"We are tracking a Chakal! These are smart creatures, and they live together, so it is even harder to get them," one lizardman said.
Arthur left their village with eight other lizardmen, looking to hunt for food, and the area did not have that many types of creatures, and the Chakal was one of the only ones.
Chakals were like giant hyenas, and the most troublesome part was that they lived together in groups, so it was harder to kill them, but if you did, you would have a lot of food to bring back to your village.
It was strange to see lizardmen working together with a human; the demon continent was way different than Arthur expected. Sure, the lizardmen could be the exception and were the few kinds, but what if all the other races were too?
"Look, this is the footprint we are looking for. See that there are lots of them? I assume this is a group of 12 Chakals."
The lizardmen knew how to hunt, and they knew their surrounding area, making it impossible for those Chakals to roam free. One of them had already found footprints, and based on its analysis, it was a group of 12 Chakals, higher than their group, which had nine members.
Arthur was not worried at all about the disadvantage, as he believed these weak beasts would not pose a threat to him at all. Instead, they kept following the track until meeting a group of Chakals, with the exact number the lizardman predicted.
"Formation!" the leader of the lizardman said.
They all had a battle formation prepared, and Arthur did not know it, as they did not share it with him. He was there without much coordination with them, but with his power, the situation was alright.
He separated from the formation, and when the Chakals noticed someone was alone, they rushed toward Arthur, pouncing and trying to attack him with their sharp claws and fangs. Out of the 12 Chakals, five went toward Arthur.
"Come, you stupid beasts," yelled Arthur, wielding a stone spear.
With swift moves, he dodged the attacks using sidesteps and acrobatics. He moved gently on the battlefield as if he was flying. That was the perk of high agility, which was way higher than those Chakals.
Arthur chose one of them and vanished, appearing right before the Chakal, who could not understand how a human was so strong. With his right hand, Arthur pierced the stone spear right into the beast's belly, quickly reaching the other side and creating a hole where the wound was. A lot of blood spurted from the wound, and it was clear to everyone the Chakal had no chance of living.
The lizardmen focused on their battle, but even so, they still saw what Arthur did, and the lizardmen were impressed by how strong he was. To make them even more shocked, Arthur kept dashing on the battlefield, killing more Chakals, eventually ending the lives of the five who were stupid to attack him.
With the number of Chakals diminishing by the minute, the lizardmen got more excited and, with the help of their formation, killed all the other Chakals.
"With this, we have meat for an entire week. Thank you, Arthur! Killing twelve would have been hard even for us," one lizardman said.
Arthur nodded at it, but then he noticed something was amiss, and that was when a voice echoed from a distance, saying, "giant frogs, aren't you gonna split this meat? I am sure your village does not need all of it."
"Lycans! What are you doing here? Your territory is deep in the forest, and ours is next to the swamp!"
Lycans! These were weaker versions of werewolves, and they did not have a human form and were always in the form of an erected wolf. The lizardmen knew them, as they lived close to each other but weren't supposed to be there.
That was the lizardmen's territory, and territory was something the races respected, or else it would be chaos! So if the Lycans had the guts to go there, they had another reason in the first place, and it was not only for the meat.
"But we can still wander around and end up here. You would be in trouble if it weren't for our help."
They acted as if they were the saviors who killed the beasts, which was a joke! Arthur did not want to say anything because that was a problem between the lizardmen and the Lycans, but seeing how helpful and friendly the lizardmen were, Arthur would lend a hand if a problem arose.
"You are here with 20 Lycan warriors, and you are trying to intimidate us? Aren't you ashamed?"
"Ha! It is not our problem if the frogs cannot make more warriors. Look, we are here to send you a warning. Our population has grown a lot during the past few years, and it is time for us to expand our territory! We will attack your village seven days from now. Be prepared to die!"
Those Lycans gazed at them with hatred, and after the warning, they left, returning to their village. It seemed that Arthur would get involved in that mess even if he did not want to. So what was the chance of the village he chose to spend some time getting attacked? Close to zero, yet it happened the same day he arrived there.
"Problems follow me, it seems," Arthur thought.
The lizardmen had worried faces, and after they collected the Chakal's bodies, they returned to the village, meeting with the village's chief right after returning. Hattami was inside his house when the warriors appeared in front of it, wishing to speak with him about something important.
"You already returned from the hunting? It seems it went smoothly!" Hattami said as he looked at all the Chakal bodies.
For a moment, he felt happy about the success of the hunting, but then the blow hit him hard when the hunting chief explained what happened, saying the Lycans planned on attacking them in seven days.
"What? This makes no sense. We had a peace treaty a long time ago. Why would they break it now?" Hattami said as he walked from side to side, not knowing what to do!
Arthur was there when the lizardmen shared the story and said, "I believe these Lycans will not attack after seven days."
When he said that all the lizardmen looked at him, and Hattami asked, "what do you mean? Please, share your opinion."
"You said you two have been in peace for a long time, right? If they are willing to attack your village now, they need a high chance of success. They will not attack after seven days, not a day before, as it would be too obvious. They will attack after five days, trying to get your village by surprise," Arthur said.
That was his guess, and he believed it was almost one hundred percent correct. Hattami and the other lizardmen understood it instantly but feared it would be impossible for their village to escape.
"We might have to think about leaving our village. Our strongest warrior is at the rank 1, just like their strongest warrior, but their numbers are way higher than ours, which means we don't have a chance..." Hattami said with a gloomy face.
Arthur looked at him and said, "Hattami, aren't you forgetting about me? I can wipe the Lycans for you if you want."