3: Lost Hope

"IT'S A MOUSETRAP…"

Those ear screeching words entered his ears, but they were too slow. His spine had already sensed the danger. His pulse raged like thunder while his elbow felt a draft of air. His left shoulder went numb. An unexplainable tick passed through his spine, screaming that something or someone was behind him.

Before he could even turn around, his vision went through a sickening turbulence. Unfortunately, his reflexes couldn't react to any of those warning signs. His body flew through the air and brutally crashed against the tree. 

~THUD

The back side of his own arrow that was impaled on the tree trunk passed digging a hole through his stomach. The archer's whole body was now skewered on the tree trunk like a painting hanging by the wall through a nail. 

Also, his left arm was already ripped out of his shoulder, dripping the stream of blood at the foot of the tree. 

The blood kept gushing out from several other wounds too that cropped up because of brutal thrashing against the tree. The last thing he saw before his vision faded was a lingering silhouette of a bloodthirsty winged creature.

Everything happened so fast, he couldn't even process what exactly happened to him. Was it the same beast? Or was it something else that assaulted him to the brink of death? He couldn't even let out a proper scream out of his mouth that was filled with blood.

His vision was too bloodstained and blurry, 

"Fuc..k!" The Archer's eyes closed as he felt his mind losing consciousness. He puked gallons of blood before the strength left his body, "this was a bloody mistake…"

His mind struggled to keep up with the pace of the events. However, standing far from the point of assault, the woman had seen everything that had happened so far. She tried to warn the archer at the last second, but the beast was just too fast.

"Shit!!" The woman's heart almost hurled out of her chest, "Did the creature just pull off a 'mousetrap' ?"

Her chest tightened and ass began to perspire. She had never imagined that the beast whom they thought was a stranded infant would turn out to be such an anomaly. This just might become the last hunt for their lives. Her entire world began to crumble when she realized the gravity of the situation.

Despite its timid name, 'mousetrap', she knew that it is one of the most vicious and horrifying techniques to ever exist. This technique was designed by a combined effort of the first few human-assassins who stepped into glitch.

Despite the technique being over 100 years old, 'mousetrap' is still considered a tuble turning technique among hunters. The hunters who can learn the technique mainly use it to lure the horde of beasts into a state of immediate vulnerability. 

The technique works well against the chasing horde that is trying to trail his victim. Almost like a narrow-minded mouse chasing the bait into a trap.

The crux of this technique is stealth and chakra control. By manipulating and resonating the chakra to a certain frequency, it's possible to create an illusive afterimage for a certain period of time. It is similar to creating a luring phantasm to delude the opponents.

However, chakra control is just a part of it. The technique also demands an abnormal control over one's presence. If the user's stealth skills are lacking even to the point of width of the hair, the technique will crumble like a fragile house of cards. 

Unfortunately, the fundamental requirements are insane and extremely talent driven. That is why the hunters avoid learning this technique because it's not for everyone. 

Interestingly enough, the technique doesn't just come naturally. Neither can it be passed down. It's a learned skill and no human or beast should be able to use it unless they have put an effort into it.

Besides, the user also needs a human-like intelligence and self-awareness to execute. Which makes it close to impossible for any beast to learn it. Unfortunately, the Inca accomplished the feat as if it was his second nature.

"He might be a high-tier beast, but there is no way a mere creature should know an advanced stealth based technique… unless…!"

"Shitt… was he waiting for us all along… "

"shit! shit! Shit! He is being trained by someone…"

"this is bad…  I gotta get out of here…"

Several raging thoughts begin to strangle her own mind. The panic made her dizzy. A sense of urgency creeped in. If the beast could pull off a mousetrap so effortlessly, then the forest would turn into her graveyard.

Also, her partner was skewered in an instant, which put her at an even bigger disadvantage. Several years of experience told her that . The next second, Her feet turned in the opposite direction and a raging pulse of adrenaline tickled her gut.

Her presence was exposed now, but that wasn't the point of concern anymore. A malignant aura burst out of her body and her eyes sparked a tint of yellow. The veins in her calf strained and stormed in the opposite direction like a bolt of thunder.

The air began to split as she rushed toward the exit. However, in the next instant, she felt a looming shadow following her closely, like a vicious python. Her heart sank to the depth of hell when she realized that even her maximum speed wasn't enough.

"Oh my gosh!" 

The woman's mouth turned disgustingly frothy out of sheer terror as she realized that this might be her last breath.

She ran with all her might. However, her back felt numb and wet from burning agony. The beast's talons finally went through her back, almost ripping out her spinal cord. The kevlar did very little to protect her body.

The impact of the attack threw her 50 feet rolling on the ground. The gut wrenching pain made her entire life flashed in front of her eyes. There was no way she could handle this beast on her own.

Coincidentally the impact shoved her against the same tree where her partner was impaled. Her face and shoulder dragged over the pool of blood of her partner. Her back was laced with deep laceration and her drops of blood gushed out of her mouth and tear ducts.

~huff ~Cough ~Cough

~huff ~huff

Shit.. I fucked up… should ha-ve not underti—mated" she cursed while panting her guts out,

Her ears went numb from the impact. Her lungs screamed for oxygen. Her head started spinning. Soon, she saw the faint outline of the Inca 10 feet away like a merciless butcher from the deepest parts of hell. 

The beast's eyes were bubbling with wrath. She knew even if a miracle happened and she survived, she would remember those monstrous eyes forever as profane nightmares.

~huff ~huff

The winged creature growled as he licked his talons drenched in blood. The Inca's deadly canine came out for the display as he continued to munch on the archer's ripped arm. His beak had minor cavities where blood droplets stuck as he gobbled.

He chewed the bones and flesh of the bloody arm. Despite the majestic appearance of the Inca body, his beastly nature from up close instilled unexplainable terror in her heart. Seeing the beast made her lose her shit .

Her body was completely paralysed from fear and the injuries on her body. In fact, her injuries were so brutal she couldn't even move her limbs to even give herself a swift or painless death either.

She could see her gruesome fate transpiring in her mind where the beast would rip her limb-by-limb and chew her own body part in front of her eyes.

" Help…someone help…PLEASE… HELP!"

She began to wail her heart out, but her call of support was only answered by the abundant silence of the valley. The beast kept growling at her with hungry, impatient eyes.

The woman's eyes kept getting darker each second. Apart from being constantly tortured by beast's despicable rhythm, her wounds kept cropping up on her skin, gushing out as fresh blood and puss.

Every part of her body was drenched  with blood, some of her own, some of her partner's, that was impaled above her. After gobbling the entirety of the archer's ripped arm the beast now stood 3 feet away from the woman dripping in a pool of blood. 

The Inca gawked at the woman for a few seconds. She was breathing heavily from her mouth, as if she was trying to accept her gruesome fate.

However, the beast had no intention of letting her go. He growled at her without mercy. The beast jumped on her, dug his canine in her leg and ripped out a huge chunk of her thigh with his teeth.

"AAARRRGGHH"

Her guttural screams echoed through the entire forest along with a munching sound of raw meat being chewed. Her eyes turned red and her mouth turned frothy by the amount of pain inflicted.

Soon, her eyes began to lose light, and she struggled to hang on to her consciousness. She even heard a familiar sound. Sadly, she had already lost all hope now, and dismissed it as her mind playing tricks on her.

The pain was just too much. At this moment, she only wished that the beast would just rip out her throat and be done with it. The Inca seemed to have understood her death wish and went straight for her throat.

His beak was about to gorge out her vocal cord. However, at the last moment something happened that she didn't expect.

~SWISH

A lance with a demonic speed passed by, right in front of her eyes, grazing the tip of her nose. The sizzling killing intent imbued in the spear made the Inca back off and create some distance between him and the woman.

A shiver went through her spine as she realized how close this spear was from skewering her skull. The goosebumps from the bubbling killing intent that crawled over her skin brought her consciousness back.

She immediately turned her gaze towards the origin of the shot and saw a person standing approximately 150 meters away.