Enlightened Huntsman

Emma remained kneeled on the floor. She quickly wound her arm back and launched her spear forward, piercing the chests of two of the Huntsman's, but six remained.

[Enlightened Huntsman Slain]

[Enlightened Huntsman Slain]

Two of them stopped advancing and spread their four arms. They opened their palms and a thin, almost translucent thread secreated from the center of their hands.

Using their four arms, they began to weave their webs into different shapes. One of them seemed to be weaving a net while the other constructed a long rope.

The first Huntsman arrived before Emma. It swung one of its arms over its head and struck down with an elbow. Emma raised her spear horizontally and blocked the creatures elbow with the shaft of her spear.

Although she blocked one of the creatures strikes, it had three more arms to work with. An unexpected uppercut lodged itself between Emma's ribs and pushed her a few feet back.

As her diaphragm was crushed, the air in her lungs exploded out of her chest and a terrifying inability to breathe washed over Emma's conscious. Before she had time to breath, another Huntsman arrived beside her and was aiming for another uppercut.

Emma gently pushed her spear forward and released it from her grip. In that split second of traveling forward Emma activated Boost and her spear rocketed into the creatures chest.

[Enlightened Huntsman Slain]

Her spear ripped through the Huntsman and struck the wall lining their path. One of the remaining Huntsman's ran towards her spear and gripped its shaft, pulling the weapon from the wall and wielding it itself.

Emma activated Return to Sender and the spear pulled the Huntsman forward, but the creature refused to let go. Like a wizard on a broomstick, the towering demon soared through the air, past the remaining Huntsman and towards Emma.

Emma watched the incoming spider man with wide eyes, she didn't want that thing to get any closer. Praying it would work, Emma canceled Return to Sender.

The Huntsman and her spear continued to soar forward, but a slight lean disrupted its trajectory and it barreled towards the rocky ground. Emma used Boost once more and the spear's speed quadrupled in a second.

Since the Huntsman had long ago reserved itself to hold on to the spear, its hands and one of its arms tore apart due to the rapid increase in speed. The spear plunged into the ground, four hands still wrapped around its shaft.

Emma retrieved her spear and momentarily tried to pull the tri-fingered hands off, but they were frozen and stiff, locked around the weapon.

Emma quickly abandoned that idea and threw her spear again. It soared through the air and pierced another Huntsman, traveling to the end of the path and puncturing the wall at the end of the corridor.

[Enlightened Huntsman Slain]

She clenched her teeth and released an insatiable scream as she poured her strength into her legs, but a burning numbness corroded them. Out of options, Emma did the only thing she could think of; she leaned over and pushed her hands into the stone.

At the same time, she threw herself to the side like she was trying to roll over. She activated Boost and her originally small, insignificant struggle rapidly evolved into an out of control tumble across the corridor.

Emma slammed into the wall and activated Return to Sender, it traveled in the shortest route possible right?

The spear popped out of the stone wall at the end of the corridor and spun around. It pierced the air and tore through the empty space towards Emma, but Emma had a plan.

Standing in the way of her and her spear, one of the Huntsman continued to weave a human-sized net. The spear lodged itself in the Huntsman's chest and slowly pushed through.

Return to Sender did exactly that, but unlike her innate ability Boost, Emma couldn't control the speed at which the spear returned. It moved at a constant speed unless Emma activated Boost on top of it.

As a result, the spear slowly tore through the Huntsman's flesh until a waterfall of blood burst from between the creature's chelicerae fangs. The spear slid out of the Huntsman's chest and arrived in Emma's grip.

[Enlightened Huntsman Slain]

Three Huntsman remained, one of which lost all four of its hands and an arm. The Huntsman weaving the rope finally completed it and stepped forward to join its remaining brethren.

Wielding the rope, the Huntsman spun it around its head and lassoed it across the battleground. Emma slammed her spear into the ground and erected it upwards, creating a pole between her and the rope.

But the rope spun around her spear and dislodged it from the ground. With a single thrust, the spear burst from the stone and flew towards the Huntsman, allowing the other Huntsman to grab it from the air.

A subtle grin traveled up Emma's face as she activated Return to Sender. Like before, the creature refused to release the spear and began getting pulled across the cave.

Emma canceled Return to Sender and used Boost on the spear. Two of the Huntsman's hands tore apart before the creature crashed into the ground.

Wrapped in six cold and hard hands, Emma wielded her spear once more. She launched it across the battleground, piercing the chest of the last standing Huntsman.

[Enlightened Huntsman Slain]

After retrieving it, she quickly dealt with the remaining disabled Huntsman on the floor. For just a second, Emma stayed vigilant.

[Enlightened Huntsman Slain]

[Enlightened Huntsman Slain]

She closed her eyes and focused on the noises around her, but she heard very little. Although she was worried about it, it seems like the turn at the end of this path wasn't the final stretch to their lair.

As the adrenaline fled her bloodstream, Emma dismissed her spear and heaved a sigh of relief. She survived this encounter at least, but she still has to find her way back to camp.

After all, Emma has no idea how long the evolution of her core took. In addition to that, she doesn't know if the Huntsman found her twenty minutes ago or twenty hours ago.

Unfortunately for her, Emma's journey was just beginning.