Hitirus traversed through the restless forest, leaving Befehlnadir behind after he took off sprinting.
Birds chirped in the distance, before suddenly going quiet. They knew there were lurking predators somewhere nearby.
Except Hitirus didn't. All he knew was the next city was nearby, where Nestres reportedly was.
Leaving him completely oblivious to the dangers surrounding this specific part of the forest. Ferals hunted Stram, Cemtrin, and Gargantuan Tree Huggers for sport.
During hunts, everything was on the table. Putting their cunning, leadership, grit, and teamwork to the test.
For some, this meant more aggressive ambush tactics. But for some others, especially the crafty kind, this meant traps.
One of which stood idle as Hitirus quickly approached it. He didn't take a moment to stop and look around as he sped through.
He jumped in-between two trees, others laid on the forest floor to their sides. Even when right above the trap, Hitirus didn't notice the fake ground.
Leaves and branches concealed the true identity of that spot specifically. Catching Hitirus by surprise when he collapsed into a pit.
Sharpened wood poles stood erect, piercing his body upon falling. They punctured his thigh, groin, left arm, and lower jaw.
Hitirus yelped like a wounded animal, in both surprise and pain. Blood quickly drenched the area as he laid there, agony bearing his senses.
In time, he found himself sinking deeper. Losing more strength and blood by the moment. However, he still continued fighting.
Despite the lack of hope of survival, he continued to fight for his life. Hoping a lucky surge of adrenaline and rage could drag him out of this situation.
But regardless, nothing could aid. All that was left would be to die. However, he continued until his body forced him to shut down.
Leaving his remains for whatever predator roamed for a snack.
In two hours, a group of scouting Ferals paced from tree to tree. Looking for Gargantuan Tree Huggers or Cemtras mounds. Only for them to notice the trap had been used.
Four males dropped to the floor, landing perfectly on their feet. They glanced at the other nearby traps, just in case they caught something else in there.
While they approached the pit, six males and five females patrolled the are surrounding them. Making sure no other predators had the opportunity to claim their spoils of the hunt.
One male peeked inside. "We caught ourselves a Variant."
The others studied how Hitirus' corpse was positioned. Checking over what was the safest way to retrieve his body.
"Vhy, kick these poles away from us. Isot, wait for Vhy to finish. After he's done, go in and push the body out of there. Tyrn, pull the limbs off the branches and drag it up here," the leader instructed.
Isot growled. "Just because its your trap doesn't mean you should be sitting this one out, Verekur."
However, Verekur didn't care. He simply watched Vhy get to work. After ten minutes, they had managed to bring Hitirus out.
The hole-riddled tyrant laid dead in honorary defeat. Finally caving into his semi-mortality after his body forced him to.
Yet he sensed it was all over. Choosing now was the time to come back to life. So his heart kick started, pumpting a special kind of blood through his veins.
In only a minute, he rose from death. Which shocked the group of males. They looked at each other, then at Hitirus. Wondering what to do next.
Ruda giggled. "Gat! He did the thing!"
"Huh.. they were right. Let's see how powerful Hitirus can be against four fully adult males," Gat questioned.
"Food isn't supposed to live, creature. Redo what you just did!" Verekur called out.
In response, Hitirus opened his arms. "Come do it, then. Survival benefits me anyway, so I'll end up with four feasts."
Vhy lunged at Hitirus, only to get caught with a kick to the knee. He collapsed onto the ground before desperately scrambling to get back up.
Hitirus caught Isot with a right-hook, then grabbed onto his arm. The Feral tried to protest against him, yet couldn't resist Hitirus' strength.
Tyrn charged, hoping he could be the one to free Isot. Yet when he came in to deliver his own punch, Hitirus yanked Isot over to the fist.
Staggered, Isot stood still. Letting Hitirus drive a straight to Tyrn's torso. Followed by a jab to the chin.
Isot regained control of himself, quickly switching stances and bringing forward a sweeping body kick. Hitirus felt the recoil as it clashed with his hip.
Tyrn followed Isot's lead, going in for a left-hook. Staggering Hitirus. Vhy jumped onto Hitirus' back, aiming to clamp his jaws around his neck.
Yet his defense was good enough to push the Feral off his back. Hitirus remembered he was still a Mountain Ascent Feral. Allowing him to utilize his body more.
Hitirus turned around, aiming to confront Vhy. Yet Isot drove a front-kick to his back, pushing him into one of Vhy's follow-up elbows to the cheek.
It enraged Hitirus, bringing out his disciplined state of rage. He ducked underneath another straight from Tyrn, which landed on Vhy's forehead.
"Right here, take this one down!" the male Zegus ordered.
Hitirus acted accordingly. He drove an upper-cut into Vhy's groin, crushing his genitalia. The Feral yelped before collapsing onto the ground.
Isot moved in to secure Vhy from any more damage, only to get caught with Hitirus' own elbow to the chest. Dazing the Feral.
Tyrn tried to counter, only to feel a crushing kick to his gut. Sending him careening across the forest.
Verekur stumbled back, shocked at the sight of his Ferals being quickly defeated. He saw Hitirus drop Isot, then grabing onto his hair and using one of his chitin blades to press against Isot's throat.
"All right, Feral. So far, the death toll is zero. Tell me, which direction is Vamanas?" Hitirus asked.
"Only if you don't kill that one." Verekur requested.
Hitirus nodded, agreeing to the idea.
"Charge that way," Verekur pointed north-east. "Don't go near anymore fallen trees."