The chase

Danton ran at the front of the rogues, following the footsteps that walked out of the inner city. With how bright they looked compared to the trails of other Soulblessed, he knew he was following the Undying.

He didn't know how he learned about Jabber's plans and escape, but luckily enough, a soulless saw him walking out the inner town. It was great trouble ordering the soulless to stay watch every day without letting the mayor know, but thankfully, the old woman was busy convening with other governors to discuss all the Undying popping out everywhere.

"Useless fucker, hurry!" Jabber was cursing behind him.

The man knew that a rogue couldn't use any other skill when the tracking skill was active. He was just bitching like he always did. Danton would've loved to run with his Strengthening active, but for now, they needed to bear with his base 7 agility stat.

He quickly walked through the houses of the soulless, that the Undying must've visited, and finally he saw the trail leading outside the town. He then heard the horn of the gate guards.

"An attack from a monster?" one of the rogues asked.

"But the guards don't look any startled," Danton replied. "They're not even on the walls, they're looking at us."

"It must be due to the Undying's orders! Ignore them and follow the trail. He must be close by!"

Danton did as ordered and ran forward. But just when he reached the gate, pain assaulted his mind, and he tumbled over. He looked down and saw a spear lodged in his leg. As he struggled to understand what was happening, he felt something splash against his cheeks. The smell was all too familiar with him. Blood. But not his.

"The fuck are you doing?" Jabber was shouting as he lifted one of the guards by his neck. The other lay dead next to Danton.

"Can't…" the guard in Jabber's hand managed to say.

'A Soulless could attack a Hunter under the orders of an Undying…?' Danton couldn't believe it.

Something like being ambushed by a Soulless was not something he would ever expect.

Danton canceled his tracking skill, pulled out the spear, and used Rejuvenation. Euphoria filled his mind as he felt his wound close up. Half of his spirit was used up, but that was the least of his problems.

"Stop, you fuckhead!" Jabber suddenly picked him up. "You were supposed to follow the trail!"

Danton knew he wouldn't be able to follow the same trail after canceling the skill, but how was he supposed to do that with a ruptured leg? And the worst part was, he couldn't even complain.

"Master, you must follow the trail," he said feebly. "Once you catch it, it's impossible to miss."

As his teacher, of course, Jabber knew tracking skills. The other rogues focused on different things, but there was definitely a spare tracker.

"Impossible to miss, he fucking says," Jabber grumbled but started searching for something the Undying touched. "You," he said to the one soulless guard who was left alive. "Tell me what he touched."

"I cannot defy the orders of the Undying," the man replied emotionlessly.

Jabber threw the man down and turned to the onlookers.

"Any of the Soulless here! Where did the Undying go?"

"The forest," one replied.

"He walked out of that house," another said. "He went in with one pair of clothes and walked out with another."

The group quickly found the old clothes. Arnold, the soulless hunter, had hung them at the highest spot in their house. It was placed even higher than the Crescent of the All-seeing.

Danton felt wrong, seeing the reverence. But the soulless were the soulless, there was no blaming them.

They quickly grabbed hold of the Undying's clothing and resumed tracking. Jabber's agility was much higher than Danton's so with the rest using Strengthening, they could move much faster.

In only a minute, they arrived at the entrance of the forest and started following the path. In the next minute, they found the trails heading right near a large broken boulder. They hurried on.

On the path, they found some bear traps scattered randomly, but of course, with everyone being a rogue, no one was caught. Danton suddenly felt a chill. His spirit sense picked up something and his just now ruptured leg tingled.

He instinctively ducked, and felt something fly over his head at incredible speeds. He was being targeted by Sybil's spell. There was no mercy between Hunters, no matter their history. Danton wanted to explain his circumstances, but a gory squelch behind him told him how futile that was.

'Now, she's an enemy...' he thought with resolve.

An assassin-type rogue was hit in the face with a small rock. There was no saving him. The other rogues stood in daze for a brief moment, but Danton knew that was suicide. He wanted to shout at them to be careful of more, but Jabber's shout came first.

"Rush her! She's behind that tree! Victory is ours if we just reach her! No mercy!"

Another stone was flying at them. It was aimed at Danton once again. He barely managed to jump out of its way with his Strengthened legs and hid behind a tree.

'Why me?' he complained, but realized Sybil was trying to stop him from tracking the Undying. 'Now that she saw me using a skill, she should change targets.'

"Master!" he yelled. "You're the next target! She has thirty more shots of the same power!"

Sure enough, a stone flew at Jabber's head. The man's base agility was high, but it could not be fast enough to dodge Sybil's shots. Perhaps he could've managed if it was another Manipulator, but Sybil was different. Her skill had a somewhat limited set of options, but they were all deadly powerful.

But Jabber did not cancel his Tracking skill. He picked the dead rogue and used his body as a shield. At the same time, the other two rogues rushed to Sybil's location. They both knew Quickening, so they could dodge the shots as long as they were careful.

Sybil shot twice at the enemies, but they both missed. Two glinting blades approached her at incredible speed. But just before they could reach her, with a powerful burst of spirit, Sybil launched herself towards the air. She flew for a while before disappearing beyond the trees. With her skills relating to gravity, she could jump ridiculous distances if she pushed herself off the ground.