Hunters: The Prequel - Chapter 302

“Is he okay?” Samoa asked worriedly. The healer taking care of Blistering Cheetah checked his pulse and breathing and then nodded his head to indicate that everything was fine.

“He is fine. He only fainted due to exhaustion.” The healer’s words relieved Samoa somewhat, but also left him very confused. Why did Blistering Cheetah look so relieved when he was told of Wandering Cheetah’s death? Was there some sort of misunderstanding between the two? But that didn’t seem feasible, given that Blistering Cheetah obviously cared about his friend.

“I’m so confused right now,” Samoa sighed and then returned his gaze to the battlefield where his friend and several Predators were fighting a desperate battle.

****************************

*Swish*

Domineering Tiger moved slightly to the side to avoid the claws of the Pseudo Legendary Class Magical Beast. He lightly span his body and then pierced towards the beast’s paw with his spear.

*Bang*

The spear hit its target, but there was no damage whatsoever. The Resurrection Cat gazed at Domineering Tiger with what seemed to be a disdainful smirk. Seeing its expression, Domineering Tiger didn’t lose his cool. Although he was agitated, he didn’t let that affect his decision making. He jumped back and retreated several metres. The beast didn’t have any more time to pay attention to him either, as Arthur and Village Head Fan besieged it from both sides.

Arthur’s aura was just as powerful as before. But unlike before, there was a hint of forceful ruthlessness entwined in his aura. The bright red light of Durandal looked more sinister than majestic, and its power was nothing to scoff at. Village Head Fan was covered in a silvery white aura, and Caliburn burned with a bright light. As Durandal sang in delight, Caliburn hummed in harmony with the demon sword. Father and son, one of the left, the other approaching from the right, approached the Resurrection Cat with sinister intentions. When they were close enough to the beast, they swung their blades in unison, in perfect synchronicity with each other, and two large sword lights – one red and the other silver – flew towards the Pseudo Legendary Class Magical Beast speedily.

“Reaper”

“Caliburn’s light”

After unleashing their respective attacks, the auras of father and son grew dimmer, and their faces became paler.

Feeling the power of the two sword lights, the Resurrection Cat’s disdainful grin was replaced with a serious look. Its powerful aura grew rapidly, and it hardened its scales and employed one of its three abilities – Unbreakable.

*Boom*

The sword lights landed on its body with a bang, but the countenances of both Arthur and Village Head Fan were still grim. The attacks hit the beast alright, but they did little to no damage to the beast. Even with its scales, it should have sustained some injuries. After all, both men had poured more than half of their strength into the blow and were almost drained of power, but the beast was unfazed.

Arthur and Village Head Fan retreated rapidly to avoid any counterattacks from the beast. They had poured so much into their blows that they were temporarily weakened and wouldn’t be able to defend from even the beast’s regular attacks. So they quickly retreated behind Beastly Tiger and Rash Tiger.

*Roar*

The Resurrection Cat saw that there was an opportunity to deal with the two most troublesome opponents and wasn’t willing to let such an opportunity slide. Covering several yards in a single breath, it rushed as the father-son duo, its killing intent so stifling that the lesser man would have crumbled helplessly before it.

But none of the men here were lesser men. They were all strong Tigers – and one Mongoose; Predators who had been through several life and death situations and had grown used to the overpowering aura of the beast. Added to the fact that they were fueled by the death of Wandering Cheetah, they weren’t fazed by the approaching beast.

And the one who was most affected by Wandering Cheetah’s death; the one who received the most strength from seeing his closest friend for decades die in the hands of the Resurrection Cat, was the first to step in its way.

“Where do you think you are going,” Unbound Mongoose exclaimed as his figure flashed right in front of the Resurrection Cat’s. But as quickly as he appeared, he jumped to the side and avoided the beast. The Resurrection Cat’s eyes were filled with confusion. Why did the pesky human appear before it, and then run away to the side. But quickly it was startled as it felt its feet leave the ground. It toppled towards the ground in shook, not understanding how it lost its balance.

*Boom*

“Now,” Unbound Mongoose screamed, as he tugged upon the invisible cord that was the cause for the beast’s fall.

The person holding on to the other part of the cord, who stood on the other side was Frowning Tiger. He nodded his head when he heard Unbound Mongoose’s shout and abandoned the cord, quickly rushing towards the beast. Domineering Tiger joined him in his charge.

This cord was Unbound Mongoose’s greatest weapon, and it was made by one of the best craftsmen in the world. It was extremely sharp, and could easily slice rocks into several pieces. Although the Pseudo Legendary Class Magical Beast was running at full speed, the cord wasn’t able to do anything but to trip it. This showed how powerful the beast’s defenses were. But Unbound Mongoose was undeterred. He wasn’t expecting the cord to do much damage. He was surprised that it didn’t do anything to the beast. After all, although he was expecting that it wouldn’t be badly hurt, he hoped to cause it some discomfort. But its defense was greater than Unbound Mongoose thought.

Clutching the cord and putting it away, Unbound Mongoose switched back to his trusty daggers. Since the cord couldn’t do anything to the beast, it was useless to keep using it for anything but surprise attacks.

Domineering Tiger and Frowning Tiger were upon the beast in a thrice. For a team of Predators who had never worked together before, the 7 men were in great synchronicity. With a face full of vicious intent, Frowning Tiger leaped towards the beast and pierced towards its neck with a powerful thrust.

*Bang*

*Roar*

The Resurrection Cat roared in rage as the sword struck it. And then it tried to get up and deal with Frowning Tiger, but Domineering Tiger wasn’t going to allow that to happen. Jumping into the air, the powerful Tiger span a couple of times and descended upon the Resurrection Cat with his mighty spear. Although the weapon couldn’t be compared to magical blades like Caliburn or Durandal, it was a weapon masterfully sculpted by the best of craftsmen. It was the best of what money could afford, and it was time to test its true worth.

*Roar*

“Switch!”

Once again the Resurrection Cat gave a loud roar of disapproval. But this time there was a bit of pain in its voice. Without waiting for the beast to stand up, Domineering Tiger and Frowning Tiger quickly retreated, darting behind Rash Tiger and Beastly Tiger but standing in front of Arthur and Village Head Fan. They quickly replaced Rash Tiger and Beastly Tiger and served as the protectors for Village Head Fan and Arthur, whilst Rash Tiger and Beastly Tiger took their place and served as the vanguards.

“It has gotten tougher,” Domineering Tiger remarked as he stood beside Frowning Tiger. Looking at his strong spear which was slightly blunted at the tip, he felt his heart ache. Not only was the spear very expensive, it had accompanied him since he became a Predator and had been with him through the most dangerous of situations. But now it had lost a bit of its l.u.s.ter.

“Yeah,” Frowning Tiger agreed as he also glanced over the dented edge of his sword. Although this blade didn’t hold much sentimental value to him, it was still a brilliant sword. Yet it had been blunted in one attack.

Looking at the area his sword struck, one couldn’t see a scar, or even a scratch. It was remarkable really, that the full powered blow of a Tiger wasn’t enough to breach the defenses of the Resurrection Cat. Domineering Tiger didn’t fare much better than his colleague. Although his blow was more powerful, there was only a small scratch. But from the roar of the beast, one could tell that it was still hurt by the blow. And that was strange.

“It seems to have a low threshold for pain,” Frowning Tiger stated as he gazed at the small scratch the beast had received from Domineering Tiger. A parting gift it was.

“Yes. It screamed so loudly I thought I had done some actual damage” Domineering Tiger nodded his head with a bitter smile. His pride had been trampled upon several times in the past hour. He didn’t know what else could be worse.

“I don’t know how that would help us though,” Frowning Tiger mumbled as he tried to think of a way to use that to their advantage. Domineering Tiger shook his head with a wry smile. He couldn’t think of anything. So he sent his attention back to the battlefield, waiting for the moment when they would have to switch.

The large paw of the Resurrection Cat missed Unbound Mongoose for the nth time today. The slippery Predator struck the beast’s leg in quick succession.

*Clink* *Clink*

“Damn it,” Unbound Mongoose swore as he evaded yet another deadly blow by the skin of his teeth. Even with his daggers he couldn’t penetrate the beast’s hide, or rather scales.

Taking advantage of the beast’s infatuation with Unbound Mongoose, Rash Tiger snuck behind it, axe in hand and struck its hind limb with sheer power and ferocity.

“Hoh!”

*Bang*

The beast’s limb bent in response to the powerful blow, but once again, its scales remained un-breached. It struck out with its hind limb instinctively, and Rash Tiger quickly put up his axe in defense.

*Bang*

“Ah!”

Rash Tiger’s muffled cry was quickly silenced by the blood that filled his mouth. He was sent flying several meters back, and several of his ribs were broken. Suddenly, the beast abandoned Unbound Mongoose and reached for Rash Tiger. Its eyes flashed with a cruel light as it swiped towards Rash Tiger with its powerful claws.

“Oh no!” Beastly Tiger exclaimed upon realizing what the beast was up to, and he tried to catch up to it. But he was slower than the beast. The fastest person here was Unbound Mongoose, but even he couldn’t match up to the beast’s speed. The only reason Unbound Mongoose was able to deal with its attacks so effortlessly was because he had superior reaction time.

Frowning Tiger’s expression changed when he saw the beast’s actions. And even Domineering Tiger had an alarmed look on his face. But both were too far back to provide any support. They could only watch as the beast’s claws reached Rash Tiger and took his head off cleanly.

Before his friend lost his head, he turned to Frowning Tiger and mouthed the words, “I’m sorry.” Even in death all he thought about was the fact that losing one man was going to make the fight so much harder. And that was what broke Frowning Tiger’s heart.

“Damned Beast!!!!!”