Morning comes, the day of hunting down an evil mythic arrives. Raymund and Danica woke up well-rested and in top condition. Contrary to the sleep-deprived Daniel who Spent his night overthinking. There is drowsiness in his eyes, dark bags under them, and his posture is like an old man. Seeing the apparent weariness all over Daniel, Danica got worried.
"What happened? You look so exhausted. Is it the arm? Were you not able to sleep?"
Mesmerized by the most beautiful eyes he'd ever seen, he remained speechless for moments till he was able to mutter an answer. "No... I'm fine." Daniel once again sees Danica the same way he first laid his eyes on her, a beauty not even the Diwatas can compare.
"Are you sure? Don't lie to me." She gave her a stern look
"Yes, milady, I am most certain that I stand in the fullest vigor of mine health."
"I just said don't lie to me! Why would you even lie about being hurt?!" "I'm not lying. I'm really fine..." Daniel mutters
"If you're hurt, you can rest for today. It's too risky to fight mythics injured."
Those words made Daniel flinch, his eyes widen and memories from his flashed. "I should sit this one out?", "They can handle this without me?" "So there's no need for me?" The words of his father echo in his mind.
"Come here, I'll change your bandage before we leave."
Daniel grabbed her arm "I'm fine, really... I just had a lot of coffee last night so I wasn't able to sleep."
A part of her didn't want to risk Daniel's safety, but Danica knew him too well to know that he would be too stubborn to stay at the hotel. "Fine, but you're not splitting up with Raymund. You're not allowed to work solo, am I understood?"
"Yes, ma'am!"
With that, the group heads to the mountain. Raymund and Daniel went deep into the forest, while Danica was near the foot of the mountain, safeguarding it to make sure no one got in or out. Equipment ready, weapons in hand. The only thing needed is for the bungisngis to show itself.
"Is everyone in position?" Danica asked through an earpiece.
"We're ready boss" Raymund replied "Alright, lure the bungisngis, I'll handle everything if anything goes wrong."
"Wow, so reliable" Raymund replied "You know what? I'm willing to bet that she would handle this by herself if we slept in." He looks at Daniel
"Bro, if we did that, she'll put a hex on us. You'll wake up and all of a sudden your roof is covered in cockroaches. Just like that one time..." Both Raymund and Daniel are disgusted
"And I'll do it again if you two won't stop talking! Stop wasting time!"
"Yes, ma'am!" They both said in unison.
"Hey, I tracked the monster in our last mission, so now it's your turn."
"Yeah, Yeah, I got it. It's much easier if I do it anyway."
Daniel released a good amount of magic similar to a sacred tree. And just like a wild animal walking into a hunter's trap, the bungisngis came running towards Daniel and Raymund. Soon after, the bungisngis' footsteps can be heard, and its screams for food are heard throughout the forest.
"Keep him occupied for me, bro. And maybe I'll kill it before it smashes your head." Raymund hops from tree to tree, looking for a perfect spot for a surprise attack.
Daniel held his pendant tightly while muttering a phrase under his breath repeatedly. "A rest within a storm", a mantra he's been ever since he was a child, keeping him from overthinking. The screams and footsteps grew louder, the giant was nearing. Daniel finishes reciting his mantra and transforms into Tikabalang, a half-man, half-horse creature known for its incredible speed. He knows a contest of strength is useless against bungisngis. Instead, he relies on the Tikbalang's superhuman speed to run around in circles, hoping the bungisngis will make a haymaker. And it worked, the bungisngis swung its huge club and hit the ground, leaving an opening for Daniel to counter. He repeated this strategy until the bungisngis was worn out.
"Good work, Daniel! I got it from here!" Raymund swooped in from a tree and stabbed the bungisngis' huge eye. It fell to the ground, crying like a baby and screaming "So mean!" "I hate you!" "Not like my human friend!".
Daniel turns back to human, "Good job doing almost nothing."
"Hey, if I fought with you instead, we'd take so much longer," Raymund replied.
The bungisngis caught them off guard, it went into a rage and threw another haymaker before running away. Daniel, who was walking towards it caught it and was sent flying to a tree, knocking him unconscious. It took Raymund a minute to wake Daniel up, "Hey! You good? Come on, the bungisngis went towards the barangay (a village)."
"What?!" Daniel is in shock. He starts Blaming himself for what might happen, "I screwed up!!!" "How could I be so careless!" "It's heading towards the village? What if it kills someone?" "Someone will die because of me?" He freezes as these thoughts fill up his mind. His chest tightens as his heart pounds uncontrollably. He's too focused on overthinking and can't hear Raymund calling him.
"Okay that's it" Raymund is fed up and throws a fistful of dirt on Daniel's face. "Focus up! The hunt is not over! We can still catch up!"
Daniel snapped and chanted his mantra again, a desperate attempt to regain composure.
"Daniel is awake. Can you hold out till we get there?" Raymund spoke through his earpiece
"No need, treat his wounds. I'll Handle this." Danica replied
"Well, you heard her. Seems like we're not needed, but let's still try to catch up just in case."
Daniel kept chanting his mantra while struggling to transform. After a few minutes of trying, he managed to turn into a tikbalang again. He carries Raymund and sprints as fast as he can to try and catch up to the bungisngis. However, his mental state is nowhere near stable enough to utilize the tikbalang's power, causing him to stumble and run slower than usual.
As the bungisngis approaches the mountain foot, Danica is standing still, with her spike-covered gauntlets strapped tightly in her hands. The moment the bungisngis is within her range, Danica launches herself quickly. With a body enhanced by her magic and a gauntlet covered in steel spikes, a single strike was enough to fracture the bungisngis' right arm that it used to swing its giant club. It screamed and threw a tantrum.
"Be quiet." Danica walks towards the bungisngis, her voice strikes fear.
"Hurry up, Daniel! We can't get information if Danica kills it." Raymund exclaims.
After 10 minutes of running, Daniel and Raymund finally catch up. They arrived to see Danica sitting on a tree stump with her legs crossed and the bungisngis lying unconscious before her.
Daniel ran towards Danica, "Danica! Did you get hurt? I'm so sorry! I got caught off guard, and I got hit, and-"
"Be quiet," Danica said calmly, yet it somehow made Daniel uneasy.
"She's probably mad at me for screwing up... I'm sorry, I promise I'll make it up to you. Please don't be disappointed..." Daniel kept thinking of what to say.
After a long silence, Danica spoke, "Are you okay?" Still spoken calmly
"Yes..." Daniel tries to speak, but his recent mistake kept his mouth shut. Although nothing bad happens, the thought of what might have lingers.
"Raymund, wake it up. Something's unnatural about this mythic... This might be connected to our powered-up mythic problem."
"Okay, boss." Raymund pulls out a smelling salt he prepared. "Now let's see if this works." The Bungisngis jolted and woke up breathing rapidly. "YESS!!! My new recipe worked!"
After a while, the bungisngis calmed down and tried to apologize. "Human, Sorry." "Friend told me... Humans like playing."
"Ohh, it's a lot calmer now, and trying to speak!" Raymund spoke
Daniel wonders who this "friend" the bungisngis kept referring to. "Hey there big guy! Can you tell me more about your friend??" "Friend is like you... but hair like a girl!"
They question the bungisngis more about the mysterious friend it keeps referring to. It talked with excitement in its voice, having someone to finally talk to. The books were right, the bungisngis is a dumb creature. The one they were tasked to hunt was just trying to make friends with humans. The stalking was it trying to surprise passersby, the laughing was it trying to make passersby laugh too, and trying to eat Daniel was just it being dumb enough to mistake Daniel for food due to his magic. All this is due to its friend saying that humans like such things and is a way to make more friends. Hearing this, they concluded that someone deliberately tricked the bungisngis to cause chaos.
"Who and why would someone do such a thing?" is the question that came to mind
"You spoke too much" An eerie voice came seemingly from all directions, but even then, they couldn't sense anything. Even Danica who is a witch can't sense any magic. They feel nothing but unease. "That uniform... You are Amaya's students." "So she's sending students now... That means I'm on the right track." The bungisngis suddenly screamed, they turned around and were shocked to see roots and branches burst out from its body. "Consider this your only warning."