"Armour? Check. Pistol? Check. Big ass sword? Check, check, check!" Theo's sword gleams in the sunlight as he holds it up to the sky.
"Rifle? Check," Ark follows up.
They stand next to each other, staring at the jungle they are about to enter. The tall trees loom over them, vines intertwining the dense foliage that blocks them from viewing further in. The only part that is clear is the small pathway in front of them.
"I'll go first," Theo says as he takes out the machete given to him by the military.
"Mm," Ark also takes out his machete as well as his pistol.
Thwack!
Theo slashes away at the vines and they cautiously move along the path. He looks forward while Ark examines the surroundings from behind.
A twig snaps and Ark instinctively points his gun up where a giant bird is glaring at them with its beady eyes.
"Theo, does that one count?"
Theo looks up and grimaces, "Looks nasty, may as well."
Ark squints his eyes down the iron sights of his gun. The bird, sensing hostility, takes off.
Bang!
The bird drops, tumbling through the foliage before landing in front of Theo.
"Nice!" Theo compliments as he steps over it.
Ark gets out his knife and kneels down. He stabs the bird and blood squirts onto his face. He wipes it off his face with his hand and splatters it onto the ground before continuing.
After Ark carves open the bird, he reaches his fingers in and pulls out a bright blue stone. Holding it up to the sky, sunlight shines through as he examines it before putting it in his satchel and standing up.
"Is it a good one?"
"Uh, probably…" Ark guesses as he once again equips his pistol and machete.
"Small ones are worth 10," Theo states as they continue down the path.
"Five. Small ones are worth 5."
"Ah… right. So what are big ones worth?"
"Big ones are worth 50."
"So we should go for big ones."
"We'll go for whatever we encounter, that is what we are being paid for."
"Ha ha ha! Of course!"
■■■
"Shhh…" Theo carefully crouches down and Ark peaks over his shoulder.
They've stopped at the end of the path, beyond them is an open area.
"A bat-type," Ark whispers as they observe what looks like a disfigured, overgrown bat, blood dripping from its mouth as it feasts away on an unidentifiable corpse.
Theo looks at Ark and Ark nods before making hand signals. Theo nods back then he sneaks to the left. Ark pulls his rifle off his back as he sneaks to the right.
Ark goes prone in the dry mud, rifle aimed at the bat monster.
"Hey! Bat!" Theo shouts as he takes out his sword.
The bat stops eating and pivots its head towards Theo.
"That's right! Look this w-"
"SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
Shockwaves emerge from the bat's mouth as it makes a bellowing screeching sound.
"AGGGHH! FUCK!" Theo drops his sword and falls to the ground, wincing while clutching his ears.
"Shit!" Ark mutters as he starts firing.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The shots burn the bat's face and it starts turning towards Ark. Still screeching, its head moves slowly, the shockwaves destroying the tree line and sending the leaves on the forest floor flying.
Ark's eyes widen as he stumbles onto his feet.
Theo, no longer subjected to the shockwaves, lets go of his ears. His breathing remains heavy and rapid but his tense face begins to loosen up. He looks up at the bat while grabbing his sword.
The shockwave gets close to Ark and just before it's about to hit him he concentrates his mana into his legs and dashes away, dropping his gun at the same time.
Ark sighs in relief, "Phew! Good thing we practiced body enhancement techniques yesterday!"
"Hnghh-" Theo stabs the sword into the ground and uses it to slowly pull himself up.
Then he grips the sword with both hands and takes slow, deep breaths, before his body starts growing.
Ark glances back, worry falling over his face as the shockwaves get closer. "Shit! Even with enhancements, I'm not fast enough!"
Theo points his sword behind to reduce air resistance before charging at the bat.
"AHHHHH!" he yells as he swings his sword into the bat's chest.
The sword doesn't cut, but it hits with enough force to collapse the lungs, forcing the bat to release all the air into one massive shockwave that blasts it backwards.
Seeing the massive shockwave, Ark channels more mana into his legs before leaping out of the way, but he doesn't go far enough and gets grazed. As he is sent flying, he channels his mana into his back.
Smash!
A huge dent appears in a tree as Ark crashes into it, then his body flops to the ground.
"Hyuk!" Ark coughs up blood as he gets up on all fours, "Another fucking tree…"
Using the tree as balance, he stands up.
Covered by wrecked jungle and bleeding all over, the bat monster gets up and stares at Theo. It tries to screech but is unable to so instead, it extends its wings.
Whoosh!
The bat launches at Theo, claws first. Theo responds by blocking with the flat edge of his sword.
Ark watches as the bat scratches away at Theo's sword and reaches for his rifle, he finds nothing. Then he looks at the rifle lying on the floor and reaches for his knife while annoyed.
Ark runs, glowing knife in hand, before jumping onto the back of the bat.
The bat lets out a cry as Ark stabs his knife in. It starts clawing at Ark while trying to shake him off.
Sh-wing!
Theo attacks with his sword, forcing it to start flapping its wings aggressively to get away. Seeing it fly up into the sky, Theo drops his sword and squats down.
"Oh no you don't!" He channels his mana into his legs and jumps after the bat.
Soaring above the treeline, he grabs onto the bat's legs.
"Scrahhh!" The bat cries, losing control before it starts falling towards a cliff.
Theo shrinks down while he climbs onto its back with Ark. It hurtles down, barely avoiding the cliff face and instead crashing through the trees atop the cliff.
Ark and Theo curl up, clinging to its back for dear life as fracturing branches fly everywhere, until the bat finally hits the ground and skids to a halt.
Breathing heavily, they slowly get up and look at the trail of destruction left behind them. Then they look at the dead bat monster, then at each other.
"Finally…" Ark says exasperatedly, "We finally fucking killed it."
"Yea- Yeah!" Theo cheers before hugging Ark, lifting him up, "We fucking got it!"
"Hell yes! The bat is dead!" Ark celebrates, shouting into the sky.