Both Will and the military man with a hat looked up. They saw a giant grey tiger-like ambassador of evil.
"Are you seeing what I see?"
"We have to run, that thing is above our pay grade."
Will was confused. "What is that supposed to mean you guys are Listeners. I don't want to quote our dead friend but isn't it your job? You know, to kill those things."
"Yeah you are correct but you probably already guessed based on our uniforms that we are only Listeners of the first rank."
The other Listener with the hat was already preparing their descent and quickly turned around to continue the explanation.
"That thing is at least an entire rank above us. We'd need a group of 10 or a warrior of the Hope or even Knight rank to deal with that abomination."
Will immediately put the girl on his shoulders and started climbing. If it was true what they said they really have to escape.
'If we need a Hope or a Knight to beat that thing, we will die. That is not an abomination that normal humans can deal with. It is a surprise that we are not dead already. So I doubt that it is anything above that Hope rank.'
'This is not my field of expertise but I can feel the aura of danger that surrounds this thing. The aura alone might be able to kill the little girl.'
Will started climbing again. His fingers were surprisingly still holding up but he could tell that the tiger was getting closer. Its speed was greater than that of the group. He did not even have to look at it to tell.
By now even the two Listeners were exhausted. Will could tell that he could not hold that speed up for long. He was even faster than the hat-less listener. Will could hear his breathing while he passed him. To be fair his condition was not the best as Will suspected that the hat-less guy suffered from a fever currently. However, as a Listener, he could still deal with it.
By now Will's body could only hold up through the survival instinct of his body. He was reaching his limits.
"I'm sorry girl but you have to start climbing now as well. If you stay on my back a bit longer, We both are going to fall into the abyss."
The little girl did not say a word and grabbed the bark. She was struggling immediately. Her small fingers did not allow her to grip deep enough into the bark to allow a controlled weight distribution.
It was only a matter of time until she would fall just like the pencil pusher. Will gritted his teeth there was nothing he could do. If the girl was still on his shoulders he might as well jump down already.
Will looked up the tiger already reached the branch they just stood on. It was just casually walking down not even running. As if it was in no hurry to kill them. Now it was only a matter of seconds until the tiger reached them.
"Help! Help! Someone please help us!"
The military man with a hat unexpectedly started screaming. It shocked Will because now even the ones more powerful than him were panicking.
'There is no use. No one is going to hear us screaming. It will only attract more Shadows. On the other hand, the Shadow that is already there is enough to end us so it doesn't matter. Might as well scream for help.'
"Help..."
This time it was the hat-less military guy. Will just couldn't scream for help. He refused to do that.
It did not matter anyway the tiger reached the hat-less military guy. He could not fight his body was already at its limits. Staying conscious was hard enough for him. So, his pale face just looked at the tiger and the two locked eyes for a second.
But only for a second in the next one, the tiger lunged out with his claws and skillfully severed the head from the body. In just one clean motion hat-less guy was headless and died. His head could be seen flying down into the abyss. The body held on to the bark for a second and stood there motionless. Eventually, it too fell into the abyss.
"Uahhhhhh.... I'll kill you."
The remaining military guy exclaimed a battle cry and lunged at the enemy.
'Well, it's time to gamble with our lives again.'
"Hey, girl do you see those leaves below us? Earlier we were too far away to try but now we could jump down and hope that the leaves slow us down enough to survive. If we succeed we have to grab onto the leaves to not keep falling down into the abyss."
Will could see the girl nod. The military guy was now upon the tiger. To Will this did not make sense he was a warrior who specialized in ranged attacks. Lunging at the enemy was completely contradictory.
It did not end well for the military guy. He used an arrow and rammed it into the side of the tiger which was double his height. The tiger did not seem concerned too much and ripped off the arm of his attacker.
Will heard the scream as he was preparing to jump in the direction of the leave he was aiming for. One last time Will looked up as the scream drew his attention to the Listener. The military guy put his other hand on the concieved wound or well on the place were his armed used to be.
'Ah, as expected you are lier.' The military guy healed his wound his arm did not grow back but the wound closed up. That did not help him much. The tiger attacked again. It wasn't in a hurry it was just playing a bit with its prey.
It quickly extended a claw and impaled the military guy. The military guy vomitted blood looked at Will and died. Will knew it was now or never.
"Now, jump!"
With that Will and the little girl jumped into the abyss.