Chapter 8 Hunt

• Swish! The dagger pierced through the air, flying toward the fleeing monster.
• Woo… A bone-chilling cry came from the front.
• “Ah… Ah… H-How…” Lying next to Lewis, Suzy quickly rolled over and stood up quaveringly. When she looked at one of the black monsters lying next to her with its eyes wide open, she was overcome with fear. I actually fell asleep just now!
• “Go back to the cave immediately and close the door! If that monster doesn’t die, we will be in deep trouble!” Lewis instructed in a low voice as he prepared to chase after the monster.
• “L-Lewis… I-I-I can’t… I-I’m scared…” Suzy tremblingly replied.
• “If you’re scared, then we’ll just be sitting ducks waiting for that monster to come and kill us! Right now, you have two options. You can either gather up your courage, head back to the cave, and hide there. Or, we can go back together and continue being hunted by that monster. Once we’re both completely exhausted, we’ll be killed by it!” He glanced at her.
• “T-Then… p-please come back quickly!” she tremblingly said again, then she turned around and fled back toward the cave.
• Lewis glanced at Suzy’s fleeing back. Then, he spun around and chased in the direction of the black monster. Their current location was not far from the cave they were staying in. At most, it was a ten-minute journey. Although he desperately wanted to escort her back to the cave, he knew that the black monster wasn’t just vengeful, but also extremely intelligent.
• With only one of the black monsters left, he was afraid that it would make some sort of last-ditch effort to kill them. For example, it could attract a more horrifying monster and lead that monster to discover the duo. After that… the two of them would be caught in another hunt-or-be-hunted situation. With those thoughts in mind, he no longer hesitated.
• He retrieved the dagger he threw at the monster previously and found bloodstains splattered on the ground—it was left by that black monster. Following the trail of blood, he hurriedly chased after the monster. Even so, he did not dare to plunge forward blindly; he chased after it carefully. This island was a weird place—everything about this place was strange. Therefore, he did not dare to be half-hearted in whatever he did.
• 30 minutes later, he noticed something terrifying. That black monster seemed to be afraid that he would lose sight of it. It would stop somewhere in front for several minutes before continuing forward. Once he realized that, his expression changed slightly.
• Should I chase after it? Or, should I go back? As Lewis had mentioned before, he realized that these monsters were highly intelligent after crossing blows with them on numerous occasions. If he allowed this black monster to survive, he didn’t know what sort of tricks it would pull in the future. Thus, he stopped hesitating and continued forward, following the blood trail.
• An hour later, he saw the black monster’s figure standing around a hundred meters ahead of him. With this distance, he couldn’t harm the beast even if he threw the dagger. It would only work if the monster was within ten meters of him.
• Roar! The black monster roared at Lewis in anger when it spotted him, its eyes overflowing with bloodthirst.
• “D*mn it!” Lewis growled. Then, he prepared to rush toward the monster. To his surprise, the monster turned around and retreated the moment he rushed toward it and fled into the distance. It stubbornly maintained a distance of approximately a hundred meters between itself and Lewis. If Lewis moved forward, it would retreat. On the other hand, if Lewis retreated, it would slowly follow after him.
• It was as if the monster was trying to slowly tire him out. Thus, his expression darkened. This monster… No longer hesitating, he pushed his body to its limits and rushed toward the black monster.
• Rustle... Rustle… Rustle… Upon seeing Lewis rushing toward itself, the monster followed suit, dragging its injured leg as it fled into the distance quickly. After chasing for a while, Lewis felt weary. Thus, he leaned against a tree and rested briefly.
• While he rested, the monster stopped and rested too. By the time he had enough rest, the monster seemed to have recovered too. Thus, the chase continued. In that way, the hours slowly slipped by. As the sun in the sky slowly started to set, the light in the forest became weaker and weaker. At the same time, his expression grew graver and graver.
• Lewis was different from those black monsters—his night vision was comparatively poorer. While the black monster had no trouble seeing in the night, the same could not be said of him. If there was no light, he would essentially be as blind as a bat!
• Even so… that black monster must die!
• Lewis was certain about one thing. If he turned around, so would the black monster. Moreover, it would not be too far away. If he so much as slipped up, it would immediately come in for the kill. Unfortunately, he could not guarantee that he would not relax his guard. Even now, he was so tired that he was out of breath, but he did not dare to stop and rest. Otherwise, that monster would ambush him again.
• The monster would be sure to learn from its lesson this afternoon. After this, it would be more patient than before and wait until he fell into a deep sleep before making a move. For that reason, he was terrified—he was scared that the moment he rested, he would fall into a deep sleep. Even if the sky darkened, he was not going to give up his chase! Thus, he continued chasing after the monster. With the help of the sounds the monster made, he did not lose track of it.
• Rustle… Rustle… He heard rustling sounds coming from ahead. Those sounds allowed him to continue his chase without pause. The moon! The moon had risen. Borrowing the dim moonlight, he quickly caught up to the monster.
• Click! Woo… Woo… A strange sound pierced through the night, followed by the monster’s blood-curdling cry. That strange sound made Lewis’ heart race.
• That sound… A trap! There’s a trap here! Did the black monster fall into a trap?! Why would there be traps on this island? Doesn’t that mean that there are people nearby? Are they survivors from the Dreamliner? Or, are they the natives of the island?
• “Quick! Quick! Come on! We caught a prey! A prey fell into our trap!” While Lewis was deep in his thoughts, a loud cheer made his expression change slightly.
• “Haha… It’s a Nightsnare! Get the big guys here! This Nightsnare is still alive!”
• “Look! It’s been howling in that direction! Are there more Nightsnares hiding there? Hurry up! Get the hunters to check it out!”
• “These d*mn Nightsnares! Not only are they quick on their feet, but they are sly and vengeful too! We have to find the rest of the Nightsnares! Otherwise, we won’t be able to rest easy!”
• …
• Listening to the voices that came from the front, Lewis’ expression changed drastically. I was tricked! These black monsters are called Nightsnares! It actually led me to a place like this! It’s trying to make those people kill me as they would think I’m its companion! It’s pitting two tigers against each other! No, it’s one tiger surrounded by a whole ambush of tigers! In this case, Lewis was that lone tiger while that group hunting for him was the ambush of tigers.