45 Hunters
In the dead of the night, a cold wind was blowing, carrying the scent of fresh blood with it. The piercing screams of people, gunfire, and monstrous screams echoed through the night as the city was being ravaged.
"Are they truly the same hunters we know?!" a man screamed as he ran down the streets, his heart pounding in his chest, his breathing ragged and labored.
"Shut up and run!" his friend yelled, his voice strained as he struggled to keep up.
The two men continued to run, their footsteps echoing through the empty streets. They were desperate to escape from something.
"Damn it! Why are they so fast?!" the man cursed, his voice filled with frustration and fear.
"We can't let them catch us! You saw what happened to those people earlier!" his friend replied, his voice trembling.
"I know, but I don't think I can keep running for much longer," the man said, his voice barely above a whisper as he gasped for air.
"We have to try! We can't give up now!" his friend urged, his tone determined.
"You're right. Let's keep goi-" Before the man could finish his sentence, he felt he had walked on something soft as he collapsed to the ground.
He soon discovered that he couldn't run because his legs were sinking into a jelly-like substance.
"W-What the hell is this?!" the man exclaimed, his eyes widening in horror as he frantically tried to free his legs. However, he soon recognized this substance ... It was something his friend could create using his authority...
His friend had used his authority to slow the man down so he could serve as bait.
"You..." the man groaned, his voice barely audible as he lay on the ground, struggling to breathe.
But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't break free. The jelly itself was extremely sticky and adhesive.
He watched as his friend slowly made his escape, gradually disappearing from view until he was no longer visible.
"H-Help... Someone, please help me," the man cried out, his voice filled with desperation as he helplessly struggled against his bindings.
Yet, there was only a deafening silence in response. No one came to his aid...
Instead, three humanoid figures emerged from the shadows.
"No, please... Don't come any closer!" the man pleaded, his voice trembling as he tried to back away from the approaching creatures.
"S-Stay away from me!" the man screamed, his voice filled with terror as the creatures drew closer.
"N-No... Please... I don't want to die," the man sobbed, his voice cracking as tears streamed down his face.
The creatures were now mere inches away from him.
"Stop…" the man whimpered, his voice barely above a whisper as the creatures loomed over him.
"AAAAAAHHHH!!!" The man's screams echoed through the night. One of the creatures had sunk its teeth into the man's shoulder, causing him to bleed profusely. The man's body twitched uncontrollably as the creature continued to feed on him.
The scene was gruesome as another creature joined the feast, sinking its teeth into the man's crotch with a sickening crunch. After a few seconds of constant chewing, the man's left leg, along with a part of his genitals, was ripped from his body.
Despite his feet still being stuck in the jelly-like substance, the creature persisted until it managed to free them, allowing blood to gush out from the wound and stain the ground crimson.
With no other options left, the final creature resorted to biting into the man's torso. In a horrible exhibit, his ribs were crushed as the creature tore into his flesh, greedily devouring a lung and a part of his heart.
The man's last expression was one of utter agony and despair, his eyes wide open and his mouth agape as the creatures slowly consumed him.
As the man's life slowly faded away, the creatures continued to feast on his remains, their hunger seemingly insatiable.
Suddenly, a luminous little orb fell off from the man's forehead.
It was a green sphere with a faint glow.
One of the creatures stopped its feast and observed the orb with a bloody face and some blood vessels still stuck in one of its sharp teeth.
Slowly approaching the sphere that had rolled a few meters away, the creature picked it up with its claws.
Then its instincts took over, and the creature swallowed the sphere with a gulp.
"GULP"
The scene froze for a moment, the creature seemingly caught in a suspended state. But this pause was brief, as with a sudden burst of energy, the creature began to grow rapidly.
Its body started to expand to a size until it reached a towering size of about 3 meters. But its size wasn't the only thing that changed. The creature's skin turned brown with a wood-like texture. Its eyes turned yellow with a black slit. Some leaves even grew on its body, and its claws became more like branches. The creature's appearance was similar to that of a tree, with a branch-like tail.
Amidst its shifting form, a faint glow emanated from within its chest. As the creature's body contorted and transformed, this glow intensified, turning brighter with each passing moment. Its light seemed to pulsate, synchronized with the rhythm of a heartbeat. If someone looked closely, they would notice that the creature was in fact, creating a heart using the devoured authority.
Its body was adapting itself to use this newfound authority.
However, before it could even fully assimilate the authority, it was abruptly interrupted.
"BANG"
A loud gunshot echoed through the night, followed by the sound of a bullet piercing the monster.
The creature was struck in the chest, which tore through its wood-like flesh, leaving a ragged hole. It staggered back and looked down and saw a minuscule hole in the middle of its chest, from which a trickle of blood oozed out. The hole, minuscule as it was, shouldn't have been fatal. Yet, its placement struck directly at the creature's most vital organ: its heart.
The creature could feel its heart beginning to slow down, its life force draining away until its heart totally stopped.
"Crack!"
"Crack!"
Suddenly, its body began to crack as if it were made of glass, and soon, it's giant body shattered like a mirror, leaving only a pile of dust that soon scattered.
It was as if the creature never existed. Not even a trace of the former absorbed authority could be seen.
The other two creatures, who were still busy devouring the man, immediately stopped and turned to their fallen comrade. They looked frenetically around, only to realize their attacker was nowhere to be seen. With a loud screech, the two creatures did something that no one would expect.
Opening their mouth to the maximum, the creatures began to scream to the sky. Their screams were so loud and shrill that they could be heard for miles around.
Their screams were, in fact, a call for help.
And the response was immediate. From all directions, tens of the same creatures swarmed towards the source of the scream.
This was something they were incapable before: communication.
The streets became crowded with these creatures, each exhibiting bizarre and twisted forms. Some appeared almost human but with grotesque animalistic features blended in. Others resembled beasts yet retained traces of humanity in their forms. There were even hybrids, part plant, and part animal, their bodies defying the norms of nature. However, the majority seemed humanoid, their fleshless forms a stark reminder of their inhumanity.
Those with special features were all the result of a "normal" member of the species absorbing an authority.
All of them were searching for their prey. But no matter how they searched, they couldn't find their target.
What they didn't know was that their target was already long gone.
.
.
.
.
Frederick was running at full speed in a dark alley.
He was currently using his authority to enhance his body, allowing him to run faster than ever before.
"I was fortunate to encounter a hunter in the midst of evolution. They're particularly vulnerable during that stage. Their skin would be as soft as jelly."
But the best part is experience they give" Frederick mused to himself as he looked his status. He had to admit that he was pretty lucky.
Earlier, he had observed the man's distressing cry yet chose not to intervene but instead waited for an opportune moment. As soon as he saw the hunter beginning to absorb a lesser authority, Frederick seized the opportunity to shoot the heart of the creature.
Since the hunter's skin and muscles would be extremely soft when evolving, he only had to shoot its heart once. The bullet did not even meet any resistance and went through its body.
Of course, this wasn't the case for a normal hunter. Usually, they were notoriously resilient against bullets, requiring precise shots to their heads to be effective. However, during their evolution, their bodies would briefly become incredibly vulnerable.
Luckily for him, Aake's diary had plenty of information concerning hunters.
Given the fact that it was them that killed her parents, Frederick could even feel the pure hatred even in her writing.
"The first phase is the weakest phase. They have a simple appearance and look like humanoids with sharp teeth and claws. They are the most common type of hunters, and destroying even partially their head would kill them." Aake wrote.
"The second phase is the intermediate phase. After absorbing their first authority and creating a heart, their body will gradually evolve to adapt to the new power. They will develop a new ability related to the eaten authority and gain a slightly stronger body. Their created heart is their biggest weakness."
'As for the third and fourth phases... Well, it's useless to think about it since they won't appear just yet,' thought Frederick as he kept running while using his cloak.
