Harem Tournament of Champions

In the forest,

The forest was large, shadowy, and lush. Its canopy was overshadowed by yew, maple, and linden, and rays of light bursting through their crowns allowed for disorderly ferns to cultivate the brittle leaves on the ground below.

Curling creepers clung to every tree, and a range of flowers, which were seen occasionally, added playful elements to the otherwise unvarying view.

Setting his eyes on a large tree trunk, Hisha alerted the others of their settlement before they proceeded further on foot into the narrow space created ahead.

Gad looked to Loid with a gulp, unsure of the environment around them.

Psst!

Gad hissed in Loid's direction but had been intentionally ignored.

'This forest spooks the creep out of me!' Gad looked around him as his horse galloped to a halt as soon as his Lord dropped to the lush grassy field.

With his head raised high, Loid tried to maintain a proper composure after being specially recommended to their Lord by Kritz.

With only the four of them on the hunt, he treated it as a privilege to watch lord Hisha hunt for the first time in years.

Gad had gotten off his saddle, almost managing to touch the grass with his leather boots when it got caught in the stirrup.

"Woah!" He exclaimed, ready to accept his fate.

When he opened his eyes, he could see he was six inches away from hitting his head but had managed to hold his position.

Flipping him with the aid of his white aura outlining Gad, Loid scoffed and raised his hand.

"You never fail to amaze me." Loid scolded, looking behind him to check if Hisha was looking at the commotion.

To his relief, Hisha had his back to them and his arms opened wide taking in the forest's beauty.

Releasing his hold on Gad, he watched as the latter dropped to the ground with a thud.

Walking to his partner and offers a hand to assist him up.

Gad slaps his hand and gets up himself.

"What the hell was that for?!" Gad hissed and glared at him with one eye closed because of the grass stain.

Loid had a grin, "your fall could have been worse if you had gone headfirst if it wasn't for my intervention."

Contemplating using his ability on Loid and watching him scream in pain.

Loid helped in securing their horses to the tree stump and dusted his fingers immediately after he turned around.

"Shall we?"

"You're lucky we're partners." Gad laughed and closely followed Kritz who had waited behind so he could lead them into where Hisha had walked into.

Upon seeing the two, Kritz proceeded forward, slicing a few of the climbing branches that tried to cover the wall path.

Gad jumped back, skeptical about the condition of writhing vines.

Raising his head he could see the two already walking ahead of him, "wait up!"

Skipping, he jumped in just in time before another wave of vines covered the walking path.

While on the other side, he crouched over and exhaled.

A disharmony of wild sounds, predominantly those of birds and insects, resonated through the air and drowned out the splashing of fish in a nearby lake.

Hisha had pulled out his arrow and had his eyes on a gazelle.

[How many animals do you wish to hunt?]

'Shh!' Hisha hushed and closed the interface in front of him.

The gazelle had its head down, drinking from the stream, oblivious to the glistering silver arrowhead.

Ffp!

The arrow tore through the air and lodged into the neck of the gazelle.

The distraught honking sound of the gazelle while it tried to sprint deep into the forest.

On the sight of the blood trail, Kritz's eyes glowed with ecstasy and his fingernails grew into claws.

Hisha was taken aback by the unhinged behavior of Kritz, looking to his side, he had wanted to comment on Kritz's strange behavior when he felt a gust of wind which was caused by Kritz when he dashed in pursuit.

"Well, there goes the first catch." Gad deadpanned and shook his head.

'What does he mean by that, HTC?' Hisha is suddenly curious about the change in character.

[A Vandrik tends to be excited at the sight of blood especially that of animals and those they see as weak]

Hisha did a double take on the meaning, turning to narrow his eyes at Gad who knew something his transmigrated body couldn't comprehend.

Beating him to it was Loid who nudged Gad in the side, "what is that supposed to mean?"

Gad groaned in pain and rubbed his side, glaring at Loid.

Getting his composure, he took a peek at their lord if he was listening in on their conversation before he replied.

Hisha, already suspecting this would have been the case had gone on one of his knees and had his palm on the floor, mimicking picking up signals of another target.

Gad nodded his head and let out a sigh of relief and turned to Loid and lowered his voice to whisper, "when he had just been recruited, there was a time he was dueling with one of the participants and had drawn out blood with a hard hit from his elbow on the opponent's face."

Loid grimaced as he tried to picture what was told to him.

"Well that had drawn blood and he went all ballistic and hyperactive, then later on brutally murdering his opponent, it was more like a blood bath as he attacked everyone at the time."

Loid scrunched up his face to the story, "if that's true, how the heck are you still alive?"

"Ouch! That hurt my pride." Gad whined and made a pout.

"Is your pride not a little too solid for a soft guy as you are?" Loid taunted in a whisper and a smirk was present. "Save all the macho when you meet a lady."

"Let's follow the blood trail, I need to see my catch." Hisha got to his feet, tired of pretending until it became suspicious being in the same position for a long time.

Loid and Gad share a knowing look and gave a slight bow before tagging along behind Hisha.

*****

A/N

¶Anyone else glad to have these goofballs are back in a chapter?

Please do leave a review on the chapters you've read so far.

My heartfelt appreciation to those who vote with powerstones on my book constantly or happened to devote them currently.

Do use your comments, summoning pens, gifts, votes, and golden tickets to request faster/more updates.