Chapter 104 - Night Hunt Part 1

In a location not too far from the camp where Captain Fu and his men were resting, hidden by the thick vegetation were two men dressed in worn clothes. Their faces had been scarred on several points, and different tattoos could be seen on their bodies.

At the time, there were two men lay on the ground. They were watching with a small telescope the crew's movements of the ship landed on the beach.

"So these are the bastards who killed my creatures. Damn you. I’ll make them pay." One of them angrily snapped as he clenched his fists. His face was ashen, and his eyes were bloodshot.

The loss of a spirit beast to a beast tamer was an enormous damage. Not only as regards the tamer's fighting force, but above all for the damage received. Since the spirit pact united the minds and spirit power of two different beings, breaking the pact would cause both sides a spirit wound.

Consequently, when the three spirit beasts died, they felt no repercussions from the breaking of the spirit pact. However, their tamer was alive and suffered almost simultaneously three spirit wounds. If it weren't for the fact that his spirit beasts were still on the first level, the beast tamer could have died instantly.

But even though he was alive, the wounds weren’t at all light. He could barely stand and had difficulty in circulating his spirit power. To cure his body, he would need special pills or medicines that were impossible to get in the middle of a desert island.

It was precisely for this reason that the beast tamers were few compared to the ordinary martial artists. Not only because of the difficulty in raising spirit beasts but also because of the risk of being seriously injured at the death of one's spirit beast. After all, receiving such a wound in the middle of a fight would mean almost certain death.

The companion of the beast tamer tried to console him.

"Come on, if we can accomplish the mission, we can get great rewards from our captain. Once you are cured, you can ask him to capture a powerful specimen of spirit beast for you. Maybe something that could even reach the second level."

"Haha, hopefully. In that way, my influence inside the crew would grow. But it isn’t a bad idea. And then we can also make up for my losses with the cargo of those assholes' ship. I refuse to believe that they managed to kill my three spirit beasts without having consumed almost all their strength. If we attack them with others, then we can do it. What do you say?"

"Let's hear the team leader first. It's not safe-"

Suddenly, a sharp blade flashed for a moment in the dark night. The head of the beast tamer’s companion was sent flying as it broke away from the body. Beside the just beheaded man, the tamer of the three killed spirit beasts was being bound by two long silver ribbons with red veins. It was even painful for him to breathe, not to mention reacting to that sudden assault.

Standing next to the headless corpse, Hei was cleaning the blood on his spear with the clothes of the man he had just killed. His eyes, therefore, shifted towards the beast tamer kept bound by Lian.

Beside her, Xing was rummaging through the clothes of the tied man while Ye examined the beheaded corpse.

‘Nothing, big brother, not even a space ring. But I found this object.’ Ye reported as she showed the telescope held in its tail.

‘Nothing even here. Even if these two are small fry, they should have something of value with them. If not, then it means they left it in their camp.’ Xing speculated as she returned to her big brother.

"Nothing? I see. It's probably like you said Xing. Let's see what this one has to say." Hei said, pointing to the man bound by Lian's ribbons.

Sensing what he wanted to do, without needing a specific command, Lian began to go deeper into the vegetation, taking the tied enemy with her. Hei meanwhile took the decapitated corpse and let his little sisters take the head.

After they had distanced themselves sufficiently from where Captain Fu and his men’s camp were, Hei signaled Lian to leave the captured man on the ground and free his mouth so he could speak.

"Bastards! Who the fuck are you?! You have no idea what kind of trouble you are in. Get ready to die- "

Slam!

Without warning, Hei kicked the tied man in the face, making even a pair of teeth fly. Because of the spirit wound inflicted, the body of the beast tamer wasn’t in the condition to react. And it wasn't by chance that Hei had left him alive. Thanks to his little sisters, he had been able to listen to their conversation, and he knew that the man tied by Lian's ribbons was the tamer of the three spirit beasts. He also knew that he had to be weakened by the wound inflicted by the breaking of the spirit pact.

"I don't have much time to waste. I suggest you talk right away, or I'll have to make you talk."

"Cough... bastard. Who do you think you're, kid, cough. Do you think you can intimidate me in that way?"

"Alright. Ye, proceed. Lian, you stop him. Xing, you are on the alert if someone approaches."

After Hei had given his orders, Lian proceeded to tie the enemy beast tamer even more tightly. She was also helped by Xing to tie a wooden branch between his teeth so that the man could not cut his tongue. Xing then climbed up a tree and began to watch the area below. Ye instead began to bite the body of the tied man and injected non-lethal poisons that caused pain.

The beast tamer began to contort with pain, as he opened his eyes wide. His voice was faintly audible because of the branch and the webbing gag. As he tried to scream, his own drool was starting to accumulate in his mouth, and he had to swallow it not to suffocate.

As the others were torturing the man, Hei took the corpse without its head. Then, he tied its feet on the branch of a tree, so as to keep it suspended in mid-air. Then, he took out a knife from the Secret Dimension and made a vertical cut that went from the bellybutton to the base of the neck. Quickly, the blood contained inside the body was poured outside, wetting red the ground below.

Seeing that gruesome scene, the beast tamer fainted. But because of the pain, he was again brought back to reality. His mind was in chaos. He couldn't understand how he ended up in that nightmare. All he wanted now was to run away in any way, even with death, if possible.

Suddenly, a series of small noises began to resound all around, and Xing warned from her position.

'Big Brother-'

"Yes, I know. Let them do it. There is no need to act."

The source of those noises was none other than the island inhabitants, or the animals that lived there. Since it was a desert island in the middle of the ocean, there were no large predators, but they were all small. Only a few had traces of spirit power, but they were indeed not a danger to Hei and his family. Indeed, the reason why he had cut the body like that was just to lure them here.

‘Xing, tell them that if they want their part, they must honestly answer your questions. Ask them if they have seen humans in the vicinity, and if they have not seen it, then send them to explore. As long as they manage to locate the position of these men's companions, these two corpses will go to them.’

Unlike before, this time, he used his spirit power to send a spirit message to Xing. He didn’t want the beast tamer under torture to hear the contents of the message.

‘Sure big brother. Leave it to me.’ Xing cheerfully replied as if she had just been ordered to shop around the corner.

"Well, then. Have you decided to talk? Or do you still want to experience another torture session? Don't hope I'm wrong with the dosages. I am an alchemist, and in any case, I can always inject you something to treat the conditions in which your body is affected. That way, I can continue to torture you even more. I have all night available."

The beast tamer at those words began to wriggle even more while he struggled with his head. He didn't want to continue experiencing this pain. He would have gone mad if the torture continued for another minute.

Noting the expression of his big brother, Ye began to suck the poison into the man's body, freeing him from the pain.

‘If I talk to you this way, there are no problems that you bite your tongue before spilling the beans. Now tell me, who are you? How many are you? Why did you come here, and why did you order your spirit beasts to kill anyone approaching this place?." Hei asked his questions through a spirit message.

‘Please, no more torture. I will answer everything. We are part of the Sea Devils crew, led by Captain Pirate, Red Devil, Jin-Sang. Our group is small, but we are all sixth stage spirit apprentice. We also have an artifact ship that allowed us to have a good position in Captain Jin-Sang's crew. One day the captain gave us a secret mission. We don't know the details, but he wants us to explore the island and take every valuable thing we can find. He is the one who ordered us the utmost discretion and to kill any witnesses. In the case of a successful mission, he promised to grant each of us one wish.’

'I see. And where are your companions? And the artifact ship?’

‘The artifact ship is hidden in a safe place. Since it is small, it is normal that you didn’t see it as you landed on the beach. My companions should now be in the heart of the forest. We have already scoured the beach and found nothing. I swear to you, we don't know what the captain wants, he just told us to bring everything of value that we can find.’

‘I believe you, don't worry. Thanks for the info, now you can go to sleep.’

'To sleep?! No! Wait! You promised-'

Crack!

Without hesitation, Hei broke the neck of the still-bound beast tamer. From Hei's current expression, one could only perceived coldness.

"You dared to aim at the life of my family. I promised not to torture you, but the price for your actions is death anyway."

At that point, Lian untied her ribbons from the lifeless body, wrapping them around her body. Her expression contained no trace of emotions. She was merely observing Hei to understand what they had to do now.

At that moment, Xing arrived with an undefined group of small spiders. Following them, there were also groups of centipedes, scorpions, and praying mantises. There was even an entire colony of ants.

‘Big brother, they say they saw humans in the middle of the forest. They say they are ten, including the two we captured.’

"Well, apparently he wasn't lying. Alright, then. Tell them that I propose another pact. They must help us monitor the movements of the enemies until we settle them. Once it is finished, we will give them the bodies of those killed."

While Hei left the negotiations to his little sister, he took the corpses of the two men who had just been killed, and with his spear, he began to tear them into pieces, to divide the meat into equal parts.

‘Big brother, they said it’s okay for them.’

"All right, then hurry up with eating and moving the pieces of meat into your shelters. I give you an hour but no more. After that, I want you in your positions or no food for you."

This time Hei turned directly to the group of small animals on the ground. When they heard a human speak the language of spiders, they became confused, unable to understand how a human could speak their language. But they didn't give it much thought. They were, in fact, attracted by the ‘food’ that had been offered as a reward. So, without delay, they pounced on the bodies of the two dead men.

"Let's go then. There are still eight more to settle." Hei urged as he took his little sisters on himself and led Lian by the hand toward the heart of the island's forest.