The rider spurred his horse more as soon as he saw Curtis in the meeting point, the guy had worked his horse so hard that when he arrived, the poor beast all but collapsed as Curtis gave it some water to drink.
Curtis took caution as he approached the rider. The rider felt dead to him if he had to describe it, he thought he was looking at a walking corpse, he was pale as a sheet of paper, one of his arms were cut off, and his lips were as purple as a plum, all blood had probably drained out of his bleeding stump. And the worst thing was that he didn't even notice.
"I'm so glad you're here!" the rider huffed, he was even more oblivious to his state than Curtis had initially thought. He panted and wheezed as he tried to tell Curtis what happened.
"They… just… came up from... The ground. The other guys… had no chance… they were… killed instantly." he wheezed out. "I was just lucky enough to escape unscathed" he managed to finally form a full sentence after drinking some water.
"We need to leave…. They might catch up." he pushed out as he emptied the canteen into his stomach.
"What's your name?" Curtis at least wanted to know this man's name before he kicked the bucket. His injuries were too severe. And he doesn't have time to patch him up, especially with the cloud of dust being kicked up in the distance.
"Castle, my name is Castle." the rider said. "I'll sit down for a bit. I'm feeling weak all of a sudden." the guard sat down by a small boulder. "I'll gather my strength for a bit. Then let's leave," he said.
"Ok Castle, how many were there?" Curtis asked. It wasn't really wise to let the enemy move up any further than here. At least if they were stopped here. The chances that Chaos would be able to locate their traces were going to be lower. Even leaving traces left a bad taste in his mouth. But there was nothing he could do. He didn't have the ability to fully erase their tracks.
"What?" Castle asked. He was losing consciousness, he didn't know it yet, but he was dying. Maybe it would be better this way.
"How many were there?" Curtis repeated himself. He had decided to stop them here. Their current location was a bit of a ways off from the portal, but he didn't want to take any chances.
"Uhh, five or six monsters ambushed us, people were riding them. I wasn't able to get a clear view," he replied, slowly starting to drift to his sleep.
Curtis turned back, moving to face the oncoming enemy.
"I just… I just took my horse and ran." Castle said weakly.
"Rest now, I'll wake you up later," Curtis said to the wind.
Now he needed to fight.
~~~
Curtis gazed at the cloud of dust blowing up on the horizon, even with his vision, it wasn't easy to identify the figures. Castle said that people were riding on the beasts. And he saw correctly, vaguely Curtis could see people riding on the beasts.
He let out a tired sigh. These were Chaos hunters, they operated in groups of four to ten, depending on the importance of their leader. The bigger their group, the higher esteem their leader was held. But even as a force commanded by Chaos, they were just a bit short of being considered important to the war.
Chaos hunters were used as scouts, they were disposable, Chaos leaders would usually send them out as expendable forces; they scouted an area using their lives, the leader would hang back and see what threat there is and then return to relay the information to their leaders.
Curtis had seen their groups before, and if their habits haven't changed, considering their numbers, the two big ones will charge him, the three will surround him and provide back up, and their leader would stay in the distance to observe.
His horse was starting to panic, Castle's horse had already run away when he looked back, as he rode towards the enemy, Curtis had recognized the beasts they were riding, there were 3 Silvernape wolves, 1 Thornback bear, 1 Three-horned Rhino, and the leader who stayed away had a Wood-spiked Alligator.
This group of hunters was very well rounded, the Wolves were agile and can easily track down any prey, no wonder Castle wasn't able to shake them off. The Rhino and Bear were great at tanking hits, while the Wood-spiked Alligator was skilled in launching ranged attacks, it used the spikes protruding from its tail, and launched them at unsuspecting foes.
Hjilmar had lectured him about these hunters before, people who had limited potential, and were replaceable would be placed in the hunters, basically, they were for those who betrayed humanity, but Chaos didn't want to leave them as cannon fodder, so it used them to gather information.
But then again, the key was that they had limited potential, for normal soldiers they were a nightmare, but for people like Curtis who had the proper training to fight against Chaos and were gifted with abilities, they were basically just sturdier walls of meat. Usually, when a group of hunters finds a powered person, they would automatically tuck tail and run. But in this continent, they were too few and far in between, they would have never expected to find one in this place.
Curtis would rather strike first than let them have the advantage.
The 5 Chaos hunters approached, any semblance of sanity was missing from their faces, they had already gone crazy with bloodthirst, they would have done anything just for the chance to main or kill. The only thing keeping them in line was the promise of blood and the fear they had towards their superiors.
Without warning, the one who rode the Three-horned Rhino charged at Curtis, it was a straightforward charge, no fancy moves or anything, the rider held his lance and pointed it at Curtis' mount. They would dismount him and then use his immobility to crush him. It was a standard tactic that worked or would have worked against any regular person, but not Curtis.
Curtis leaped away from his mount, making use of the chance that he still wasn't surrounded. His horse had served its purpose of bringing him to the enemy. He wouldn't want it to die in the engagement.
The rider was surprised that Curtis had voluntarily left his mount, he had tried to adjust his lance, but, he was too late. Curtis took advantage of the speed the rider was charging at him and jumping from his own mount and brandished his battle-ax onto his enemy's torso.
It was a clean cut.
He thought that he even heard the sound of his ax cutting his spine into two.
The Rhino's speed had considerably slowed as its rider had pulled its reins back. But it was still too slow and had to stop at a fair distance from him. The Rhino, being a beast that was raised by Chaos had grown bloodthirsty. Even without orders, it charged towards Curtis. Its horns pointed right towards him.
Even though the Rhino was an ancient and old breed of beasts, it was still, in the end, a beast. Curtis once again raised his ax. He sidestepped the Rhino's oncoming charge in a show of his agility and slashed towards its exposed neck, Curtis had brought it down with one strike.
The skirmish with the Rhino and its rider took place in quick succession, with the hunter's compatriots already screaming for blood, Curtis didn't have any respite and had to dodge another hunter's attack. The Bear had swiped towards him, having missed him by a hair's breadth, it had hit the already deceased Rhino and caused blood and meat to splatter.
Curtis had judged that he should have been able to block the bear's strike with his strength, but he didn't want to put that to the test right now. The rain of blood providing him with a bit of a distraction. The rain of blood had gotten the attention of the Hunters, being as bloodthirsty as they are, the sight of blood exploding had filled them with excitement, even forgetting the fight they were in, even for a moment, and that had been enough, leaving Curtis with enough time to strike again.
The Bear wasn't really an ideal target right now, its tough hide would take a few hits to get through. It wasn't called Thornback for nothing, it's scales were innately tough. So Curtis turned to the three Silvernapes.
Curtis dashed to the first one, with an overhead chop he had cleaved the Rider in two, along with his mount. The Hunter didn't even get to react as he was already split in half by the time he had snapped out of his moment of euphoria. He felt like he had sliced butter with that strike. Silvernapes were notorious for being a squishy target. They were light-footed beasts, oftentimes the Silvernapes would hunt in the shadows, killing their prey without showing themselves, and being a breed of wolves, they would hunt in packs, distracting and causing their prey to look the other way while the other members would go in for the kill.
The second wolf rider was a bit more coherent than his colleagues, as Curtis was killing the first Silvernape, he had gotten into position and drew his bow. As Curtis finished off the first wolf an arrow was let loose, aimed at his solar plexus, a good target, being at the center of one's body a person's center of gravity would never be too far off from that area, making it harder for an untrained person to move at a moment's notice.
Curtis wasn't untrained. He had been in training since he was 8 years old. And dodging an attack that he had seen coming was child's play. In return, he had decided to unleash his abilities, forming an ice-lance he aimed at the rider's head and launched it with his free arm.
The hunter had been smiling already, thinking that he had gotten the better out of this unnamed guard they were facing. But, his smile froze as he saw the ice coming closer to his head.
Curtis laughed as the hunter was dismounted, his devious smile frozen as a piece of ice had struck him right in the middle of his eyes
Three down, three to go.
"HOLD HIM BACK!" a shout rang out.
The element of surprise had finally slipped out of his grasp. As soon as he had formed that ice spear, the Alligator rider had already turned and ran. Chaos hunters were called hunters only because they preyed on those they had a chance to kill. Most of the time those were prey weaker than them. They were mainly just scouts, comprised of expendable units. They had no chance of beating him.
And now that Curtis had shown off his ability, the leader had already decided that his minions were already dead. He needed to get the information about the ability user back to his superiors, and when he does, he will be rewarded and be assigned another batch of minions.
Hunter leaders were made up of humans that had defected willingly to Chaos, they were enticed by the rewards they were promised and had given up their freedom in exchange for their desires. They were sick, they were vile, and they were extremely disgusting in Curtis' eyes. Once Hjilmar had shown him what was inside their heads.
The Hunter Leader was enjoying himself in a party of blood, sex, and gore. Women were lined up as he raped them with an intoxicated look. His compatriots wore a similar expression as they maimed and killed those in front of them. Basking in the pained and wailed expressions of those they deemed beneath them. It was sickening, and Curtis vowed to let those who enjoy such events die a painful death.
Curtis now faced the Silvernape rider, the mount of the one he had shot with a spear, the Thornback bear rider. He still had to get the running Hunter leader. The pawns already knew that they weren't going to be able to escape, they loved the taste of blood, and they wouldn't go down without at least trying to taste his.
Hjilmar was right, beings kissed by Chaos were worth nothing, he was surrounded by 5 who were pawns in the bigger picture.
He will still get justice for those who had their life robbed of them.
Curtis smiled coldly as he took in the crazy gaze of his enemies.
He muttered.
"Is that all?"