Chapter 31 - Chase

There were more opportunity seekers gathered around the grassland, but aside from the short-faced bear and a couple of cave lions, none of them took a step out of their hideout. Nothingness, due to the appearance of three powerful predators, had already made the whole situation very tense. They came here only for one purpose and it was to hunt.

Basic surveillance of newly came beasts' auras, proved Ulf's primary idea that they were weaker than two moose. Three of them were middle-grade beasts. Originally, middle-stage beasts wouldn't possess any trouble with late-stage young moose, not even mentioning peak-grade old members of the same species.

However, at that moment both of them were almost out of energy and physically very tired, especially the younger moose, which had a damaged antler and a horrible wound on the abdomen.

After observing the approaching predators, they took a defensive posture, however, the cave lion and short-faced bear rather avoided peak-grade moose and got near the wounded moose.

'Hah, it seems, they aren't entirely blinded by their greed. Peak beast, even if extremely tired, is still something out of their league.' Thought Ulf.

Of course, they were tempted to hunt it down, but watching the effect of innate hardening, should have forced them to rethink that wish.

'This old moose was very cunning. This creature likely knew about the presence of the surrounding beasts. Innate hardening has limited time usage and can get shorter because of the moose's old age. It made the less experienced younger moose use its whole power, then purposely showed weakness and ambushed with its trump card.' Ulf was amazed at how crafty this beast was.

Other beasts must have noticed it more or less and preferred to leave this very strong moose aside.

Younger moose felt the crisis. It knew very well that confronting the three middle-grade beasts with its crashed body would be a very hard task, if not impossible.

That was why there was only one way to survive.

RUN...

With its remaining power dashed toward the forest and ran in the west direction. Just in a second, it disappeared inside the giant trees. Seeing this action the three predators followed the moose right away.

'It's time to move for me too.'

He headed to the west side by hopping and running on the trees. Even if the moose had a deep injury, it could still move very quickly. Ulf, like beast predators, had to use a strong scent of blood to find the way moose had gone.

As he started using the inner qi too, Ulf's speed multiplied several-fold. His fastness would not fall short of middle leader rank hunter. But it was known to everyone that almost every time on the same level wild creatures had an advantage in speed.

Ulf started accelerating. His advantage was that he could jump on the trees and move like that when these beasts had to manoeuvre among the trees and other barriers on the way.

Bit by bit it became clear that Ulf was sturdily getting closer to the predators chasing after the prey.

The cave lions and the short-faced bear had been maintaining a safe distance from each other. They had the same target and of course, didn't have any good intentions toward the opposite side.

'It seems, only they were brave enough to take part in the hunt.'

Ulf noticed that away from these beasts was a group of four giant wolves. He even recognized one of them to be the same one that tried to hunt his group down together with its pack. According to their auras, all of them were early-grade beasts. However, no matter the grade, these four beasts already represented considerable power.

All those beasts were following the wounded moose with their hungry eyes. The late-grade beast's body was something very precious for the hunters to cultivate and for the beasts, its value was much higher.

The main issue was how long moose could endure. Even if it had a high grade on the beast stage, strong vitality and willpower, its injured abdomen wouldn't allow it to keep going like that for a long time. All the time from the grassland, the blood hadn't stopped seeping out from its gut.

Ulf also took a safe distance and decided to remain like that for some time.

They pursued the target for more than twenty minutes. The prey and the predator beasts covered the section that stretched far into the forest. They went past several hills and mountains.

'Just how can a wounded creature last such an extended period of time?' Ulf was once again astonished by the hopeless beast's tenacity.

In the end, nothing was eternal. The young moose began to lessen its speed. Even Ulf could see that it had problems breathing.

However, they entered a part of the forest that had a large density of bushes and quite sharp thorns. Some of them may be poisonous. No possibility could be excluded in this forest. Because of that, pursuers had to be a bit careful, but still stubbornly wished to catch the prey. Ulf was safer up, on the trees.

Suddenly, the wounded target drastically slowed down. There were very big bushes covering the front space and not allowing others to see what was beyond it and for some reason, the moose wasn't going to go through or couldn't cross it. At the same time, the distance between it and the predators was shortening at an alarming rate.

'What is happening?' Ulf had a logical question and chose to be more cautious.

Though, the predator beasts were already very agitated. Their main reason for this hunt was to catch the weakened and injured beast moose. It must have been an easy tour for them. In return, they had been running for such a long time without any gain. After they evolved into the beast, they became cleverer than had been before. Even though, eventually, they still had strong animal instincts and often took the action only by using them.

Their anger provoked them enough this time too to not have many thoughts and intended to jump on the half-dead moose together from the back and two sides. The big reason for this action was that none of those groups wanted to give the late-grade beast's corpse or share it with others.

Ulf was also ready with Aeglos in his hands to hop down from the tree anytime to fight for his fortune. Naturally, he wasn't going to depart from this place without any trophy.

When Ulf started to think about the plan, the moose, after seeing approaching hungry beasts, gave the last groan and jumped into the big bushes. The groan expressed very well this mighty creature's unwillingness for its early demise and anger toward the cruel fate.

Other beasts followed the moose right away. Ulf didn't want to fall behind, but then immediately halted.

He could hear the pitiful voice of the wolves and lions, as they were getting farther and farther with astonishing speed from him. In an instant, Ulf had an idea of what may have happened beyond the big bushes, but preferred to check it himself.

After cutting down the plant, whatever Ulf saw in front of him stunned instantly.

'Cliff! We were on top of the cliff!!'