"Now!"
Once he heard Kael's voice, Aksa's fingers instinctively loosened, letting go of the arrow. The arrow then traveled through the air like a bullet, turning around itself as it moved, before it finally landed on the monster's body.
A loud screech emerged as the creature started to flop around, splashing the water around as it cried in pain. It lifted its head above the water, searching for where the attack came from; however, before it could spot them, it dropped to the ground.
The water no longer moved as the creature was now lying motionless beneath it. For a moment, that looked to be the end of it, as its body remained stiff under the murky water, prompting Aksa to try and move closer.
But before he could even stand up, Kael stopped him. Then, the water started moving again. This time, the creature started growing in size, getting bigger quickly.
A look of horror filled Aksa's face as he stared at Kael and then back the creature. He thought they might need to fight it head-on, but Kael's calm expression didn't change.
Suddenly, the sound of flesh moving around started getting louder. Aksa turned his head to look at the creature again, only to see that it had become an unrecognizable mess of flesh, with parts of it shifting nonstop.
Then, it exploded. Flesh and blood scattered everywhere, covering the dead trees and mixing with the thick water. Aksa stood frozen in shock, his mouth unable to speak and his eyes wide open as he stared at the guts of the creature now floating atop the water.
"Good job, kid," Kael patted Aksa's shoulder as he spoke, "It wasn't a perfect shot, but it was a good start for someone who has never used the bow before."
"What did you put in those arrows?" Aksa asked.
"My blood," Kael quickly answered, "That's why they were discolored. I put a little on the tips, just enough to cause the essence in the body to react."
"Don't go waste them, though," Kael added, "There are only a few of them. The rest are normal arrows."
Then, from the corner of his eye, Kael caught a glimpse of something glowing nearby. When he got closer to it, a smile appeared on his face.
"Well, would you look at this," Kael exclaimed as he kneeled down, "I think this is the flower that she is looking for."
The flower looked like a very similar copy of the red spider lily, however, it was completely white, with a surrounding pair of petals that made it look like it was a breed of jasmine.
"Why is it glowing, though?" Aksa asked as he peeked behind Kael.
"She said they use it to slow down the rot," Kael answered, "I think it is reacting to the essence that came out of that abnormality."
"Are you sure this is the one?" Aksa added.
"Well, I can't see anything that is even remotely white anywhere nearby, so I'm pretty sure this is it," Kael replied.
Kael then stood up, looking around the area before he said, "Let's look for a few more of these before we go back. But if you notice anything weird, immediately tell me, okay? Don't be reckless."
Aksa nodded before they walked in different directions. After a few minutes, both of them managed to gather a handful of those flowers, so Kael called for him to come back.
However, before he could return to meet Kael, he noticed another one glowing in the distance. He thought it wouldn't hurt to get another one, so he went to grab it.
However, when he tried to pull it from the ground, He couldn't even move it. Then, the ground beneath started shaking, and he heard loud growls coming from beneath him. Aksa slowly stepped back, watching as the ground started rising.
"Uh, Kael?" He shouted loudly, "I think we might have a problem."
Upon hearing his voice, Kael quickly stuffed the flowers into the bags and rushed to find Aksa. Once he got there, Aksa was frozen in place, staring at a giant creature with mud and water dripping down its body.
It looked like a golem of stitched-up flesh, with its face lacking any recognizable features, and its skin twisted. Its limbs were twisted, with every joint rotated randomly around and stretching its skin.
Some parts of its spine were sticking out like spears of bones, ripping some of the skin apart as they tried to push past it.
"Kid, Run!" Kael screamed at the top of his lungs with worrisome eyes, startling Aksa, who immediately started running towards him.
Kael's worries were right, as the creature immediately lifted its fist before landing where Aksa was standing and causing the land to shake.
The force of the hit sent Aksa flying, landing him near where Kael was standing. "What is that thing?!" Aksa immediately asked in shock, turning his head to face Kael and looking at him with his eyes wide in panic.
"It's a mutated abnormality," Kael answered, his eyes still focused on the monster. "What did you do to wake it up?"
"I don't, I was just trying to get another flower before we leave, and then the ground started shaking," Aksa answered.
"Flower?" Kael immediately looked at the head of the abnormality, where the flower was poking out of its skin. "I see. It uses it to lure its prey," he mumbled to himself.
"Well, it's a good opportunity to learn something new," said Kael as he pulled his knife out.
"Huh?" Aksa looked at him in puzzlement.
"Get up, kid. It's time to learn how to fight," with a smirk on his face, Kael added as he cut his palm again.
"Wait, we're gonna fight this thing?" Aksa questioned.
"Of course, what else can we do?" Kael looked at Aksa as if he had said something stupid.
Aksa shook his head as he let out a sigh before standing up, "Okay, fine. What do I do?"
"Stay away from it so that you don't grab any attention," Kael explained as his blood started pouring out, taking the shape of a long sword. "I will distract it, and you make sure to land as many arrows on its body as possible, understood?"
Aksa hesitated for a bit before giving him a slight nod. "Okay then, let's go," Kael added before he lunged forward.
The abnormality immediately moved its fist when it sensed his movement, sending a swift punch towards him. However, Kael stepped to the side, dodging it with ease before throwing his sword at it, which landed directly in the middle of its skull.
The creature emitted a loud, distorted screech as it grabbed its head with one hand while trying to reach the sword planted in its head with the other.
Kael didn't allow any moving room for it, as he immediately jumped in the air, grabbing the sword and pulling it out before the abnormality could reach it.
Aksa didn't waste any time either, as he immediately lined up one of the arrows before firing it at the abnormality's back.
The abnormality then went into a storm of rage as it started hitting the ground randomly with both fists, trying to land a hit on Kael.
Kael kept evading the attacks by jumping around, so it opened its hands and started swiping left and right, trying to catch him this time, but he kept evading its attack at the last moment, while Aksa kept firing the arrows, with some of them missing the target and the others barely landing.
Kael took the opportunity to slash at the abnormality every time it missed him, deeply wounding it with each slash.
Suddenly, the abnormality lunged forward, stretching its arms as much as possible to reach him. However, Kael simply jumped in the air high enough to be slightly above its head before planting his sword on the back of its head when it was directly beneath him.
Once the abnormality landed on the ground, he fixed his position before pushing the sword deeper into its skull.
It tried to roll around as it screeched in pain, moving its hands in the air to try and reach Kael. But he quickly pulled the swords out before it started to change its shape again, this time turning into a large double-sided axe.
Kael immediately started swinging it, relentlessly chopping into the abnormality's neck. With every time the axe landed, its screams got louder and louder.
After a few hits, the abnormality finally stopped moving. Aksa immediately started running towards Kael, who stood still while he wiped his sweat.
"Good job, kid," Kael said once he noticed Aksa getting closer.
"What do you mean? You did all the work yourself." Aksa scoffed.
"Well, that's not true," Kael said, "Without your arrows, the fight would've been much more annoying."
"Huh?" Aksa looked at him as if he was spouting nonsense.
"Noticed how the abnormality's movement became slower after you landed a few of your arrows?" Kael added, "That's because of the blood mixed in them."
"Oooh, I see," Aksa said, "Still don't think you would've faced much trouble without my help."
"No, those things are really annoying," Kael explained. "Anyway, let's head back now. I don't wanna face another one of them."
Aksa quickly nodded before following him back to Feye..