The night goes as Klevon planned. I had no choice but to stay at his side. We sample food that I never knew existed. There are also a lot more weird-looking fruits. In the hunting park, we are given raw meat from time to time. But our diet is mostly composed of fish, vegetables, and fruits-different from the ones that they sell here.
Every time I see something weird, I run towards it while pulling Klevon with me. He's become pleasant the whole time. And I am seriously enjoying myself, even if there is guilt in the back recesses of my mind. I push it down in the meantime though.
Suddenly, there is a booming sound. I freeze with the kikiam still in my mouth.
"What's wrong?" Klevon asks. He reaches for my chin and wipes the sauce that's fallen over my mouth.
Another sound. I blink and look at Klevon. "Can't you hear it?" I ask.
He looks down at me while licking the same fingers he wipes my chin with. "Hear what?"
"Firearms. Gun. There-"
Another explosion. I jump in fright and drop my food. It's the same sound from the hunting park. It signals the start and end of the hunt. Then I notice the bright lights in the sky.
"What is that?" I ask, looking up at the sky.
Klevon follows my sight and then he frowns. "Who the fuck are doing fireworks in that area?!"
"Fireworks?"
"Right, you are from the hunting park. Listen, it's not the same as what you're used to. That's just for decoration, an added entertainment during celebrations."
He pulls me with him and activates his magic for the hover. "Come," he says.
He lifts and carries me. Then, we rise through the sky. A few meters off the ground, he surveys the area.
"There," he says.
I look in the general direction of where he is looking and see them. Some people are lighting some colorful-looking items. And then, those things rise to the sky and explode, creating multiple colors and shapes.
"The idiots. There is a reason why we don't allow fireworks by the beach! Didn't they look at the fucking notice?!"
We fly towards it and I look longingly at the festival. Does this mean that my night at the festival is done? This is the last day, right? I wonder if they do this every year? I'm sure as hell I will come again.
"Disturbing my fun times, the bastards," Klevon mumbles. "I am even on my day off."
His hover becomes faster and I grab tightly on his shirt. As it becomes even faster, I am about to grab around his neck when suddenly, a projectile appears on his right. I am about to warn him when he activates his defense. The projectile hits his orb of magic, but it was too powerful that it pushes us off the air, and we come tumbling down to the ground.
We are pretty high up, and all I can do is close my eyes. I wait for the pain of the impact, when suddenly, Klevon shifts my body, and wraps his arms around my head, before we fall to the ground.
I sit up from his hold. He badly hits his back on the sand. He is heaving in pain.
"Klevon! What should I do?!"
I look around, we are on the beach and the people who saw us are running from us towards the town, back to the festival, leaving the fireworks paraphernalia.
"Run Kaiya…"
I gently touch his chest. He groans in pain. Did he break a rib? The stupid, he is a human and I am the werewolf, I heal easily! He should have let me handle and receive the impact!
"Oh damn, run! Leave me here!"
I glower at him. "Why would I run?!" Then behind him, I see blood seeping through him. The idiot! Ain't he a mage hunter?! How could he get injured like this?!
"Because… oh damn," he says. But his eyes are no longer on me. I see the shadow before I follow where Klevon is looking at.
Shit! My mind screams. In front of me is a huge monster crawling on the beach. It looks like a humongous snake, but with huge fins on both sides of its body. Its skin is a scaly green and is glistening in the moonlight. However, the main problem is that there are three of them. Two are slithering around the people who tried to run away. And this one in front of us.
Is it attracted to the sound of those explosions? It raises itself to its full height and it shows its fangs. I fall and my butt falls on the beach.
"What does it want?" I ask, my voice trembling.
"Food," he answers as curtly as possible.
"Do you have a weapon?"
"Knives on my legs," he mutters. His voice is controlled, and pained. He needs to be brought to a healer.
I am about to reach for it, when the snake monster, opens its mouth as if warning me not to make any move. I scout the surroundings, I feel as if I am back in the hunting park again. There's no way we can both run. So the only thing to do is fight it.
"It plans to eat you whole," Klevon interrupts.
"Do you know monster-speak?"
Klevon laughs but then sputters. He's getting worse. "Just run, Kaiya. Not even captains can fight that."
"I don't want to. If I lost you, I won't have my money factory."
He chuckles again which puts him into a series of heaving.
"Stop laughing! Do you want to drown in your own blood!"
He grins. And at the same time, I remember Brandon's teachings. I stand up and realize that I hit my legs when we fell from the sky. Again, I ignore it.
In the hunting park, I am used to escaping and surviving, not to fighting back. But then, let's see if all the days I spent learning with Brandon and Klevon will prove to be useful.
Slowly, I take the coat off, followed by my dress and leaving only my underwear. It crumples on my feet while I stare at the snake monster. I smirk. I forgot due to staying too long amidst luxury. It's been a while, but I remember that I am a monster too.
Behind me, Klevon is sputtering a, "Why the hell are you undressing?!"
In a split second, I shift into my wolf form and bite the snake monster. My fangs bury deep into the part closest to its mouth, so it can't fight back. It thrashes around me but I did not let go until I bury my fangs too deep that when I pull back, its flesh detaches from its main body.
It tries to fire pellets of water at me, probably the same projectile it hit us with, but all it managed is sputter its own blood on my brown coat, the most ordinary-looking werewolf fur. And Nowra is a beautiful white. I am always jealous of her soft, long coat.
Suddenly, the snake monster constricts me. It is close to its death, but it is trying to fight back. So I shift back to my human form, activate my magic, and burn the body that's around me. It thrashes again. I am about to get hit by it, when I transform into my wolf form and get away from it, only to be met by the other two snake monsters.
I glance at the moronic people–according to Klevon–almost a hundred meters from us. They are frozen in fear as they look at my form. I am not sure what surprises them more. Being almost eaten by the snake monster, or seeing a werewolf in the flesh?
I only know water and fire magic. I started to learn wind, but it stopped when Theo learned that I am training with Klevon for that. Right, Theo… I wonder what kind of magic he excels at?
Suddenly, a massive tail goes towards my side. I shift back to my human form and evade it. I don't think water magic will help me as much. But maybe… I can use it to distract the other?
With that in mind, I raise the ocean water from the beach and push the other snake monster back to it, all the while trying to evade the other snake monster's attacks. With a smaller target, it is failing more and more. And I realize, how helpful the magic is in this case.
Suddenly, I pause from evading. That fire that took the entire harem house. Maybe I can do that too? So, I activate my fire magic again but the snake monster slithers so fast that I can't even touch it with my fire.
I groan my frustration and notice the hoverboard a few meters from me. I smile. Maybe this is the perfect time to learn how to use it. I run to it, and the instant my feet touches the surface, I place magic on it. Klevon uses simple wind magic on it earlier.
So I did. I swoop through the air, with the snake monster missing me for an inch of my life, and then I fall in front of Klevon. I groan as I reach for my backside. That hurts more than the earlier fall with Klevon.
Suddenly, the snake monster dives its head in front of me. I spread my legs before shifting back to my wolf form. Damn it! I thought the hover is easier to control. Klevon makes it looks so easy!
Then again, I move towards it and try. Giving up on the hover's proper control, I let it fly in disarray towards the snake monster. I steel myself and when it swoops down to the monster, I am ready to shift my magic from wind to fire.
The instant my feet leaves the hover, I activate my fire, blue fire, and glaze my hand on the snake's body. The fire is too much, that its scales opened wide, spewing more blood. On my peripheral, I notice that the hover also caught fire.
I smirk, I feel like I am on an all-time high. I can't believe that I can move my body as easily as this. It is magnificent! And my magic–its output is so much better than before! Did I become stronger during the last few months without realizing it?
With my adrenaline rushing, I shift to my wolf form and run towards Klevon. I shift back to my human form, lean over him, and take the knives that he was referring to. I see the snake monster slithering back to the shore.
I brighten up, not knowing why I am enjoying this too much. And then when fire magic coats my knife, I make it more pronounced until I sense the static around my hand. Perfect. I can't believe that the output of my magic is increasing the more I use it. It is exhilarating!
And before the monster can even go closer to me. I raise my arm, twist my hips, and when I turn my feet back up, I throw the knife at the slithering monster. It perfectly hits the center of its head, and I feel grateful for all the instructions, Brandon has given me. I watch the snake monster tremble. The electricity from the knife runs and slithers all over its body. I could even hear the crackle. I can also smell the burnt flesh underneath its scales. In a matter of seconds, the last snake monster drops on the sandy beach, utterly defeated.
With the three monsters fallen, I almost jump in glee. This is wonderful! A majestic feeling of hunting monsters. But it's also conflicting, how could I enjoy taking the life of other beings?! Aren't I as rotten as the hunters at the hunting park?