The Heartstone Journey

Book 3 | Ch. 5 - 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐕𝐨𝐢𝐝 [𝐕]

On guard duty to protect the young ones, Hunter kept himself awake primarily by slowly eating a piece of food he left alone during his last meal trying to get his body to work from the inside. There were obvious bags that underlined his eyes, it was clear he hadn't slept in quite sometime. He stayed out of range from the resting camp in case he were to attract dangerous beasts while still in vision of them. He grabbed the hilt of his blade raising it up in the air before stabbing the ground with it. He kept it there so he wouldn't have to deal with the weight as much so he could focus a bit more on defending the boys. From afar he spotted multiple unknown silhouettes emerging from the abyss above and far out. He readied himself on the off chance they got too close to the camp and was correct to prepare himself. He watched as two silhouettes became more detailed and clear the closer they flew in. They landed just far enough to be out of range of Hunter's attacks revealing they were chimeras. Not one, not two but three with the final one in the air watching from afar. Two of them were close to the size of the one Royal and Cloudy had fought while the one in the air was far larger than the rest. it was fair to state that the beast was their leader.

The Chimeras roared with aggression in synchronization trying to size up its prey they had just found. Not impressed Hunter brings on his own way of intimidation by raising his fists up.

"Come at me."

He commented not taking their little screams seriously.

One of the chimeras on land charge at him slashing with its talons to ensure a clean kill. Hunter easily dodges the strike only paying attention to the leader as if to say "This all you got?". The leader glares back waiting for his turn blowing smoke from his nose. The chimera that made the first move shined its claws red and attacked him from behind with hardly sound to be made. He twisted his body around and gripped the chimeras face pulling on the skin of the beast to the ground slamming everything along with it. While in the process of grabbing its face he crushed its skull to fragments and left it alive all just to throw it at the leader. Not entertained in the slightest it flew down seeing its brethren suffering in pain. To ease its suffering the leader raised its leg up stomping on the head of the dying hybrid killing it instantly.

Hunter was not amused, now ordering the leader to bring the other chimera to him so he can kill it quickly. The chimera now on the spot got goosebumps with its hairs raised. It looked back at its leader hoping for some kind of mercy but the leader only gave a deadly glare with its eyes turning red. With no other option, desperate it soared up into the air; In a cold sweat it roars out in a futile attempt to scare or even stun the man for even a moment but that was not going to happen. The beast talons radiated a purple hue similar to one activating their aura as it leapt at the man with freight and hesitation.

Hunter coated his hands with crimson energy creating small consistent sharp spikes around his fists. He cocked his fists back loading his muscles into it before unleashing one singular precise strike that left a clean hole inside and outside the chimera killing it. It plopped onto the ground now a useless pile of flesh with blood pouring out forming a pool of purple blood.

"It isn't difficult to deal with you guys. Your abilities are quite see through after a single glance. But I understand now since you would've normally killed those before they get a second glance. That purple sheen you emit is power strikes while the red hue is speed."

He detailed reminding himself of what happened to Royal and Cloudy fighting for their dear lives.

The leader snarled at Hunter as if to express his dissatisfaction. Hunter lowered himself and took a strange stance as if he was ready to fight but showed with that pose he was not taking it seriously. What only made the stance weirder was the fact he raised his hands as if he were holding his blade, in reality all he was using was his battle scarred fists. The hybrid witnessing his will and power bottled inside flew upward, before it chose to leave it spoke the human tongue.