"We have less than twenty minutes left. Get ready." Joel said while John gave Wilson a pair of silver gauntlets and basic upper body leather armor, which he put on immediately. He simply pulled off his weather-worn shirt and wore the long sleeved leather shirt. It did not look like an armor at all.
"Damn. Dude is more ripped than you." Lee said, looking at muscular, grey haired Kong. Kong looked away, choosing to act as if he heard and saw nothing.
John looked at Wilson and nodded. It was just as he thought. He and Wilson were using the exact same size. He looked at Wilson's shoes and immediately shook his head. Seems like escaping from a Snow Tiger really smokes one's shoes. He could not help but wonder how the shoes were still even able to cover his feet. Shouldn't they have fallen apart?
He activated his space ring and brought out a pair of knee high shoes whose colors made it look like they were made of heavy metal. He extended the shoes to Wilson.
"Here, take this!"
Wilson looked at the shoes curiously. He collected them.
"Thank you." Wilson said and flung away the shoes he was currently wearing. There was an expression of surprise boldly written on his face when he wore them. They were so light!
He kept raising a leg after the other with a dumb look on his face, Luke a country bumpkin. They were surprisingly comfortable to move in.
"Damn, man. You look like a real hunter." Lee said, looking quite excited for someone who is just about to fight at a disadvantage.
"I think he gives the killer hunter aura also." Zoey, the middle aged woman chipped in.
Busty looked at Wilson for a little while until he looked in her direction and sweetly winked.
"Oh God, Busty. Don't even think bout it." King groaned when she winked.
'What was she doing, trying to seduce such a young innocent man like that?' King thought with a shake of his head.
"Young, sure. But I would not say innocent. Someone who has killed cannot be called innocent anymore." Busty said to King while still facing Wilson.
'Oh, damn. I always forget that she can read thoughts.' King thought to himself. Busty giggled.
"Stop it." He yelled at her.
"Stop what?" She asked. A clueless look on her face.
"Stop reading my thoughts!" King said again.
"No!"
"What?" King turned to face Kong. "Boss!"
"That's enough, Busty." Kong said while examining his handgun.
"Okay." Busty replied
"And stop bothering the kid." Joel said.
"What? He is totally my type."
"Find someone your age." King said.
"Like who? You? Sorry, not my type." Busty said as she looked at King.
"Nobody wants to be your type." King replied her with a slight disdainful look in his eyes.
Lee quickly spoke up; "Speak for yourself. Busty, how about you give me a chance. Believe me, a single night and you won't regret it."
Wilson looked at Lee in surprise. Even a country bumpkin like him understood what Lee just said. After all, what else would a man and woman be doing together at night, especially when he put it that way? Isn't Lee being a little too direct? He walked away. Joel and John followed behind him. The three of them did not fancy these kinds of discussion.
They walked quite some distance before they could not hear them again while the bickering went on and on.
Meanwhile, a certain hunter with a big travelling bag in hand saw from afar a large group of people gathered together and lots of carriages and beasts were gathered together at a side. Safety in numbers it seemed.
He contemplated going back and taking a roundabout route to Tiger City to avoid this crowd. After all, he was currently carrying delicate, expensive good in the big travelling bag. But he ultimately chose not to. In his opinion, it was not the extra unnecessary hassle. It was not like people would be able to tell what was inside the travelling bag. Like, who would expect to find an ultra rare snow tiger in a travelling bag, of all things.
So, ultimately, he decided to join them and hope they all start moving soon. He could not afford to let the snow tiger begin to decay before it was delivered to the association.
Six minutes later, when he found out that the reason everyone was together was because of the one-eyed beasts ahead, he immediately turned to run. F*ck, one-eyed beasts were in front? Would they not sense the snow tiger? Every person who knew even just a little about dead powerful beasts knew just how dangerous it was to hold them in sight of any and every other carnivore. It was common knowledge that feeding on the flesh of powerful beasts helped one to increase the quantity and quality of one's ability cells so, it was very normal that beasts and even normal, non-mutated animals will go berserk in a bid to have a taste of the snow tiger's flesh.
Now that the beasts ahead just happen to be among the most dangerous beasts in recorded history, it was definitely imperative that he made a run for it immediately.
***********
There was only ten minutes left before they started. Wilson, Joel, John, King, Kong, Busty, Zoey, Lee and Song were making their last checks just for extra assurance. They knew that they had less than a thirty percent chance of coming back alive. The plan was to repel the beasts, making them move away from their current area.
One-eyed beasts were smart and would rather avoid trouble if they could and that was what these set of hunters were betting on. The theory was that, making them feel threatened while giving them a way out would make them make a run for it. After all, the young ones were a priority and so were the females. The females would definitely take care of the cubs and so, they were not a threat. The males, on the other hand would do their best to protect the young and the females and since the best kind of defense was attack, they were sure to attack them till the others were out of danger.
It seemed like a good plan but chances of failure was still too high. After all, no one truly knows how they would react. They might instead of running away, choose to protect their territory to the death. Very smart beasts were all like that; annoyingly unpredictable. The lack of adequate information on one-eyed beasts in particular, only made matters worse.
Just as they were making their last checks with barely three minutes left, their well thought out plan was rendered useless.
"Kong.." Song called out.
"You hear something?" Kong replied Song with a question. Song's ability was sound related. He could pick out any sounds from as far as half a mile away and he could, to some extent, manipulate sound waves in a fight.
"They are coming." Song said. Pointing in a direction with his one handed gun, he pulled out a head phone and instantly wore them. Wilson wanted to ask why he used them but Kong had already exclaimed.
"F*CK! Scatter but stay within two feet of one another. This is no more a hunt but a survival instead. These beasts have gone into berserk mode. I wonder why though." He said. The whole team scattered.
John quickly threw Wilson a long knife mouthing a 'you will need it' to him.
Lee,for some unknown reason, chose to inform the people that the beasts were approaching them fast. This instantly caused some panic and when Kong looked at him, he simply shrugged and said. "They deserve to know. We will be fighting barely three feet from them anyway. We might as well tell them now, so they can prepare for their likely deaths."
*Awooooooooo*
A howl resounded and the panic increased.
"F*CK! A wolf leader! Sh*t just got much worse." Lee said quite loudly and immediately, people began to run in all directions, screaming and yelling and wailing in fear. Most of the beasts were already running away. No one, including beasts wanted to die. Many of them abandoned their goods and kinsman. What was responsibility in the face of death? Only the living can have responsibilities. The dead, well.....