The arrow sped towards Quinn even faster than he had shot it. Just before it could reach him, Talon swiftly pushed Quinn out of harm's way, and both of them narrowly avoided any injuries.
"Thank you!" Said Quinn while lightly panting, Talon just nodded at response, turning his attention to the strange hunter with a flute. 'Was it him who sent back the arrow? Or any of the other hunters?" His mind was racing as he looked around, searching for the culprit.
"I don't know who did that, but we need to take him out first, Quinn can't assist us from afar until that one is alive." Said Thorn, her voice reached them because of Arias gift.
The hunters gave them no time to catch their breath from running or strategize as three hunters rushed straight at Talon and Rokara, the two that were the closest to the hunters.
A hunter with a giant hammer rushed straight at Rokara who had no chance to evade the strike of that hammer and blocking it would prove close to fatal, so she had no choice but to yet again, unleash her gift. The invisible force pushed the hunter away, making him trip.
This wasn't overlooked by Rokara who instantly jumped to the hunter and striked him with her steel hatchet. With a bloody scream, the hunters hand laid down at the ground lifelessly.
On Talon's side, two hunters aimed for his head. One wielded a steel longsword, while the other held two hatchets. One of the hatchets emitted a yellow hue, and the other had a green tint.
The first one to swing at Talon was the hunter with the longsword. He slashed at Talon's direction with force great enough to cleave him in half. In response, Talon conjured a small puddle of red fog, enveloping both of them in the fog.
Inside this domain made of red fog, Talon's speed almost doubled as he evaded the attack without to much problem, and in a swift response, he thrust his spear with full force at the hunter, the weapon emerging from the opposite end.
"Henry!" the hunter shouted at the top of his lungs, his voice filled with grief as he sprinted towards Talon at full speed. Surprisingly faster than Talon within the mist, the red hatchet almost reached him. He narrowly evaded it, with the blade grazing just a small part of his hair.
The hunter swung his hatchets in blind rage, each one of his strikes getting closer to hitting Talon who fought to the best of his abilities to dodge the hatchets coming his way, he was getting overwhelmed.
Then suddenly, the invisible force of Rokara's gift struck the hunter from his side, sending him away flying. His flight abruptly ended as he collided with a tree.
"Thanks." Thanked Talon, his breathing was still mostly stable, just like Rokara's. The other's warent so lucky as the two of them. Thorn's condition was the worst as her fingers still danced with almost invisible strings coming out of the tip of her fingers, but her effort were paid of as she managed to injure and kill some of the hunters.
'Okay, it's going nice at this moment, maybe we actually have a chance to survive this.' Thought Talon to himself, feeling hope for the first time during the ambush by the hunters. But to his despair, he could hear the sound of a flute, and before he knew it, two bears rushed at their direction with eyes deeply tainted by madness.
"You've got to be kidding me!" Talon panicked, witnessing the bears charging directly at him. One of the bears had glowing red eyes, its fur barely covering its body, adorned with scars. Some scars were from sword cuts, others from pulled-out arrows, and there were marks from bites and claws made by both other bears and previous battles.
The other bear that rushed at his direction had deep yellow eyes, it's fur was completely gray, it's body was even larger then the bear beside it.
In response to the bears, Talon unleashed an even grater part of his gift. 'I have about eighty percent before I'm completely out of steam.' Thought Talon, as he sprinted straight towards the bears, the fog from his mist enveloped more and more parts of the forest.
Just before colliding with the bears, Talon skillfully dodged to the right, thrusting his spear into the already scar-covered side of the bear. The heat emanating from the spear scorched the bear, and due to this intense heat, the wound cauterized, preventing any bleeding.
His position was covered from the other bear, or at least that's what Talon thought before the grey bear appeared right behind him, it's right hand was already in the air, aiming at Talon's back.
He barely had time to react to the attack by the grey hair, he turned around and used his spear to block the bear's strike.
The bear's claw swiped at Talon, causing a minor injury as the spear managed to block most of the attack. His hand began to bleed profusely, and the spear's temperature increased further, with the radiating heat intensifying.
The force from the swipe knocked him onto his back, but instead of landing on the ground, he fell to the side of the bear he had previously stabbed with his spear. Although the bear didn't bleed due to the spear's heat, the blood that gushed from its side flowed onto Talon's face.
Before the scarred bear could bite Talon, Rokara's invisible force struck the bear, pushing him away from Talon.
"We have no chance against these bears, Rokara, we need to figure out something else!" Shouted Talon to Rokara as he sprinted to her side, still covered by the fog.
Before Rokara could even say anything back to Talon, the two bears turned their way, slowly walking towards the two while dangerously growling, behind them, the hunter with the flute continued to play on his instrument and while doing it, his face was curved into a sinister smile.
"Quinn! Shoot at the hunter with the flute again!" Talon shouted before charging straight at the flutist from the side. As Talon attempted to stab the hunter with breakneck speed, Quinn aimed once more at the targeted hunter.
Quinn aimed and pushed the string on his bow even further, his back muscles tensing with the strain as he sought to make his shot as fast and powerful as possible. The sinew of the bow resisted, coiling tightly against his efforts. The arrow zipped through the air with heightened velocity.
However, before his arrow could reach the huntsman, the scarred bear's red eye gleamed with an intensified red glow. It seized control of the metal head of the arrow, redirecting it back towards Quinn with a sudden and unexpected force. The projectile whizzed through the air, creating a dangerous threat for Quinn, who now faced the very weapon he had unleashed.
This time, Quinn wasn't so luck to evade his own arrow but thanks to his quick reaction, he evaded a lethal attack as the arrow burrowed into his tight making him scream in agony.
"It's the scarred bear and both them are controlled by the hunter with a flute, kill him!" Shouted Quinn through gritted teeth, trying to push through the pain.
But Talon did not need to hear this as he was already at the hunter attempting to stab his spear through the heart. To his surprise, the hunter had a quick reaction time too as he barely managed to evade Talon's stab, yet he did not despair as for the first time, he activated the special ability of his spear: Flame Surge.
The tip of the spear began to glow intensely, then erupting into a fiery explosion that burnt the hunters side entirely, his clothing almost melting of with his skin together.
As the fiery explosion engulfed the hunter, the intense heat scorched his side, leaving behind charred flesh and a pungent smell of burning fabric. The force of the blast sent him sprawling to the ground, writhing in pain. The once sinister smile on his face twisted into an agonized grimace.
Talon staggered back, momentarily catching his breath, the fiery aftermath of his spear's ability did not leave him without an aftermath either, his hand bore the scorching marks from the flames. Gripping the spear, he found himself unable to open his palms due to the searing pain.
Now that the hunter wasn't able to use his flute, the connection with his two bear companions was broken. Talon turned his back away from the burning hunter, but to his shock, what he saw the grey furred bear teleporting itself before Talon and delivering a powerful swipe.
This Time, Talon could do nothing as with a bloody claw mark on his abdomen, he fell to the ground. 'Damn… it all.'
"Talon!" Screamed Rokara in terror as she saw Talon's body collapse on the ground. Before she could rush to his side to help, the two bears stared at her, slowly making their way towards her.
Meanwhile, the situation was even worse on Thorn's side, beside her, stood Aria and Orion, both of them struggling for air as they took down almost half of the hunters that attacked them.
Yet no matter how much they took down, more began to surround them, the dire situation escalated when two elite hunters, the trusted right and left hands of Captain Grayson, Derek and James, stood before them.