Chapter 730: Honeybun’s First Battle!

The shapes blended into the shadows between the trees, circling the team at a distance. Several of them, tracking, waiting, closing slowly.

Karl’s own eyes snapped open, the thirty-second link expiring, but he’d seen enough.

"We’ve got company," he said quietly, ordering his hawk back. "At least five of them. Circling us right now, in the shadows. They’re waiting for us to split up or drop our guard."

Moon nodded, "Good scouting, let’s not give them what they want. Tighten the formation. My pets will cover our flanks, when they commit, we punish them for it."

The forest stayed silent, the hidden hunters holding their patience.

But they had already seen them coming, and now the ambushers were the ones about to be ambushed.

The hidden hunters kept their patience for a few minutes, and then they struck.

Six of them, breaking from the shadows in a team rush, three from the front and three from behind, the classic pincer of a pack that hunted by encirclement.

They were lean, shadow-dark canines, jaws wide and silent as they lunged.

"Front’s mine," Karl called, his beasts already moving.

Moon gestured Honeybun and Mirage toward the three attacking from the rear, keeping the split clean.

"Honeybun, Mirage, the three behind us. Work together."

Then he activated Hive.

The mental link initiated between his two beasts, and Moon felt it activate.

Helping his two companions share information, turning them into a single coordinated unit. With two beasts in the hive, the bonus was small, four percent percent to attack speed, reaction speed, and damage reduction, but Moon felt their awareness in how the two moved.

’This is just at 0% proficiency... once it’s fully mastered, the buffs and information shared would be much better.’

The three shadow-canines closed on his beasts.

Mirage’s eyes flared purple.

The white steed’s illusion skill activated, and a second Mirage appeared into existence beside the first, identical in every way, a phantom duplicate that split the ambushers’ focus in an instant. Two of the canines committed to the clone, unable to tell it from the real thing, and the third lunged at Honeybun.

The clone struck first. Mirage’s phantom drove into one of the deceived canines with a solid impact, real damage landing before the beast realized it was fighting an illusion. When the canine bit back, its fangs passed through the clone and it dissipated into wisps of light, but it had already served its purpose, buying the opening and dealing a wound for free.

Mirage used that moment to strike, landing a powerful double kick on the canine before it could recover from its previous lunge attack on his clone.

Honeybun met the other beast head-on.

The little turtle’s shell erupted into gleaming crystal, and rather than simply tanking the charge. As the canine’s jaws clamped onto its crystal shell, finding no purchase against the near-impervious surface, Honeybun twisted and lashed out with his claw, raking across the beast’s flank. At the same instant, the real Mirage wheeled around and slammed into the same canine from the opposite side, a perfect pincer of their own, the two of them punishing the ambusher for committing to a target it couldn’t hurt.

The teamwork was seamless, the two beasts working around each other like they’d fought together before.

At the front, Karl’s beasts and Bran engaged the other three.

The hawk dove and harried, raking at eyes and forcing the canines to flinch and break their rushes, while the hound met them at the ground, tearing into their legs. Bran anchored between them, his shield turning aside a lunge that would have caught the hound, his short-sword dealing heavy damage on the canine’s hide.

Karl worked his beasts like a true beastmaster, directing the hawk and hound through their usual fighting plans, and as he fought, his eyes kept flicking to Moon’s side of the battle.

A competitive spark lit in Karl’s chest, the itch of a beastmaster seeing another beastmaster’s companions and wanting to measure up against them to see how he fared.

_Let’s see who clears their three first.

He pushed his beasts harder, the hawk and hound pressing their attacks, Bran’s shield and blade grinding the front three down.

The two sides worked toward their finishes.

Karl’s beasts closed the battle out first. The hound clamped onto the last canine’s throat while the hawk pinned another’s head after blinding it, and Bran’s short-sword ended the third, the front trio dispatched cleanly.

The healer simply watched, not having much work to do with the others doing everything. Still, she was ready in case things went wrong.

Karl allowed himself a small, satisfied grin. His team had finished ahead of Moon’s, the whole engagement running about a minute.

Ha. My pets edges out the rare breeds. They are good beasts, but experience wins the day.

What Karl didn’t realize was that Moon had told Honeybun and Mirage to hold back. Otherwise, the battle wouldn’t lasted near a minute, and would have likely ended within the first ten seconds.

Moon had instructed them to get used to each other, silently at the start in order to practice their coordination and also to get a feel on how the Hive link works.

There was no need to rush, they were training in a really good environment and opponents.

Left to fight at full strength, Honeybun alone could have flattened all three canines in seconds, its crystal shell impervious to their fangs and its blows carrying Five-Star force. The turtle and Mirage had deliberately slowed their pace, prioritizing clean, coordinated technique over raw speed and power, treating the fight as the practice session Moon wanted it to be.

The last of Honeybun and Mirage’s canines fell, the crystal claw and phantom pincer finishing it, and the twilight forest went silent once more.

Moon caught Karl’s satisfied grin and said nothing, a small amused smile touching his own lips. The ten second difference between their clears made him happy.

Moon didn’t bother telling Karl anything.

’Let the man enjoy the win.’

It cost him nothing, improved their relationship as a team and it kept Honeybun’s true strength quiet.