The Plan

  Around 2:30 AM in the Cursed Forest, Azuma stood before the demons, his expression a mix of calm assurance and youthful intensity. He looked at Shizu, who had just returned from her reconnaissance mission.

  “Did you hear or smell anything weird?” he asked.

  “No,” she confirmed. “Like you said, I didn’t find any traces of monsters, which means the swamp has only one ruler: that Armoured Scale Cobra. I went as close as I dared, and only when I heard a rustle in the distance did I stop, plant the stick, and return.”

  “Hmm…” Azuma’s eyes gleamed with satisfaction. “So the cobra reacted to you only after realising the illusion didn't work? The nest must be somewhere near the rustle you heard. Can you pinpoint the location? More importantly, can you track back to that place?”

  Shizu nodded. “I have a good memory mapping based on the direction and sound of the rustle. It’s nearly four kilometres from the start of the swamp, so I can search for the nest in that area, but…” She looked at Azuma. “I’ll need to open my eyes at that time.”

  “That’s not a problem,” Azuma said, a small smile playing on his lips. “The fact that you returned means the illusion is created only via sight and not with smell or sound.” He paused, then looked at her with a knowing expression.

  “You tested your theory with me as a bait?” Shizu asked with no emotion displayed in her face.

  “Hmm… the moment you two introduced, the big guy's nose was twitching, and your ears were turning in every direction. At first, I thought it was your habit, but later I realised you were memorising our scent and sound. By any chance… can you hear our heartbeats?”

  This was sensitive information, but the demons' eyes remained as dull and lifeless as ever. After a while, Shizu replied. “Yes. If you are within a certain range, I can hear it.” She saw the question forming in his eyes before he could ask it. “And no, I didn’t hear the Armoured Scale Cobra's heartbeat.”

  Azuma’s shoulders slumped in disappointment. “Of course. If we could determine how many cobras there are, it would be easy. The Cursed Lands are anything but easy.”

  He then looked at the demons and said with a smug tone, “By returning to this new location to meet us, you can track me by my smell and perhaps your sharp hearing. That means you do not only use your eyesight to navigate, but also scent and the sound of footsteps, which is a big plus for us to believe in your abilities.”

  He waited for Shizu to react to the little stunt he had pulled. Anya was ready to flee with him if there was any negative reaction, but neither of them showed any change in their expression. After a while, Azuma bowed and said, “I am sorry, but I needed to test you. This plan heavily depends on your abilities.”

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  “Here’s the plan,” Azuma said, continuing after some time. “Anya will explore the swamp, and Goar will follow her from behind with his eyes closed, using her scent. Goar, you must follow her and always be at her rear in a straight line. Aunty, you will know when you are in the presence of the cobra, but don't panic. Wait until you see its eyes; that's the cue that the cobra has reached you and is ready to pounce. At that moment, you should duck, close your eyes, and signal Goar." Then he turned to Goar and said, "Shizu mentioned that you could kill with one punch." He smiled. "At that exact moment, you throw a punch straight ahead with these gloves," he said, handing over a pair. "If there is only one snake, then that's all you have to do to win."

  "What if there is more than one?" asked Anya.

  "Killing one snake will attract the other's rage. You will lead it to the formation we have set up here," he said, pointing at a specific path in the forest. "It's a narrow pathway covered by rocks in all three directions. Make your way towards the formation I placed between the rocks you see here. It will lure the other snake into the trap."

  "What about me?" asked Shizu.

  "When you hear the first cry, you have to place yourself near that sound, maybe 200 meters away. When you hear the second cry, you have to go to the place of that sound. And when you hear a third cry, you have to move towards that sound, carrying whatever you find at the second place. Remember, you will be inside the cobra's territory, so be careful." Saying this, he handed her an item. "Wear this at all times, and crush and drop it when you are about to start for the third destination."

  Present time

  Anya was frozen. Her limbs, once so capable and confident, were now useless weights hanging from her shoulders. The dread she felt was no longer a cold shiver but a physical pressure on her chest, a tightening vine that squeezed her heart. The golden eyes, like twin suns, burned brighter in the suffocating darkness of the illusion, filling the void where her vision had been. As the cobra’s massive form began to materialize from the blackness, she could feel the air grow cold and thick with a scent of ozone and stale blood.

  The terrifying maw opened, its darkness a chasm waiting to swallow her whole. Its pure white scales, illuminated by a chilling, ethereal light, made the cobra look like a pristine statue. But its golden eyes and gaping maw made it anything but. The hiss was not a sound but a vibration that rattled her very bones. I need to duck, she thought, a frantic scream trapped in her mind. But she could only watch, a helpless stone waiting for her impending end.

  Just as the fangs were about to close, a monstrous roar erupted behind her, and a hand with calloused fingers closed around her arm. Goar pulled her back with a violent jerk, saving her by a hair’s breadth as the fangs snapped shut on the empty air where she had just been.

  Goar, his hunched back straightening with a surge of power, shifted his weight into a single, devastating punch. The blow connected with a sickening crunch. The armored scale on the cobra’s head cracked, and a black, metallic object—a torus disk from the gloves Azuma had given him—attached itself to the wound. In a heartbeat, a loud boom shattered the swamp's silence. The torus disk exploded, sending the snake reeling in pain amidst a cloud of pink smoke.

  Goar’s instincts told him the snake was down, but his senses remained on high alert. With his eyes closed, he couldn't see the full extent of the damage. He heard Anya's frantic yell: "The snake is alive!" This confirmed his suspicion. He shifted his stance, his muscles coiling again for a second attack. At that moment, a sharp whistling sound cut through the air. A long, black arrow—a blur of impossible speed—pierced the exact location where the armored scale had cracked.

  With a final, terrible shriek, the Armored Scale Cobra, the monster that had once terrorized Anya and her unit, fell for the simple, dreadful plan of a three-year-old kid.