this around the area. Make sure the pieces are scattered all over the vicinity."
The white stag nodded at her and leaned down to munch on the cloths.
Yule was surprised that the stag was eating the torn cloths with their blood spread on it.
"Don"t worry. Zuna will spit out all the pieces within the vicinity. Her saliva is a good sticking paste, just so you know. It"ll guarantee that the cloths will stay in one place."
"But our blood will wash out, right? Since it was already covered by its saliva?"
"Nope. Zuna"s saliva will not contaminate our blood. This is tried and tested. And don"t ask me how I know it. It"s a long story." She turned to Zuna and nodded at her.
"How can Zuna hide from the asw.a.n.g? The moment he stepped out from this store, he will get caught by it." Yule voiced out his concern.
"Don"t worry. Lampong can camouflage themselves based on their surroundings and environment if they want to. That"s why the tribesmen from the North Luzon had a hard time hunting them."
Zuna quickly leaped away from the store and did Sanna"s order.
"Now we have to get away from this store," Sanna said.
*****
Yule was hiding at the rooftop of a four-story building. One of the few buildings left unscathed by the asw.a.n.g. He saw Sanna hiding also at the rooftop of a three-story residential house, just opposite from the building where Yule was.
When the asw.a.n.g arrived at the convenience store and started sniffing the air, Sanna stood from her ground, revealing her location to anyone. She raised her bow and fired an arrow
The asw.a.n.g was late when it found out that Sanna was firing behind. The arrow flew rapidly straight at the asw.a.n.g"s back and successfully pierced the asw.a.n.g"s body.
The asw.a.n.g released a deafening howl due to pain.
"Lesson Number One: Asw.a.n.g may have thick skin, but that thickness is not equally distributed on its body. Its weak spots are its back and chest."
The asw.a.n.g tried reaching the arrow but was unsuccessful in pulling it out. It faced Sanna, angrier than before.
The asw.a.n.g started running towards the residential house where Sanna was standing.
Sanna just smiled at the creature and shouted: Normalize! The bow transformed back again to a white stag. She quickly rode on his back and patted the body of the stag.
Zuna leaped in the air and landed on another collapsed building.
The asw.a.n.g followed the stag, rampaging to the new location of Sanna.
"Zuna! Leap higher in the air then Weaponize!"
The white stag obediently leaped higher in the air and transform into a bow. Sanna was falling to the ground. Even in the middle of the air, she aimed her bow at the asw.a.n.g. A large magic circle appeared in front of her.
"True Weapon! Dance of the Starlights!"
When the energy arrow pa.s.sed through the magic circle, it multiplied to thousand of arrows and flying towards the asw.a.n.g.
The asw.a.n.g howled at the arrows and with nowhere to go the asw.a.n.g just crossed its arm in front of him.
The arrows successfully pierced the asw.a.n.g, but some arrows disintegrate when they tried to pierce the shoulders, head, and the legs of the asw.a.n.g.
Yule was impressed at Sanna. He couldn"t believe she pulled that stunt and critically wounding the asw.a.n.g.
When Sanna was meters away before hitting the ground, she shouted: Normalize! The white stag caught his master and landed gracefully on the ground.
The asw.a.n.g could no longer stand the pain from its back and fell to its knees.
Sanna noticed that the asw.a.n.g collapsed on the ground. She was about to smile when she noticed that the sky was getting darker, an indication of impending dusk. Sanna clicked her tongue at the sky.
"Yule! Get down from that building! I need to finish this asw.a.n.g before night falls."
Yule nodded at her and quickly did what she told him.
"Weaponize!"
She ran towards the asw.a.n.g, preparing to fire her arrow again.
When Yule was about to step out of the building. He noticed that asw.a.n.g was starting to raise its head. And he saw that the asw.a.n.g was smiling. He was about to shout a warning to Sanna who was unaware that the asw.a.n.g was conscious all along. With inhuman speed, the asw.a.n.g leaped from the ground and swung his arm towards Sanna. Realizing it late, she took the full brunt of the asw.a.n.g"s swing on her and flew away straight to a building nearby.
"Sanna!"
Yule shouted and ran straight towards where she landed. When he arrived, he was expecting her to be full of wounds and concussions. But Yule was surprised that she was just unconscious and no visible wounds to be seen.
He immediately checked her pulse, and when he felt her pulse, he sighed.
Then Yule heard the asw.a.n.g laughing maniacally. Behind it, the sky completely turned to dusk.
The asw.a.n.g stopped laughing and started at Yule and Sanna. The arrows on its back starting to fell off from its body. It was walking menacingly to them.
Yule gasped on how the asw.a.n.g regained its health. Then he noticed the moon and looked back at the asw.a.n.g. He also remembered what Sanna said that she needed to finish the asw.a.n.g before night falls.
They are stronger at night time. Just like in the stories, asw.a.n.g always appears during the night.
Yule looked at Sanna again and nodded to himself. He would have to defend her. Yule scanned the area, looking for any weapon he could use against the asw.a.n.g. Then, he found a pole lying on the ground.
The asw.a.n.g chuckled at him, mocking him.
To whoever the G.o.ds in this world, please give me the strength to protect my friend, Yule thought while raising the pole at the asw.a.n.g.
Sanna is my friend despite the short amount of time we have spent together, he added.
Please, guide me. Yule last words before he attacked the asw.a.n.g with a pole.
"I hear you."
A feminine voice spoke to Yule out of nowhere, stopping his attack on the asw.a.n.g. He looked at Sanna to check if she was the one who spoke, but she was still lying unconsciously.
The asw.a.n.g took this divided attention of Yule and with full might, he swung his arm at the boy.
All air left from Yule, and his body went straight to a nearby house, colliding his back on the wall. Yule could no longer feel his body, but at the same time, he could feel the pain spreading over his body. When he tried to breathe, he coughed some blood.
He was lying on the ground, helpless. He turned his head to check on the asw.a.n.g, and it was inching closer to Sanna.
He looked at the full moon, wishing someone would lend him some strength or power to defeat the asw.a.n.g.
Then, he remembered the face of the girl in violet dress when he was looking at the moon. When he woke up on that morning, he doesn"t remember seeing the face of the girl in violet dress. He just remembered that she"s beautiful, that"s all.
Now looking at the full moon, he didn"t know what was happening, but he was starting to remember the face of the girl. She has piercing violet eyes, complementing her violet dress. If you would look closely at her eyes, there was sadness or despair in there. Then, her face is small but she has a sharp nose and small lips then that lips opened. "It"s time, my hero."
Yule started to feel a small warmth on his chest. Slowly, he could feel his body again. Yule tried to sit and noticing too that he was regaining his strength also.
Then his chest started to glow. Yule startled and quickly unb.u.t.toned his shirt. The glowing light was coming from the embedded shard on his chest.
"You know what to do."
Yule heard the unknown feminine voice again. He looked around, but again there was no one. Yule saw also that the asw.a.n.g was inches away from the girl, he wanted to protect.
With strong determination, Yule stood.
"Weaponize!"
The shard on his chest glowed brightly, then a ball of light came out from it. The light flew toward his right arm and slowly molded to a long thin cylindrical shape, stretching longer. When the light fades out, it fully transformed into a violet spear.