Boom!
A figure was seen careening through the woods before bumping into a giant tree. Kigen coughed up a mouthful of blood after the impact. However, before he had time to catch his breath, he saw the prey he had come to hunt charging at him once more.
It was huge. Its thick muscles and powerful looking hide accentuating its power. The huge bison had huge horns aimed at Kigen.
With barely a split second to waste, Kigen scrambled to get on his feet as fast as he could. He knew he could not take another blow from the fiend.
Just as the horns were about to slam into him, Kigen managed to jump over the bull and onto a branch more than ten feet up in the air.
Ordinary people could barely jump three feet in the air, yet Kigen had just jumped almost twice his height. This showed the man's powerful ability. He too was not someone to mess with.
Boom!
The giant bison slammed onto the tree trunk, tearing down the poor tree with sheer power. However, the beast did not look so well, as it appeared to be disoriented.
Kigen, who had finally managed to catch a breath, saw an opening. Dexterously moving his hands, he pulled out his bow and an arrow. Given that he was a seasoned hunter, it only took him a few short breaths to aim the arrow.
Fwoop!
Suddenly letting the arrow lose, he watched as it bolted towards the enemy with deadly precision. However, the next moment, his facial expression changed. He could not believe it.
He had been pressed for time, so he did not take time to aim at the soft areas such as the eyes. He had aimed at the beast's backside, hoping to wound it. Much to his shock, the arrow had just harmlessly bounced off the beast, not even leaving a dent on the hide.
However, this sobered the beast up, bringing its senses back, and its rage. Looking at it, Kigen was horrified by the murderous look in its eyes. It too was looking back at him. Their eyes had locked. In that moment, it was unclear who was the hunter and who was being hunted.
It then brought its head low, while its front foot started digging in the dirt. No doubt, it was preparing one of its deadly charges. Kigen continued to observe it, hoping to spot some weakness or other.
The beast had turned out to be more powerful than he anticipated. He had thought that this would be an easy kill for him. A chance to rake in some glory, and perhaps finally get her attention.
Down below, the beast began another charge, bringing Kigen away from his senseless thoughts. Seeing this, Kigen braced himself. He wanted to see just how powerful these charges were.
Boom!
The tree Kigen had been standing on was rather huge. Its tree trunk was more than a meter in diameter. Yet, the charge from the beast had been so powerful that more than a half of the tree trunk was missing.
The impact had been so powerful that the tree was beginning to give way, slowly coming down. On its branch, Kigen was not doing too well either. The impact had resulted in violent shaking of the tree, which had almost sent him tumbling down.
It had taken all his strength to remain on the branch, and now the tree was coming down.
Argh! With a shout, Kigen managed to leap once more, heading towards another branch on another tree. He was in a forest, so he was not lacking in trees.
Down below, the bison seemed to have felt the impact too, since it remained disoriented for several minutes before regaining its focus once more. It did not take long to find its target, who was perched in yet another tree.
This time, it did not waste time digging in the ground. It simply charged.
On the branch, Kigen was prepared. He quickly leapt once more, finding another branch in another tree. The tree he had been on was more vulnerable than the previous tree. The powerful horns on its attacker instantly shredded the tree's trunk.
Looking over at the fallen tree, Kigen shuddered. Had he been a split second late, he would not have escaped the tree's fate.
Looking at the bison, it seemed disoriented once more. Kigen began wondering what it's level of intelligence was.
Since its primary weapon was the horns, which were attached to the head, its every attack, especially on tree trunks, dealt damage to the beast. How come the beast did not realize this? This also led to him wondering, if it could take this much punishment and still remain standing, how was going to bring it down?
Jump! Boom! Slam! Quickly, the scene replayed itself over and over again. Kigen leaping out of a tree, the beast slamming the tree's trunk, and the poor tree tumbling down.
The two were a menace to the forest. Their dust up had already kicked up a cloud of dust and caused trees to come apart.
Snap!
As the beast had just slammed into a trunk, a huge, suspended tree trunk which was laden with spikes fell suddenly from a hidden location. It had ropes that swung the trunk right into the beast's body, severely impaling the beast on its side.
This had been one of Kigen's traps that he had laid earlier. Despite being a newbie hunter, especially of these enhanced beasts, Kigen knew he should not engage them directly, which was why he had prepared some traps in advance.
He had intended to act as bait. For the most part, things had turned out as he intended, save for a few scrapes and the big wound on his chest.
The beast, while charging, had stepped on a hidden trip wire which activated the trap. While the attack was successful, it did not do as much damage as Kigen had anticipated. The beast was still standing, albeit spotting a gashing wound on its side.
Seeing the beast almost shrug the attack, Kigen was at a loss. This was by far the most destructive attack he had prepared.
With no option, he quickly jumped onto another branch, anticipating one of those deadly charges from the beast.
However, something changed. The beast did not mindless attack as it had before. This time, it took time to look at Kigen, who was also looking back at it. The next moment, it started to pee.
As he watched, the beast seemed to pee on its bushy tail. The tail was slightly short, but the tip was just bushy enough. Kigen did not understand what it was trying to do, maybe it just really just had to go.
However, Kigen's thoughts were proven wrong. The bison swung its powerful tail, throwing some of its pee in the air.
"You can perform ranged attacks as well?" Kigen did not even have time to awe at the beast's accuracy as he hurriedly scrambled to get out of the beast's attack range.
Unfortunately, he had been a tard too late. Some of the urine landed on his skin. Rather than pain, which Kigen had anticipated, what he felt was a sudden and deep itch. He quickly started scratching himself, but the itch would not go away.
Realizing how potent the attack was, he quickly pulled out an ointment and applied on his skin. He had prepared himself adequately, and the damage inflicted was minimal.
He quickly realized that he could not see the bison. Looking around, he found it directly under him. He had been so distracted treating his wounds he had not seen it making its approach until it was too close. Worst still, it was peeing on its tail.
Nope, he was not going to take another hit of this. More than just the itch, the pee was disgusting and stunk.
He quickly leapt to another tree, intending to guide the beast to another prepared trap. Their cat and mouse game continued on, only this time, the bull was hurling its pee instead of bringing down trees.
Occasionally, the beast found its mark, which led to Kigen repeatedly slowing down to scratch and apply ointment on his skin. In the back of his mind, he couldn't help wondering how much pee the beast had stored. Shouldn't it be running out by now?
Before Kigen could find out, the bison accidentally stepped onto one of his traps. This time, it was pit he had dug. Worse still, he had planted some spikes for further damage.
The beast let out a painful howl once it fell into the pit. However, the beast suddenly leapt out of the pit. This time, it had taken significant damage. Its lower body and powerful hind legs had been stabbed through by the spikes, and it could barely stand.
As it took a step, it buckled under the weight of its body, falling down. Despite its heavy injuries, Kigen knew better than to approach it. He quickly pulled out an arrow and aimed.
This time, he did not aim at the back, which had proven to be impenetrable by his arrows. Rather, he aimed at the bison's eyes.
Small, and heavily concealed by the huge fur on its face, the eyes were proving a difficult target. Hitting such a small target was an odious task, but Kigen was going to attempt it.
Fortunately, Kigen was no ordinary hunter. Firstly, he was a sharpshooter in his own right, capable of finding his target accurately and from distance. Secondly, he had mustered the wind-element, which he used to guide his arrows mid-flight.
Such a feat was easy to describe, but nigh impossible to achieve. He had fired countless arrows and spent God knows how much time practicing just to achieve this level of proficiency. With these two, he let the arrow lose.