"What?" Jade demanded.
The Headless gestured. "There’s a tracking talisman on him. It’s so faint I didn’t detect it on time. Quick! We have to get it off him, and prepare yourself. We might get under attack!"
Jade froze and then turned to Severin. "We searched him already but..."
Severin interrupted him. "You seem really useful, Jade. Don’t die."
"What?"
Just then, something happened.
Thud.
A loud clacking sound came from outside, and a weight settled on the carriage.
Everyone looked up, even Severin’s eyes turned upward.
There was a small pause where everything seemed to slow down, but then a loud screech filled the air, and something tore through the roof and hit the Headless so hard he was sent ramming through the front of the carriage and out.
The next instant, the carriage jolted, and then it went crashing. Severin heard screaming, and his body flopped around in a weird way that was out of his control, his eyes a whirlwind.
And then silence.
He heard cursing and groans beneath him.
Someone moved him around in the wreckage of the carriage and pushed him out. He hit the ground face down with a thud.
Jade crawled out a moment later, a glowing bow in hand. "What the fuck is happening!"
He looked at their surroundings. They were in a rocky forest, surrounded by tall mountains on the right and thick forest on the left.
The horses that were pulling the carriage were dead, and so was the man driving it. The Headless Knight had smashed through them like a bullet.
None of the warriors were dead though, and they pulled themselves free from the wreckage of the twisted carriage. They surrounded Severin and held weapons.
"Enemy attack. We have secured the package though!" one of them shouted.
Jade looked at the way the Headless Knight was sent to, far into the woods. He’d smashed through trees on his way.
His hand tightened on his bow. Just what type of attack hit him?
A glowing arrow appeared on his bow, and he shot it into the forest without hesitation. It was only then that he breathed more easily.
"We have to get out of here. We are in the open. You, carry the package while the rest cover them!" Jade shouted.
One of them bent down to lift Severin, but at that moment, two hands came from the ground, gripped the warrior’s legs, and just as he reacted, shouted, he was dragged into the ground without leaving a ripple.
It was so fast and sudden that the rest could only watch helplessly in stunned horror.
What the fuck?
"What the actual fuck!" Jade shouted. As a hunter, what he hated most in his life was getting hunted. It felt wrong. He was the one that should be doing the hunting, never the other way around.
He turned to Severin, keeping his eyes on his surroundings and the ground at the same time. "Who’s that? Who did you call here, Severin! What’s going on!"
Thud!
The next moment, a body suddenly fell from the sky. A headless body with the head.
It was the warrior’s body from earlier, his blood creating a puddle on the ground. His body still shook a little. He was just recently killed.
They whipped their heads up, but there was no one there.
Jade turned his bow on Severin, an Etherion arrow already there. "Tell me now, Severin, or I’ll shoot you."
Severin’s voice was amused. "Shoot me? Have you forgotten your mission?"
"It’s to deliver you," Jade pulled the arrow hard and positioned it on his left knee. "I wasn’t instructed on the particulars. Just to get you there still breathing."
Severin paused. "A shame. See, another one of you guys is gone."
It was the truth. When Jade looked around, he saw a new body erupted from the ground without a head. It had happened so fast and swift that the warrior didn’t even have the time to scream.
Without hesitation, Jade released his arrow, and it hit Severin on his right knee.
Crack!
Bones shattered.
And Jade waited for the scream.
He waited.
But it didn’t come.
What came was Severin’s cold snort.
And beneath him, a pool of blood started to gather, but it wasn’t red and it didn’t smell like blood. It was black and didn’t have any smell.
Jade felt a chill.
Severin’s voice echoed in the air. "I told you. I’m not the real Severin."
Just then, they felt something flash and reacted, but it was simply too late. A bolt of purple energy slammed into one of the warriors on his lower back.
Bam! Crack!
His spine shattered together with his skull, and his upper back broke, flesh shredding like cheese. Blood sprayed into the air with internal organs.
Jade turned around, his expression frigid with fear and pain. Just what type of hunter was hurting them?
Something splattered on his neck.
Something warm and thick that slid down his neck and into his clothes. He turned around rigidly and was met with only one remaining standing warrior with him.
It wasn’t even up to one minute, and they were all dead.
The remaining warrior that was standing close to Jade trembled so hard that his teeth knocked together.
This time, Jade saw it happen. The air behind the man quivered, and a faint purple line appeared. He saw a person dart out half of their body.
A portal?
A hand raised. A hand that gripped some kind of purple energy in the shape of a sword.
Jade raised his bow to fire, but he knew he would simply be too late.
Fortunately, a shadow of great bulk appeared and sent a punch at the purple energy assassin, who darted into their portal just in time as the punch that snapped like thunder passed through empty air.
The Headless had arrived.
Jade released a breath.
The Headless didn’t seem hurt. Even his armor didn’t have a single scratch and he surveyed their surroundings. He saw the bodies and blood, then bent down. "The package is secure."
Just then, they heard a voice. "Is that so?"