"This is pretty crafty of you, but wonder if the guards would allow us to move around with this stuff." Anna said as she looked at the guns and bags Xavier hid in a little stash, covered by black creepy trees. He had done this two days prior when he was coming back to the Sanctuary after hunting the the imps. He never expected that the guards would have left these things here, but he guessed that they didn't want to linger in this side of the forest for too long. He had managed to salvage over 10 bags and 12 guns, but he didn't have any ammunition, which made them practically useless.
"The guns are out of ammunition, so we can't use them. But luckily for us, there is a lot of weapons left around here." Rosie said, looking at the copper weapons a few meters away.
"Alright, so we can gather food and weapons, but how exactly are we gonna get credibility. Take the newbies on hunts with us?" Xavier asked skeptically
"Exactly that. Once they realize just how dangerous the monsters are, I'm sure the newbies will want nothing more than join up with us, the first ones here. We're gonna show them just how strong we are, which will increase our members." Rosie said proudly
"But won't having too many members be a problem though. You would have to hunt even more monsters, and having more members won't help much in a place like this." Surprisingly, it was Maria who said this.
"Right now, no, but in the future, we are gonna need as many members as possible. There is no doubt that today and tomorrow is going to be a blood bath. Prisoners are gonna gather more points by killing each other, and soon, some will think they are strong enough to take on the guards and the rest of the prisoners. When that time comes, we are gonna need all the help we can get." Rosie said in a grim tone
'Which is why I'm gathering monster stones right now. I still haven't found a way to use them in secret yet, but I'll have to take the risk soon.' Xavier thought, and gulped, as he knew if he was caught, he would most likely be killed or beaten half to death. Neither option seemed good.
"Either way, let's start with picking fruits, and then we hunt the monsters. We are gonna need fifteen of them to send Anna, Bella and Ava inside with the goods." Rosie said and Xavier frowned
"How about we send Mickey along with them?" Xavier asked and this time Rosie and the other girls frowned
"Are you saying that we can't get the job done?" Rosie asked
"No, I'm saying that less people are likely to attack if an intimidating guy like Mickey was there along with three girls." Xavier answered, and Rosie knew he was right, but that didn't stop her from glaring at him.
"Fine, Mickey, Bella, Anna and Ava will go. But you're responsibe for the extra five monster stones." She said and Xavier nodded his head. They then proceeded to collect as many fruits as they could, filling six of the bags, as that was all they could carry. Xavier then had the bright idea to tie the weapons together using cloth from the corpses. The blades weren't very sharp, which made it even easier. Next, came the hunt.
Five of them ran through the forest, leaving Bella and Ava behind to guard the loot. Xavier, having experience hunting imps, knew exactly how to find them.
'That was fast.' Xavier thought, as he could see five imps sitting on a tree branch. Maria pulled nocked an arrow into her bow, and prepared to fire, but Xavier stopped her.
"Trust me, you won't be able to hit them, these bastards are fast. Wait for them to come to us." Xavier said and picked up a stone, before sending it flying towards the imps. The imp of course dodged and when it saw the five of them, it snarled and flew towards them, along with the four others. Maria shot an arrow at one of them, but it managed to dodge, causing her eyes to widened.
"Pay back time." Mickey said with a grin, as a imp flew towards him, and he blocked it with the shield. He swung the shield, hitting the imp and sending it crashing into a tree, and he quickly ran over and stabbed it in the chest. Xavier for his part rushed towards two of the imps, and dodged their claws by jumping over their heads and spinning around, slashing their necks.
"Sharper weapons, faster body, easier kills." Xavier said with a smile as blue blood sprayed from their necks, but it took a while for them to die and Xavier stabbed them in the chests to finish them off. He looked over at where the girls were, and as expected, they were having trouble. The last two imps were circling them, and the three of them had their backs against each other. Maria was forced to use her sword, as her arrows have proven useless. The imps soon swooped down, dodged the girls sword strike, and slashed a a part of their bodies, leaving a bloody wound, before taking to the skies again.
They soon swooped down again, and Xavier quickly rushed towards the girls and jumped into the air. One of the imps saw him, and slashed it's claw at him, but he easily caught and swung the imp around and hit the second, sending it flying a few meters away. And threw the one in his hand to the ground.
The second one managed to stabilise itself in the air, and glared at Xavier, but before it could fly off, it felt something hard hit it in the back, breaking it's bones and causing it to fall to the ground. As the creature tried to get back up, a shadow suddenly covered it and it looked up to see a sword stabbing towards it.
"That was way easier than last time." Mickey said, as he took his sword out of the imp and saw that Xavier finished killing his. Seeing all of this, Rosie's face became grim for a moment before a smile appeared on it.