𝖌𝖚𝖒𝖚𝖘𝖘𝖊𝖗𝖛𝖎

e i g h t

"congratulation to those of you who managed to get out of the marshes alive and well! you are now in the biska woods, the place where the second round will take place," satotz explained. "so, i shall take my leave. best of luck to all of you!"

the lilac haired man marched off, leaving the remaining 149 hunter applicants in front of the closed building. 

[name] released her hold on kurapika, to his disappointment. she walked over towards the building to get a better look. the building looked simple. wall, roof, windows above the door, etc. but one thing was certain, the doors were closed and would not open until given time.

there was a sign above the doors and a clock above the row of windows, showing it was nearly twelve o'clock.

"next trial round will start today at noon," [name] read aloud. "so it'll open soon. in about two minutes."

a persistent grumbling came from inside the building. was it a wild animal they had to fight? a hungry one? the atmosphere grew tense as the hand ticked, to indicate a minute had passed.

only a minute to go, the whole of the remaining hunter applicants thought.

a steady minute passed, the opening of the doors indicating this. the doors revealed a slim, watermelon-pink haired woman sitting cross-legged and a larger man sitting behind her, grumbling escaping his stomach.

"welcome, i'm menchi, the second phase examiner," the woman greeted.

"and i'm buhara, the other examiner."

then, the same grumbling echoed, causing the male to frown.

"you must be hungry," menchi suggested, looking up.

"you bet, i'm starving.."

"there you have it. phase two will involve... cooking!"

the hunter applicants are taken aback. todo gritted his teeth.

"cooking?! we're here to take the hunter exam!"

"that's quite right! your challenge for the second phase is to produce a dish that will satisfy our palate," menchi replied, unamused.

"why do we have to cook?!"

"that's because.. we are gourmet hunters."

this caused a majority of the hunter candidates to break into laughter. [name] glared at the hunters in front of her that cackled disrespectfully.

"so, gourmet hunters, what are we supposed to make?"

"for me, it will be.. roast pork! that's what i like best! i don't care what kind of pork it is, as long as it is from the biska woods."

the hunter applicants immediately left after buhara's signal. round one of the second phase had begun.

~

the five rookie hunter applicants strolled around the forest, searching for a pig to roast. the ascended a hill, heads turning every now and then.

"catch a pig and cook it. this is way easier than the first phase," leorio declared, one hand holding the suitcase swung over his shoulder and the other stuffed into his pocket.

"i hope it will be that simple," kurapika muttered, concerned at how low the difficulty of the task was.

suddenly, gon jumped, sliding down the hill. he was soon after followed by killua, [name], leorio and kurapika.

"yahooooaaAAAAHHH!!!!"

killua crashed into the ebony haired boy, which whom had abruptly stopped at the bottom of the hill. the same event repeated three times more. [name] coughed painfully when leorio's knees made aggressive contact with her back, then the pressure of another body made her fall onto the white haired boy in front of her.

"what was that about, gon?!" killua exclaimed, vexed at the abrupt meeting.

"found them."

"huh?"

"pigs!"

the quintet of rookie hunter applicants looked to their right, finding a horde of enormous, large snouted, pink pigs. they were chewing on what looked like.. bones.

"oi. they're chewing on bones..."

"don't tell me... they're carnivores?"

then, a single pig snapped the bone it was chewing on with ease, glancing upwards to find the five. it squealed with hostility. the five dashed away from the scene, bringing along the pack of aggressive pigs.

hunter candidates who were unfortunate enough to be in the line of attack and not prepared were violently rammed into trees and disposed of.

"these pigs are crazy!"

scattering in different directions, the pigs were having one-on-one fights with hunters.

[name] furrowed her eyebrows, concentration on the hostile pig in front of her. as it scuffed it's hind legs on the ground in preparation to charge, [name] swiftly nipped the skin of her index finger with her teeth, blood slowly escaping.

the pig charged, its large snout pointed towards the girl. [name] slid to the left, kicking at her feet and darting besides the pig. she placed her index finger on the pig's forehead, red pigment smearing onto it's skin.

the pig grumbled in surprise before abruptly pausing. it's eyes shook. they rolled back in their sockets, iris disappearing. the pig dropped to the floor with a brief "thud".

"i guess its skin wasn't that hard," [name] commented, tying a rope to the pig's legs and lugging it to where she believed the exam's second phase sit was.