2. Unnatural
"Remind me again, why are we taking care of him?" Kai muttered. "All he's done so far is just scorch our breakfast!"
"Kai!" Monica groaned. "We had to help him! We can't let him starve, you know!"
Kai sighed. "I know, Monica, but he's practically dead weight so far, and-"
"I apologize for destroying breakfast." Sylvan spoke up quietly. The two turned to face him. "And I'm not dead weight. I can defend myself at the least..."
"Prove it." Kai spoke gruffly.
"What?" Sylvan asked, unsure if he heard it correctly. "Prove it? How..."
"Do something. Try to attack me." The teen responded, crossing his arms.
Without warning, Kai found himself flipped into the air and painfully slammed onto the ground before he could make a move. Sylvan looked down at him, before apologizing a bit and helping him up.
That speed of attack wasn't natural. Not at all. Kai was confused by how someone so frail-looking could be so strong...
The three continued to wander the forest, looking about cautiously in case any monsters attacked.
And then suddenly, four people ran out of the bushes, practically terrified out of their wits. They didn't look like they wanted to attack anyone, fortunately for the three.
"Help us!" One of the people begged them, a teen with blond hair tied back into a ponytail. "There is a beast chasing us! We don't mean any harm to you; we swear! Help, please!"
Before Kai could speak, a wild boar, with hair as black as coal and skin as red as blod, emerged from the bushes, smoke coming out of its nostrils. It seemed to be twice the size of the average boar, and definitely looked very dangerous; so intimidating that a mere villager would run away screaming from it.
On instict, Kai drew his sword, but Sylvan had beaten him by sending a torrent of ice at the beast. The boar roared, fire bursting from its maw of sharp teeth, and melted the ice completely.
"Well..." Sylvan cringed a bit. "At least we know that it's immune to ice."
"It's a fire boar, you fool. Of course it's immune to ice!" Kai snapped at him.
"Well, fire isn't going to help, either!"
"Ugh..." Monica sighed. "Leave this to me!" She took out a dagger, rushing at the boar before flipping over it and stabbing it deeply in the back. The boar roared, before charging at the others.
The ponytailed blond took out a spear and threw it at the boar, piercing it in the back as well. All the boar did was roar even more and continued charging.
"There's no way this thing is stopping!" The blond shouted.
"Wait a second..." Kai tried to remember what to do when defending yourself against this type of boar. The back was meant to act as a shield, and its snout was quite large, so that meant the vulnerable spot was...
"Aim for its forehead!" Kai shouted.
"What?" Monica asked.
"I told you, aim for his forehead! It's the weak spot!" Kai shouted, pointing his katana blade at the beast. "If we can strike it hard enough there, it should die!" He tried to charge at the beast himself and stab it, but he was knocked out into a tree instead.
The next thing Kai heard was a loud squeal of pain, and then a thud echoing afterwards for a few moments. Everyone was too shocked to say a word. Kai got up, and all he could do was stare as Sylvan spoke.
"Kai...you forgot one thing. There is another weak spot on the beast, and it's at the neck. That beast can die if decapitated, too. Thank goodness I remembered that just now..."
The beast's corpse lay on the ground, the head a little farther away than its body.
Sylvan calmly stood in the midst of its remains, covered in blood from head to toe, as if it was so natural for him to fight these sorts of beasts before. Then, as if punched in the stomach, he doubled over, clutching his stomach as if it really hurt.
"Hey...are you alright!?" the ponytailed blond asked, but Sylvan didn't answer. Instead, he put his head in one hand as he stood back up, his other hand clenched in a fist.
"No...can't...need to...control...I can't..."
Before anyone else could do a thing, he just ran out of sight, the look on his face one of desperation.
