The Hunter

The ground had been dyed crimson red, with chunks of flesh sprawled all about. Half of Jarvin's face and a good portion of the still-unconscious little girl were doused in blood and sinew as well.

"Put the shield back up for fucks sake!" Andre shouted.

A moment later, another bolt of black energy came zipping towards the group.

"Activate!" Jarvin shouted, just as the bolt came hurdling between Andre and Edric, bouncing off the erected force field with a thump.

"Th-They killed him, they didn't even drain his soul and they killed him," Jarvin whispered, staring at the headless remains of the old man.

Edric himself still couldn't process what had happened. 

"They evolved into a hunter, forget about them keeping us alive to ingest our souls. Hunters only care about devouring flesh," Andre explained, his eyes focused on the area where the black bolt had come from.

"We should run. You and I are sitting ducks outside of that barrier," Edric replied, his eyes focused on the area where the bolt had come from as well.

"Don't worry, hunters pick off the weakest first, they're opportunistic. They wouldn't waste energy by trying to kill us first... however, you would know that if you were really a champion," Andre said, a hint of despair present in his tone.

"Tell me, did you kill one of those abnormals without sealing it?" he asked next, his voice cracking in fear towards the end.

Edric remained silent, it was obvious from the fear in Andre's voice that he had screwed up.

"Because if you did, you've doomed us all. That's a hunter that's consumed one abnormal and at least one other hunter," he continued, before turning to look at Edric.

"You're no champion," he added, before rushing passed Edric, and disappearing into the forest to the left.

Before Edric could even process what was happening, Andre was already long gone.

"I-I can't hold the barrier up much longer," Jarvin stuttered, tears streaming down his face as he strained to keep the barrier running.

~Did he just... run away?~ Edric thought to himself, before focusing on the little girl.

Andre had mentioned that they would pick off the weakest first. So logically speaking, if he ran right now, he would at least be given a bit of time. Sure, he wasn't confident that he was stronger than Andre, seeing how fast the guy was capable of running

However, Jarvin over here looked worse for wear. At the very least they would go after him first.

"M-Mister, please don't leave me," Jarvin stuttered.

Oh what a sight it was, to see snot coming out of a grown man's nose as he begged for someone to stay by his side.

Though Edric could understand, in fact, if not for the shock, he too may have been crying at their circumstances. Those flying bolts of energy were no joke. He had barely even seen the first one coming before it took the old-man's head off.

"Is there a village or something nearby here?" Edric asked, coming into the barrier quickly, and picking the girl up.

"Y-Yes, not too far from here," Jarvin replied.

"Good, point me in the direction, we'll be heading there."

"H-How I can't put the field down or we'll die," Jarvin stuttered.

"It'll be okay, just point," Edric replied.

Jarvin hesitantly lifted his hand, and pointed west, his entire body shivering from the strain it took to keep the field up.

"I-I see, you want to lead it there. Y-You're a genius. Everyone in town should be weaker than us, so we'll have enough time," Jarvin whispered with a sort of relieved smile.

"You may not be a real champion, but you're a champion to me. H-Hurry, I can't hold this up much longer," Jarvin said, with renewed vigour.

~It's been so long since I've witnessed such a gift, true unadulterated human depravity. Greed and Pride have nothing on this,~ Edric thought to himself, before tensing the muscles in his legs.

"Thank you," Jarvin added, right as Edric was about to sprint out.

However, before he left the barrier, he turned around and thrust a powerful kick into Jarvin's right side. It wasn't anything on the level he had used on the abnormal, however, it was enough to break a few ribs.

Jarvin fell to the ground in pain, his field temporarily deactivating.

In that instant, a black bolt came hissing from one of the trees to their right.

Right as it was about to reach Jarvin, his force field flickered into existence

"I guess you're quite tenacious. Look, don't take this personally, but I bet you would've betrayed me if I hadn't done so first," Edric said, before dashing off into the forest.

"B-Bastard!" Jarvin's screams were already a distant echo as the environment around Edric became a blur.

Even with the little girl on his back, he was still able to maintain a relatively fast pace.

~I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that the inhabitants of a dying planet are so depraved. In fact, I would probably have given up an entire town to save my own skin as well... however admitting it out loud is something entirely different,~ he thought to himself as he continued venturing west.

Andre had mentioned that they couldn't run away because the abnormals had their scent, and there was no reason to believe that their evolved versions -the hunters- didn't have this same ability as well. Which meant that they would come after the girl sooner or later.

So why was Edric carrying this moving target on his back?

It was simple, he figured he would need someone to lead him to the village in case Jarvin had been lying. Also, he doubted that a community of humans would easily welcome someone like him into their group, especially if Andre had already made it there and told them about how he wasn't really a champion.

~Even in a world like this, I'm sure saving a little girl counts as a heroic act,~ he thought to himself.

Right now this girl was nothing more than a bargaining chip to him.

After running at full speed for nearly five minutes, he noticed a large clearing with a cluster of buildings coming up in the distance.

~So he wasn't lying,~ Edric thought to himself, before slowing down.

He quickly dropped the girl to the ground, before lightly slapping her.

After four taps, her eyes shot open, and she began screaming instantly.

"If you keep doing that we'll both die," Edric warned, covering her mouth.

"Look, we're home, you're safe and I was the one who saved you," he added quickly, turning her head so that she could see the cluster of buildings in the distance.

"But that thing is still chasing us. I need you to go in there and warn everyone that there's a... hunter approaching. And the only person that can help is waiting outside," he said.

The girl looked at him with a confused expression for a moment, before nodding her head hesitantly.

"Good, bring me something to cover my body as well. Them knowing that I'm a Drasvalik might make it harder to kill that thing," he added.