4: Menace

She immediately turned her gaze towards the origin of the shot and saw a person standing approximately 150 meters away.

"Who… is … that…" She mumbles while coughing blood,

The next second, the silhouette of the person rushed towards them with a blazing speed. Surprisingly, He wasn't alone. Two more shadows rushed from the other side and appeared right next to the bleeding woman.

The Inca kept gawking viciously at these three people who appeared out of nowhere. She noticed that one of two nearby shadows was actually a man with a hunky body with a broadsword on his back, similar to her own.

Whereas the other one who stood next to him had an extremely slim physique. Her height and lean shoulder hinted that she was a woman. Sadly, her body was so thin and malnourished that she almost compared her with a walking skeleton.

Most of all, the skinny one was wearing pitch black attire. She had absolutely zero accessories on her body. Not even a secondary set of weapons. The only item she had with her was a battered scabbard that held a thin, long rapier one her back.

'A tank and… an assassin….' She mumbled as she tried to decipher their identities, 'And the one with the azure lance is probably a scout…'

The moment all three came together, she cried in agony.

"Please…Don't bother.. engaging with this beast… you probably won't believe me, but this Inca can use the mousetrap… Help me and my partner get out of here, please… it's gonna kill all of us…"

However, her warning seems to have no effect on them. All three guys just stood there without saying a word. Instead of backing off they were on their toes.

The hunk with the broadsword was the first one to initiate the attack. He pulled out his sword and rushed his sword towards the beast's neck, making the beast growl in fury.

~GRRRRGGHHHH

The Inca howled viciously as if he was giving all three of them a final warning, but that was for a naught. His broadsword is already overflowing with a condensed killing intent. The strike he made was so perfectly crafted that it bolted a glistening draft through the air.

The sword appeared in front of Inca's beak before the beast even had a chance to blink. However, the guy just clicked his tongue out of annoyance and yelled,

"COVER ME!"

At his command, the scout with his azure lance jumped over his head and struck the empty space 2 meters above the man's head. The bleeding woman didn't understand what happened until the burst of sparks appeared out of thin air.

This time, the injured woman's vision blurred, and she saw the beast's talons manifesting abruptly. She couldn't believe what she saw.

The baby Inca had vanished from his original spot and appeared two meters above the tank's head out of thin air. If it wasn't for his preemptive warning, the beast would have gouged out the guy's head with its talons.

Fortunately, the man saw through the deception and asked for cover. Leaving it to the scout to block the sneaky attack at the last moment.

Unfortunately, the beast didn't just stay still. As if it was expecting someone to block him, the creature just maneuvered mid-air like a fluid ghost.

The vicious creature just used its talons to graze the scout's back, grab and throw him in the opposite direction. It seems that the slim assassin was also trying to sneak up on the beast mid air. But the beast was not a fool either.

The scout was about to crash against the assign who was already hovering behind the creature's back with tormenting bloodlust in her eyes and a thing rapier in her clutch.

Fortunately, before the scout could crash, the frail looking assassin landed her feet on the tip of the lance to make a double jump towards the Inca.

Her back arched, and she thrusted her weapon at the beast's neck without a speck of mercy. However, before that could happen, the beast flapped its wings to create a gust of wind to push her away.

The creature then used its beak to hurl the assassin brutally; the impact sent her frail body on the ground like a crashing meteorite.

The combat immediately shifted from aerial to the ground. Since the scout's back had been grazed bloody, his speed was compromised. This gave the beast another advantage.

The creature was kiting the scout to come under the blind spots of the other two. The beast was using him as a meat shield. Combined with his ability to create crafty afterimages, it became almost impossible to touch the beast no matter how hard the three people tried.

The glints of sparks glided across the air while the silhouettes of the four shadows fluctuated over the entire area.

The battle had such an insane pace and volatility that it absolutely freaked the bleeding woman at the foot of the tree. She knew that three people were several notches better in terms of coordination and combat techniques, but that still wasn't enough to cage this infant Inca.

In fact, it almost seemed that the baby Inca intelligence and combat skills were on par with one of those skilled assassins who can turn the battle around at any point of time with his craftiness.

The conclusion was even asserted by the fact that all three hunters—despite having superior combat caliber and an unreal coordination—were panting like crazy. The scout was bleeding from his back, the assassin mask was dyed red from her own blood, whereas the hunk with broad shoulders was having trouble keeping his breath steady.

Several wounds and injuries appeared on their bodies in a matter of minutes. They all had sweat dripping from their foreheads.

Unfortunately, The frail assassin seemed to be having the hardest time. Her speed and bloodlust were terrifying but sadly, her endurance and strength were by far the worst of the three.

The only advantage the trio had was their numbers. They could watch each other back at all times, avoiding the possibility of instant death from every sneak attack.

The Inca was so inhumane and crafty with its mid-air combat, it almost seemed like they were fighting an adult alpha.

She thought the Inca would run away after seeing multiple hunters. He absolutely didn't need to. It was at this moment she realised that vicious howl before the fight was not a cry out of desperation but one final warning.

"Jesus fucking christ!" The scout finally broke the silence by spitting blood on the ground, "Can you guys believe this?"

"This just keeps getting worse and worse.…" The tank with broadswords thrust his sword to block his talons, "It's like fighting that Malaka chieftain…damnit."

The scout with a spear finally turned her head around the frail assassin.

"This is so fucked up!" He looked at the quiet assassin, "Rain, what do you think about this?"

"I haven't encountered an Inca before…" Rain jumped back to gain some distance, she puked blood under her mask, "But if this is how all Inca fight then I'm never going near them.. ever…!"

"No! The Incas that I have encountered so far—even an adult—never fought like this! They are extremely strong and durable but they can't pull half of this shit!"

"Besides this kind of battle caliber is only observed from the ones that are hybrids, alpha's or the ones that are ready for ascension with years of experience!"

Agenor continued with annoyance, "he isn't just reading our moves, he is anticipating them, predicting them and using them to his own advantage… what an absolute menace this bastard is !!"

"..."

The Inca kept using Colt as his blind spot to sneak away from their group attacks. The next moment the creature grazed his fingers with his talons making him lighten his grip over the lance.

"Shit!"

Before Colt could realize his mistake, Inca clutched the end of the lance with his beak and hurled him away. Colt's hand slipped and he was sent flying towards Agenor. The Inca then threw his lance as far as he could.

"Son of a bitch…he got my lance!" He cried as Colt rolled over the ground,

"I told you not to let your guard down…" Agenor threw a second sword toward him.

"Seriously...what kind of instincts has he been pounding inside this poor creature? This is cruelty…"

Agenor sighed as he jumped backward, "Can you really blame him? After what happened…"

"Still… He even taught the beast mousetrap? You've got to have half of your screw loose to do something this ridiculous. Hell! even i haven't learned the mouse trap… "

"I know…this is just way too much! It's as if he is teaching him to one-hit kill. No beast should be given this much power…"

"You know if this goes on…he will turn into a nightmare nobody would even wanna deal with!"

"Well, there is nothing we can do about that. It's his beast and he can do whatever he wants… All we can do is hope that this creature does not forget who his master is…"

~sigh

"Alright! So what now?" Colt asked with huge sweat beads on his forehead, "Should I blow it or do you wanna play more?"

"Just blow the goddamn whistle!" Agenor replied with an annoyed twitch in his eyebrows, "Since we can't kill this monster, I don't wanna play this useless game of tag anymore… I'm so exhausted! My lungs are already way past their limits…"