Chapter 52 Cheating Death - Hunting (Part 4)

Daichi stared at these beasts as if they were actual monsters. His skill has failed him. Only meters away from them, Daichi felt cold despite the scorching heat emanating from their bodies.

Daichi stared at them ignoring the pain of his burnt hand and the tumble he’d taken when he had been blown back by their aura.

If I can’t stun them with my skill I can’t even get close…

If they want to kill me right now… Fuck.

Staring at these divine beasts Daichi felt confusion and fear muddle together as he felt powerless for the second time since he’d been forced to fight for his life.

Daichi’s overly inflated sense of invulnerability was crushed in an instant. Most of his confidence had been gained not from his courage or intelligence, but a reliance on his Chaos based skills. His ability to stun his foes had led him to able to kill or harm creatures far stronger than him. Now that skill had finally failed him.

All of the confidence that come from being able to kill something or someone stronger based on that skill suddenly vanished.

As Daichi continued to stare at the flames, one of the bulls making eye contact with him for a brief moment before snorting and looking away.

Daichi felt beneath them. They didn’t even consider him in their eyes as a threat.

Even so the flames blazed hotter and expanded… Daichi could tell even without trying, these bull spawn could kill him without batting an eye.

Hannah was still feeling the impact from the hitting the ground. Grinding her teeth she felt the heat and began backing away in a crawl as she realized their predicament. Daichi’s usual skill had failed, leaving them vulnerable.

As she crawled away so focused on the heat and the bulls, Hannah failed to notice Daichi stuck to the ground unmoving.

Daichi’s mind had been reeling in shock and fear the moment his skill had failed, but almost immediately after his fascination for the ability these bulls had used to block his ability overwhelmed that sensation of fear.

Instead he viewed them in awe. In awe of their sheer power, their ability to stand above all else around them and view their opponents with disdain so easily.

…

Kaden and Ava stared at what had just happened in surprise and terror.

They knew these bulls must have been powerful based on what the mare had said. After they saw them first hand, they understood just based on what their eyes were telling them that these two beasts were pray far above what they could handle.

Normally Daichi never made a move against anything he couldn’t kill, by himself or with their help. They assumed that with his temperament, he must have had a plan in order to take down these two seemingly divine beasts.

As they saw him get batted away through no effort on the part of these beasts their hearts sank and fear set in.

Kaden immediately made a beeline for Hannah.

I’m going to save her no matter what! was Kaden’s only thought as he sprinted towards her with no plan to back up his sole desire at the moment.

Ava stared in shock unable to move forward and help or to turn around and run. She watched as Kaden sprinted towards Hannah faster than she’d seen him run before.

Kaden reached Hannah within seconds but it felt like an eternity as he ran. Kaden with his agility and strength as it was, could run a 100 meter dash in about 13 seconds.

Kaden was not particularly smart and he was certainly not particularly wise. Yet he had understood a basic principle by watching the others and by adjusting his stat points as he grew stronger. The more agility he had the faster he could react, the more instinctive it became while somehow still giving him more time to think.

The more agility he had, the better he could make use of his speed.

It was simple to understand but unless someone was told, unless they read it. The only reason to truly understand the concept was to drastically increase your agility and nothing else while having to force your body to move under pressure. This was something Kaden had experienced time and time again.

As he reached Hannah, Kaden had already decided what he would do. How he would proceed, even if it wasn’t the best option, it was the best he could think of.

Grabbing Hannah by the shoulders and helping her to her feet, Kaden hoisted her over his shoulder, stared at Daichi’s back and yelled at him as loudly as he could “RUN DAICHI!”

Turning around in almost the same instant, Kaden high tailed it out of there. Feeling the desperate need to get out of there, he was half expecting to get hit or killed as he ran but hoped for the best.

Without turning around to look at Daichi and without letting his mind be bogged down by the expectation of death, Kaden ran away from Ava and the others.

He felt like he might get attacked at any second, if he ran towards Ava he would just be putting her in danger as well. Not wanting to take any more risks than necessary, Kaden did what he thought was best as he ran.

Staring at Kaden running away from them Ava felt numb with fear as she watched him run through the forest. Staring at his back and turning to look back at Daichi she felt divided as to what to do.

Should I try to help Daichi…? What could I even do…? Or… Should I run away?

In a split second, she made her choice. Unsure whether it was right or not, she grabbed the shorter mare’s hand who was closest to her and screamed “Let’s run, find Kaden!” as she started running. The shorter mare ran with her without hesitating, easily keeping up with her as if it was the simplest thing in the world.

The taller mare didn’t move an inch as she stood in place, wanting to bare witness to what would come next for Daichi.

…

Staring at the bulls from such a close distance Daichi was entranced. The fear he had initially felt had blended into a curiosity as to why his skill didn’t work and how these bulls were creating such magnificent flames. They were superior to everything he had seen so far.

This was the first time Daichi had seen mana used in such an ostentatious and magnificent way. Instead of letting the fear drown him, Daichi immersed himself in his need to understand how they could do such a marvelous thing.

His desire to study them outshines any fear he had for them. He vaguely heard someone screaming near him to run away as he stared at the bulls, entranced by the fire created through their mana. The flames were blazing even closer and Daichi instinctively reached towards them only stopping when he noticed the back of hand, burnt.

His entire arm and hand had suffered 1st and 2nd degree burns and only now, that he was staring at his own hand and arm was the pain finally registering.

The reality of the situation registering.

Daichi looked past his hand towards the bulls and saw them for what they were, a threat.

Even without realizing it, Daichi’s natural reaction to such an overwhelming opponent had triggered his natural bloodlust.

Daichi’s bloodlust manifested itself in the mana surrounding him in a way it had never done so before. This was the first time Daichi’s desire to kill was caused not by retribution but by the desire to overwhelm a strong opponent.

As his bloodlust manifested around him. The mana in the air started to fluctuate as undulating waves that seemed to make the air blur around him began to increase.

Noticing this the bull spawn that Daichi had tried to attack grunted in dissatisfaction.

It seemed this inadvertent aggressive action of Daichi’s had annoyed the bull more than Daichi’s previous action.

Stomping the ground with one of his hooves to convey his intent, the bull spawn blew out puffs of fire from his nose as his grunts became more wild and fierce.

Staring directly at Daichi, the bull spawn started charging forward.

Getting to his feet Daichi had just enough time to sprint off the ground and jump to the side to avoid the charge of this bull spawn. It’s speed was incredible. Despite it’s size and weight, it covered the distance between them of a few meters in 2 seconds.

Even as Daichi jumped out of the way the bull noticed no impact and erected it’s flames to blow away from him like a small explosion.

The flames and charge knocked Daichi through the air even further causing him to hit the ground as the flames covered part of his body.

Daichi rolled on the ground trying to put them out clenching his teeth as the pain seethed into him.

The bull spawn slowly circled around him as the other continued to feast on the fairies with relative indifference.

Daichi put the flames out and go to his feet crouching, trying to ignore the pain from all the burns as he stared at the bull who was circling him with slight amusement.

Daichi’s bloodlust only further increased from before the air around him undulating as it turned slightly red in his presence. The color difference in the air barely noticeable as the flames from the bull spawn’s body were still burning bright and hot in his vicinity.

Noticing Daichi’s bloodlust the bull spawn Khalko was further enraged by Daichi’s audacity.

He had not been so insulted by a lesser being in centuries. All other lesser beings ran from his presence or waited in fear to die or be granted freedom. This small being was actually releasing intent to kill. This kind of insult enraged Khalko!

Stomping the ground again, the Khalko charged forward but instead of trying to physically harm Daichi, he employed a new technique. As he got closer and Daichi struggled to jump out of the way of his charge. Khalko stopped in place stomping with both hooves to halt his charge and infusing the ground with his mana and flames causing a shockwave that made the entire earth within a mile from him to tremble.

Meters from him flames erupted from the ground at random in all directions from Khalko.

Even as Daichi jumped out of the way, he knew something was wrong and the second the bull spawn stopped his charge Daichi knew he was in trouble.

As ground trembled and Daichi hit the ground his whole body was shaken from the impact and earthquake as a pillar of flames appeared right underneath him.

Daichi immediately began to roll on the ground as he sensed the heat from beneath him but the flames still burnt off part of his flesh.

Daichi continued to roll, too scared to stop as his anger swelled inside of him.

It was at this moment as the flames were continuously springing up and burning Daichi as he put them out almost as quickly that the taller mare sprung into action.

Using an ability she had kept secret the mare hovered mid air as her entire being became translucent. She suddenly appeared surreal and it was almost as if she was and wasn’t there.

The mare was transcending the universe she appeared within Khalko's mind. Waving her hands in a strange pattern, the mare began singing a mesmerizing song.

Khalko's mind was thrown into turmoil.

Daichi’s rolling continued until he put out all of the flames as he tried to get up the pain was being pushed back by his bloodlust and desire to live.

Noticing the bull spawn had stopped in place, Daichi looked at the other bull spawn who looked utterly indifferent to their scuffle.

Deciding retreat was his only choice, Daichi turned around and began running away. The pain in his muscles and exposed skin was brutal the moment he stepped through the forestry.

Every branch, every vine, leaf and twig that touched his burnt skin was like a lash cutting through Daichi’s core.

The pain was intensifying the more he tried to ignore it. Daichi could do nothing else but try to ignore it as he focused on his anger and desire to kill these bull spawn.

He knew that the bloodlust would only lead a trail right to him but knew he had no other choice. Without his bloodlust and desire to kill, the pain would be overwhelming.

Daichi ran for half an hour at his fastest speed, ignoring the pain and focusing on his anger. The more he ran the more the bloodlust faded and the more the pain became real.

At some point the bloodlust was nearly gone, he hadn’t meant to trigger the skill but it had been both a curse and a saving grace.

As Daichi ran, his intense bloodlust as it had continued to intensify had warn off all other creatures in his vicinity. Most creatures had already kept their distance sensing he bull spawn’s presences but with Daichi’s bloodlust also triggered, they were warned of how dangerous he was as well.

As the bloodlust wore off, Daichi realized there was someone following him, turning around and getting ready for what Daichi thought would be his last fight he realized it was the taller mare.

Opening his eyes wide and realizing it wasn’t the bull spawn Daichi tried his best to stay conscious but the pain was rolling through him in waves, with every wave getting stronger and harder to resist.

The taller mare walked up to him, having finally caught up and as she neared him she got in close and disappeared from his vision.

Reappearing right behind him, she hit his neck with a light chop knocking Daichi out completely.

As Daichi crumbled to the ground, the taller mare stared at him for the span of a few seconds before she felt the presence of the bulls beginning to shift.

Looking at Daichi once again, she lifted him off the ground with one arm and tossed him over her shoulder and began to carry him away.

She had lulled the Bull Spawn into a state of confusion that barely lasted a minute and when he had come to his senses and realized his prey had run off, instead of giving chase he looked at his companion.

Noticing the fairies were being consumed with a breakneck pace, he began to feast on the fairies with the other bull spawn.

The moment the bull spawns had finished their meals, their eyes lit up with a fierce light as they began to move in unison in the direction Daichi had run.

Tauroi didn’t much care that the lesser being had offended Khalko, but if Khalko wanted it dead, then he would naturally lend a helping hoof.

They began to move, they began their hunt.