The Unexpected

Halfway through making his way towards the campsite, Stigma stopped by a large tree for a moment and surveyed his surroundings.

After giving it some thought, Stigma ordered Dusk to help him climb on the tree he picked so he can have a high vantage point to overlook the camp.

As difficult as it was for him to go unnoticed, because there was strong winds passing by, Stigma was able to get near the campsite without alerting anyone.

Of course, while Stigma was busy working on the traps, he last saw Gus and Frank drinking in a cave by a roaring fire. So Stigma has no idea if they had already left the area or something had happened while he was gone.

This was not because of Stigma's oversight.

The problem was, even if Stigma had ordered Dusk to observe them while he was preparing the traps, it was not as though it could provide a detailed report as Stigma confirmed that other than obeying his orders by the letter, Dusk could not communicate with him.

So with the obvious issue of communication, Stigma decided that he should take the first watch where as Dusk was ordered to prepare some of the traps he couldn't prepare himself and had Dusk switch roles with him once it was done.

On a side note, incase something had happened while Stigma was away, Dusk was ordered to return to him and provide a thumbs up as the signal while a thumbs down was for the opposite scenario.

Unfortunately, the moment the switch was made, Stigma had encountered a rather troublesome matter.

Because Stigma wasn't sure if Dusk understood complex orders, but the later had returned to him the moment he left its line of sight and proceeded to show a thumbs down, indicating that nothing had happened after he left.

This clearly showed that Dusk understood it's commands, but it made Stigma wonder if his orders did not match his intentions.

In conclusion, rather than order Dusk to return and rely on it's response, Stigma had Dusk remain by his side and that he would have to make his decision based on the visible light on the campsite.

Another thing was that Stigma decided that he would experiment on how he should communicate with Dusk at a later date so miscommunication would not happen again.

All in all, besides his curiosity on Dusk, by the time Stigma had found a suitable place in the trees in where he can see the entire campsite, he saw that there were about seven empty jugs right by the cave with a roaring campfire at the center.

With Frank lying inside the cave and Gus making his way to the forest, this clearly showed that Stigma had not wasted his time on making the traps and his gamble paid off.

Of course, Stigma had not noticed that the number of jugs did not match from yesterday's batch but he wouldn't have noticed it even if he tried.

Truth be told, Gus and Frank should have left the area long after Stigma was busy preparing his traps. The only reason why these two haven't left the area was solely because both men have been heavily intoxicated due to consuming too much liquor.

After the six jars they bought yesterday have been emptied, Gus had confessed that he had three more jars of liquor hidden in the cave beside them. After bringing them out, they continued their rather festive mood until there were only two Jars of liquor left.

Eventually, after drinking for so long, Frank finally passed out in the cave where as Gus left to relieve himself in the woods.

If Stigma had known the sequence of events beforehand, he would have considered this a rather fortunate accident.

Nonetheless. From what Stigma could see, opposite to where he was hiding, it didn't take long for Gus to return as he saw the later made his way back to camp albeit with groggy movements.

Just as Stigma started to ponder on his next move, he was suddenly startled and hid behind the branches of the trees when Gus's voice suddenly reached his ears.

"Hey! Frank!... we should *burp!* set to sleep already....Getting dark, *hiccup!* have to get the best ones before their gone. Ha ha ha ha!!!"

Based on that sentence alone, Stigma made a quick assumption that despite drinking more than six Jars of liquor, Gus was able to remain sober as he gave a somewhat audible sentence.

Since Stigma did not want to risk being spotted, he quickly made way to a different tree branch and continued to observe in silence.

As Gus continued to make his way onto the camp, Stigma turned to where Frank was last seen and saw that the later was not even responding to his partner's call and was crawling on the ground on all fours.

Even without looking to deeply into it, Stigma felt that there was no point in paying attention to Frank as the later was trying to find something as he was heading deeper into the cave.

And, as he expected, Frank was still intoxicated as he barely made sense for Stigma to understand.

"Hahaha!!! Beauties…beauties…gonna get some…beauties!!!!"

With both sides startled from Frank's sudden yell, Gus could not help but curse at him as he grabbed a nearby jar and drank it's remaining contents while Stigma thought this might be a good time to act then ordered Dusk to commence the plan he made as he handed it some rocks he prepared.

...

After relieving himself in the forest, Gus was able to sobber up a little bit from his drunken stupor.

But as he came back to the camp, Gus found that his partner Frank was acting like an idiot as he kept throwing their belongings on the ground and spilled one of the two remaining liquor in the cave.

Despite giving multiple warnings beforehand, Gus could not help but snap in anger as he saw Frank rummaging through their belongings until he found the remaining jar of liquor.

Unwilling to see the Liqour he bought go to waste, Gus grabbed the jar of spilled liquor and continued to threathen Frank as he got closer. Unfortunately, the later continued to ignore him as he sang a rather difficult to understand song and threw more of their belongings.

"Hey Frank!!! Stop hogging all the liquor! I bought the damn thing so if your going to finish it, you better pay me back!"

"I am the most handsome man~~ Ladies love me, left to right~~"

"Frank you bastard, don't you dare waste my remaining liquor!!!! You already wasted one of them"

"Bwahahahahahaha!! Found it!!! Now I'm the most handsome man in the world!!!! HAHAHA!!! *Glug!* *Glug!* *Glug!*"

"Damnit, he's not listening. That son of a… huh?" Just as he was about to finish his drink and confront Frank, Gus suddenly heard some shrubs shifting from all sides despite there being no wind.

Due to being a leader of a gang Gus has always been sensitive towards his surroundings whenever he was alone.

Nine times out of ten, his paranoia had allowed him to survive, so whenever he felt that something was wrong, he never hesitated to act out.

So when he noticed the strange movements of the nearby shrubs, Gus thought that something was wrong and immediately threw the jar he held to the ground then stood his ground.

Intoxicated as he was tired, Gus tried his best to look intimidating as he pulled out a knife that was on his waist, but he still could not tell how many eyes were watching him due to poor visibility.

Looking by the roaring campfire, Gus cursed at the fact that he had left his ax on the ground and was left with a weapon that barely made him feel safe.

With not much choice at hand, Gus stuck his chest out and started using his common tactic of intimidation - Yelling at the top of his lungs and swinging his weapon to assume dominance.

"Hey! Show yourself, are you man, fight me fair and square! You think your so tough hiding from me, I know your there! I, your father, can take on any of you!!! Stop sneaking around, come out of your hiding spot you worthless bastards!!!"

After throwing a number of provoking messages and insults, Gus felt as though he making a fool of himself as no one responded. But instead of allowing himself to look weak, Gus quickly thought of a plan and yelled.

"Ha! You think I might be some weakling, but think again, I have the backing of the Naga clan so you better show yourself and beg for forgiveness. If you beg right now, I can make you my underling to spare you from my backer! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!"

...

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!"

...

"HAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!"

...

"ha...haha.....h...."

...

As Gus slowly lowered the volume of his laughter, he could not help but feel unsettled as he still could not see the enemy.

But with each passing moment, instead of being discouraged from the weight of his fears, Gus kept his eye on his surroundings as he slowly made his way towards the campfire and reached out for his ax.

Just as he was about to reach for his weapon and call Frank, he suddenly heard something fly past him followed by something that sounded like a high pitched whistle.

*SWOOSH!* *CRACK!* *THUMP!*

"Huh?...What... was that..."

Without even realizing it, Gus had felt that his back was covered in cold sweat as his mind barely registered what had happened. In a span of only two seconds, Gus had heard a short whistle pass by him and he felt his skin crawl as he felt his skin feel a slight burn.

But then again, even though Gus was able to hear that something flew past him at a frightening speed, being intoxicated more than usual only made it difficult for him to figure out what had happened logically.

Instinctively, he turned towards the cave to call for Frank but he was left stunned as he saw the previously incapacitated Frank awake and screaming in agony as he clutched onto a bloody leg.

"AHHHHHHH!!!!! AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! My Leg!!!! My F*CKING LEG!!!!!!!! Ahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!"

"!!!!!!!!!!!!"

With Frank howling in pain and his blood bathing the ground red, it took no longer than a whole ten seconds for Gus to come back to his senses, but he continued to stare at Frank with his jaw hanging loss as he was at a lost.

From what he could see from Frank's flailing body, Gus saw that the leg he was clutching on was bleeding excessively and that there was a gapping hole on his right leg.

Although he didn't notice the hole on the ground, much less the projectile being used, Gus tore his eyes away from Frank and immediately assumed that he was being attacked from an enemy and he was the next target.

Before he could run towards the cave to gain cover, Gus felt a chill run down his spine as he turned towards the forest in the moment of panic.

With an attack invisible to the naked eye, Gus felt his confidence slowly drain away and forced himself to duck to dodge the incomming attack.

Unfortunately, just as he was about to dodge, Gus had heard the famiiar whistling in the air and suddenly felt pain. Pain so intense that all he could do was scream to the top of his lungs and wail in agony as he mimicked Frank's action of suffering as he rolled on the ground.

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

Gus yelled and cursed with all his might, although he foresaw that the attack was aimed at him, he couldn't even dodge even if he wanted to.

If Gus knew that someone was targeting him, then he wouldn't have left his guard down nor finished about seven bottles that ruins his focus.

That goes for all warriors in this realm.

To give a brief introduction to the warriors of this realm, one must understand that any individual that is capable of producing superhuman feats along are called by many names but it is common to call them as Cultivators.

Cultivators are collectively known as individuals who practice either martial artist or research otherworldly knowledge to reach the ultimate goal of becoming an immortal or attaining godhood.

Though the ultimate goal for Cultivators is to reach immortality, Cultivators are often mistaken as demigods as they continue to go beyond human limitations and continue to produce legends to this day.

So it was not farfetched to call Cultivators as individuals who walk the path to attain godhood.

Naturally, like in any ethnic groups, Cultivators are divided based on different categories and each category is further divided by levels called Tiers.

As of now, it is widely accepted that the higher the Tier a Cultivator reaches, the greater their strength they possesses. It is said that for each Tier that a Cultivator surpasses, the warriors gain an additional lifespan of over a hundred years.

In any case, when an individual awakens as a cultivatorm, they normally gain basic abilities that strengthens their natural physique such as increased physical strength, the ability to heal wounds at an astounding rate, heightened senses, and the ability to manipulate their life energy to their will.

As one advances to the next stage, each of the basic abilities 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.

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.

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.