[P] 0021 - The last month of the trial

Time continued to pass for Eolde, and now only a single month was between him and leaving this planet.

Eolde didn't mind living on this planet during the trial, and he did wish to stay longer to study the phenomena of the planet. Still, he did not have the necessary equipment to properly research and examine these phenomena, which certainly annoyed him.

Especially the floating mountains far east of him, he still couldn't understand how they could be floating.

So while he would hate to leave the planet soon, it doesn't mean he couldn't ever come back, especially since his species is a space-faring civilization.

Although before he finishes this trial, he wants to do one last thing, kill a particular fearsome beast that's lurking in the Jungle.

And while Eolde knew for sure that he nor his weapons were strong enough to kill the Beast, he instead wanted to kill it via a trap, specifically, a modified pitfall trap with metal spikes and stone walls that would prevent the Beast from escaping.

Eolde also had to dig far enough down to ensure that the Beast wouldn't be able to easily climb or leap out.

But the biggest problem Eolde could see was fooling the Beast into walking into the trap, let alone how Eolde was supposed to lure it.

After several days of planning, he had an idea.

Currently, Eolde has around 150 Ly'hmie birds and stopped collecting more.

He had most of them exploring the world or watching over Na'vi villages while the rest kept watching around his abode.

The idea he had, was to use a small group of his undead to agitate and catch the attention of the Beast and lure it into the trap.

However, Eolde will not underestimate the intelligence of the Beast, so he spent a week creating a dozen more pitfall traps around the first pitfall he made.

And in case the Beast somehow managed to escape the pitfalls, he prepared several other traps that, if he did not kill it, should slow it down.

The only problem now was finding the Beast.

Luckily, Eolde had the perfect scouts to fly high in the air and examine the land beneath them.

...

Deep within the woods east of Eolde's shack, an angry roar echoed across the trees as a large beast chased after a certain Yautja through the Jungle.

This certain tanned Yautja with mottled skin, and short dreadlocks(because of age), could be seen running as fast as possible through the Jungle while a fearsome beast chased after him.

This Yautja stood just over 5 feet tall and wore quite strange clothing. Leather, bones, scales, feathers, and even a couple of pouches and skulls hung on his waist.

The young Yautja did not seem afraid of the Beast but instead appeared to enjoy the chase like a primal predator, playing with its prey.

Flying overhead, one could see a flock of birds, but there was something unusual about these birds...

Their eyes were scarlet red, and they all flew in unison above the Beast, watching.

Even though the young Yautja couldn't turn around to see the fearsome Beast, it was like he knew the exact position of the Beast that chased him.

Every time the Beast got too close for comfort, the Youngling would dodge and weave through the trees, roots, vines, and more as the large Beast was forced to slow down and maneuver around the obstacles.

If one looked closely, one could see that the Yautja was moving abnormally fast, and even a hint of light could be seen flowing through the veins in his legs as he leaped, slid, and ran through the Jungle.

Several times did the Beast manage to catch up to the Yautja and strike, drawing blood and leaving behind nasty wounds on the Yautja, but every time the Yautja could still escape the Beast's grasp due to the Jungle and all its obstacles.

Soon the Yautja rushed past a couple of trees and, using a tree log, jumped over a strange patch of dirt and leaves on the ground.

The Beast wasn't far behind, and when it rushed out from the Jungle, it stepped directly onto the patch, and the ground under the Beast gave out, revealing a deep pit with metal-tipped spikes at the bottom and rocks making the walls.

All the weight of the Beast landed on the spikes, but to the Yautja's surprise, it only caused minor wounds due to the Beast's thick skin.

Cursing in English and clicking his mandibles in frustration, the Yautja summoned a couple of orbs of blue light in his hands and threw them at the Beast that was stuck in the pit.

The balls of light slammed into the Beast before seemingly burning the skin of the Beast.

He kept throwing and throwing until he was forced to flee when the Beast managed to free itself from the spikes and pit before giving chase in anger.

If the Beast was hunting the Yautja for food before, now it considered this personal.

[A/N: If you don't believe an animal can hate a person, here's a quick fun fact: Crows carry and share their grudges with their young. Meaning, that if you get a Crow pissed off at you, more than likely, it will teach its future GENERATIONS to hate you. Talk about a Bird holding Grudges]

The two continued to run through the Jungle in a mad dash, with the Beast falling into two more similar traps before learning how to avoid them.

But by this point, the Beast had many wounds and burns that blood was pouring out of it like a stream of water, causing it to lose its strength bit by bit.

By the time the Beast's mind cleared enough to realize this and try to run away, it was slower than the Yautja it hunted.

Very quickly did the two switch positions, leading the Predator to become the prey.

The Yautja chased the Beast for miles before it eventually did not have the strength to go further.

With a triumphed hunt, the Yautja and his flock of birds brought it back to their abode.

...

"I finally did it!" Eolde yelled in triumphant.

"After multiple hours of tedious effort, the beast finally died!"

[You have slain a Thanator lvl 68!]

[You have gained 361 System Points!]

[A/n: For the nerds, 68(Level)*2+225(Base)]

[Congratulations! You have reached level 10!]

[Congratulations! You have reached level 11!]

[Congratulations! You have reached level 12!]

[Congratulations! You have reached level 13!]

[Congratuations! You have reached level 14!]

Seeing the five levels he gained just from killing the Thanator made it all the more worth it killing the Beast.

It also brought up the question of why Eolde was having so much difficulty in leveling up in the Dungeon.

Is it really based on how difficult of beasts you fight, or does the Dungeon give less XP for leveling and a point reduction for killing Lizardmen?

Eolde still had a little less than two weeks left until the trail was to end, meaning he had some time to test his theory and prepare for their arrival.