章節 5: Dance With The Devil

"Detman look alive there are Hounds coming from this direction"

Sage reminded Detman his lack of awareness of the situation.

"Hey I'm your senior talk to me with respect, stand aside"

Detman shoved Sage to the side even though he's offended he still took Sage's advise. Detman showed off his short spear swinging it whistling in the wind, the spear he's holding is adorned with a flat marble at the butt of the handle. Detman saw the bushes move and instinctively pierced to its direction, a howling wail is heard behind the bush. The other Rock Tongue Hounds burst out of the bushes one by one, all four of the reinforcement hounds lined up. The irritated Detman spoke to Sage.

"You should hide dead weight we'll be too busy to keep track of you right now so don't hold us back"

Sage complied and took refuge above the trees hoping no Hounds would notice him. The four guardians is locked in a pincer, David instructed a rearrangement of their position

'Armin stand your ground I'll support you, Warder, Detman take care of the four dogs'

Sage observes the fight hoping to learn how people of this world deal with beasts. He was always a keen student not out of his natural personality, but because of the fact that he needs to do it to survive.Sage in his past life was a kid with no origin, he grew up in the orphanage while being severely bullied and abused by his peers as well as the caretakers of the orphanage.

The caretakers used Sage work for them without any rest. All of this abuse has planted a seed of animosity for humanity inside Sage. The corruption of the orphanage doesn't stop there apparently they have ties with a powerful syndicate, the orphanage was a front to exploit kids however they want for money. One day the mobster came to the orphanage looking for a kid, without hesitation the caretakers as well as the kids threw Sage under the bus like trash.

Sage became the entertainment for the syndicate for quite some time, became the dog of the syndicate. They tortured him whenever he made a mistake and they even torture him for fun but as he grew older the torture became harsher and more life threatening. The leader of the powerful syndicate was what they call "experimenting" on Sage without any regards to his psyche. This lead Sage to a habit of absorb anything and adapt just to survive, letting the seed of hatred sprout resulting in indifference in humanity, the leader may have broken Sage's body but not his spirit.

They eventually grew tired of playing with Sage and he was later trained to be an assassin, a fighter, their own personal bodyguard, the dark syndicate didn't expect Sage to excel so they intentionally gave him deadly to nearly impossible assignments, but all the hardships all the misfortune of his life was in vain when he was betrayed by his partner the son of the leader of the powerful group that raised him to what he is today.

"Don't stray too far kid we can't protect you if you're too far."

David spoke out of concern, but Sage ignored it. Sage took a deep breath through the nose and caught a whiff of a person, it was Gengje he quickly scouted the surrounding area with ears wide open, he bolted deeper into the forest to search for him he headed north and heard a muffled wheezing in the distance. Sage jumped from tree to tree, landing on the branches making no sound like a stealthy cat avoiding unnecessary encounters.

Twenty meters away he located Genje hiding by a thick bush, Gengje was sweating profusely, bravely holding back his cries. Sage suddenly appeared beside him Gengje surprised almost letting out a scream good thing Sage grabbed his mouth close almost giving their position from the stray hound, but Sage place his finger on his lips gesturing to hush, Gengje can only nod in silence. Sage had already located the beast lurking around so he instinctively faced the opposite direction and jumped on a tree while carrying Gengje with ease, but just as they land on a tree a whip suddenly destroyed their foothold making them fall on the ground.

"Kid, head in that direction while I distract the beast. Go now!"

Gengje nodded and without any thought followed his instructions and sprinted away. Sage never took his eyes off the direction of the beast. The shrubbery shook as a black snout peered in the bushes and revealed a Rock Tongue Hound, but this Rock Tongue Hound was different from the ones he saw back with the guardians. Its canine shine with a glossy jet black glass with a body 3 times as big as the other Rock Tongue Hounds the size of a fully grown great dane that he first encountered. Its Reflexes were incredible it already knew where we were.

Sage did not dare make a move to anger the beast, without any warning the beast cocked its head back with jaws wide open shoots out his its tongue like a bullet. Sage have been dodging firearms in his past life but this is a different story its a barrage of tongue shooting at him like a machine gun, chipping away at him little by little.

'This is too dangerous I have to get away'

All his life Sage have been doing dangerous jobs, but this monster in front of him no doubt will kill him with ease. He had to get away no matter what, so he dashed away tactically going behind the trees for cover. The beast doesn't know of his plan when it suddenly let out another attack, its tongue passed through the tree while the overshoot hit Sage's shoulders it was a force he never felt before. Sage flew considerably far with the trees breaking his fall in the process dislocated his right shoulder. After he rag dolled through the forest he stood up wasting no time and sprinted forward while fine tuning his hearing. He immediately changed direction, going left instead of increasing the gap between him and the beast.

He ran through the thick trees and ended up in a stream of river from there he slipped back his shoulder with only adrenaline as his painkiller, he ran beside the river and dug up a patch of mud and slather it across his whole body and torn clothes desperately. The mud cover most of his scent concealing himself from one of the enemies senses, good thing the river was very far away from the group of guardians so that the beast won't be able to return to the others immediately.

He then hid from the oncoming threat the hound, this is the moment he can strike when he is fully concealed from three of the important senses of a beast. The beast stood at the end of Sage's trail just as he planned. Just like a dog that lost its toy it turned back and run back to the other direction. Sage ambushed it making only a whistle of a sound targeting the underside of the neck where its jugular vein is located, but it was a futile effort. The fur from its body is hard to cut acting as a form of armor to the already thick skinned Hound.

The beast has a lock on Sage digging its claws on the soil and shooting out rapid heavy tongues destroying the greenery. Sage has been maneuver around despite the low visibility of the surroundings his keen senses is acting as his eyes through out the fight. The beast has been launching its tongue one after the other like a continuous railgun.

"if slicing you won't work how about stabbing"

The beast groaned in response, Sage pounced at the beast full frontal the beast opened Its jaw the dark fangs slightly lit in the dark. Shoots its large tongue at Sage mid-air, Sage using the hilt of his knife deflected the attack. Upon landing the point of the knife reach the crown of the beast but it was yet another ineffective attack. The beast finally enraged thrashed Sage with its head making him pulled out the knife. Sage got struck from behind the hard tip of the tongue hit him at a weird angle even though there were no contractions of the tongue. It was evident that this beast can manipulate its tongue manually.

'If I get hit one more time I won't be able to go home, I have to use this technique It was only recently that I learned it too, but there is no other choice but to use it.'

Sage again face the beast, He saw the insignificant damage he made to its head, but it didn't bother him the least. The beast open its mouth once again with its teeth glowing much brighter than last time, but Sage only stood his ground not moving an inch. The beast's mouth launches Its signature attack once again with great momentum, but Sage's body moved like flame on a candle. He found the right timing to move his uncoordinated little body making it a dangerous gamble. Sage brought down his knife he removed the air resistance of his arms for it to move at blinding speed in a blink of an eye half of the tongue fell off. The hound made a loud yelping sound like a puppy while its choking on its own blood. Eventually the large rock tongue hound died of blood loss. Sage held his right shoulders it was in serious pain to have used it after it was dislocated. He walked beside the beast and brought out his knife he then plunged it into its chest and skillfully skinned its hide. Like a common hunter he needs proof that he has killed it so he opened the beasts mouth and took its four obsidian fangs from its mouth and placed it in his pockets.

'I better get going Its friends might come and take revenge on my or worse an even more dangerous might get attracted in its blood'

He never let his guard down so he fled immediately to a more safer place so he ventured deep into the pitch-black freezing forest. The forest was already in deep slumber, after all the scouting he finaly found a small cave he doesn't care anymore whether there is a beast residing inside or not, either he'll die from the cold outside or take his chances inside. All night he did nothing but sit down and breath this helped him get warm through the night it was freezing cold even with the freshly skinned fur.

Morning came the sun peeked at his eyes waking him from the hard floor to a warmth passing through his body.

'I'm still alive?'

"I never knew the iceman meditation back in our world actually works"

Sage stood up checking his aching body

"Oh?"

Sage noticed a wave of warmth but it was not from the sun it was from behind him, like a pulsating heartbeat giving him comfort deeper inside the cave. Curiosity got the best of him so he ventured deeper inside, as he goes deeper the darker it gets but more of a mineral that emanates a light glow were showing up around the walls. As he goes deeper not only minerals but grass became increasingly richer with vines that has pink flowers growing on them, its like a whole nother ecosystem inside the cave with soil below his feet roots from the above.

After a series of steps he entered a spacious chamber it was the end of the cave, the cave was littered with pink butterflies, it looked like a paradise beyond the hellish outside world. He noticed the pink butterflies were the flowers that were sticking on the vines earlier on his way in they were only mimicking a flower. Just like the insects of the mundane world the insects here too have a defense mechanism. His eyes continued to pan over the surroundings when he sees a spring of water, he quickly sprinted towards it and drank his fill, recharging his exhausted body.

"This place looks like heaven"

Sage then jumped in the water with his clothes on cleaning the dirt from his body and his clothes while he's at it.

"Thank god, I feel like the aches from my bones is slowly disappearing. I wish I had a smoke to make this perfect"

Just when Sage was getting relaxed he noticed an increase of butterflies hovering above him like vultures, but he didn't let it get to him as he gets more and more sleepy and relaxed. His eyelids slowly closes when he felt a wave of warmth again jolting him from his drowsiness .

'What was that?'

Sage searched for the source, but the hovering butterflies now closer than before obstructs his vision. He felt another wave of warmth, but he felt its inside the water. He dipped inside and saw a palm sized rock that's glowing he quickly grabbed it, after grabbing it he surfaced and inspected it closely it has a shattered look with cracks glowing red orange. He noticed the butterflies were strangely swarming around him so he got out of the spring and drove away some of it.

He ran outside but didn't couldn't get rid of all of it some clung to his clothes, hair and some are hovers around him. After getting out of the cave it seems the butterfly were harmless and just let it be. Sage backtracked from when he came, he returned to the scene of the crime, seems like they took care of everything. Sage was leisurely walking at the outskirts of the village when a patrolling guardian shouted at him.

"Sage!!"

Sage waved at the guardian feeling relief, but the guardian face was not what he'd expected he wasn't showing a face of happiness. The guardian's face was like he had seen a ghost the blood from the patrolling guardian was drained from his body.

"Don't come any closer dammit, you're gonna kill the entire village!!"