God hunting as a praying mantis is boring
I wish I was reborn as a wolf or a bear because at least they move when they hunt, they stalk their pray or the search for a stream and play catch with fish.
But me?
Nooo no no
I just sit pressed between two rocks and watch other animals walk past unconsciously avoiding my trap
In all fairness it's probably for the best considering any prey that I could catch seems to move in groups, even other Mantis
Thankfully as it was getting darker so not only was my ambush getting harder and harder to detect due to blending in with the shadows but it appears that most creatures of the forest are nocturnal which would explain why I haven't really seen many.
Speaking of creatures here comes one now!
A small little rat like creature the size of a pony was scampering around the ground near the rocks of my ambush!
If it could just come a little closer, just a few meters
I pressed myself against the rock even harder to make myself harder to see and held my breath ready to pounce the second it came within proximity
Just a few meters
Just a meter or so
Just a little more
Just…
SLICE!!
My blades sunk into the rat like creature and pressed it against me, I started biting down on its exposed throats as it tried to call for help but nothing, but a panicked gurgle came out
Finally, some food
I admit when I said I could eat a horse this was not I was kidding but I sure as hell aint complaining
Kekeke look at all this fresh meat!
I started to chow down on the creature, flipping it onto it's back as to get to the stomach where I knew I would find its spiritual core
But just as I was starting to see the dull grey glow of the core something happened
I felt this… pressure
As if gravity had suddenly intensified, it felt like my whole body was weighted
Looking out of my little crevasse between the rocks I noticed two things that terrified me
There was no noise no birds, no screeches of other nonhumans even the wind seemed quieter, and the other even more terrifying things was that I was alone
I mean completely alone, there was no one every animal and insect that had previously been drinking from the river even the larger one had run away leaving a duct cloud that whould have been comical if I couldn't feel the almost crushing spiritual pressure being emanated from across the river
Slowly, moving so slowly that it was hard to see I turned my head towards the source of the pressure
I couldn't completely make it out
It was as if light was bending around the creature hiding it from view and all I could see was the air distorting around it.
And then as it slowly made its way towards the water it began to become visible
It was like it was stepping into existence slowly of as if a tarp had been pulled off of it and it could now be seen
It was big and I mean BIG, like I was a two-meter-tall mantis and I probably only reached its knee, it had the same body structure as a dog or wolf but was covered in red sparking fur
I mean literally sparking, as in when it walked blue parks shot off it landing harmlessly on the ground
But it's most impactful feature was easily it's head
It had a head like a crocodile mixed with a eagle, a flat head ending in a beak filled with lots of big sharp and might I add bloody teeth. The thing overall reminded me of a hellhound.
Moving slowly, I began dragging my dinner further between the rocks as to not draw its attention and accidently offer it a snack. I used my body to cover its nearly showing core as to smother the light and hide myself better.
While I had never seen this kind of creature before I knew one thing and I really wish it wasn't true. This creature was my first encounter and likely not the last with the top predators of the Blood Forest A Class 4, a Demon Class Nonhuman
Trying to calm myself I slowed down my breathing and started to think of a way out of this without drawing its attention and not abandon my food. If tried to drag it there was no way I would go unnoticed and I had no idea if I could outrun this "Hellhound" especially as this pressure I was feeling was just it's naturally leaking spiritual power.
The best option I had was to wait and cut the dead prey into pieces as to allow me to take my food and make a quick escape at the same time.
I began to sever the hand leg from the rest of the body as this was the only limb big enough to feed me and small enough that I could carry it without slowing myself.
Just as I was beginning to relax the pressure increased and I saw another beast this time one I could recognize appear
A Kirin!
The temperature seemed to drop and the air electrify as the two creature stared at each other and I was almost hyperventilating trying to breath under the increasing pressure
I need to get the hell out of here!
Taking hold of the cut off hind leg in one of my fore arms and stabbing my other harm into the spiritual core of the carcass impaling it on my arm a scrambled out of my little hidey hole and made for the tree line jumping into the air and flying the hell out of there as I heard two roars followed by multiple explosions and what sounded like lightning strikes behind me