Hunters: The Prequel - Chapter 272

20 Years Ago

“Samoa, did you see those prints,” within the Enchanted Forest, a handsome young man was hiding within some bushes with his friend. He looked anxious and weary, just like anyone who entered the Enchanted Forest and saw what they had. The man’s name was Joe.

“I did Joe. A creature of such power is terrifying.” Right beside the handsome young man was another good looking youngster. This young man looked very similar to Village Head Samoa, only several years younger. This was because this was indeed Village Head Samoa. At least, this was him when he was younger and still inexperienced.

“We must get back to the village and let them know what we have found out. The number of creatures has grown by large amount. And added to that terrifying creature…” Joe wiped the sweat off his forehead and spoke anxiously.

An Overflow. That was the greatest fear of all who lived close to an Enchanted Forest. So to prevent this fear from becoming a reality, the population of Magical Beasts was kept within a certain range to ensure that there ever won’t be an Overflow. The village was next to a large Enchanted Forest. Although it had several great fighters, even if they could handle an Overflow from this large Enchanted Forest, they would lose a lot. Recovery would be difficult, and if any bandit groups learnt that the village was weakened and defenseless, they would strike. So to prevent an Overflow the village, constantly hunted Magical Beasts in the Enchanted Forest. Even the few that unwittingly ventured out of the Enchanted Forest were dealt with. So they should have been far from an Overflow.

Samoa and his friend Joe were part of the Enchanted Forest Scouting Party of the village. Their job was to go to the Enchanted Forest every week and record the number of Magical Beasts in it. Members of the Scouting Party were good trackers and had excellent knowledge on almost every type of Magical Beast. They could estimate the number of Magical Beasts by checking prints, analysing breeding patterns, observing nests, and noting if they were any changes wrought by climate changes on Magical Beasts. They were strong enough to escape most Magical Beasts and were constantly guarded by a skilled fighter of the village. Yet what they had seen today had stunned them greatly. It was only last week that they had come here, and the Magical Beasts population was still within the estimated range. But the number of Magical Beasts had grown by threefold in just one week. And after analysing the patterns, they realised that this was just the beginning! It was going to get much worse in the next week. There was going to be an Overflow!

“You are right. We don’t have enough strength to change anything. We can only report the situation to the Village Head and the Elders and hope that they come up with a solution.” The young Samoa quickly agreed with his friend and silently moved backwards. Although he wasn’t sweating as visibly as his friend, his shaking arms and legs along with his shivering lips in this dry weather was evidence that he had also seen something that terrified him to his core.

“We should take off our outer clothing. They reek of blood.” Although Samoa was scared, his reasoning wasn’t shaken.

“You are right,” Joe shook when he heard Samoa’s words. He quickly tried to pry his outer garments off himself.

“Take your time. We don’t want to make any noise. Our escape brought us into the deepest region of the Enchanted Forest. We don’t want to encounter any dangerous creatures here.” Samoa held down Joe’s hand and reminded his anxious friend.

“Yes,” was all Joe managed to squeeze out of his mouth. He slowly took off his top which was stained with blood. The young Samoa did the same and then picked up Joe’s cloth. He untied a small bag from his waist and put the clothes in them. Then he sprinkled some strange juice from a gourd on his waist onto the bag and gently placed it in the bushes. Then he nodded at Joe and both men retreated from the bushes.

In their retreat, they made sure to hide their tracks and they never left the path of the trees and grass. They always remained hidden. Their eyes were vigilant and their ears were alert to any strange sounds. They traveled for several hours before they finally reached the outer region of the Enchanted Forest.

“At least we are back,” Joe let out a visible sigh of relief once he confirmed that they were back in the outer regions.

“Don’t lose your guard yet. We haven’t left the forest so we still aren’t safe.” Samoa advised. But even he had loosened his tight muscles subconsciously. Even though they were still in the Enchanted Forest, the outer regions were so much safer than the inner regions. With their strength, they could navigate the outer sections pretty well and get back to safety.

This large Enchanted Forest was divided into two sections. The outer section and the inner section. The inner section was not as populated as the outer section, but it was far more dangerous. The outer section was filled with several Magical Beasts, and the most powerful beast around was in the High Class. But even then, there were only a few High Class Magical Beasts around. The inner section was different. The inner section was filled with High Class Magical Beasts and Several Mythical Class Magical Beasts. They weren’t as many as the Magical Beasts in outer section, but the ones with the lowest strength were the High Class Magical Beasts. So the inner section was forbidden to venture for weaker fighters.

On this planet, there were five ranks of fighters. In order of ascent: Soldiers; Animal Hunters; Thrashers; Predators; and Nightmares. Soldiers were the normal humans. They were humans that hadn’t consumed the New Type potion or the now unavailable Savior. Because they had no way to unlock their potential without these potions, their strength was limited, and they were only able to go against other normal humans and normal beasts of this world. Soldiers were very common, and they occupied a large chunk of a human settlement’s fighting force. They were usually referred to as ‘Normies’ by the New Types.

Animal Hunters was the weakest class of enhanced humans. They were people who had taken the New Type potion, but didn’t have enough talent to gain greater strength. They were a capable fighting force since they could handle Low Class Magical Beasts with very little problem. However, they were looked down on by the stronger New Types since they were relatively weak to be called enhanced humans.

Thrashers was the rank that divided the elites from the trash. Anyone below the rank of a Thrasher was not held in high esteem by the fighting community. Thrashers were strong enough to handle any Low Class Magical Beast. They also had the strength to go against any Middle Class Magical Beast, and some Top Level Thrashers could even hold their own against High Class Magical Beasts. But it wasn’t every High Class Magical Beast they could handle. High Class Magical Beasts close to the Mythic Rank in power were too much to handle for just one Top Level Thrasher. But a team of Top Level Thrashers could handle a very powerful High Class Magical Beast. That was how large the gulf between Thrashers and Animal Hunters was. Animal Hunters could only handle Low Class Magical Beasts, whereas Thrashers could handle the Middle and average High Classes with relative comfort.

Predators were the second highest combat force of this world. They were rare and highly sought after even in the cities. Predators could handle any High Class Magical Beast, and were strong enough to go against the power of Mythic Class Magical Beasts. Two Predators with good teamwork could kill a very strong Mythic Class without sustaining severe injuries. They were a very powerful force to reckon with.

As for Nightmares, they were far stronger than Predators. Predators were strong, but a Predator could be taken down by a well-coordinated team of at least 7 Top Level Thrashers. But the same couldn’t be said about Nightmares. Nightmares were so powerful that they could easily dispatch off a Mythic Class, and even the most powerful Mythic Classes weren’t their match! One could recruit 20 Thrashers and send them off to kill a Nightmare, and fail miserably! The best outcome would be that one of the Thrashers escapes the fury of the Nightmare! That was how strong they were. Fortunately, most Nightmares were Mystic Path Warriors. And since that battle against the Legendary Winged Serpent, there weren’t any more Mystic Path Warriors. And those that remained were in a weakened state.

Each rank above Soldiers had its own title. Animal Hunters usually had the title of Cat or Dog as part of their names. Thrashers were usually referred to as Boars or Bulls. The strongest of Thrashers were called ‘Wild Cats’ due to how close they were to becoming Predators. Predators usually possessed the names of the strongest hunters in the world: Lions; Tigers; Leopards; Cobras; Mambas; Eagles; Mongooses. There were several titles for them, but Predators were so few that these titles were impressive when anyone had them.

Samoa and Joe were Thrashers so they could only handle the outer section. The inner section was a no-go for them. In fact, the entire scouting party was full of Thrashers, so venturing into the inner region was never part of their agenda. After all, High and Mythic Class Magical Beasts didn’t have good fertility rates. So the danger of Overflows didn’t come from them, but from the Low and Middle Class Magical Beasts. However, today they had noticed a few abnormalities and had run into a very powerful High Class Magical Beast that forced them into the inner region. The team of 5 had been reduced to two – Samoa and Joe.

“We should be able to find an exit in about 20 minutes if we follow this trail,” Samoa whispered once he recognized the all too familiar path before him. He could feel the heavy burden on his shoulders fall off. They were closer to the exit now. That was until he heard that noise.

*Hiss*

“This-,” Samoa stuttered fearfully when he saw the creature ahead. It was a large snake covered entirely with black scales. Its green eyes starred in their direction with cold apathy. It was 30 metres long, and two metres wide. Its forked tongue slithered out of its monstrously large mouth as though it was mocking them. That was the creature that had taken away the lives of their colleagues. That was the creature they were escaping from. Joe shook fearfully as he looked at the snake’s green eyes and stuttered its name,

“The Giant Black Mamba! It followed us here!”