1 Bandits

In a uncharted forest that stretched for seemingly forever...

The leaves rustled in the night wind. The forest was eerily silent, as if nothing was alive.

A group of four rough men walked through the forest, following a trail of blood.

"I have a bad feeling about this cave," a man hesitantly commented, feeling something dangerous.

"There is nothing wrong here. Don't tell me you're afraid of that snake?"

"O-Of course not!"

A reverberating voice boomed out from a stocky man, "Quiet down!"

"Get ready, the snake might be preparing to ambush us," the stocky man commanded. The rest of the group did as commanded, and took a deep breath. They walked into the cave. A few seconds passed. A few bloodcurdling screams rang out, then nothing. The group was utterly wiped out, with no chance of resistance.

A pair of yellow eyes glistened in the darkness behind the group of bandits. It was a bloodied snake, three meters long and around six cm thick. It looked vengefully at the group, almost as if it was waiting for something. 'Success', Lin thought back to what they had done to him.

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"Over here!" A voice rang out, jolting Lin from his deep sleep.

Lin's heartbeat quickened as he realized that someone had came near him without him noticing. Lin spread his demonic awareness, only to find it overwhelmed by some presence stronger than him. He did not know or understand their cultivation levels, but his instincts told him that they were powerful opponents that he could not take on. He snuck a look, finding five bandits who did not use their spiritual energy, almost as if they disdained doing so for a mere one star demonic beast.

"If we kill it and take its demon core, we could sell it for a hundred spirit stones!" A man said while drooling, thinking about all the things he could buy.

"We can buy a new technique with just this thing" Another man said after sensing Lin's weak demonic energy, not even bothering to call Lin anything else.

Bending his body against the tree, Lin propelled himself down the tree, aiming at one of the men. The man raised his machete to block, but it was too late. Lin landed on the man's neck, immediately biting with his sharp fangs that dripped with a lethal venom. Using this momentum, Lin threw his body forward, towards the deeper forest. The man screamed as the venom came into effect, quickly spreading from his neck to the rest of his body, and ending him. Lin fled for the forest, understanding that he was no match for them.

He knew that the only reason he had gotten a kill was because the man was too overconfident, letting his guard down. The surprised men would not have the time to catch Lin. Feeling danger, Lin used all his muscles to push himself back.

"CLANG!!!" An axe had hit the ground in front of him, cracking the ground open.

'Damn' Lin cursed. His perfect timing for escape had been ruined by the man in front of him. The man had brought enough time for the four remaining men to surround him.

"This isn't any normal one star beast! Keep your guard up!" The stock man warned his group as they looked towards him with fearful and respectful eyes. The rest of the group of bandits drove their spiritual energy to form a barrier protecting them.

Lin suddenly lunged at the leading stocky man, catching him off guard. His fangs made contact with the man's arm, but the salty taste of blood did not fill his mouth. It felt like he bit a piece of iron. The man's spiritual shield was too strong.

"Ha, too weak! You can't do anything to us!" The stocky man laughed out, and as Lin tried to escape, yelled out, "Don't let it escape!"

The men charged at him with powerful blows from their weapons. Lin dodged, knowing he couldn't sustain hits from them like other beasts. Lin was born to be a hunter from the shadows, not like those demonic beasts who fought head on. Other beasts had a powerful and rigid outer skin that would block many physical strikes, but Lin didn't. He had a flexible skin, which allowed him to have high agility, making impossible movements to dodge attacks. However, he was white for some reason. This color did not help him much in ambushing his prey, and was always a question that he had.

Lin dodged the first round of attacks, but knew he couldn't dodge any more. He backed up to the tree. The men began to advance on him. The attacks were too fast and powerful for him. He would eventually fail to dodge, and weaken, causing him to die after losing his peak condition. 'I need a burst of speed. Momentum! The man with the axe is the most dangerous. Then is the two men with swords. A man with a club' Lin quickly analyzed his opponents. 'If I am hit with the club, I will sustain the least damage. But, I need to not be hit towards the ground. How..."

By this time the men were right in front of him. Lin lunged at the man with a club, propelling himself with his powerful muscles that allowed him to make instantaneous moves impossible for a human. The man with a club swung down, but missed. The other men came, attacking him, not giving him any room to retreat. However, Lin was not planning to retreat.

He threw himself at the man's head. Because the man's club was at the bottom, lacking time, and panicking, all he could do was swing his club up, to block Lin. Lin was hit to the side, towards the forest. He landed five meters to the side, bloodied and in pain. Taking advantage of this chance, Lin fled, leaving a trail of blood behind.

The men searched for Lin, but couldn't find him. "Lost him! Damn!" The stocky man was mad, but none of the other men dared speak up.

"L-Leader, there's a trail of blood here," one of the men hesitantly said.

"Good, good," the stocky man muttered while a malicious smile rose on his face. "Follow it."