20 City of Ravens 6 (1/2)

Going deeper into the hunting ground was a new experience for me. The trees were a lot bigger, extremely lush flora covered every centimeter of space here. It looked beautiful, but as people say, the more beautiful something is, the more dangerous it is.

There were monsters almost everywhere, no matter which direction you will bump into one. Avoiding them was a hustle, but it was worth it. Preserving strength for when it is needed is the most critical part of survival if I get tired and attacked by a stronger monster… it would mean death.

Since I was far enough in the hunting grounds, I started to look for tracks of an Orthrus. It is a predator, hunting by itself with the strength to kill most monsters in the area. There are very few predators that can threaten it in the area; thus it shouldn't hide.

From what I learned it likes to stay close to water, and so my first target w became nearby streams and lakes. With hasty steps I arrived at a small stream, twisting like a snake it stretched beyond the horizon.

While I was looking for the large footprints, I saw many monsters come and go form the stream, all only staying for a little while not daring to remain for too long. I spent an hour watching them, and the results were good.

I found a spot that most monsters were avoiding like fire. On the opposite side of the river, there was a large area hidden with bushes that were taller than me. I climbed up the tree and while hiding in the treetops made my way across the stream and into the area above the covered space.

What I saw there was bone-chilling, body parts littered around the ground, most were partially eaten and rotting, the rest was only bones of different sizes. But Orthrus was not anywhere in sight, that could mean to things, it is either hunting or the place was abounded.

I examined the bodies closer trying to find how old they could be but knowing nothing about how monster decompose didn't help. Making sure not to disturb any of the remains I instead tried to look for the freshest one.

And somewhere in the middle, I found a partial corpse of some monster, I couldn't identify what monster it was, but the blood was still liquid and seemed fresh. I could only guess, but it most likely died yesterday.

If that was the case, then I could stake out here and sooner or later it would show up here. Ambush it. Space here was a little bigger than a small house, the treetops create a roof with thick bushes making the walls.

If I wanted to ambush it, the best choice would be from the top. I climbed up the tree and found a place where the leaves were thick, and the branch could support my weight. Positioning my body so that I could jump down at any time and start my attack.

I waited.

Time went by as I waited, my muscles became stiff long ago and were gradually becoming soar. It was almost two hours since I started waiting, and finally, did Orthrus showed up. The two heads were dragging a body, mutilated and in no state to recognize what species it was precisely.

The two heads were eating, sometimes it looked like they were fighting with each other. It was now eating not too far away from the spot I can reach by jumping down. I waited and observed it. The massive build of Orthrus looked intimidating, the two heads, grey fur, long and sharp fangs. It was a killing machine.

One of the heads stopped eating and started to look around, its nose wrinkled as it inhaled the air. After it found nothing, it growled at the other head and got back to eating. It must've smelled the remains of my scent, but as it was not able to find me, it gave up and got back to eating.

When it was finished, there was not much left of the body. It dragged what was left towards a far corner and started walking to the outside. It's path directly under me. It was my chance!

I readied my soul essence and tensed my body. When it was directly under me, I let go of the branch and started falling towards one of the heads. In mid-air, my soul image manifested, with my arms ready to grab it…

'Oooooooooooooooowhoo!!'

One of the heads howled, the other one, the one I was aiming for looked straight at me, its eyes filled with wickedness. It opened its mouth ready to bite me.

I couldn't help but to panic. I hurriedly twisted my body to avoid the sharp fangs, and by the width of a hair, I missed the fate of getting caught by the powerful jaw.

The moment I touched the ground my mind was jolted, my muscles sprung into action and pushed me towards the Orthrus's underbelly. I grabbed it and pushed up with all my strength. The hind legs are always the most powerful, felling them smashing into my chest as the Orthrus struggled to get me to let go of him.

The sharp claws scratching on my chest were getting dangerously close to breaking my soul image, I tensed and threw the body up, it was lifted only a dozen centimeters off the ground, and it stayed there for just a second, but it was enough for me!