Escape

Beast Slayer was indifferent to the mental trauma that the two forced labour had endured thanks to his ruthless actions.

And so was Nick.

From afar, Nick was beginning to prepare himself for any situation that might occur. He overheard the information relayed by poor fellow number 1 before he had his throat cut, and so he knew that a battle was imminent.

A murderous glint could be seen in Beast Slayer's and everyone of his group's eyes as they closed in that 1 kilometre gap. Nick honestly couldn't tell whether this murderous aura came from their desire to take down the Radiant Beast, or from the way they were planning to lure it out…

Deep down, he knew it was from the second reason.

The section of forest they reached upon finally closing the 1 kilometre gap was extremely dense, even more so than any forest Nick had seen before.

With the lack of sunlight filtering through from above, it was easier for him to hide his presence. But with advantages, came disadvantages.

Nick could hide much easier, but that meant that anything lurking in these parts could do the exact same.

And there was only one thing that would stick around in the territory of a Radiant Beast, and that was the Radiant Beast itself!

Nick heightened his caution to levels he didn't even know he had in him, preparing to use his Speed Augmentation at a moment's notice if he suspected that things were quickly going sideways for him.

And knowing his previous bouts with luck, he wasn't optimistic that his plan would turn out well for him. 

He could only hope that Beast Slayer and his men encountered and engaged the Radiant Beast before the beast itself found him.

"These are marks left behind by the Mantis. It has to be hiding in this vegetation somewhere! Check the trees! They are known to camouflage themselves in the canopy before launching sneak attacks!" Beast Slayer roared orders left and right for his men to follow, not even bothering to hide his group's presence one bit.

Outwardly, he and the Radiant Slayers were surveying the surroundings for any further signs of the Radiant Mantis beast other than the tracks beneath their feet.

But this was only a farce. Inwardly, Beast Slayer and his cohort were waiting for the Mantis to launch a sneak attack at the two forced labour — since they had done quite the extensive research on their target.

The Radiant Mantis they were hunting was a Leader variant of a more common Mutant class Mantis Beast that occupies the same forest a few hundred kilometres deeper inwards. 

They were known to target the weak prey first — which was why they had prepared these poor fellows as bait ever since setting off from the War Beast Sanctuary.

It was all apart of Beast Slayer's plan to deal with the Radiant Beast flawlessly!

The incident surrounding their friend's death at the hands of Beast Slayer laid a heavy weight on the two poor fellow's minds.

And while they were naive, they weren't completely stupid. They could see what was happening all around them with the Radiant Slayers distancing themselves from the two of them.

"Fuck this!"

Poor fellow #2, the unfortunate one who'd pissed down his leg a few minutes prior, felt desperation take over and started darting in one of the few openings the Radiant Slayers left in their formation.

Seeing his friend starting to take action, poor fellow #3 followed behind him, not wanting to be left behind to act as cannon fodder for Beast Slayer's goals.

"Fuck you! I hope you rot in hell!" He didn't forget to send curses in Beast Slayer's direction while running though.

The man had caused hell for them the entire journey over, and seeing their friend be killed by him made them realise that they likely wouldn't be returning from this expedition alive.

Seeing how they were being set up to be bait was the final nail in the coffin for the two of them.

Unfortunately for the two of them though, this was exactly what Beast Slayer had been expecting from the very beginning.

There was no way they'd hinge all their plans on the two poor fellow's cooperation — that was just plain stupid.

If someone were looking at their formation from the outside in, just like Nick was at the moment, they would notice one huge flaw.

The one gap that had been left in their formation? If the Radiant Mantis beast attacked, it could use this flaw to take at least two of the Radiant Slayer's lives before the battle even began.

But Nick knew this wouldn't happen.

Due to one key reason.

All one had to do was observe just why that gap existed.

Looking at the ground that separated the two Radiant Slayer members, creating this obvious flaw, Nick sneered inwardly.

'Sly bastards...'

More tracks of the Radiant Mantis were there, which were deliberately hidden from the sight of the two poor fellows upon their discovery.

Tracks which coincidentally led away from them in the direction the two desperate Altered were running in…

Slash!

Just like Nick had been expecting, a shadow suddenly darted down onto the two, now wailing, poor fellows from above.

Barely even a moment passed before the two of them had their bodies bisected down the middle, pouring their innards out and feeling their lives drain away in mere seconds.

"It's been drawn out! Begin the assault!" Beast Slayer shouted with glee at the 10 Radiant Slayers surrounding him.

They were completely uncaring about the two deaths they had just indirectly caused.

Like this was just another tuesday for them.

Nick knew, that was exactly what it was.

In fact, even he wasn't that averse to seeing people die anymore. His first month in the Beast Domain had been… rather traumatic, to say the least.

He'd became numb to seeing death after he witnessed the 10th newbie Altered die to a weak Mundane beast.