Chapter 63- Is There Not a Massive Beast on the Hunt?

Wilson's body suddenly stiffened. He recognized the feeling he was suddenly feeling. It was the same feeling he got in that scary dream where he was married to Alice and had strangers for friends and his ass eventually got badly whooped by Ruthless. The sense of foreboding he had then was the same one he was feeling now, and that sense of foreboding was creeping up on him fast. He looked at Jim.

"Jim, we need to run far away as fast as possible." He urgently said. Jim did not even attempt to think. Before Wilson could finish his sentence, Jim's body was already far ahead, moving at high speed.

"....." Wilson was temporarily stunned.

'Isn't he a little too at alert for someone who talks so much?' He thought to himself, quickly increasing his speed in a bid to catch up to Jim. Unfortunately for them, the Snow Tiger sensed their sudden increase in movement speed and also increased its speed. It appeared excited. After all, even though hunting is a necessity for predators, it is also meant to be fun. I mean, what is some hunting without a little fun, right??

And what's more? It was currently hunting season.

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

"Hey, these pawprints are getting fresher." Shorty said as he stooped to observe the fresh print he just saw. The others soon arrived beside him. Slim nodded in agreement.

"I think I can smell it now." The more attractive lady said as she sniffed the air in.

"That means we are going the right way...." Slim began his sentence but was interrupted by the less attractive lady.

"....and we are getting closer. See how much deeper these paw prints are compared to the others?" she continued.

"I think it might be slightly injured. I can smell a faint scent of blood." The more attractive lady said after taking in another sniff of the cold air.

"Oh?! That's great." Shorty said and exploded with speed into the distance.

"I still don't understand how he is able to move that fast with those short legs." Slim said as he picked up speed, choosing to run at a steadier pace alongside the two ladies. He intended to conserve his energy in preparation for the upcoming battle for money. That's not to say they were moving slowly. They were actually moving faster than regular athletes at top speed.

"Speed should have been his ability, not berserkness." The less attractive lady said with a sigh. She was slightly ahead of slim and the other lady.

"It's good as long as he doesn't falter in his duties, right?" The other lady who was more attractive asked.

Her two partners answered immediately.

"Yeah!"

"I guess!"

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

Jim was amazed that Wilson managed to catch up even when he was already running at his highest speed, enhanced by his wind ability. He heard some thudding sounds that we're getting increasingly louder even though the snow was there to muffle the sounds. He looked back only for a second and got the scare of his life. The snow tiger they had managed to escape the previous day was now on their asses, closing in fast.

"Aaaaaaaaaah!!!" Jim shrieked like a pregnant woman in the labor room. His speed stepped up a notch, instantaneously breaking through the previous speed threshold and leaving Wilson in the dust (or should it be snow?)

Wilson, also hearing the fast approaching pawsteps, refrained from glancing back and instead did his best to increase his speed. He refused to be outran by Jim.

He accelerated but could not catch up with the wind ability-using Jim who was now far ahead. The best he could manage was maintaining the distance between them. At best, the distance did not increase anymore. Wilson, due to lack of good ideas, yelled at Jim;

"JIM, WAIT FOR ME!!"

Then, Jim replied two seconds later;

"F*CK YOU, MAN!!"

And he even chose to take it a little further;

"MR SNOW TIGER, TAKE YOUR TIME WITH LUNCH! BELIEVE ME, MY FRIEND WILSON IS DELICIOUS AND NUTRITIOUS!!"

"...." Wilson was stunned. 'I thought we were friends.' He thought. Late Uncle Dale was right. Trust no one. Isn't that why he got into so much trouble in the first place?

Wilson abruptly stopped and turned around to face the tiger. If he was going down, he was going down fighting. That is how he was trained by his dear mother.

'Win or lose, live or die, I refuse to be lunch!'

Wilson saw the snow white tiger moving in the snow white plain like a blur and his head began to buzz with dizziness. He could not see it clearly, but he trusted his instinct and swung a right hook, while in a standard boxing stance. Just like he had been taught by that amateur martial arts teacher back in the village.

His punch hit nothing but air, the tiger had already jumped over him before his fist could collide. He quickly turned around and saw that the snow tiger had paid him no heed, instead choosing to chase after poor Jim who had even gone as far as to offer him a free meal and a sweet 'enjoy your meal' message.

'Now that I think about it, Jim looks meatier than I.' Wilson thought with a chuckle. While he was slightly taller and more muscular, he was also slim and did not have much flesh. Of he did not have such defined muscles, he would have looked very skinny. Jim, on the other hand, was plumper and definitely looked like a better food choice.

Wilson quickly turned around to run away from the tiger, perhaps he could catch up with the hunters by nightfall and avoid sleeping alone.

*biff*

Wilson fell. Only then, did he realise he was frozen stiff, a thin layer of ice had once again wrapped him up.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!"

Far, far, far ahead, Jim shrieked as he saw the Snow Tiger appear before him. The humongous being lowered its head in order to look Jim eye to eye and even seemed to be smirking at him.

Jim's legs instantly became soft. He sat on the crunchy snow and immediately began to negotiate with the tiger as if it were human.

"Ummm.....bro...I mean big brother....i mean the greatest Mr Snow Tiger. Would you be so kind and benevolent as to let this poor young man sitting before you off for the magnificent price of this storage bag?" He knelt as he removed the backpack from his back and raised with both hands.

"Let me explain it in full details for you. This bag is a high class space tech product of the VX company; the VX424 edition. It has a spatial dimension of breadth of four metres; height of two metres and length of four metres. Impressive right? But that's not all....."

*bang*

A gun resounded from afar.

Jim saw the tiger dodge the bullet that went straight for its face. Or rather, he saw a blurry movement and when he could see the tiger properly again, it was still fine, save for the angry look on its face.

Jim instantly tried to stand and run but realised he was frozen stiff in a thin layer of ice. He immediately formed blades of wind out of his body and began to savagely slash at the layer of ice. Some of the wind blades also slashed at the tiger that was still standing not too far away from him.

"Hey, death seeker, don't you dare hurt that tiger's fur." Shorty yelled as he rapidly closed in on the tiger and Jim, passing by Wilson without as much as glancing in his direction.

"F*CK you, man! Are you not worried i would die before you get here?"

"I'm more worried about the hundreds of thousands I will lose if that delicate fur is tainted by your savagery."

"F*CK you! Delicate my ass!" Jim cursed at Shorty.

"Jim, just stay still, okay. I'm going for the neck." The less attractive lady said.

"What the f*CK do you mean by that? Just shoot it wherever!" Jim said, tears rolling down his cheeks. Were these hunters deliberately messing with him. There's a tiger on his ass for crying out loud.

"Not happening, Jim. So, you better calm your ass down and stay still so we don't mistakenly gun you down." The more attractive lady advised.

"F*ck you, you ball-breaking, crown jewel-destroying demon!" Jim once again cursed.

"Pffft....ahahahahaha!!!" The less attractive lady burst into laughter, her voice sending a tingling message into the atmosphere.

And while all these was going on, Wilson could not help but wonder; 'Is there not supposed to be a massive tiger on the hunt? How did things deviate to this? Is this called being confident or being stupid?'