Hunt Race

"Strength isn't measured by how many battles you survive. It's measured by how many lives you protect."

"Watch carefully."

The words had barely left Darius's mouth when the forest erupted.

The beasts lunged from the darkness like arrows released from a bow.

They came from every direction.

Their crimson eyes burned with hunger.

Kael instinctively tightened his grip on the unfinished iron spear.

His breathing became uneven.

There were too many.

One beast suddenly broke away from the pack.

Its crimson eyes locked onto Kael.

Before anyone could react...

It pounced.

Kael froze.

The beast's jaws were only inches from his face.

His body refused to move.

Then—

A silver flash.

The beast hung in the air for a single heartbeat...

Before its body split cleanly into two.

Blood sprayed across the forest floor as both halves crashed to the ground on either side of Kael.

His eyes widened.

He hadn't even seen the sword move.

Darius stood a few steps ahead of him, his enormous blade resting calmly at his side.

Without looking back, he spoke.

"Don't blink."

Then he took a single step forward.

The remaining beasts roared and charged together.

Kael tried to follow Darius with his eyes.

He couldn't.

The captain vanished.

A violent gust of wind swept through the clearing.

Then...

Slash!

A beast collapsed.

Slash!

Another lost its head.

Slash!

Another was cut cleanly in half.

Silver flashes danced through the forest faster than Kael's eyes could follow.

The air filled with desperate howls.

One after another...

The beasts fell.

Some never even realized they had been cut.

Kael blinked.

When he opened his eyes again...

The forest had fallen silent.

Bodies covered the ground.

Not a single beast remained standing.

"...I..."

Kael stared in disbelief.

"...I didn't see anything."

Darius calmly wiped the blood from his blade before sheathing it.

"That's because you blinked."

The silver-haired hunter folded her arms.

"He got slower."

The giant carrying the battle axe laughed loudly.

"You're saying that because he beat you during training yesterday."

A faint smile appeared on Darius's face.

Kael looked around at the countless beast corpses.

"This..."

"...is what a Hunter really is?"

Darius walked past him.

"No."

Kael turned.

"What?"

Darius didn't stop walking.

"This..."

"...is only the beginning."

Before Kael could process those words...

A sudden scream shattered the silence.

Everyone spun toward the sound.

One of the fallen beasts was still alive.

It wasn't trying to attack.

It was trying to escape.

Its body shook violently as it crawled away.

Then...

A long black spike burst through its chest.

The hunters froze.

The spike slowly withdrew.

The beast collapsed, lifeless.

A voice echoed from the darkness beyond the trees.

"So..."

"This is where you've been hiding, Darius."

The forest fell deathly silent.

For the first time since Kael had met him...

Captain Darius's smile disappeared.

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