Running like his life depended on it made him feel a tad bit excited. He never felt this before. The feeling of danger creeping up on his back made him feel strangely eager to run and run some more. Maybe its because he had now another person in the same position as him or other factors, he did not know.

Thinking to himself that this was a dangerous situation and thinking like that is reserved only for lunatics and insane people, he tried to cool himself down. He reminded himself that he should always be guarded and wary and while thinking that, he noticed that they ran inside the Hadlang forest which is notorious for being a dangerous place.

He then noticed that he still held Sabik’s hand. Thinking that he did not know this guy and this may very well be an elaborate trap to get him, he let go of his hand.

‘This guy is unpredictable. He may be even more dangerous than the two chasing us. How did they even find us?’

He thought about the moment he locked eyes with the two hunters then tried to backtrack the moments before it. There was a loud sound that caught our attention. It was the sound of rock hitting rock. Before that, he ducked. But why? Then like bolt of lightning he put the fact that Sabik threw a stone and the hunters noticing them together and his neck felt a tingle. He didn’t think about this before because his adrenaline was all over the place but now that he calmed himself down, he couldn’t help but be afraid of this guy. His defense mechanism shot up higher than it was before and he felt chills all over his spine.

This guy orchestrated the whole thing.

His eyes penetrated the back of Sabik’s head in an attempt to find the way this guy’s mind works. He tried to work out the cogs in the machine of Sabik’s head and he could not fathom why he would do this. If what the hunters wanted was the essence, why would he voluntarily show his position?

‘Is this an elaborate trap to implicate me? No, this is way too much effort for someone like me. Then why??’

Before he even thought about asking him, he realized that the hunters were getting close so he ran through the forest with haste and he realized he could traverse it much easier than he thought.

The only thing he did was follow Sabik and it was like the obstacles like vines and rocks, that would normally trip a person, was opening up to make way for them. Realizing that was impossible, he thought that Sabik was purposefully choosing where to step so that he could follow. But that was also impossible because who could think and plan like that in a high speed chase?

Both of those choices seemed unimaginable for the current situation that he was in. In the back of his mind, he kind of hoped that Sabik was leading him the right way, but he quickly ignored that because that would mean he is an evil mastermind with unknown motives.

He did not have the luxury of choosing what he believes because he heard rustling of leaves on branches and stones being flung away get louder and louder making it seem it was occurring only a few feet away.

‘Looks like he noticed huh.... time to speed it up, they should be around here’

With Sabik speeding up, Ligi now also sped up because he was careful in taking the steps that Sabik took because it magically expanded the distance between them and the hunters.

The nagging feeling of being manipulated tickled the back of his brain but because of the feeling of adrenaline and his now revived sense of wanting to live, overpowered any overthinking he want or could do.

Racing through the dark maze that is the Hadlang forest, with only bits and pieces of sunlight seeping through the gaps in the crowns of trees, they finally see a bit of light in the horizon. This bit of light is not a remnant of passing sunlight but a more of reddish orange glow like a waypoint pointing in that direction.

Sabik smiled as he saw figures surrounding the orange light. Four figures in fact, was what he saw as he was getting near the end of their journey. They were surrounding what was once a small bit of orange light, now recognizable to be a campfire with smoke going to the top.

It was at this point that the four figures noticed the commotion happening in the forest and turned in the direction of the sound. An annoyance in the time of their break and meal time, but as veterans they knew better than to ignore the blaring sound of an enemy rushing through.

Sabik didn’t stop when his eyes met the vigilant sharp eyes of the veteran team from steel muscle. There was a look of recognition in their faces as they stood up and flexed their muscles as a sign of territorial barrier for their group. They saw him run to their left with an unknown person with the same bloodied and dirtied look as the person who escaped their grasp.

It was only now that they realized that this guy was supposed to be dead. A skeleton in the bottom of the sea with flesh and muscle ravaged by the Limaws in the ocean. They could only realize this but not act on it as they heard other pairs of footsteps coming from the same direction.

It was a tension filled arena when the third group finally showed themselves. The steel muscle group and the hunter’s quest locked eyes with each other. Another unexpected encounter in the woods for all of them except for Sabik, the man who orchestrated all this. His intention? Nobody knows except him.

The steel muscle group led by the man who had a sharp face looked vigilantly at the new group that sprouted from the trees. It was a familiar kind of clothing he saw in town, a group who prided themselves in their tools and stealth. A gutless way of fighting with their flimsy looking body.

Then he looked at the miraculous boy who survived falling off a cliff into the den of Limaws to see if he had any serious injuries to take advantage of, only to see he had cuts and bruises. By looking at his confident face, he knew that those weren’t serious.

He looked to Sabik’s weirdly looking stomach and saw a faint bit of light illuminating even with the bonfire lighting up the place.

What was once a look of wary now became a look of understanding with a sense of relief in the eyes of the sharp faced muscle buffoon. Their quantitative advantage coupled with their strong and vigorous muscles made him confident in their chances of the upcoming conflict. A bigger chance to obtain the essence that is temporarily in Sabik’s hand which would eventually go to him.

There was only silence in this stand-off but it can clearly be seen that the man named Paulo, the less drunk of the two hunters, is creasing his forehead and eyebrows making it seem he had a unibrow.

This situation is the worst case scenario for them. Being outnumbered with these muscle freaks and the fact that their real advantage is stealth and with no surprise factor really lowered their chances of fighting for this treasure.

Ligi hid behind Sabik three steps behind, still being careful of his companion. He still hasn’t got over the fact that this guy is a manipulative bastard and is a total wild card in any scenario. He looked at Sabik’s face to see any hint on what he plans to do but like always, this guy had a smile plastered on his face.

Sabik looked at the two hunters while smiling, this kind of lighting and the background of the dim forest made his smile look creepy but that is not what got their attention. It was the slight move of his forehead and eyebrows flicking up and down in a split second.

It was the sign of tacit communication that under this scenario and happenstance meant only one thing. He wanted to team up.