Chapter 45 - Beef steak

The rest of the hunters didn't pose much of a problem for Curtis, an ice spear shot there, and an ax swing directed here made short work of the two, his only concern was the still breathing Thornback Bear.

Thornback Bears are most commonly found in the mountains, they had adapted to the harsh survival conditions up the mountains and formed a thick hide that would protect them from the weather and the other predators that roamed the mountains. They had a fierce and brutish nature that they would crush their prey and those who threaten them with their reliable hide.

Normally, the easiest way to kill them was to bludgeon them to death, by hitting them repeatedly on the head with a blunt object, you would be able to turn their brain into smush. It was a barbaric way to attack such a beast. But it was the most reliable method available, their skin was so hard that trying to cut them would cause most weapons to break.

Although Curtis had been gifted with a good amount of strength, it wasn't still wasn't enough to subdue the beast in that way. Him, not having a suitable weapon to bludgeon it with didn't help either. So he went another route.

All living things were susceptible to heat. Too much heat can cause a person to faint, and even more can, of course, can kill a person. The same thing would apply to some animals. The Thornback Bear lived high up the mountains, they had developed a thick hide to protect them from the chill in such altitudes. Curtis had planned to kill the bear with fire. Sure it wasn't really an original idea, burning something to death. But, he didn't have any other option, he was in the desert, using ice to freeze the bear was harder to do especially with its natural resistance to the cold, and the conditions didn't favor that part of his power, while fire, on the other hand, would be much easier to control in such an environment.

Curtis stood a fair distance from the Bear. the beast itself was showing a fair bit of intelligence, it was assessing him, no doubt the few exchanges that they had was enough for it to employ some caution. Curtis was a bit too agile for its taste. The Bears' attacks had all missed its mark, its charge proved useless, its swipes were able to get close as its speed was able to contest Curtis' speed, but still, it had missed. Its bites never really managed to connect.

*ROOOOOOAR*

With increasing frustration of not catching its prey, the bear roared. Especially now that it was feeling the heat of its skin being burned with a bright red flame.

Fighting a drawn-out battle and unleashing hell on his opponents was Curtis' specialty, he felt free and righteous as he reaped the lives of those who were so clearly aligned with Chaos. He never really considered it but he was a battle maniac. He thrived in battle, when he first spilled blood he felt guilty about taking a life. He wasn't god, nor was he the devil, but a man. A mere mortal. In the grand scheme of things it might not matter, but taking a life was a display of power, not just to oneself but to all those who follow you.

But as he killed, and fought to protect those who cannot keep themselves safe. He then was able to come to terms with taking a life. Being the judge, jury, and executioner of those infected with Chaos was different though. He felt that he was an agent of good in the world.

And right now, having executed Chaos hunters who had killed 7 riders who had only wanted to keep their family and friends safe, he was euphoric. He knew he shouldn't be as people had died, but, he couldn't help himself.

He had avenged Castle and his friends.

With a faltering growl, the Beast finally fell. Curtis had set it aflame with his powers of fire. He had made it so that the flame would coat the bear and burn it for a long time. The trick was to imagine the fire being shaped into a brittle container and then filling that container with more fire that would be as fluid as water. Curtis had himself a small chuckle as Sally had taught him the way to do it, but he was basically making a molotov cocktail, and with him already having a visual idea on how to do it, he was able to quickly pick up on how to form it with his flames.

He had to douse the beast 6 times with the molotov cocktail before it fell. with each application increasing the intensity of the flames currently eating at it. The smell of burning flesh had saturated the area. It had honestly smelt like burning beef mixed with the smell of burning wood and the metallic smell of blood.

The Beast was tenacious, it had been able to delay Curtis long enough for the Chaos leader to escape. He should be able to track it if he was fast enough, but he would need to settle a few matters here first.

The fight with the Chaos hunters had caused considerable damage to the surrounding area. He wouldn't be able to hide these tracks from anyone who was searching seriously. The best he could do was lead them elsewhere.

It was a good thing that his horse; Timmy, had returned. It had run off earlier when the fighting started, Curtis was glad that the horse had survived, such a gentle beast dying was a loss to the world.

"Nice to see you bud," Curtis called out as he massaged the horse's neck. Curtis hopped on and returned to see off Castle.

The man had entered eternal sleep. It wasn't surprising as his injuries were too severe. He sat beside a boulder, drenched in what was left of his blood. Near him, his horse had also followed in his rider's footsteps. The fatigue it had accrued had finally caught up to it, passing onto the other side as well.

"I'm going to make those bastards pay," Curtis swore as he buried Castle in the oasis. He was going to at least give the guy a proper burial, he had done his job. And now Curtis needed to do his. He came back for two purposes, to purge Chaos, and to find his family, and seeing that he wasn't any closer to finding his family, purging Chaos right now didn't sound half bad.

Curtis took after the running Chaos leader after burying Castle and the horse. No traces of them being here was ideal, even though there was a warzone near, it would be great if he could minimize the chances of them even being there was discovered.

A giant alligator was easy to track, it left noticeable prints anywhere it went, add the fact that the rider didn't bother to hide. It showed how much distress he was going through, he wanted to get back to his superiors as soon as possible.

With the direction the tracks were going, Curtis could roughly guess which area the Chaos camp would be. The Hunter leader was going directly south. Meaning the camp would be in that general direction. Curtis would need to be fast if he wanted to catch up. He already had a bit of a head start, granted that a horse would be faster than an alligator on land, he still had a bit of ground to make up to.

~~~

Rosko loved his life as a Chaos hunter. As long as he willed it he could get anything he wants, within reason of course. And that scope of reason was defined by how much he had contributed to the cause.

So in a sense, as long as he had accumulated enough merit. The world was his.

He loved his current situation, his minions were useful, his slaves were satisfactory, even his leaders were pleasant as long as he produced results. He had only been in Chaos' employ for a few months. But because of his talent in *hunting* he was able to enjoy some of the more exotic benefits that they offered.

He was an avid fan of their *parties*. Even though he was considered to be part of the lower leveled chain of Chaos hunters, he had been invited to a few parties. He immediately fell in love with their concept of parties. When he was still in human society, or rather that pit of close-minded people as he liked to call it, he had cultivated a few *interesting* habits, those habits would be frowned upon if he was ever found out, but he had hidden it well enough to not be discovered.

In his first experience in the parties, he had tasted a unique delicacy he had never even heard of before, and he reveled in it. He swore that one day he would be the one to organize these gatherings. In which he will get the first pick, and thoroughly enjoy his time.

And today was the day it would be decided if he was to be promoted to a higher level hunter, he was able to discover an ability user. One that was not recorded in their information log. In this part of the land, there was no known ice user. And he had found one, and once he was able to get this information to their leaders he would be greatly rewarded. He didn't even bother to consider that his whole team was wiped, once he was recognized, he would be able to pick out the ones he wanted out of the hundreds that were used as cannon fodder. He might even be able to get a better mount, he liked his alligator but it was too slow for his taste.

"I'll get one of those fox mounts, by then I'd like to see who will laugh at me." Rosko laughed to himself as he spurred his mount to go faster. The quicker they got to camp, the better. He dreamed big, Rosko was already making plans on how to celebrate his promotion.

"Maybe I'll organize a party when I get back, hopefully, that slob Sean will sponsor me, he always did like my style.

His planning was interrupted when his world suddenly flipped over. His mount was leaving without him, the giant alligator was scurrying off as he fell on his back. He could hear footsteps as the sound of boots knocking on the floor came over him. A silver armored man hovered over his head as his ax was raised.

"Got you, you little rat."