—Krax was perched in the tree closest to that boat, cautiously watching everything happening in front of him. Those men were carrying boxes of fruit, barrels of water, firewood, meat, and other supplies they'd found in the forest. It was easy to tell they were stocking up for a journey, and it looked like it was going to be quite a long one.
Krax wanted to get closer; it was impossible for him to know exactly what they were planning from that distance, so by slipping through the bushes, he managed to get into the lake. Swimming at a depth where he wouldn't be detected, he positioned himself right beneath the bridge connecting the boat to the shore—
"Ahhh!!, I'm getting tired already, let's take a break"
"No way. The boss gave very clear orders. Besides, the journey will be quite long, and the fruit here sells pretty well—we should take as much as we can."
"But we've been carrying this stuff for hours and hours since this morning, and meanwhile the boss just keeps sleeping."
"Shut up, do you want to lose your tongue or what? Besides, thanks to him we captured a Vulcan; if we sell it, we'll have enough money for three feasts"
"Haha, you're right. Oh shit, I dropped some fruit"
"Be more careful; I don't want to go deeper into the forest because of your carelessness"
"Don't worry, I'll go pick them up. It's a good excuse to take a little break."
"You really are lazy."
— After placing the barrel of fruit, the fat man climbed down from the boat, stretching his arms. You could tell from his sigh of relief that the work had been exhausting. He was walking calmly, picking up the fruit from the ground, while gradually moving away from the boat. A light caught his eye, and he noticed a piece of fruit floating in the water —
"It sure is hot today; the light reflecting off the lake blinded me for a moment"
— he said to himself as he approached the fruit, and he couldn't have been more wrong. In an instant, Krax thrust his sword into the man's throat to silence him. As the man realized that what had caught his eye wasn't the lake's water but the sword planted in his throat, Krax had set a trap for him and finished the job by drowning him in the lake —
"One down"
— Following that strategy, Krax began setting traps for each member of the ship he encountered, hiding in the bushes, up in the trees, or in the lake. He managed to kill three more members, but his luck would end there. It seemed they were already catching on to what was happening and had sent a pair to investigate what was going on at sunset —
"Why did it have to be us?"
"What bad luck. I don't think whoever's behind all these disappearances is that dangerous—it's probably just another wolf, right?"
"Yeah, sure. The others are just idiots who die at the drop of a hat, haha."
— You could tell just by the tone of their voices that they were trying to convince themselves and each other; they were sweating and gripping their swords tightly, each step they took was shaky and uneven. The worst part was that they couldn't tell that the one they were looking for was staring right at them, even though they kept turning their heads in every direction.
About ten minutes passed before they finally began to calm down a little —
"It seems it wasn't such a big deal after all"
"Yeah, we didn't find anything in the end. It must have been just a simple beast. Let's go back to the ship with the others"
— said the man, turning back toward where he had come from —
"In the end, we got all worked up over nothing. Thank goodness there was no danger after all…Why aren't you ans…?"
— His sentence was cut off just as he saw his companion's throat being slit when he turned around. Krax wasted no time in cutting off his legs; he was now on the ground, writhing in agony and crying out while desperately pointing his sword at Krax —
"Mon… MONSTER!!!"
— The man screamed. Krax didn't flinch; his expression was neutral, his eyes wide open. He simply cut off his fingers so he would drop his sword, causing him to scream even louder in pain —
"Aaahh!!! Help, help me, please!
— There was no one who could hear them; they were too far away for any creature to hear, so he could only begin to beg for his life —
"Please don't kill me, I'll do anything you want, I'll be whatever you want me to be, please, please don't kill me"
— Krax was so still that it didn't even seem like he was listening; he just grabbed the desperate man's cheeks —
"You're going to answer my questions"
"Please don't kill me, I'll do anything"
"Who's your boss?Where are you planning to go?And what do you have on your ship?"