Abel, Duncan and Zeke all headed to a small tent with 8 students inside. They laid down cloths on the ground to sleep, and many students were fatigued after spending so much time cultivating on the journey.
Abel decided, to try and get an advantage over everyone around him and continue his training. To do so, he'd have to go quite a distance from the cultivators to have peace and quiet.
This is what he did, and he crossed his legs on the ground, while practicing a cultivation technique out of a few pieces of parchment that Zeke had given to him. Zeke had a few skill books, detailing techniques and cultivation techniques that would be useful to Abel.
However, they were all written in a script that he couldn't understand.
Therefore, Zeke was forced to translate and transcribe the translations for some of the parts of these books, so that Abel could learn from them.
Tap!
Abel's ear twitched as he remained on the ground. From quietly chanting a mantra as part of his cultivation, he was forced to stop upon hearing this.
He halted his breath and began to try and hear even the subtlest movements from around him. He could hear even walking insects walking through the grass around him, but this faint sound was all that he could hear.
However, there were too many times where he had heard subtle sounds like this. Hearing these noises without investigating always spelt trouble.
He lifted onto his feet, turning to look further into the dark forest ahead. What he noticed was that, even through the darkness, he could see ahead with relative ease.
He could see almost as far as he could during daytime, and slowly walked forward.
His head turned from side to side so that he could survey the surroundings.
All that he was met with was silence and an unmoving forest.
With his suspicions gone, he started walking back to the spot where he had been cultivating.
Thwip!
From behind him, he could hear something cutting through the air, and turned around in a flash.
A wooden stake was headed right for his back, and he punched the incoming weapon to stop it right away.
He grunted in pain, feeling a chunk of wood now suspended in one of his fingers.
"Arwin?!" Abel said, with utter surprise.
"It is I. I said that your deaths were merely postponed and after spying on you all for some time, I deemed this the perfect time to slaughter you demons!" He declared, extending his stake.
"With your little vampire friend sleep and sound, I'll kill you here then kill him while he remains in his slumber." He declared.
"It's not going to be like last time... I'm stronger now." Abel declared, activating his aura of qi.
The golden aura cloaked his body and his demonic face manifested as he looked ahead.
His amber-golden eyes stared the hunter down and in a flash, he was off. He moved with newfound speed, and clashed with the hunter.
"I must say, you have gotten stronger." He stated, before stepping back.
He then swung his foot into his abdomen, rattling his insides. Abel gritted his teeth in pain upon taking this strike, then Arwin thrusted forward his stake into his abdomen.
He had purposely missed his heart, and just this single stab crippled the being.
"You see, I was so surprised to see that you were alive just now, but I did a little research. Your amber eyes aren't some weird mutation, you're a damn hybrid. You're going to be a little harder to kill but I now know what you're weak to." Arwin explained, revealing a gleaming silver dagger.
The dagger gleamed under the white moonlight, and Abel grunted as he ripped the stake from his stomach. The large hole in his stomach slowly began to heal, but the wound wasn't going to be closing fast.
The wound was a result of wood, and his body wasn't particularly built for combatting against that material.
Arwin whipped the dagger ahead, slashing Abel across his chest. This slash from the silver felt like it was a hot coal, and the wounds looked like the silver was just cutting through cooked meat.
He then stabbed the dagger into his stomach, making his gasp in pain. He wanted to shout, but didn't want to alert anybody to the area. People would see him in his current state, and would witness his supernatural powers firsthand.
Pulling the dagger back out, he stabbed him repeatedly, using his immense speed to cause volumes of damage. Abel couldn't do anything to resist, and the hunter had a maniacal smile across his face as he did this.
It was merely exhilarating to him, to hurt such an ungodly creature.
Abel had literally lost strength in his legs and now had a mangled abdomen, that was struggling to mend back together. Any regular human would be dead after receiving such vicious attacks, but his body was formidable and durable.
He could feel the wounds slowly mending back together, and Arwin continued to powerfully stand over the fallen supernatural.
"There is no use in resisting me. I will continue to beat you down and sap your energy until you're nothing but a corpse!" He declared, kicking him in his abdomen.
Abel coughed out blood, rolling onto his back while grunting in pain.
Revealing a special wooden stake, it was dripping with an odd water solution. It looked just like water, but Abel got this smell of death from it. It was similar to the smell of vervain, like a rotten, deathly herb.
Fwoosh!
The stake that shot toward his chest, and he couldn't do anything but grab it. Upon doing so, he felt the same agony on his palms that he had done before.
However, his muscles weren't willing to give in. Unlike before, he didn't immediately begin to fold under the force. He provided strong resistance, before rolling to his side.
Arwin lifted his stake to track him as he retreated. The two warriors remained still, awaiting the other's next move as silence fell upon them once again.
'I hope this works.' Abel thought to himself, while standing against this hunter.
He galloped forward, becoming much faster, and qi condensed into his right arm. As he did this, a red ball of qi was formed in his palm. He slammed the blast right into Arwin's chest, making it explode on impact.
Both fighters fell backward, but Arwin was shot back further and faster. He was sent rolling away, and now had bloody openings and wounds on his chest.
Abel's arm was bruised and had some shallow cuts, but these injuries faded in seconds.
"You stupid hybrid!" Arwin shouted, hissing from the pain in his chest.
He slowly returned to his feet, but Abel decided to charge ahead as he continued to raise up.
His main intention was to catch him by surprise and since he didn't move, he assumed that he had done so.
He landed a punch right to his face, but Arwin seemed to take the punch with ease.
"You throw an attack of pure qi at me and think that I won't get stronger?!" Arwin said, as his eyes glowed blue.
He pushed Abel's fist back, before throwing a punch of his own. His punch had much more force and energy behind it, knocking Abel back onto one of his hands.
He revealed his bloody silver dagger and slashed at his body. The hunter continued his ruthless advance, and lifted his left leg to drive it straight into Abel's chest.
This kick hurled him into the air and into a tree behind him. The leaves and branches shook violently upon this impact, and Arwin then revealed a weird scroll.
It was small, and looked to just be a roll of inscription-sized parchment. The parchment was whiter than usual, and had black inscriptions written across it.
He chucked forward the scroll with a shout, hitting the hybrid with it directly. At first, Abel didn't seem bothered by the impact since it felt quite light and dull. However, a split-second later, the scroll harshly detonated with hot vervain and wolfsbane.
"AARGH!!" Abel shouted, feeling his skin burning and sizzling from the herbs on it.
Both compounds of this solution were causing grave damage, and it was seeping through his skin and into his flesh.
He dropped to his knees, before coughing blood and holding his burning chest. His lungs were just behind his ribcage, and the vervain and wolfsbane had already reached that area.
Arwin slowly but steadily walked over to him, spinning the wooden stake on one of his fingers. Seeing this hybrid in such a damaged state only made the hunter happier.
Abel tried to retreat but he could only summon the strength to retreat by a single step.
"Stay away..." Abel ordered weakly, before coughing up blood.
"I said... stay away!" He demanded, waving out his arm violently.