Chapter – 7: Rescue

After having a little talk with peter, bran's team started moving towards the gate of the town. They moved, as usual talking along the streets and greeting others. When they are gone out of town, they started going into the forest. After going for a while, they felt a presence and heard a low growl of a beast. They are in a place, where trees are little sparse. When they saw that figure, their hearts stopped beating and fear gripped their body like never before. The nightmare they don't want to see has appeared in front of them again. Nothing has to say, as to what they must do.

RUN...!

Immediately, they started to run for life. Actually, they are not that far from town but reaching it might be the biggest hurdle in their lives.

Bran: "Let's move together, head towards left!" He shouted.

They all nodded and moved towards their left. After a bit of circling they started heading back to town, even though the beast is still in pursuit, they are not in imminent danger, for now.

But a few moments later, they saw a group of 7 members, all in black wear, blocking their path, towards the town. Their eyes gleaming with dark evil intent, in other words killing intent. Bran, who has experience as a mercenary for many years knew if he had to combat with them, they have to keep their lives on the line.

Bran immediately decided to move towards the left but it is blocked by steep rocks, even though the right side is clear, it is too clear to move forward without any suspicion. They can move even against the steep rocks but when time is the essence, any mistake means death. Though the right side might be a trap, he has to take it or else he may regret it.

Bran: "Who are you guys? Why are you blocking us?" Even though he knew their intention with a single glance, he asked with a little hope and for the sake of his teammates.

A heavy figure wearing a total black outfit. Except for his eyes, nothing is visible of him. You can say he is muscular and heavily built from the outline of clothes.

…. : " Us? We are mercenaries like you guys. About us blocking, you are mistaken, that route is more infested with many high-level beasts. We are just helping you guys out of our own goodwill." He smiled a vicious smile, but it is hidden behind the mask.

Bran: "is it so? then we will take this way then." His angered skyrocketed but he has to maintain his cool or else his teammates may die. Even though, he doesn't know what they planned. He has to take the risk, he is hoping to at least save his teammates if possible.

Even though, lily, the archer, and the lancer guy felt suspicious. They decided to follow Bran's lead as he is more experienced than them and he is more capable. The remaining two fellows are in total oblivion, they don't know what they are into.

They went to their right; the pursuit of the beast is still on high. The beast didn't even take a glance towards the other group. It is following them as if they have killed its family.

Bran shocked to the core as he understood the reason behind the appearance of the beast near the area of town. At the same time, his hope for survival diminished greatly. It is the same kind of White Horned Lion, that has pursued them yesterday. They have been marked by the dead one and the current beast is on a suicide mission. It will kill them even at the cost of its life.

They went for a while and reached a cliff. They met a dead end. There is no way out for them, they have to face the beast. They turned around and started preparing for the combat with the beast. Actually, this one is weaker than yesterday's, but it is not easy to escape from it. After fighting for a while, they received some minor injuries and the beast is still on high. Its blood-red eyes are overflowing with vengeance.

Occasionally they had the opportunity to escape, but they were unable to escape as the other group (in black outfit) has injured them. It is very clear for everyone that they have been used as scapegoats to deal with Horned White Lion. If the other group attacked head-on against the beast, they might receive some serious injuries. So, to avoid it, they are using Bran's team.

Fighting the beast for a while and occasional injuries from that group, they are very close to losing side. The current state of bran's team; Shield guy is halfway to death, lancer has moderate injuries, Bran and Elina are most injured as bran is taking most of the attack and Elina is the weakest. Lily is better than most but not too much. Bran took a look at his teammates and felt that life is cruel for them. His thoughts traveled to the same guy who has saved them. 'Maybe we are lucky before' He thought.

When bran's team finally lost their hope. Space distorted in front of them and a familiar Stranger has appeared before them as a god. His face is ice cold and anger is clearly visible on his face. He looked towards the bran's team and his face twisted even more.

Peter felt his heart has been battered. He felt pain seeing Elina with injured hands and blood on her face. Even though they are not known for many days, he liked her, so he started thinking of her as a little sister to him.

He immediately blinked before the beast and plunged his sword deep into its heart and ended its life. Even though the beast hurt them, it did not do for fun or benefits, it did for vengeance for its brethren. But some people are plotting against them from shadows and reaping the benefits.

Peter removed the sword from the beast and waved his hands, all the shadow figures on the trees fallen to the ground. They are unable to lift their heads even either. They are utterly powerless in front of him. The cruel and vicious smiles on their faces are completely replaced by fear and terror. Peter walked towards them slowly and put back his sword into the storage ring. They felt relieved seeing that, but it didn't last long.

Peter took a small knife, which is very similar to the scalpel used by surgeons. He moved towards them and peeled the upper clothes off from one guy. After that, he pointed out the knife and started skinning him alive. After skinning him, he used black poison on him. Black poison erodes the muscle and creates excruciating pain. Screams of terror can be heard even from afar.

Terror is not enough to describe the horror they are seeing. The fate of the remaining team members of the group is the same but the woman in the group has a different treatment. He didn't undress her but he dug his hands into her back and pulled her spine out with his bare hands. When she started screaming, he chopped her neck off.

Bran's team filled with shock, horror, terror, and relief. They are shocked because he is smiling while torturing; horror, and terror for his methods, and relief for him to be on their side and he saved them again.

After the torture session, peter felt his anger subside. He calmed down his heart and faced the mercenary group. They have different expressions and emotions on their faces. Elina ran towards him and hugged him tightly. Her cry made everyone realize they were at death door a while back, but it also signified they are saved now.

Actually, he is also at fault as he already knows that Horned White Lions marks their prey/enemy, but he didn't care. His carelessness might have costed their lives, if not for his consciousness he left on them.

After calming down, they started moving towards town. They have decided to keep it a secret. Along the way, Elina is holding his hands while hugging sometimes. Peter doesn't know how to deal with Elina. After some thought, he decided to say her the truth. At least she can pursue someone else.

Peter is really thinking, words are enough to change the mind of a woman but he doesn't know what he is up to.