Joshua still has an unbelieving look on his face as he took his last breath while blood was pumping out of his body at a ridiculous rate. Michael dragged the body towards the herb and an amazing thing happened. The moment the blood which was spilled from the body touched the ground close to the herb, it was absorbed at a ridiculous rate and no sign could be found that blood was even spilled on that floor. “Wow, it works. Almost thought it wouldn’t”, Michael says in shock. He wasn’t sure if their theory was correct after all and thought maybe it was all fluke and some animal or beast which could eat the flesh and bones of dead beasts came around when they were been pursued by the mosquitoes and ate all the carcasses on the field but seems like they sure were right. If Joshua was still breathing he might have screamed at them over the fact that they were just testing their theories and had to kill him in order to prove if they were right or wrong, that was just too cold blooded.

After seeing that the herb absorbed the blood without any delay, Michael didn’t hesitate to throw the whole dead body towards the herb and watches as the body’s nutrient was absorbed bit by bit by the herb and the body was being decomposed at an unusually fast rate. Although the head was farther back, it was also being decomposed but at a slower rate. “Huh”, at this moment Michael notices that his energy was being drained although at a slower pace but he could still feel power leaving him which he didn’t feel before when they first came here. “Do you feel it too?”, George asks at this moment, Michael nods before saying, “The herb is sucking energy from our body as nutrient. Seems like us being alive proves to be a resistant to it being able to fully suck our energy”. “No wonder the rat beasts were easily defeated. This herb has been sucking energy from them daily for an extended period of time and they allowed it all to get a perfect herb, but they had to die at the end at this manner”, George says in understanding, this totally explains why the rat were not as strong as they were rumored to be. If there was something like a parasite draining your energy everyday at an incredible rate, you would definitely get weaker as time goes by. They stepped back a little further in order to get out of the range where the herb was able to take any energy from them, after all no one would be comfortable with something leeching off them and taking what they had worked hard for.

After a while, the body and the head is fully absorbed. Bones and flesh alike was being drained until there was nothing left and this all happened before Michael and George. They both stare in amazement at the wonders of the herb. The color of the herb has now changed to green and the veins in it had the color of red which seems attractive and alluring, the sound which it makes has also increased a bit. “This should be the true form of the elephant king herb. Its effects should now have been amplified by countless times”, says George. “Yeah, this is enough for now, we should harvest it now. Pass me the materials for harvesting it”, Michael nods while replying. George passes him the materials which were provided to them by Cornelius, after all just harvesting the herb ordinarily could damage it or alter its efficiency. Even normal plants are harvested in different ways, herbs such as these would usually have their harvesting techniques also. The surrounding soil around the herb has to be dug up and the roots should not be damaged one bit, so any farming equipments can’t be used and the hands are the only equipment which should be used at this point. After the surrounding soil is dug up, the root of the herb should be pulled with the herb and a little soil which is gray in color and underneath the root should be dug up along with it and sealed carefully in a special jar for holding it. All this should be done swiftly and much time shouldn’t be wasted.

Michael performs everything efficiently and eventually seals up the first one gently in a jar. About harvesting the second one, George asks, “Who is going to take the other one by the way?”. “Oh, about that. Me of course”, Michael says as a matter of fact and without much thinking into the question. “And why should you be the one who gets to take it?”, George asks as his voice starts becoming unfriendly. “Well, that’s based on the fact that am much stronger than you”, Michael smiles while replying. “Ohhohh. And what do you base that on?”, this time around George chuckles as he asks. “On our present strength of course”, Michael stares at George as he replies with a confused look. “Then I would like for you to guide me through”, George says as he unsheathes his cutlass. “Tch Tch. You never learn”, Michael says as he unsheathes his cutlass also, he puts the herb away at a corner to avoid it being harmed and also takes off all the unnecessary load on him which could drag him down during the fight, George also performs the same action as him. The atmosphere was tense for a bit before both parties engages each other at an unbelievable speed. Sparks were sent flying as their cutlass met with each other’s. Both used their strongest skills while attacking each other as if they were old enemies whom were trying to kill each other. They both were able to dodge each other’s attack by a millimeter and escape any critical injuries. Trees was fallen down and pits were formed as a result of great strength while the fight raged on for a while before both parties separated trying to catch their breath. “You don’t seem too surprised that we are evenly matched”, George asks at this moment. “You gave that away a long time ago. For an instance when you matched your speed with mine while we were escaping from the pursuit of those mosquitoes. Although you still tried to reduce your power in attacking them, you still gave away your power level through your speed”, says Michael with a blank face. “And I thought I had hidden my strength carefully. I ended up giving up my surprise tactic earlier on”, says George with his palm on his head while shaking his head in self pity. “If you want to know about another time, it did be after you found out I was training Andrew. You watched from the shadows thinking that you couldn’t be found out based on your great power level. You sure got cocky due to your power”, says Michael once again with a blank expression still plastered on his face. This time, George was in shock as he asks, “You broke through long ago. Why didn’t you say you did then?”. “The same reason as you did”, Michael replies without much thinking. “Then why did you have to reveal it that soon”, asks George still in shock. “Those beasts were annoying me and I couldn’t just kill those hunters that time. I was too lazy to do that and I had to look caring so that more people would spread the news. I have to look the act so that no one would ever suspect me and I needed witnesses”, Michael replies while digging out dirt from his ear with his pinky finger. George smiles depreciatingly as he says, “I thought I was the crafty one. Didn’t know I was wrong and I was just a joke in your eyes”. “You being unable to act properly and wait for the best opportunity was why master left us. You were quick to show your craftiness and couldn’t be patient for a bit”, says Michael in revelation, there was a devilish smile on his face this time around before saying, “I know you have always been trying to drive a wedge between me and Andrew. You were the one whom saved him in the forest and told him to be weary of me but I just left it all while mocking your tactics inwardly. All those crap about Andrew being a threat was nothing but bullshit, Andrew was just like a toy whom I could get rid of whenever I please and when am tired of. I have been in this realm for more than ten years which shows how difficult it is to breakthrough this realm to the next and so it is for you also. So I can’t ever take it him as a threat and although he might be more powerful than me if he gets to this realm, he is crippled now and can’t do anything”.

“So we have all been kids in this game playing against you”, says George seemingly to have given up. “What do you think?”, Michael asks with his new signature grin. George didn’t say anything this time around and just keeps quiet like he was thinking about something. After a while, he takes in a deep breath before saying in a solemn tone, “Let’s fight. The winner takes all”.

“Uhm, could you guys stop for a bit. Am getting tired of all your boring talks”, a voice resounds behind George which stuns both of them and makes them pause their action. A cutlass was sticking out from George’s chest penetrating his heart. How was someone able to get behind him without him noticing and dealing him such a critical and definitely life taking damage? And who was it?

(Author’s note - Huh, it’s me again. Well, am going to start adding beasts after some animal’s or insect’s name cause it sounds weird just typing their name outright. It doesn’t seem to bring out their ferocity. Well that’s all. Until next time. See y’all)