A violent wind whistled through the woodland north of the mountain range as hundreds of Drakar pursued Aron while hundreds more flew around scattered to prevent him escaping out of a certain radius.
As Aron was zipping past the trees he glanced back and so them in pursuit, struggling to maneuver their large bodies and wings through the sometimes-tight spots between the vegetation.
Because of that setup, he had complete control of the pace of the chase, but that wasn't going to last long.
If they continued to flood in with blockades placed all around the woodland then it would only be a matter of time before he was overcome with numbers.
He needed to either break through the blockade or start to dwindle their numbers, neither of the tasks being easy.
"You won't escape me tulsa!"
An angry roar echoed from behind, causing Aron to come to a stop near a tree and using its large stem to hide.
"I wasn't planning to."
He muttered under his helm as the sound of wings flapping drew nearer.
Aron remained almost motionless and even reduced his breathing rate and heartbeat, making him impossible to detect unless they searched carefully.
Because of that, two unaware Drakar approached the tree Aron was hiding behind without slowing down their speed, thinking he had run much further ahead.
One zipped past and the second was about to do the same when it suddenly felt a sharp pain on its wings.
"Grah!"
Aron had grabbed its wings just as it was zipping by, which at the speed it was traveling caused them to tear up to some extent.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtThe creatures roar alerted the Drakar that flew ahead, but when it quickly looked back, it saw nothing.
It showed an expression of worry and flew back to inspect, more carefully this time. As it was doing so it noticed a scaly figure on the ground, its comrade.
"Dammit! Did you collide with a tree?"
Rather than worry, the creature expressed anger because it could still detect breathing and a heartbeat from the figure, only the wings looked out of place and thus lead to it deducing an accident occurred.
"Hey! Do you not he-huh!"
As the creature got close, it noticed its comrade's head twisted in an odd manner with a frozen facial expression that clearly showed fear.
"What happened…"
The creature still felt that it was a rather brutal accident and since the comrade was still breathing, it attempted to get closer.
This proved to be a fatal mistake because in an instant, the body surged upward, causing the creature to panic and lose focus.
By the time it saw the faded armor and ragged red cloth that where concealed under its comrade, it was too late.
"Arck!!"
Aron had closed the already small distance between the two before driving his open palm through the creature's neck, preventing it from screaming.
This wasn't enough to instantly kill it, it still squirmed and flapped its wings in a desperate attempt to escape, but Aron needed to only swing his hand to the right for its head to completely fly off its body.
The wings seized to flap and blood began to squirt and drizzle out of its neck as it fell to the ground.
Aron proceeded to crouch above it before digging his hand into its chest and opening it up. He reached for the bloodiest organs and tore them out and then rubbed them on his armor.
An unaware Osar hovered far above the forest, barking orders at the pursuing Drakar. Although his pride wouldn't allow for him to admit it, he now considered Aron dangerous and was unwilling to risk being at the forefront.
He instead sent out his people to test out Aron's abilities and tire him out in the process, at that time it wouldn't be too late for Osar to finish him off and claim victory and recognition.
Although the other Drakar weren't smart enough to see what Osar was scheming, Greile who hovered beside him knew and was visibly disgusted, cursing him nonstop in her thoughts for being so cowardly.
"What in high reach is going on!"
Suddenly, Osar's already angered visage became more panicky as he roared out.
"What's the matter?" Concerned about the overall situation, Greile questioned what troubled him.
"It's scent…it grew fainter." Osar spoke with visible worry on his face before turning to some other Drakar hovering above the forest in the distance.
"Aside from those blocking the path of escape, all of you rush in! Now!"
The change in orders confused many but they obliged and flew down, congesting the woodland even more.
With so many Drakar now present in the forest, it didn't take long for a group to discover the two corpses of their fallen comrades.
"The tulsa killed two of our own! It must be near!"
The leading Drakar yelled out and caused some curious ones to flood onto the scene.
No matter how strong headed, the scene they observed caused them to realize Aron was far from the usual tulsa they encountered.
"Their chests and insides were torn out; did it eat them? What kind of tulsa is this." A different Drakar approached the bodies and showed concern while inspecting the horrific wounds.
Having no rivals in the region, the Drakar mostly knew no fear of other races and most had never seen one of their own in such a state.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm"What are these markings…" As it looked closer, it saw strange glowing markings carved into the bones and inner flesh.
Before it could reveal this discovery to the others, Aron who lurked in a shrub not too far acted.
"Invoke."
Boom!~
A loud explosion erupted on the scene, instantly killing or severely injuring the tens of Drakar present.
Torn flesh and broken bone were fired in all directions, creating a bloody mess of that particular area. Aron didn't linger and used the moment of confusion to slip away into another area.
The sound attracted those who weren't present to rush to that location, what they found caused the majority of them to be left speechless.
"What is going on!"
Osar had also heard the explosion and was worried as to what it meant.
"Osar, please come make sense of this!"
No answer came, instead one of the Drakar called out to Osar. Being the leader, he couldn't reject and so he slowly hovered down and reached the scene, only to be left speechless himself.
Loose organs, scattered limbs and pools of blood were common place at that location now. The ordor of blood so thick that it made some of the Drakar light headed just being there.
"What is this? The tulsa did this?"
Osar questioned impatiently, trying his best to mask the nervousness that slowly began to creep in.
The one to answer though wasn't one of his Drakar but Greile.
"I warned you Osar, you're not hunting some meek prey but instead agitating a vicious predator. If you continue this pursuit then be prepared to lose many more of your people."