CHAPTER 6 – HUNTED
Earlier, a group of adventurers were about to take down a beast that looked like a wild boar. They had been tracking it for nearly an hour, moving silently through the underbrush, weapons ready. They were already within striking distance—close enough to smell its musky scent and hear its labored breathing—when a terrifying scream echoed across the forest.
The sound was raw, agonized and almost inhuman.
The sudden scream startled the boar, and it bolted. The adventurers' careful formation shattered as they jerked toward the noise, losing their prey in an instant.
Furious, they immediately traced where the scream had come from.
This was what led them to the crater Apolo was lying in, surrounded by greenish and purple blood and pieces of shattered centipede armor scattered like broken glass.
"What is this…?"
One of the adventurers asked, almost gagging at the sight. The stench hit them next—acidic, rotting, mixed with something metallic.
The scene confused and unsettled all of them. They moved closer to examine the crater, boots crunching over crushed centipede shells. But the moment they got within ten meters, Apolo's eyes snapped open.
His pupils shrank in terror. His breath caught.
They want to kill me!
He tried to sit up—strangely, it felt effortless, but fear drowned the surprise. The moment he lifted himself, he shot to his feet and bolted into the dark forest like a streak of lightning.
His heart hammered wildly. His whole body tensed as he ran blindly, refusing to even glance back. Branches whipped his face. Roots tried to trip him. He didn't care.
"Wait!"
One of the adventurers called out, but Apolo's figure was already swallowed by the darkness.
They looked at one another, then back at the crater and the carnage around it.
"Should we go after him, Derek?" the huge, bulky man asked, pointing in the direction Apolo disappeared. His voice was rough, annoyed.
Derek—a lean man with sharp eyes and a crossbow slung across his back—rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"Let's go," he finally said. "He seemed scared. Maybe he's lost. But we keep our distance and follow from the shadows. If he's fine, we leave him alone. If he's dangerous…" He let the sentence hang.
After agreeing, they spread out with twenty meters between each of them and began following Apolo's trail.
Meanwhile, unaware of their decision, Apolo kept running through the forest, crashing through trees as if they were nothing. His newly awakened strength made obstacles feel like paper.
The moonlight glowed gently from above, filtering through the canopy in silver threads. The cool night breeze brushed against his face as he ran, drying the sweat on his skin.
It wasn't until he reached a small mountain surrounded by tall grass, with a narrow crevice at the base, that he finally stopped. He bent over, hands on his knees, breathing hard—not from exhaustion, but from panic.
"How…?"
He examined his body in disbelief, running his hands over his chest, his arms, his back.
"I was badly injured before I passed out. How am I healed?"
Looking behind him, he noticed the destruction in his wake—trees bent at unnatural angles, some snapped clean in half, others uprooted entirely. Deep footprints stamped into the wet earth like craters.
"I did all that…?"
With no answers in sight, he slipped into the crevice. Inside was a small stone hollow, barely five meters wide. The air was cooler here, damp. He sat on a rock and examined his body more closely, tracing where wounds should have been.
"There was a huge fist imprint on my chest… and the mark of that giant mace. How did everything disappear? Or… how long was I unconscious?"
Clenching his fist, he felt strength surging through him—not just physical power, but something deeper, humming beneath his skin. A wave of excitement rose within him despite everything. He tapped a rock lightly.
Bang.
It nearly crumbled into dust.
Then something else clicked.
"…I can see?"
He lifted his hands, examining them in detail, then looked around the hollow. Only now did he realize it was dark—pitch dark. Yet he could see every detail: the texture of the stone walls, the moss growing in the corners, even a small spider crawling across the ceiling.
He looked up at the faint moonlight filtering into the crevice and smiled faintly.
"So this is night vision…? I can see as if it's daytime. If not for the moonlight, I would've thought it was still afternoon."
He couldn't help but marvel. For the first time since awakening, something felt like a gift instead of a curse.
RUSTLE… RUSTLE…
A few hundred meters away, the adventurers were frozen in shock, standing twenty meters apart as they followed Apolo's trail of destruction.
"At least we don't need to look for tracks," Derek said, scratching his head with a faint grin. The path was impossible to miss.
"This guy… I thought he was scared?" Erin muttered, her voice confused. She was a slender woman with sharp features and intelligent eyes.
"If he was truly scared, he wouldn't move so recklessly," Derek responded, staring at the uprooted trees and the deep footprints stamping the wet forest floor. "He'd be hiding, not bulldozing through the Wilderness like a chaos beast."
"Should we confront him? We lost big tonight because of him," the bulky adventurer—Garron—growled, his meaty fists clenching.
"Not yet. We keep observing him," Derek replied firmly.
He turned to Erin. "Erin, activate your ability. From now on we communicate through your telepathy. No more talking aloud."
"Alright. I can maintain it for two hours."
Her eyes glowed a deep blue. Her black hair shifted to the same luminous color and lengthened, cascading down her back. Her face sharpened, cheekbones more pronounced, and two small fangs slid down from her upper jaw. She now resembled a half-bat, eerie and beautiful.
The moment Erin transformed, Apolo—still sitting in the crevice—jolted upright. His head snapped toward their direction.
"What was that…?"
A wave of heat had washed over him, prickling his skin. It felt like invisible pressure, similar to what he'd felt from the village chief when he transformed.
"Is there another hybrid besides me…?"
He remembered the group he'd seen earlier near the crater and frowned. Curiosity tugged at him, warring with caution.
After a moment's hesitation, he quietly stepped out of the crevice—
Whoosh!
A massive spear tore toward him, aimed directly at his neck.
It moved so fast that by the time Apolo blinked, it was already upon him, spinning like it was trying to break through the sound barrier. The air shrieked around it.