Wendigo (II)

Many low-level Players fell over unconscious from the painful yell. Even Hunters, who were C level and up, were all stunned momentarily but didn't fall over unconscious. The split moment delay made them falter.

The Hellhounds took advantage of this small hiccup. Many fell dead.

Even Snow was slammed with an ear bursting yell. Her mind becomes dizzy, throwing her body in a loop. She cursed at herself, wondering why a lot of these strong monsters always had these mind-numbing skills that temporarily stopped her. She raised her hand; her magic amplified. A burst of light magic came into existence in front of Wendigo's face; it's flash brightly blinding the Wendigo once again.

With a screech, the Wendigo covered its eyes from the pain.

Tommy was the first to come out of the daze, he angrily spat. "This fucker tried to make my ears bleed."

In a fury, he pounded his fist directly into Wendigo's legs in the hopes of making it fold.

Waving its hand in a wild fever, it somehow blocked Tommy's attack with its long gangly arm.

Suddenly, It disappeared into smoke, causing Tommy and the rest into confusion. None of them understood what was going on.

"Where did that fucker go?" Tommy grumpily pounded his fist together that he lost his prey.

"I don't know, but it's not dead." Tamaki came over, his sword in his sheath looking around confused.

They barely even fought for a moment, before Wendigo pulled away from fighting and hidden itself.

"Let's quickly wrap up the other Hellhounds before we continue," Tamaki spoke, he licked his finger, and he raised it to test the wind. Eventually, he squatted down to listen to the ground as he pressed his ear against the soil. "It's still here. I'm sure of it."

"You sure?" Tommy asked, delighted that the monster was still alive.

"Yea, it's footsteps are light. Luckily it didn't run away far and hid inside the forest."

Tommy's simple mind couldn't wrap around the issue of what Wendigo was trying to do. "Great…Another loose monster in the forest. My kind of hunt." He sarcastic stated. "I hate those fucking trees that get in the way."

"It's better than nothing." Tamaki got up. He wiped out his sword in a flash as he took out a Hellhound that was trying to jump on him from behind. The blade sliced the hellhound in half, leaving behind a gory scene. "It's weaker compared to the Dullahan with the team that we have, so it should be an easy take out."

Snow was relieved to hear that from Tamaki, mostly because there wasn't always an easy fight. Was this one of those times where they would get away with low counts of death and live another day? She hoped it was so.

"Yea, but pulling out a sword in between bushes is like running into a dozen problems. You know better than I how annoying it gets."

"We'll be fine." Tamaki stated, "I know you can punch it to death with your power. We just need one shot."

"True."

The Players all gaped in amazement at the sheer power that the two had shown. Even though they were struggling with most of the Hellhounds before them, even the other level B Hunters hunting down the Hellhounds did have a bit of a problem with it but took a bit longer to put down than Tamaki and Tommy.

Snow couldn't help but pay close attention to the things around her as she knew that the Wendigo was still out there. When the Hellhounds were cleaned out, the cheers rang out as they counted the people who were injured or dead.

So far, only twelve were killed while twenty were injured. The wounded were quickly treated by the Healers, allowing them to be able to get back in to assist.

But just as quickly as peace returned, horrific screams echoed out, chilling everyone to the core. They turned towards the noise and found the Wendigo, dragging a young woman back into the depths of the forest.

They sprung into action, trying to save the woman, but were abruptly stopped by another group of Hellhounds. With a growling snap, they lunged into the Players tearing flesh and breaking bones.

Pain, confusion, and even fear erupted from the Players as they were caught off guard by the sudden attack. A few fell, but most of them were able to get things under control.

Dairen yelled in a hurry, "Low-level Players stay away from the forest edge!"

Many of the Players pulled back after the Hellhounds were in control. But the mind-numbing scream of the female voice suddenly went silent, telling them that she was dead.

"What's going on?!" One of the Players listlessly said, wondering where and how the Wendigo sprung out from nowhere. "Is it invisible?"

People's voices went up an octave as they started to get uncomfortable at what it could mean.

Dairen and Mike ran up to the edge where the forest meets the cliff. He brought out his dark magic that swirled with life, summoning up a small bat-like familiar. Sending it forward, it disappeared into the forest.

"How is it?" Mike gripped his heavy sword, looking in the forest like a predator. "Anything?"

"I just sent. We'll see in a se-"

"What? What is it?" Mike said impatiently.

"She's dead."

"Who? The girl Player?"

"Yea."

Snow rushed over as well. She could smell the stink of magic that the Wendigo had cast as it made her feel a bit wheezy from its stench. Blood dripped all over the floor as it trailed into the forest, leaving behind a frightening scene straight out of a horror movie.

"I don't like this," Mike replied. He was about to walk into the forest but was stopped by Snow. She shook her head at him. "Wha- Snow?"

"We shouldn't go in without a plan. This monster's going to try to pick us off one-by-one."

Mike realized what Snow had meant. "How are you sure?"

Snow replied with confidence, "I forgot about what they specialized in until it disappeared. It's a hunter, not a straight-up fighter. It's known for surprise attacks, and we are falling into its trap by wandering around by ourselves. Let's go back towards the others."

She then turned around towards the group of Players and Hunters, who were waiting for them not too far away, and when they saw her come over, they all swarmed her with questions.

"What's going on? Is the boss monster usually like that?" A cute petite girl spoke out as fear laced her words. "Would the boss monster strike again?"

"Ms. Snow! What happened to the other girl? Can you tell us?" A rough man spoke out, curious at what was going on. "Why haven't we sent out a search party? She's going to die out there alone."

The feverish voices of everyone spoke out in a frenzy until Snow raised her hand to silence them.

"Wendigos are well-known Hunters. It will target out single prey, so it's best to stay close to your designated group. We will work out a plan to lure the Hunter out in due time." Snow knew that there wasn't much time as they didn't bring as many supplies to deal for long campouts. At most, she knew at least two days or less was all the food that they had to kill it.

"I'm sorry to inform you, but the person who was dragged into the forest is dead."

Everyone realized what this meant. People uncomfortably shifted as they murmured amongst each other.

Snow turned around, heading towards the other leaders who were already huddled up conversing, looked up towards her.

Tommy spoke out loudly in frustration. "Why can't I go in? Huh? I can wipe the shit face of a fake deer in one hit." He threw his fist around, showing off his muscles and power. "You don't need some stupid plan with this."

Tamaki raised his hand and placed it on top of Tommy's fist. "You're stupid again. You know how that turns outs whenever we go gung-ho against intelligent creatures."

"That doesn't happen." Tommy sharply denied. "I always win in the end."

"Right, tell that to the last big fight. You were unconscious with a simple throw from a boulder. Honestly, for any normal person, you should be dead."

Tommy turned red, realizing what he meant. He looked away as he was caught red-handed by Tamaki's harsh words.

"Anyways, we got a problem we need to figure out. Why don't we bait and lure?" Tamaki stated, "I can be the bait."

"You think it would work?" Dairen asked.

"No." Tommy replied, "he gives off too strong of an aura, the Wendigo is not going to fall for that trick so easily."

"I'll go." Snow blurted out, "it hasn't fought me yet, and Wendigo's like to hunt females."

"Ms. Snow, that's crazy talk." Tamaki rebutted, "we can have someone else do it."

"No." Snow knew what she needed to do and fast. "I'll be the bait. End of discussion."

The other's didn't retort back, nor try to convince her anymore. They saw the dedication in her eyes and knew that no other words were going to stop her.