Chương 30: Midnight (1)—Hunter/ Hunted.

Cain had already made up his mind to find out what the hell had been watching him.

He broke through the boundary of trees and into the forest.

The background noises created by all sorts of insects served to mask all noise, Cain created, as well as his potential stalker.

'Whatever that thing is, it's certainly bad news.'

Cain could smell its hostility from miles away, but the thing managed to give its presence so that Cain couldn't even get a whiff of its aura to trace it down.

But Cain could still tell he was being watched from the shadows. He had noticed it right after he had defeated the {Crimson Demon Bear}. It had probably been watching him for a longer period, but with the boost, he got from the increase he was finally able to notice that something was watching...

And from the faint aura it released, Cain could tell it was strong, possibly stronger than the {Crimson Demon Bear}.

Dashing through the forest at over 200 miles per hour, with excellent control over his speed and agility, he jumped over tree roots and stumps, moving as fast as a cheetah, and as dexterous as a falling leaf in the wind.

The wind brushed against his face as he flew through the undergrowth like an arrow released from a bowstring. His footsteps were as light as that of a cat, creating no noise on impact.

He spotted a tall tree of over 50 meters, one of the tallest in the area. He increased his speed, gaining momentum with every step. In a split second, he got close to the base of the tree. He bent his knees, turning his accumulated linear momentum into an upward leap. Like springs were attached to the soles of his feet, he flew straight to the top of the tree.

He grabbed onto a branch on the tree, and a few gracious spins later, the excess force behind the jump was killed out. With his immaculate control and precision, balancing on the thick branch was a piece of cake.

The forest was many times different from what it was before God Ash had fallen. The trees and every other thing in the forest had begun to mutate. Although it wasn't as bad as the animals in the forest, it was still apparent. Weird outgrowths sprouted out from the trees, and the leaves had grown a size bigger.

Trees that were once only about 20 meters in length had almost doubled in height, and even the insects had become frightening as well.

A sea of massive fireflies, each the size of a fist floated within his vision. Their bulbous illuminated bottoms were extremely bright, so bright, that the heat produced was enough to burn a hole through the leaves they landed on.

'Good thing they like the leaves more than they like me.'

Seeing as the fireflies were more interested in munching on leaves than they were with him, he heard a sigh of relief and proceeded to scan the area.

With over 2 points in perception, his sight wasn't completely affected by the darkness. It was even slightly better than usual, but not by much. Probably due to the grey clouds that constantly covered the clouds, there was no starlight and moonlight from the celestial bodies to grace the surface of Urbus, the night was a few times darker than usual.

Cain wasn't too hindered by the overwhelming darkness and continued his search until finally...

'Bingo...'

Cain finally found what he was looking for...

After calculating the coordinates of his exact destination, he relaxed his body, and let gravity do the rest of the work.

SWOOSH!

On a normal day, a fall from a height of over 50 meters would have led to his unfortunate demise, but those days of normalcy were over.

Still, even with him being so strong, an uncontrolled fall from this height would leave him with injuries. But when it came to the control department, he certainly wasn't lacking...

Just as soon as his legs hit the ground, he performed a series of perfect forward flips, controlling the force behind the fall.

Using the remaining momentum, he dashed forward like a bullet. He had decided to continue moving on the ground, as the thick network of gnarly branches on top of the trees would hinder his movement.

***

A few minutes later, Cain arrived at his destination.

'I can't believe I forgot him here.'

The shadow of a huge creature sleeping on the ground was reflected in the depth of his pupils.

As fate would have it, it turns out that Cain had completely forgotten the bound {Mutant Black Bear}. He was supposed to kill it, but the interaction with the more powerful {Crimson Demon Bear} made him completely forget the poor thing.

"Wake up, Teddy."

Unsheathing his sword, Cain used the tip to poke its butt. The sudden jolt of pain caused the beast to wake up from its slumber with a yell of pain.

ROAR!

Anger surfaced in the eyes of the creature as it looked around for its assaulter. Although the mutant was bound in chains, it was still able to turn around and look at its assaulter with its enraged eyes.

Eh?

The mutant was not only surprised to see Cain, but it was also terrified beyond belief. As soon as it made eye contact with Cain, the events of earlier quickly replayed in its mind. The only reason it hadn't broken out of its chains was that Cain hadn't released it yet. Since the source of the magic that created the chains, Cain, wasn't available to supply the mana necessary to sustain the spell, the chains had lost their initial strength. It would have been very easy to break out of them if it wanted to.

However, the intense fear it had of Cain made it stay put. And that was because it understood just how scary Cain's abilities were. Not only had it witnessed Cain cut down the {Crimson Demon Bear}, which was just a stronger version of itself, the blade Cain had used to devour the corpse of the {Crimson Demon Bear} made it feel fear that came from its very soul.

It didn't know why, but just thinking about the blade made it feel chills run up its beastly spine.

Its threatening posture instantly softened, and its claws retracted. The beast became docile immediately...

"You have two choices here, Teddy. I know yoy can understand a bit of what I'm saying, so try your best." Cain said, doubly expressing himself with various gestures and hand motions to make understanding easier.

The poor beast indeed had a vague understanding of what Cain was saying. The God Ash didn't just affect humans, it also had all sorts of adverse effects on animals and plant life. One of these was increased intelligence...

The mutant quickly nodded its fluffy head in response, indicating it understood Cain.

"Good. It seems you are even more intelligent than the others."

"Refuse to cooperate with me and become my food, or help me, and I'll grant you freedom. Your choice..."

Although the beast didn't get the whole message, it knew that it had just two options.

Life or death...

And like any normal, self-loving bear, it chose the most obvious choice...

***

Cain and the {Mutant Black Bear}, whom he had decided to call Teddy zoomed through the forest. At first, Cain had thoughts about riding the bear, but he couldn't trust the bear, especially when he had plans to confront an enemy that was most likely very strong.

Cain needed the bear for one reason and one reason only.

Bait...

Cain had first noticed the presence when he had killed the {Crimson Demon Bear}. As soon as he separated the Blood elemental mana shard, he noticed the presence fix its focus on him.

From that, he was able to make an educated guess, and conclude that whatever had been watching him was after the blood elemental mana shard. He could still feel it wat thing him from the shadows. The reason why it hadn't attacked yet was that it was probably cautious of his strength.

Cain had been thinking of a way to draw whatever his enemy was, into the light, and the best way to do that was to bait it out with the blood elemental mana shard.

And how was he going to do it?

Well, that's where the 'Teddy' came in...

They moved deeper into the forest until they came across an opening devoid of any plant life. It was a grassy patch of land surrounded by trees, perfect for his plans.

Once they got there, Cain directed Teddy into the center of the open space. The large beast walked to the center of the circle, completely oblivious to its fate as bait.

THUD!

With a loud thud, the beast sat its huge butt on the ground.

"Alright, Teddy. Eat this."

Cain retrieved the {Blood Elemental Mana Shard} from his inventory, then shoved it straight into the mouth of the unsuspecting mutant.

Teddy was able to smell the fragrant scent coming from the blood-red mana shard, so it opened its mouth wide, attempting to crush it with its jaw and absorb the precious power within without hesitation.

However...

A faint rustle rang out in the forest surrounding them. Suddenly, a white shadow blurred into existence before Cain. It stretched its limbs out in an attempt to grab the lustrous mana shard from the open mouth of Teddy.

'So fast!'

Whatever this creature was it was incredibly fast. So fast, Cain was barely able to follow its movements.

'In that case...'

With lightning speed, Cain threw a left hook at the lower jaw of Teddy.

BANG!

It connected solidly, forcing the creature's jaw shut, and shattering the mana shard in the process.

ROAR!

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