Bushes flattened.
Branches broken.
Maniacal hunting laughter reverberated throughout the forest.
As soon as Kai saw Matilda, he immediately made a run for it. He did not even look back and run as fast as he possibly could. He would be toast if he had to fight against her. Fortunately, Matilda wasn't among the ones who were chasing after him.
She made a deal with Team Coeus, so she probably wasn't allowed to chase.
Or perhaps she didn't recognize him with the mask on.
Kai panted heavily.
He was running while holding his left arm, which had grown numb from the arrow in his back. Sweat wetted his eyebrows, and slid down the side of his eyes as he frantically looked around, searching for anyway to escape.
But trees are the only thing he can see.
The Nigh-Phantom imprint is useless now, so he has to find a place to hide from sight.
Four are chasing me.
Kai glanced over his shoulder and gritted his teeth. He couldn't fight back against four students at the same time. His kill went smoothly due to the element of surprise. Now, without it, taking down one student would be hard for him.
He would die for certain if he tried to take out four at the same time.
Swish—!
A streaking wind brushed past his ear.
An arrow stabbed into a tree trunk. It almost pierced the back of his head.
Ahead, he noticed a downslope right past some bushes. Deciding that it was his best bet, he leaped forward, avoiding a few arrows, and slid down. Rocks riddled the dirt, making the slide painful against his skin.
It was a deep downslope.
Just then, Kai noticed a silhouette with almost glowing red eyes behind a tree.
He blinked to focus on the person and realized it was the limp woman.
Despite her condition, somehow, she survived the ambush.
Or maybe she wasn't back in base when it happened.
Either way, Kai could tell that she was signaling for him to follow her. Not knowing whether he could trust her or not, Kai hesitated. But the sound of his chasers' hyena cackles pushed him to risk trusting her.
Kai pivoted his body and ran left.
Not too far behind, the four chasers also reached the bottom and continued their hunt.
"There's nowhere to run, Crius boy!"
"Hahah—!"
"Once we capture you, we'll offer you to Lion. You'd be eaten alive!"
Kai's eyes frantically look around.
What the heck? How is she moving this quickly? She's supposed to be limping.
Despite his frantic run, he couldn't keep up and lost the woman. It was puzzling, and now he's back to square one again. But as he made a turn into the tall bushes, a hand grabbed his arm and yanked him down.
A grunt escaped Kai's lips.
Realizing what happened, he tries to sit up, but is met with a pair of red eyes.
The woman pressed her index finger against her lips, gesturing for him to be quiet.
Not too far away—in fact, a few feet away from them, Kai could hear the angry voices of his pursuers, cursing at his sudden disappearance. His body stayed still, but his eyes widened when a foot slammed down to their left.
It almost landed on the woman's back. Almost.
But even then, she doesn't react as Kai did.
No change in her expressions.
She remained calm. Collected. Even when the toe touched her shoulder, she remained absolutely silent. It was only when the foot turned and walked away that Kai let out the breath that he had unconsciously been holding.
Kai wanted to check, but the woman shook her head.
Both remained motionless in the next ten minutes, awkwardly looking at each other until the coast was absolutely clear. "You're lucky that Snake and Wolf didn't chase after you, too."
Hearing her voice, Kai looked at her and then blinked.
"Huh?"
"Huh? What do you mean, huh?"
"You're not a girl?" Kai tilted his head incredulously. "You're a guy?"
"Sorry for my deceiving look and dainty fingers, but I'm a guy," the woman, who was actually a man, said while rolling his eyes. He stood up and looked around, "My name is Dorian. If you want to survive, you'd better work with me."
"Like I have another choice," Kai also sat up and poked his head out of the bush. "I'm Kai, but you probably already know that."
"Yeah, I know."
"We'll need to find somewhere to hide first. Do you have any idea?"
"I saw a good place earlier. Follow me."
Dorian went out first and checked the surroundings before making their way.
Once he turned around, he saw Kai grunting against a boulder.
He pressed his back against it, angling the arrow that was still in his back, and with a forceful twist, broke the wooden shaft.
"You're hurt," Dorian approached to check.
"That's more painful than I thought," Kai cursed aloud. "It looked easy in movies."
Dorian sighed like the weight of the world was on his shoulders.
"Are you dumb?" He planted a hand on his hip, and the other pressed to his forehead. He then shook his head slowly. "It's enchanted. Not some apprentice's practice arrow." He dropped his hand and then looked at Kai like he was explaining something to a child. "Of course, it's stronger than your flesh."
"I broke it, though," Kai smirked. "Don't mind me. I can hold on until we get to safety."
Both of them slowly and carefully threaded the forest.
Even though the coast was clear, there were still several distant screams.
Team Coeus was still playing with Team Crius from the sound of it.
"We're focusing on finding the Awakened Monster and the mine, while Team Coeus focuses on looting and locating the other teams to take out competition," Dorian huffed, clearly annoyed that he was now forced to live like a yarzan. "How did they even find us that quickly?"
"Matilda betrayed us," Kai answered. Saying that still stings.
"Hah! I knew that bitch was no good," Dorian scoffed mockingly. "What a heroic display from a Supernal of Athena."
After traversing about a quarter mile, Kai and Dorian crouched down.
Laughter cut through the trees—not too far away, about twenty feet away. Dorian and Kai exchanged a look, but didn't exchange words. Didn't need to. Both could tell that the other also wanted to check.
Kai wanted an opportunity to take out another enemy and complete his quest.
As for Dorian, Kai didn't know what was in his mind, but the bloodlust was evident.
Just a bit more intense compared to Kai, as his face looked unhinged from the side.
The laughter led them to a small, circular glade. There are four girls gathered there. Three of them are of Team Coeus, judging from their dirty gold armbands, while the fourth was someone Kai knew—Abigail.
She is cornered against a tree, her tunic was torn badly, which left her torso exposed, and one of the three girls' armbands was tied tightly around her eyes, plunging Abigail into a blind and terrifying darkness.
A few bleeding cuts marred her fragile frame as her body shivered from the pain.
And without her mask, taken by the three girls, her breaths were short and desperate.
"Come on, make this more fucking interesting!"
"Girl, you look pathetic right now. We're only helping you realize your potential."
The girl with the bow and arrow chuckled. "You're from Team Coeus, aren't you? He's a titan known for his divine oracles. If you concentrate hard enough, you should easily predict where my next arrow lands."
"Please," Abigail clasped her hands and begged. "I'll join your team. I can be useful! I am good at healing wounds, toxins, poison, and even purifying your water source! Just let me live! I'll do anything.
"If I die, my family would also die... Please!"
"Blah, blah, blah," the girl prepared to shoot again. "Unfortunately for you, our team already has a healer. A Supernal of Asclepius. I doubt you can top him in healing. And also, I don't give a damn about your family. Accept your fate like a good girl."
Swish—!
"AAARGH!"
"HAHAH—!"
Dorian watched as an arrow pierced into Abigail's arm, and he shook his head.
"Let's leave," He whispered, not needing to see anymore. "There are three of them, and more nearby. No need to risk our lives when the odds are stacked against—"
Dorian stopped mid-sentence at the sight of Kai's face.
Unlike earlier, when he looked like a scared and lost pup scouring through the forest in search of safety, he now looked like a tiger. His eyes were open wide, and there was rage behind them. His chest heaved up and down faster, and his jaw hung slightly.
For a second, he seemed to forget that he was wounded and also surrounded.
"Don't even think about it," Dorian warned.
"You're going to leave her?" Kai's eyes blazed. "All of us are people, and they treated her like this? It's one thing to kill her—but this… I can't stand bullies. Go on ahead if you want to, but I'm taking Abigail first."
"Can we talk about th—?"
Dorian sighed, seeing Kai already sneaking away, his presence suddenly disappearing.
Kai didn't even wait for him to finish.
"Hah… Fuck me," Dorian clicked his tongue in displeasure. "We're so dead."
On the other hand, Abigail cried profusely as the pain overtook her mind. Her left arm was numb, and her face was pale from the loss of blood and lack of oxygen. She was on the brink of passing out.
Her blindfold slid from her wet-licked skin.
It allowed her to see the three girls cruelly laughing at her.
The bow-wielding girl stepped closer, her mouth forming words that dissolved into muffled static. Abigail couldn't really hear what she was saying. Everything was muffled like she was underwater.
But even as her consciousness was fading, she still hoped for help.
'Someone…' A tear slid down her face. 'Someone, please, save me. I don't want to die. I really don't want to die…'
Just then, through her blurry and darkening vision, she saw something moving.
A shadow that swayed behind the two girls watching her torture.
For a second, she thought it was Hermes playing tricks on her before escorting her to the afterlife. If she passed out right now, she was sure that these girls would kill her, as that would mean the fun was over.
It made sense for Hermes to appear right now.
But when the shadow emerged and attacked the two girls, Abigail realized she wasn't hallucinating.
Even the bow-wielding girl snapped her gaze over her shoulder, which confirmed that the attack was real. That the shadow was real. She aimed to shoot at the shadow, but another one emerged from the side.
This one wielded fire.
He struck the girl with a fire blast through his palm and sent her crashing away.
"Get up and crawl away to safety," the shadow said. His voice should be muffled, but it was clear in her ears. Perhaps it was her will to survive that made this possible. "He can't handle those two alone. I need to help, so move your ass on your own. Be grateful that we come to save you and crawl!"
Without waiting for Abigail to move, the shadow dashed to help the other shadow.
She couldn't recognize who they were, but she was ecstatic for their help.