Chapter 213 Restless Hunter

“Fuck.”

Barely ten minutes had passed when another skeleton had perished, slain by the beast.

Jay quickly sat near a rock and used his host skill to try and get a closer look at the encroaching monster.

Concentrating on Blue, his mind went to darkness again before entering the black and white world behind the skeletons eyes.

Two skeletons were still alive – Red and Lamp stood at either side of the beast and slashed at the tentacles covering its whole body.

“Tentacles? Hmm… actually they seem to be more like vines…” Jay thought.

The shape of the beasts body was like a bear, though its shoulders were much more narrow and each of its front legs sat under its chest instead of at the sides, so while having the size of a bear it was quite slender. Perfect for running through the forest and weaving between trees.

The whole creature was covered thickly with these ash-grey vines, and Jay would’ve thought that it was composed entirely of vines if not for the large snout poking out, complete with a set of muscular jaws lined with dagger-like teeth.

Its sabre-like claws came falling down, threatening to smash Red to pieces, but Red dodged back just in time as the claws descended before it, then with a lunge it pierced the vines and lightly stabbed the flesh hiding underneath.

Pulling out its blade though, it seemed that it didn’t sink very deep as only the very tip had any blood on it.

Lamp similarly attacked, but slashed at the vines instead. The blade came cleaving sideways but as it hit the vines it harmlessly rattled off, as if it was trying to cut through steel with a pathetic slash.

Not so much as a small indentation was left on the vines.

Peculiarly, the bear responded to Lamp first, immediately spinning left and snapping its jaws.

“…Protecting the vines?” Jay thought.

Another claw attack came flying horizontally, threatening to cut down anything that dared to stand before it.

Instead of dodging backwards, Lamp dodged further to the side, trying to stay near the creatures side.

With the creature spun around, Red was right at its back, and a prime opportunity to attack presented itself… but would it take it?

“Do it…” Jay thought mercilessly.

This attack would be quite shameful to do – not only to carry out but to even mention.

It would be one of the dark secrets Jay would keep with him till the grave, and beyond.

For a creature such as this, there was one spot on its anatomy which had no armour or natural defences.

Jay made sure there was no one around before this vile attack was made.

Red stepped forward with a powerful thrust, sending the sword deeply into the creatures body.

A critical hit, but at what cost? A little shame.

Since the swords had no hand-guard or cross-guard, they were simply just skewers with a sharp edge, and combined with the skeletons slender arm it would easily pierce any… openings.

The skeleton added so much force to this faithful attack that not only did the sword enter the creature, but its hand did too, going all the way up to its wrist.

The bear immediately responded with a fearsome raw to such a dangerous provocation; Jay couldn’t see its eyes but he could tell they widened in shock as it clenched its jaws and tried to spin around to fight back.

Jay felt a sense of shame, but it was his only option. If the beast caught him, it would definitely torture him, and he would accept such a punishment for this inhuman violation.

Attacking its sacred vines was one thing, but this was something which made it ignore the vines altogether.

As it spun around, Red did too. It was still gripping the blade and cutting open the insides of the creature from behind though it was basically stuck.

The bear continued to spin though, and eventually Red’s body collided with Lamp.

It was like the bear was chasing its own tail – if its tail was an undead skeleton anyway.

Jay would have laughed but it simply looked too painful, and he was grimacing instead.

The frightening feeling he got from powerful forest creature’s presence was reduced to pity.

The bear finally realized what it needed to do.

Speeding to a nearby rock, it smashed Red’s body into it at warp speed – the skeleton collapsed in a clinking of broken bones and dust which flew everywhere.

Lamp was attacking all this time, but would soon be slain as well.

All this time, the skeletons were only dodging its strikes as they learnt that a single hit would end them, or at least take them out of the fight.

With not much time left, Jay finally analyzed the bear.

<[Blood-vine Bear – Level 27]>

[Type – Beast, Blood, Stalker]

[HP 1631/1,742]

[Damage]

– 50 – Claws, Bite (Slash, Crush)

– 25 – Blood-drinking Vines (Bleed, 3 seconds, 5 stacks)

<[Skills]>

[Blood Rejuvenation]

– No hunger, no thirst – as long as the vines are fed

– 84% Health Regen

– Requires Blood, otherwise all stats are halved

[Vine Prison]

– Numerous twisting and spindling vines enclose an enemy

– Bleeds due to blood-drinking vines

– Immobilizes

[Blood Scent] (Passive)

– 3,200 meter range

– Targets cannot hide

– Target does not need to be bleeding, but it helps

[Restless Hunger] (Passive)

– The vine’s don’t allow the bear to sleep, but repay it with immortality so long as they are fed.

– Provides temporary immortality.

<[Description]>

[No one can ever tell where the vines end and the bear starts. Commonly called the kings of the jungle, these beasts carve out large plots of thick forests for themselves – their hunting grounds. A necessity as their vines need a constant supply of fresh blood.]

“Dammit, no wonder they were having so much trouble…” Jay thought, “So it’s smelling my blood? I’m in its territory?”

Right as he analyzed it, the bear suddenly used one of its skills – the vines folded away from the bears body and swallowed Lamp as if it was in a coffin. The bleed effect of the vines did nothing to the skeleton, but the vines themselves were powerful enough to crush its bones into dust.

Jay quickly ended the host skill, conserving his mana.

It would only be a few moments until Blue died, and probably not much longer until the beast caught up with Jay after he summoned them all again.

Jay glanced at the desert. Handy was finally finished and the way was mostly clear – there were a few areas where Jay would have to weave between the mushrooms, but there was a path across at least.

It was his escape path.

After Jay summoned the skeletons, he hid behind a boulder and gazed across the rocks – after they were summoned he could finally see it coming.

The blood-vine bear was covering ground at a high speed. Slower than the skeletons but still fast. It looked much more fierce in colour.

It seemed that as it got closer to Jay it even sped up, smelling the scent of his blood in the air as it became more ravenous; its meal was close. It’s vines needed watering.

Jay began his escape plan.

He quickly had Dark and Heavy dash across the desert, in case there was anything there to attack him on the other side. They still needed some training but it was better than nothing.

“Don’t touch the mushrooms” he added, just in case the young-minded skeletons had not learnt about the dangerous fruits.

After all, their minds were formed after Jay discovered the carnivorous side of the seemingly placid mushrooms. They had not witnessed the glade deer being torn apart.

Jay handed the other skeletons their weapons once last time as the beast approached.

Gathering his bone pile, the extra daggers and spears he created, he was ready to leave.

The blood-vine bear was closing in, and once more it clashed with the skeletons, but finally its spotted its meal and for a moment ignored the undead horrors around it as it stared at him.

While it could have simply ignored the skeletons and charged right after Jay, it decided to finish the off first, not willing to experience what it did the previous time when its back was turned.

Somehow it knew this was the being which caused it pain, and an angry roar sounded, shifting rocks and sand as it stared into Jay’s eyes – the source of the skeletons.

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