Imagine being in an unknown city, not knowing anyone personally, and being aware that you have a bounty on your head, all while harboring a deadly gene within your body. To make matters worse, you’re just sitting and minding your own business when suddenly you see men and women dressed strangely, slowly closing in on you.
This was exactly what Ace was going through. The young blood mutant, who was trying to get some sleep, found himself in the presence of Hunters and Huntresses slowly closing in on him. Despite their attempts to remain inconspicuous, Ace and anyone with a sane mind could clearly tell that these people were after him, approaching him as if he were some fast-running animal.
[Three Quests Available]
[Quest Available: Sooner or later, you’re bound to be captured by either humans or the Granians. Escape or defeat the Hunters, find your sister, and save your female friend all at once to receive three instant level-ups and a bonus skill]
[Rewards will not be given if any of the three quests are not completed.]
[Progress: 0%] ʀᴇᴀᴅ ʟᴀᴛᴇsᴛ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀᴛ 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭•𝔣𝔦𝔯𝔢•𝓷𝓮𝓽
Ace’s body was suddenly flooded with adrenaline as he saw about twenty hunters slowly approaching him. Each one of them had a greedy lust in their eyes as they inched closer to the boy.
"Let’s get this over with."
Ace calmly and quietly got up from where he was sitting and moved deeper into the crowd. Since they were in an underground subway, there was plenty of room for him to get lost among the crowd. The tunnel had three sections: Section A, B, and C, and Ace was currently in the middle of Section B. Cherry, Chris, and Sky were in Section A, but he didn’t know that. Right now, his goal was to lose himself in the crowd.
"Target’s moving further into the crowd," the Hunters communicated with each other through security earpieces. "Be vigilant. He could get lost."
For the first time since he got the blood mutant gene, Ace was glad that he had a skill that didn’t require him to expend energy he didn’t have: his super hearing. Though not perfected yet, Ace was able to hear what the Hunters were telling each other. With this advantage, he was able to evade them for a short while.
"We’re losing him. Anyone have visuals on him?"
"He’s making an intersection into Section A. We can corner him from there. No one’s there at this time."
"Perfect." Ace began to run so he could get there before the Hunters did. Upon reaching the intersection, he discovered that it was filled with useless, old subway trains that had been decommissioned a long time ago. The place was dimly lit, with only a few lights flickering on and off, making it the perfect place to ambush the Hunters and feed.
"How I wish I could record this," Ace chimed. "This is a perfect place to capture a blood horror scene."
"Come on, we can’t let him escape," the Hunter who had yelled at Ace earlier commanded as he and a few others rushed to the intersection between Section A and B. As soon as they arrived, they were met by Hunters from Section B.
"How should we know? You guys were the ones at the other end. You should have seen him and blocked his path."
"Tch. Come on, he couldn’t have gone anywhere. If you didn’t see him, he must be in the train cars. Spread out and block the exits." As soon as the command was given, the Hunters split into groups of three and spread out.
With the addition of the Hunters from Section B among those from Section A, there were now a total of thirty men and women, separated into ten groups of three.
The intersection had five rows of railway lines with over twenty old subway cars lined up next to each other. The long intersection meant they had about ten meters of subway cars to check and find Ace, who was currently on top of the dirt ceiling, looking down at three men who were aimlessly searching through the subway cars. With their weapons in one hand and flashlights in the other, they searched tirelessly until they got bored and decided to move somewhere else.
"The kid’s not here," one said to the other two. "Why are we even looking for him?"
"Because he’s the kid with a massive bounty on his head."
"Oh, really," he sarcastically replied. "Do we know how much money is on his head? Who set the bounty? I didn’t see the aliens specify a price."
"Look," the third one barked. "If we find the kid, we hand him over to the aliens and they leave, got it? That’s the only reason they’re still here."
"How do you know that?" the second argued. "What if they’re planning something to harm us?"
"If they wanted to..."
"THEY WOULD HAVE DONE IT ALREADY." With his hands, legs, and head partially transformed and his chest shielded by a blood chest plate, Ace dropped from the ceiling and attacked by slicing the first man’s throat, killing him instantly. Being a blood mutant, a creature that survived entirely on blood, Ace became completely desensitized to killing that he was before. It somehow felt like second nature to him.
Before the body hit the ground, Ace drained as much blood as possible and wrapped it around the mouths of the other two to silence them. He used some of the blood to erase his tracks while the rest solidified into blood spikes that hovered over his head. The two remaining Hunters managed to free themselves by slashing at the blood restraints. The second Hunter wielded two rapiers, while the third wielded two large maces.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS THING?"
"DOESN’T MATTER. KILL IT."
The one with the maces thrust them forward and landed a blow on Ace’s chest plate, breaking it instantly. Although the chest plate was weak, it still absorbed most of the force from the hit and saved Ace from being injured.
The mace-wielding Hunter went in for another strike, but Ace counter-attacked by shooting the blood spikes that hovered over his head, aiming for their eyes. Blinded and injured, the Hunters fell to the ground and were about to scream in pain. However, Ace quickly formed a blood scythe blade and decapitated them with some struggle, since his power level wasn’t that high.