Peace could feel something wet dripping into his vertical slit pupils, blurring his vision.
His blood. It was his own blood.
Under the blanket of dead, black leaves, Peace slithered around and tore branches apart, freeing his leg, which had been trapped.
As Peace flailed around, willed by pain and animus, he forced his monstrous body to cooperate as he dug his heels into the ground and eventually found footing, standing up.
"Yup, it's alive in there…"
Peace knew that he stood no chance of fighting. He also knew he stood no chance of remaining hidden. Archer's tended to have tracking essences… even if this one didn't, one of the people out there definitely did.
These hunters were definitely at least Rank 4 or 3. They could kill Peace with a flick of a finger; quite literally, if they had the right essences.
So, while silence was usually golden for the weak, having already been spotted, there was only one thing Peace had left to utilize… his mind.
While Peace was fast, that was only relative when compared to another Rank 9 beast or person. There were definitely instances where he'd be more agile than those ranked higher than them, like if someone had specced into all tank essences, but most at Rank 7 and higher had at least one movement essence that Peace had no means of dealing with at the moment.
Thankfully, his legs were in fairly good shape, even the one that got crushed. So he was still a tiny speedster.
"Don't let it escape… Saxon, Belona, watch that area."
'Use your left and rights! How am I supposed to know what you mean when I can't see you!'
In any case, he did possess something beasts didn't: a human-level intelligence.
While some beasts were smart, none were capable of fully replicating the level of genius of humans — the humanoid races… well, except barbarians… they had a literal mind debuff.
But that's beside the point.
What matters is that those who were waiting for Peace around the fallen tree would underestimate his intelligence and capability. Even when taking reasonable cautions when dealing with any creature in the Corrupted Lands, there were boundaries to what people would expect.
Thankfully, Peace wasn't constrained by the small brain of a beast. He retained his intelligence…
Or at least he thought he did.
The leader, sounding like a man, barked once again:
"Prest, Melania, watch there. I'll cover here."
Peace had been spun and disoriented when the tree collapsed on him, but he also had enough sense to know that whatever report was made on him probably included the fact that he reacted to words…
Adding that onto the fact that the direction he heard the voice seemed different than the direction the arrow came from, he made a gamble.
Peace drilled his hind legs into the ground, then shot himself through branches, making a beeline toward where he heard the voice.
He had no grounds or evidence that could help him prove his guess right, but he didn't need any of that. What he needed was trust in his intuition and maybe some luck.
Peace continued to weave through the branches and vaulted over the fallen trunk, eventually diving out the other side back into the black and grey world.
Peace let out a toothy grin.
'Knew it…'
Nobody was there to greet him.
The leader spoke again:
"Huh?"
Despite there being nothing in front of him, to Peace it sounded as if he were right there.
It's the passive trait of the Rank 4 Australite, which inverts the auditory sense of an enemy target. It's an insidious ability, but it has many drawbacks, as, unless consciously suppressed, it affects everyone who's not in the same party…
'How do parties work here?'
Another question that Peace didn't have the time to contemplate.
Peace struck the ground with all his meager might, sending himself forward through the forest, jumping over exposed roots and crushing the brittle black leaves.
'I can't let whoever has it see me and use the active!'
Unfortunately, it didn't take long for his pursuers to realize he'd escaped. Or, more so, they'd already realized before he'd even gotten out from under the fallen tree, and now they were encroaching on him.
A woman shouted:
"I see it!"
The shout was close in front of him, followed by a steady crushing of leaves.
Peace zigged and zagged, trying his best to break the line of sight, but he could faintly hear the crumbling of the brittle leaves in front of him growing further and further away…
Meaning, something was approaching him from behind faster than he was running.
The leader shouted:
"Mel!"
Peace didn't want to know what he was signaling, but he didn't want to find out.
Diving to the right, Peace latched himself onto a tree and climbed up at a freighting speed, then continued his flight in the branches, jumping from tree to tree.
His goal with this maneuver wasn't in lieu of evasion… it was in hopes of finding another beast that could stand up to the freaks of nature chasing him. Or at least distract him long enough. So, Peace wasn't hiding under the cover of leaves in the higher branches, but on the lower boughs with his eyes viciously scanning the corrupted forest around him.
Then, a weird wave of energy flowed through the area and caressed Peace's small body.
'What was that?'
In the next moment, an arrow sailed into a branch Peace had just jumped from.
A woman's soft voice spilled into the sky above Peace, still a little far in front of him.
"Damn, I missed."
"At least you controlled the power this time, Deacon."
Peace soon realized what had just happened.
The Mel person had used a tracking essence on him, and the archer had shot based on that.
Peace knew this experienced archer wouldn't miss for a third time in a row. In fact, if they weren't trying to capture him alive, Peace was sure the second shot would have been his doom. Still, it didn't matter if the archer missed or hit his next shot; there was someone eerily close behind him…
'Ah, there you are…'
Then, Peace spotted it…
'My salvation.'