17 The Hunt Begins

As the sharp, short blade pierced through the skull of Jelen, Cher couldn't help but release a shrill scream. Her puffy red eyes filled with tears as she saw her friend die without her being able to lift even a finger.

"You will pay for this! No one will let you get away with this! You demon! Devil!" Cher couldn't help but tearfully curse Arnin. Her screams echoed through the forest before abruptly stopping. Arnin covered her mouth with one hand and rubbed the blood covered blade on her cheek.

"Miss, you shouldn't be too loud. You don't want the beast getting riled up, do you? If you do, then I am willing to let it chew on a leg or two. What do you say?" Arnin, with his devilish voice, whispered quietly into the ears of Cher. She couldn't help but take a deep gulp and fearfully look at Arnin from the ground.

"Now that my part of the contract is done, lead me to where I want to go. Here is the map, although it has a path, it will waste my time. I want to go through the dangerous areas, so you will be my guide. You can't really deny since you signed the contract, so let's get going." Arnin lifted the numbed Cher and placed her on top of the beast. "Oh shoot! I can't have you doing anything funny while we travel so let me think of a way to restrain you. Hmmm!" Arnin put on a thinking look while he looked around the battle area. He walked over to Jelen's body and kicked it over to see if there was anything useful.

Cher couldn't help but angrily stare at Arnin for his actions. Arnin continued to search the body, but couldn't find anything useful. He then moved towards Von's body. There was no head, but his items were still on him. After a few minutes of searching, Arnin still couldn't find anything. He got up and let out a sigh.

"Tough luck miss. Since I couldn't find anything, I am going to need to improvise. Don't blame me for what I am going to do... actually, go ahead and blame me." Arnin slowly walked towards Cher. The blade that was in his hand was lightly placed in his shoulder.

"What are you going to do?" Cher was frightened by the approaching Arnin. The five year old that should have been angelic and innocent continued to look more and more like a demon from the depths of hell. Arnin didn't answer and only smiled. He stopped directly in front of Cher and grabbed her hands.

"I will give you two choices." Arnin didn't even say the next line before slicing Cher's fingers off. It was a clean slice that took all ten of her fingers at once. Cher sat dumb for a moment before her face scrunched up in pain.

"AHHHH!" The pain caused her to almost faint. She looked at Arnin with intense fear. Her body shook terribly. Tears fell down her pale cheek. Arnin then wrapped her hands with cloth as to prevent too much blood from being lost. He then numbed her hands and legs once again.

"Now that everything is sorted out, you can abide by your part of the contract. If you give me incorrect directions, don't blame me from taking more than just your fingers!" Arnin lost his smile and looked at Cher with a deadly glare. Cher could only nod her head in fear.

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In Talonton village, the village elder stood in front of a large flying beast with his two granddaughters.

"Grandpa, will we really see Arnin at the academy? Then won't aunty Ashia and aunty Avian be able to find him easily?" Lilise looked at her grandpa with hope. She didn't hear what Arnin did exactly, all she knew was that he ran away from home.

"You are right. It is easy to find him even if I don't tell them where he is. However, it is very difficult to gain access to the academy. Although Avian may have a great background, it is not possible for her to just barge into any academy." The village elder talked about the academies with great respect.

An academy would garner great respect from any person because of their goal to teach martial arts and other subjects to people. However, something that many did not know was how dangerous academies were. On the outside, academies may seem to be independent from one another, but it was actually completely the opposite. Every academy had an unbreakable alliance. If something happened to one academy, then all the others would try to help the academy or directly attack the other party. This knowledge was not secret, but it was still forgotten because of the many competitions that took place between the various academies.

"Lilise, don't worry about anything. Just concentrate on your studies. I need to have a word with Arnin for not completing your training. I will just complete it while we make our way there. We need to rush though or else Arnin will get there before us." The village elder smiled before walking towards the flying beast. It was a giant hawk like beast with a wingspan as long as twenty feet. The giant hawk's feathers were brown like the dirt; it wasn't a pretty color. However, something eye catching on the hawk was the insignia that hung around its neck. The insignia had a white butterfly and a black moth as the symbol. It was the symbol for the academy. On top of the beast was a man with a long grey beard. His face carried wrinkles and the dark blue eyes made the man seem gloomy.

"Mister, we are ready to head out now. Sorry for the wait." The village elder respectfully bowed to the man on the beast before proceeding to put his granddaughters onto the beast. After both of them were on, he also jumped up and sat on the very back.

The man on the beast nodded when all three were finally on the beast. He lightly kicked the beast's side before it launched into the air swiftly.

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The tiger beast quickly ran through the forest with the two people on its back. As the strongest beast in the dangerous area, it was able to move unhindered. The traveling speed was very quick ever since Arnin was able to ride on the tiger beast. And with Cher pointing the way, the efficiency increased even more. Arnin questioned Cher about where she came from and why she was in the forest. He needed more information on her and the group she came with. Jelen, who was the strongest in the group, was equivalent to the village elder in strength, which meant that her background was most likely not simple.

Cher, under the threats of Arnin, reluctantly answered his questions. She told him that she was from the academy that Arnin was going to. Her group came far out to hunt beasts and gain experience. Jelen and Von were not students from the academy, rather they lived in the town that surrounded the academy. The academy accepted children from the ages of five to twenty-five.

"So, we are considered fellow students?" Arnin was kind of shocked when he found out that Cher was from the academy. "Did anyone know where you were going?" Arnin asked the question that was bugging him the most. If the academy knew where she went, then they would also know who she went with. If they found out he killed them, then he would need to be extremely careful.

"Of course they know where we went. It's the rule in the academy that all students must report their whereabouts if they ever head out." Cher answered without thinking much about the reason Arnin was asking. Because of her fear of Arnin, she answered all his questions without trying to understand the underlying meaning behind them.

Arnin's eyes became sharp when he heard her answer. Since they knew where she went, he would need to make sure that he won't get suspected for killing her comrades. He needed to silence her and guarantee his own safety in the academy.

The tiger beast moved swiftly through the forest and the two on the back stopped their conversation. Arnin had to think of a plan before getting to the academy. One of the options was creating a contract, but there was a chance that someone in the academy could break that contract through force. He couldn't take that chance so an alternative method was needed. Leaving her in the forest was dangerous because she could be found by someone else. The only method left was to kill her. Arnin smiled before questioning Cher once more.

"How long until we can get to the academy?" Cher, who was sitting in front of Arnin, was not able to see his face when he asked the question. If she could, she would have been frightened beyond compare.

"It should take less than half a day since you have this tiger beast. We have a large danger area to pass before we can finally reach the town. However, this danger area is not as dangerous as the previous ones we went through. Since this is the closest to the academy, it is also the best hunting grounds. We might even see some people from the academy." Cher silently clenched her teeth when she thought of meeting others. Her eyes were full of hope at the thought of escaping from the demonic Arnin.

Arnin, on the other hand, became alert when he heard her. If people from the academy were in the forest, then getting rid of Cher would become difficult. The gears in his head turned as he derived a plan to get rid of Cher without others finding out.

Arnin and Cher approached the last danger area before the town. Just from the entrance, Arnin felt a reduction in the worldly essence. Although worldly essence would always replenish itself, if there were too many cultivators absorbing the essence, then it would take much longer. Arnin didn't want to take any chances so he slowed the tiger beast and had it steadily move across the forest.

"Tell me the quickest route to the academy! I want a route that doesn't have lots of people! If you take me to a place that has people then you better pray for your future!" Arnin glared at Cher ferociously. He couldn't trust Cher, so he needed to scare her enough so that she wouldn't do anything that would make things difficult for him.

Cher nodded her head before pointing towards where she wanted the tiger beast to go, with her palm. The beast followed the direction without a noise. Cher had the beast do many twists and turns while giving directions. The scenery in the danger area was stunning. The large trees that acted like giants with their long green leaves. The sun that slowly sunk into the horizon emitted a beautiful orange-yellow light. Arnin couldn't help but praise himself for creating such a beautiful world.

The tiger beast approached a long, winding river. The wrinkling water gently flowed into the distance, carrying fish and twigs with it. The tiger beast took a quick stop and began to drink some of the water. Arnin got off the beast and also walked towards the river. His reflection emerged on the surface of the crystal blue water, showing a young, beautiful face. There was a small amount of blood and dirt smeared over his face which Arnin did not mind. However, with the approaching town, he needed to make sure that he didn't stand out. Arnin took off his shirt and pants, before walking into the river. Cher only silently watched, fearing that moving out of place would anger Arnin.

Arnin didn't care about Cher. In his eyes, she was only a nuisance that needed to be taken care of sooner or later. He walked far enough that his head was fully submerged inside the water. The tiger beast also slowly walked in the water and also ducked its head under water. Arnin released some of his aura for the beast, just to increase the comfortability. He really liked the tiger beast because it reminded him of his life as a Demon Lord. Although five years shouldn't have been something major for someone like Arnin, since he was in human body as a child, he found that time moved like a sloth; slow yet steady. Arnin didn't find the speed of time to be something negative, it was an old feeling for him. Something that he used to care about before he became the Demon Lord.

On the shore of the river, Cher anxiously watched the water. She wasn't worried about Arnin or the tiger beast, rather she wanted to sneak away from them. She wanted to make sure that she snuck away at the best time. When she found that there was no movement from the water and that everything seemed to be quiet, she quietly turned around and ran. She made sure not to make any noises while she ran, however what she didn't expect was that Arnin knew what she was going to do even before she did.

Under the water, Arnin had a cold smile on his face. He could clearly see Cher run away, but he didn't plan to stop her yet. He wanted to give her some hope of escape before crushing it completely. As his body soaked under the cold water, the tiger beast began to become chaotic. Arnin smiled at the beast before nodding his head. The tiger beast jumped out the water, its eyes becoming red with murder. Arnin slowly walked out the water and gently stroked the beasts head.

"Make sure you don't kill her right away, just play with her and then bring her right back. I will let you do what you please when you bring her back. Now go, have fun." Arnin laughed as he retracted his sinister aura. The beast crazily smiled and opened its menacing mouth wide open. The razor sharp teeth were soaked in drool while its wet fur began to quickly dry up under the increasing aura that it released.

"ROOOOAAAAARRRR!"