After being escorted back out of the city, Aberon, Astaroth, Aj'axx, I'dril, and Korin walked the same path they had walked to the gates on their arrival.
They garnered the same looks of disgust and hatred as previously, but this time around, Astaroth knew why. He simply ignored the masses, as they were but misguided people.
The group walked along the dirt road until they reached the fields, and then the plains. The trudge to the forest took longer, as the previous stressful experience, had exhausted them.
But they eventually made it to the forest. They did the trek into the woods, up to where they had left their carriage and the wooden stags.
The sun was setting on the horizon, making the forest already dusky. So Aberon delayed their departure.
"The night is upon us. We shall depart tomorrow." He said.
"What about repercussions?" Chris asked.
"You know how the king is." He added.
"I don't think he would be foolish enough to go directly against Lady Anulo. But as a precaution, do night watch in pairs." Aberon said, pensively.
The group agreed and set up camp. They knew it was risky to camp so close to the capital, with how the audience had turned out, but it was riskier to travel at night.
The forest had many predators that could hide well during the night, so a campfire was the only thing keeping them in view.
The first pair on watch duty was Korin and Astaroth. The second one would be Aberon and I'dril, and the final would be Chris and Aj'axx.
The group hoped that the night would be without trouble, letting them catch some sleep.
The hunters sent by the court mage had found the group when night had fallen. The campfire had given away their position.
The hunter party closed in on the campsite but quickly noticed the watchmen walking around. They stopped their advance with a hand signal.
The hunters gathered together, backing away from the campsite, making sure they remained unseen.
"What should we do, boss?" One hunter asked.
"I saw only two people on watch. Did any of you see more?" The hunter in the middle asked the group.
All of them shook their heads in a negative motion. The middle hunter then nodded in approval.
"Then we shall proceed as originally planned. Start spreading the sleep gas and make sure it covers the whole campsite before proceeding." The man ordered.
His group all nodded, and spread out in different directions, trying to go around the camp unnoticed. They circled the lit-up zone and then activated some devices that started spewing colorless and odorless gas.
As soon as the devices went into action, they brought up a cloth to their noses, from under their armor, making sure they didn't breathe in fumes.
This was a very efficient sleep gas, one that bounty hunters often used when going for a quiet capture. It worked by changing mana particles chemically, transforming them into gas.
This would normally work on any other mark, but their target this time was special. As soon as Astaroth saw the mana particles changing, he felt something was wrong.
He ran to Korin immediately. He recycled his air by creating a small magic wind around his head, so he wouldn't breathe in whatever it was the mana was producing.
When Astaroth got to Korin, the man was already half asleep, trying to crawl to Aberon's sleeping spot.
"Korin! What's happening!?" Astaroth asked in a panic.
"We… Are under… Attack. Wake… Up… The others." Korin said, staggering and finally collapsing to sleep.
When Astaroth turned to run to Aberon, he noticed through his mana vision that something had already covered the entire camp in a cloud of gas. It would most likely be useless to wake the others at this point.
So instead of doing the exercise in futility, Astaroth thought of another plan. He faked getting drowsy and let himself fall to the ground.
He planned to wait for their enemies to show up and deal with them if he could. He lay prone on the ground, keeping his wind spell going, and waited.
He didn't have to wait long. A group of five men walked into the camp, all from different directions, with bands of cloth covering their mouths and noses.
pαпdα-ňᴏνêι·сóМ They checked everyone was fast asleep, before walking towards Astaroth. Astaroth felt a light kick to his side but didn't react just yet.
"Seems like they are all out cold. Give the mark the Sleeping potion, to be sure, and let's be on our way." One of them said.
"Aye aye, sir." Another responded.
The man replied, then walked closer to Astaroth, kneeling beside him. He then grabbed Astaroth's shoulders and lifted his head a little.
Astaroth heard the pop of a cork and knew it was time to act. He opened his eyes abruptly and pulled his dagger out of his inventory.
The dagger appeared in his hand, and he jammed under the man's chin, his victim's eyes going wide. The hit didn't kill the man outright, but it caused him to hemorrhage, and try as he might, to stop the bleeding.
Astaroth then went to phase two of his impromptu plan and fused with White Death. He surmised that his upgraded stats would most likely reduce the effect of the gas, and he could fight without holding his spell.
As soon as he transformed, he howled to the moon, directly using his Alpha's Howl skill. Unabated terror struck three of the remaining men, but one man resisted it.
The man looked at his companions as they dropped to their knees and pissed themselves, and clicked his tongue in disappointment.
"Cowards." He simply said, before turning his head to look at Astaroth.
"Sweet trick, kid. Are you perhaps a Beastmaster too?" He asked Astaroth.
"Don't question me. I won't be answering your questions. I will just kill you and your friends." Astaroth replied, looking at the man like he was prey.
"You seem to misunderstand the situation here, kid. I'm not your prey. You are mine." The man responded, flashing a beastly grin.
The man then started shapeshifting into a mountain-lion-resembling cat, keeping most of his human traits.
His claws were gleaming in a reddish liquid substance, and Astaroth thought it was probably poison.
"I might not look as savage as your wolf form, but my puma form is more agile than canines." The now cat man said in a growly voice.
"You going to talk all night, or are we going to fight?" Astaroth asked, trying to taunt the man into action.
The hunter lunged at Astaroth, without warning, trying to cut at his belly with his glistening claws. Astaroth barely took a step back in time, dodging the blow and countering with a strike to the head of his own.
His opponent ducked out of the blow and stepped to the side, trying to swipe at his leg this time.
Astaroth stepped to the opposite side, walking out of the strike, and trying to kick the man's head.
The puma back-flipped away, taking his distance, before running sideways around Astaroth. Astaroth braced for the attack to come, following the puma with his eyes.
The hunter then jerked towards him, slashing at his thighs, forcing Astaroth to jump back, but he had lost sight of his surroundings. When he jumped back, he stumbled into Chris' sleeping body, tripping.
As he fell to his back, the puma appeared right over his body, looking at him with feral eyes.
"Got you!" The hunter said, slashing his claws across Astaroth's face.
Astaroth took the blow, and he kicked upwards, hitting the man in the stomach, and sending him flying upwards. His strength was clearly superior to his opponents'
"Got you too!" Astaroth responded, rolling on his back and getting to his feet in a swift motion.
The hit he took barely scratched his health bar, but the problem came from the accompanying effect. In his status effects, he could now see an icon of two Zs.
It said 'drowsy' under it. He didn't have time to read the exact effects, but he quickly felt them.
His eyes felt heavier already, and his movements became slightly sluggish. The hunter, of course, banked on this and kept his assault.
The more they fought, the more Astaroth accrued wounds, and the more stacks of drowsiness were applied. Until he could fight no more.
Keeping his eyes open was already an inhuman feat for him as he slumped to his knees.
"This fight was entertaining. Thank you for that." The hunter said, reverting to his human form.
Astaroth looked at him defiantly, with half-closed eyes.
"It's… not… over… yet." He replied, trying to fight off the sleepiness.
"Oh, but it is." The hunter replied, slamming a fist into Astaroth's jaw.
The hit instantly knocked the already half-asleep Astaroth out.
The rest of the hunter's group had finally snapped out of their terror as they walked back to their boss, heads hanging low.
"We're sorry, boss!" They all exclaimed simultaneously, bowing at ninety-degree angles.
"No use in apologizing. It was probably a skill." The head hunter said, giving them a chance to wash away their shame.
"But change out of your piss-stained pants." He added, before bursting out in laughter and grabbing his mark.
He threw Astaroth over his shoulder before walking back in the capital's direction. This had been a successful hunt, and he would get a fat bounty for it.
Just the thought of all that gold and the things he would buy with it made him break into a wide grin.
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