8 The Unexpected

Gus and Frank were last seen drinking in a cave, now it was noon with the sky turning dark with seven empty jugs outside.

There was a reason why seven was mentioned instead of six, it was because Gus had hidden three more jugs when Frank had already slept the day before.

After their drinking game they noticed there was no more liquor, so Gus confessed that he had more hidden so only two were left, eventually Gus left to relieve himself.

"Hey Frank, we should set to sleep already, we have to get the best ones, before their gone."

Despite still being drunk Gus returned from the forest, and he was able to remember about their destination, Frank unfortunately…

"Hahaha!!! Beauties…beauties…gonna get some…beauties!!!!" was dead drunk, unable to even speak clearly as he crawled into the cave, retrieving the remaining liquor.

"Fuck, he's not listening…huh?" Gus was about to finish his drink and fall asleep, until he heard some shrubs shifting from all sides, and he noticed that there was no passing wind.

Gus then became vigilant, he was about to call Frank when…

*SWOOSH*CRACK*UGH*THUMP*

"AHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!"

Something was thrown at a frightening speed, but Gus was able to hear it, but wasn't able to see clearly due to it coming from the darkness and being more drunk than usual, only the soon to be passed out Frank screaming in pain was seen.

When Gus turned to have a look he saw a flailing Frank, a bloody hole was seen on his leg and a hole on the ground, and he found what was the cause.

What he found was a large rock caved in the ground with blood on it, he immediately realized that they were being attacked from an enemy.

Before he could run towards the cave to get cover, another object was thrown this time, and the target was him, Gus saw it was another rock, but wasn't able to stand his ground so he was only able to duck, but his leg got broken in the process.

Before he realized it, he had felt pain he never experienced before, so all he could do was scream to the top of his lungs.

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! DAMN IT! MY LEG, MY FUCKING LEG!!!!!"

Gus yelled and cursed with all his might, although the attack was seen, he couldn't even dodge correctly, if he knew that someone was targeting him, then he wouldn't have finished about seven bottles.

That goes for all cultivators in this realm, to give a brief introduction on the warriors of this realm it goes like this, the level of each warrior is called a Tier and the higher the Tier, the greater their strength is measured, and the number of years they will live will be extended.

Each cultivator that has awaken their abilities in the early stage will gain these basic abilities, increased physical strength, gain the ability to self-heal, heightened five senses, and lastly the ability to manipulate the energy to their will, each will increase after they go through rigorous training and go beyond their limits for the next Tier.

At the beginning, each cultivator must start at the same Tier, Zero, and each Tier has to meet requirements for one to reach the next Tier, so then they must follow three stages which were Early Stage, Mid Stage, and Late Stage.

Gus was a Mid Stage Zero Tier, and Frank was in the Early Stage Zero Tier, they were only low leveled cultivators in the eyes of the Naga Clan, and so they had paid no attention to their progress or existence, because of their age.

For cultivators the less time they had used to cultivate means they will live longer which lead to them becoming stronger in the future.

Gus was currently 43 years old, so he was considered with no talent whatsoever, he was only strong in front of non-cultivator, for 10 years he was the top in the streets of Mordan City, with Frank, who was 38, as his Right Hand, he was in his small group invincible.

The Naga's have only accepted cultivator who were able to catch their attentions, they would accept those in the Zero Tier to be their subordinates, but if they passed the age requirements, then they are considered a waste to put any attention to cultivate.

They have made use of people like Gus and gave them benefits like money, their right to use their clan name, and basic training, so they can control the small gangs.

Unfortunately Gus has only made enemies around him so they could never use him.

So Gus had no formal training on his energy, like how to heal small injuries.

Hence he is panicking about his injury that can be healed in moments, but his current state of mind would not allow him, for one to use the energy in their bodies they must concentrate.

Gus however was intoxicated from drinking, followed with exhaustion from fooling around, and scrambling with fear in his mind, so he was in no shape to be calm.

With visibility being only the stars in the sky and the fire burning by the cave, he was more like a sitting duck.

Panic came to him, not knowing who was after him made him feel nervous, but being targeted by something who can hurl an object, and break his leg in the process was what made him lose courage, so he dragged himself to get in the cave to hide, until…

*SWOOSH* *CRASH*

When he heard the crash he can only lift his head with fear, like how the rock had broken his leg he saw a similar outcome, the object thrown had collided with the ceiling of the cave, burying Frank in the process and had made the lit fire spread out.

Gus had then felt despair for the first time, he had to get away, if he stayed getting killed would be the outcome.

Scrambling to get away, he grabbed his ax that was on the ground, using it like a makeshift clutch, grabbing a still lit wood, and dragged with all his might abandoning Frank who was still buried.

As rocks were being shot at him, it forced him to desperately go to through the forest.

---

"Well, that was unexpected." Stigma was on top of a tree with Dusk not far from the scene, with a baffled look from what had happened.

They were the ones throwing rocks at Gus and Frank from the beginning, but he had not expected Dusk to throw the rocks in a dangerous way.

He knew from the start that Dusk was strong, but the situation had developed in a manner that was out of his expectation.

The first part had succeeded, they made a distraction by throwing rocks in the nearby shrubs to get their attention, but when Dusk started throwing the rocks, it had shoot it like a cannon.

He wanted to have them separate from each other by splitting up in the forest thinking there was some people watching, then knock them out, but Dusk already made a move before he realized.

Apparently it mistook his whisper to attack the moment he said it, Frank who was in the cave was then attacked, and he was then flailing in pain, then Dusk shot at Gus's leg when he ran.

He then panicked thinking the plan had failed, when he saw Gus was still going to get his weapon and Frank to regroup, he then ordered Dusk to keep them separated so he threw or shot the rock at the ceiling of the cave, but unexpectedly buried the Frank in the process.

The situation was not how he had expected to progress, but he wanted them to be separated so he never really cared.

From above he could see Gus panicking, then saw him grab the ax thinking he was going to fight, instead he used it like a clutch and grabbed a torch and dragged himself away.

The plan was already going like he wanted, more or less, so all he had to do was make sure Gus was heading towards his traps by having Dusk shot rocks to lead the direction, then capture him and extract information.

But he didn't follow him, instead he had Dusk chase him while he went down to look through their belongings, and ordered it to bring Gus here after he was in the trap, if he intends to call for help or fight back, he allowed him to use force and bring him back even when he was crippled.

"Wait, couldn't I have just shot him in the legs, then tied him up?" Stigma was thinking like a 'genius'[1], if he knew beforehand that Dusk can shot rocks then he wouldn't have wasted his time on that trap.

He went down, while Dusk started 'jumping' to other trees and followed the fleeing Gus.

"Ah, who cares, now then, time to get something to eat." Stigma started to rummage through the rubble to find the bag that was filled with food the last time he saw it.

After the fifth rock, he was exhausted, because he was still a child so he was having difficulty in working this way, he had in fact done physical labor before like lifted sacks of rice for hours or did delivery services with heavy packages to ten floors on foot.

"Phew, I wonder if Dusk was able to catch him now, I really need his help." Stigma was struggling to lift the rock on top, fearing that it would collapse and buried him if he wasn't careful.

"Hurry up Dusk, break his arms and legs if you have too." He was even hoping that he would bring the ax back along with his belonging.

---

"Damn it! They'll pay for this! SHIT!"

Gus cursed non stop after he dragged himself to the sea of trees, his leg was still in a lot of pain, and he can barely see, slowing him down even more.

"I'll get them for this! I'll make them pay!"

All he could do was really on his torch on hand which gave him poor visibility, and hope they were not chasing him from behind, and took their belonging that was left.

Gus gritted his teeth, he had left about 7 gold coins and 80 silver pieces, and it was enough for him to even buy about eight years' worth of liquor.

If he knew he was being watched from an enemy, he wouldn't have left the city, he wouldn't have brought all his fortune, and he wouldn't have lose his best henchmen.

"Once I heal, I'll find them, torture them, and kill them for this!"

However, he doesn't even know he was being chased from a monster called Dusk. Gus looked around thinking he had lost him, until he heard 'it'.

The trees were shifting again when there was still no wind, then he heard the sound of claws scraping against the trees, and a low growl from afar.

Even with the torch on hand, he couldn't even see where it was coming from, only feeling that the pursuer was just scaring him, wear him down, and finish him of.

"Come out!" Gus started swinging the torch to scare away the pursuer, but he was greeted with another growl, from above his head.

He then swung his ax but there was nothing, only long claw marks of an animal with very sharp claws.

He started to panic even more, so he kept on moving still swinging the torch, not caring if it hit the trees.

He started looking around until he fell in a pit, and had landed on wooden spikes that were triangle shaped.

Since he landed on them it only made him even bleed more, it was not as deep as he thought as he gritted his teeth and pulled one from his arm, but more were on his stomach, and his legs so he couldn't remove all of them.

Leaves were in the hole, and the fire on the torch started to spread.

His torch was on the edge, he was forcing himself to stand up to get out of the hole, only to hear the same growl from before.

He looked around to look for his ax, and he found it on the edge hanging on the opposite end, so he forced himself just to get to it.

When he got to the ax he heard a heavy object land, fearing that the pursuer would end him if he moved, so he waited for him.

'So it was only one huh, I'll get you for what you have done.'

Slowly he pulled the ax, placing both hands preparing for an overhead swing, and waited for his pursuer to come closer, while ignoring the fire behind him growing stronger.

*THUMP* *THUMP* *THUMP*

'Come closer, closer, closer!' Gus was clenching his ax and gathered strength, the moment his pursuer stops and bends down to take a look, so he'll chop his head in two.

*THUMP* *THUMP* *THUMP*

'He stopped!' Gus readied himself for his pursuer, but then realized when he looked up, there was nothing.

Gus looked around thinking he was somewhere else, then felt something grab on to his arm with enough force to rip it off.

Without even realizing he was pulled from the pit to the air, around his arm he could fell a large thin hand was crushing it, heavy breathing was entering his ears like a beast was staring at him, but there was still nothing in front of him.

He felt like there was an invisible hand on him and knew something was right in front of him, and it was strong as it was able to lift him with one hand.

Gus was then trying to fight back but his legs weren't high enough, so he tried to pull himself away but he was powerless against the vice like grip, so tried to hit the invisible force with his free hand ignoring the pain.

But it was impossible, he was hitting something but it was not even fazed.

After being lifted over the pit, Gus was thrown at a tree, Gus stood with difficulty then readied his ax for the upcoming figure, and what he saw scared him out of his wits.

Because of the leaves fell into the hole, the fire grew stronger, because of the fire, a figure started to appear, it was a slouching figure with a thin body, with arms reaching its shins and bird like claws that look would appear to rip him to shreds, it had no face but its teeth was jagged.

It was a monster.

It slowly walked towards him, Gus readied his ax and swung it, only to find that it was stuck on the figure's head, but no blood was showing from the wound.

He started to panic and tried to pull the ax out to swing again, but the figure grabbed his left arm, and swung his opposite arm to break Gus's arm, Gus screamed and tried to get away but it was impossible, it grabbed his other arm and repeated what had happen.

With both arms destroyed he can only look at them with bloodshot eyes and a face of terror, how did he offended such a monster, Gus was barely standing when he felt pain by his barely damaged leg.

*CRACK!* before he knew it, his other leg was attacked and it was broken.

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Gus had all his limbs broken but the figure didn't even cared, as it grabbed Gus by his shoulder digging his claws to his flesh and dragged him without having any trouble with Gus's weight.

"Please let me go! I'm sorry if I have offended you, please let me go! I beg of you!"

Gus can only struggle and cry for forgiveness, his only hope was that the monster was willing to let him go if he makes amends.

But the only thing that has transpired, was that the monster with an ax on his face, had been dragging away a victim towards the darkness as he wail in despair.

[1] basically sarcasm.