Chapter 12: Take Fight

Peace could feel something wet dripping into his vertical slit pupils, blurring his vision.

’Blood...?’

It was his own blood.

Under the blanket of dead, black leaves, Peace slithered around and tore branches apart, freeing his trapped leg.

As Peace flailed around, driven by pain and animus, he forced his monstrous body to cooperate, digging his heels into the ground until he eventually found his footing and stood.

"Yup, it’s alive in there..."

Peace knew he stood no chance of fighting. He also knew he stood no chance of remaining hidden. Archers tended to have tracking Resonances... even if this one didn’t, one of the people out there definitely did.

These hunters were at least Tier 4 or 3. They could kill Peace with a flick of a finger, quite literally, if they had the right Resonances.

So, while silence was usually golden for the weak, now that he’d already been spotted, there was only one thing Peace had left to utilize... his mind.

While Peace was fast, that was only relative to another Tier 9 monster or human. There were definitely instances where he’d be more agile than those Tiered higher than him, like if someone had specced into all tank Resonances, but most at Tier 7 and higher had at least one movement Resonance that Peace had no means of dealing with right now.

Thankfully, his legs were in fairly good shape, even the one that had been crushed. So he was still a tiny speedster.

"Don’t let it escape... Saxon, Belona, watch that area."

’Use your left and rights! How am I supposed to know what you mean when I can’t see you?!’

In any case, he did possess something beasts didn’t: human-level intelligence.

While some beasts were smart, none were capable of fully replicating human genius — the humanoid races; well, except giants, they had a literal mind debuff.

But that was beside the point.

What mattered was that those waiting around the fallen tree would underestimate Peace’s intelligence and capabilities. Even when taking reasonable precautions when dealing with any creature in the Corrupted Lands, there were boundaries to what people would expect.

Thankfully, Peace wasn’t constrained by the small brain of a beast. He retained his intelligence...

Or at least he thought he did.

The leader, sounding like a man, barked once again:

"Prest, Melania, watch there. I’ll cover here."

Peace had been spun around and left disoriented when the tree collapsed on him, but he still had enough sense to know that whatever report was made about him probably included the fact that he reacted to words...

Adding that to the fact that the direction he heard the voice from seemed different from the direction the arrow came from, he made a gamble.

Peace drilled his hind legs into the ground, then shot through the branches, making a beeline toward the voice.

He had no grounds or evidence to prove his guess right, but he didn’t need any of that. What he needed was trust in his intuition and maybe some luck.

Peace continued to weave through the branches and vaulted over the fallen trunk, eventually diving out the other side and back into the black and grey world.

Peace let out a toothy grin.

’Knew it...’

Nobody was there to greet him.

The leader spoke again:

"Huh?"

Despite there being nothing in front of him, Peace heard the voice as though the man were standing right there.

It was the passive trait of the Tier 4 Australite, which inverted an enemy target’s auditory sense. It was an insidious ability, but it had many drawbacks, as, unless consciously suppressed, it affected everyone who wasn’t in the same party...

’How do parties work here?’

Another question that Peace didn’t have time to contemplate.

Peace struck the ground with all his meager might, launching himself forward through the forest, jumping over exposed roots and crushing the brittle black leaves.

’I can’t let whoever has it see me and use the active!’

Unfortunately, it didn’t take long for his pursuers to realize he’d escaped. Or, rather, they’d already realized before he’d even gotten out from under the fallen tree, and now they were closing in on him.

A woman shouted:

"I see it!"

The shout came from close in front of him, followed by the steady crunching of leaves.

Peace zigged and zagged, trying his best to break the line of sight, but he could faintly hear the crunching of the brittle leaves in front of him growing further and further away...

Which meant something was approaching him from behind faster than he could run.

The leader shouted:

"Mel!" 𝑓𝑟ℯℴ𝓂

Peace didn’t want to know what he was signaling, but he especially didn’t want to find out.

Diving to the right, Peace latched onto a tree and climbed at frightening speed, then continued his flight through the branches, jumping from bough to bough.

His goal with this maneuver wasn’t evasion... it was the hope of finding another beast that could stand up to the freaks of nature chasing him. Or at least distract them long enough.

A weird wave of energy flowed through the area and caressed Peace’s small body.

’What was that?!’

In the next moment, an arrow sailed into the branch Peace had just jumped from.

A man’s soft voice spilled into the sky above Peace, still a little far in front of him.

"Damn, I missed."

"At least you controlled the power this time, Deacon."

Peace soon realized what had just happened.

The person named Mel had used a tracking Resonance on him, and the archer had fired using it.

Peace knew this experienced archer wouldn’t miss a third time in a row. In fact, if they weren’t trying to capture him alive, Peace was sure the second shot would have been his doom. Still, it didn’t matter whether the archer missed or hit his next shot; there was someone eerily close behind him...

Peace’s eye’s dilated.

’Ah, there you are...’

A toothy grin spread across his monstrous face.

’My salvation.’