Kaito and Dante move quickly tailing the people who took the girl. Careful not to let them be aware they're following.
With the people who took her they made sure to tie her up well, to prevent her from going anywhere.
"Come on Reyes, Luci, FRED!" The trickster pleads. "I said I'd pay you back!" The trickster yells.
Reyes laughs. "Yeah right, you said that the other fifty times!" He barks back.
The trickster snarls. "Rell will mess you up If you hurt me, so I advise you let go of me!" She demands. Her arms becoming sore from the ropes.
They all begin laughing at her. "He won't come out here for you, and you know it!" Reyes taunts, "yeah face it kid, no one would save a lil bit like you!" Fred also taunts there words stinging a bit.
"No ones ever going out of their way to save someone like you, lucky for us that's perfect!" Reyes happily says. Luci folds her arms agreeing. "What we need to hunt this monster is live bait, this things a sniper with a bow." Luci explains.
"It sits waiting for someone to enter it's line of sights and then WHAM, snatches your head clean off, did it to my buddy Leroy!" Fred says before he pours out a bottle for good ol Leroy.
The trickster begins panicking. "Live bait!?" She squirms in a fruitless attempt to escape her bonds. "I was only trying to help!" She shouts.
Reyes snickers. "Well you ran out of time." He coldly says.
The trickster then snarls. "Do you have any idea how hard it is getting that kind of cash when you're all alone!?" She questions, her desperation evident with every word.
Luci laughs at her. "Should've asked your guild to help." She responds. "Any of the two hundred she's been in." Reyes says and they all laugh at her again, her mood souring.
Kaito and Dante lingering nearby hear all of this. "Did you hear that? A sniper beast?!" Dante speaks in hushed shouting. He hurriedly scrolls through his bestiary. He swipes through a few pages then finds it. "They call it the hunter, it's a PHANTASMAL TIER, there's no way we can beat that Kaito!" Dante shouts.
Kaito shakes his head, never taking his eyes off of the girl. "We don't have to beat it, we just have to get the girl away from those people." Kaito explains with a smirk and a thumbs up. Dante shivers. "I think we're heavily underestimating this." Dante says.
Kaito nods in agreement he knows far too well underestimating a strong monster. "I don't have any other ideas." Kaito says, clearly unsure. Dante sits back in the tree and takes a deep breath. "Me neither Kaito." Dante says accepting they have no other options.
The forest becomes more and more dense as they continue further. The light from the sun becoming harder to see through the thick foliage.
"This is where we encountered it last time." Fred speaks in hushed whispers. They slow down and stop. "Alright get her ready." Reyes instructs.
The trickster begins squirming as they undo her bindings. "Don't even think about using you Illusions and disappear, do that and next time we get you we'll gut you!" Luci threatens her.
"Don't use me as bait please PLEASE!" The trickster whines.
They toss her out into a clearing in the trees. THUNK. An arrows with shocking speed scrapes her face as she barely manages to dodge it. Reyes laughs. "Knew she'd be quick enough to dodge it." He says as they begin looking around for where the arrows came from.
Another arrows comes flying towards her. The trickster again dodges it. The arrow rips through the air with such force it leaves shockwaves thundering through the air.
"Come on where are you?" Fred questions. As they scope the area for the beast.
"Why is this stuff always happening to me?!" The trickster panics as she runs away from the arrows. Another arrow shot where she was running ends up right in front of her. She barely had managed to jump back out of the way.
Kaito notices how fast her reaction time is. Dante watching close looking for an opportunity to grab her.
"Bingo!" Reyes says. Pinpointing the hunters location. The three of them slowly approach the beast, careful not to make to much noise. "It should only have the bow, this'll be quick and easy." Reyes quietly whispers.
Fred goes in first for a quick strike.
The sound of flesh ripping at first brings joy to the party. It brings less when they realize who had been stabbed was Fred. He's kicked off of the blade by the hunter.
Reyes grabs him and he jumps back with Luci. "What the heck?!" He questions as he holds his friend. Luci inspects the monster closer. "It summoned that dagger, that means it picked up the bow from someone else it killed?!" Luci questions.
Reyes grits his teeth. "That means this thing can adapt."
Kaito is shocked by the takedown. "We have to do something!" Kaito says as he goes to jump in. Dante grabs him, quickly snatching Kaito back. "We can't fight that thing!" He yells at Kaito, fear etched deep in his voice.
Reyes summons a sword. Luci summoning a dagger. Reyes initially clashes with the hunter but he's quickly kicked away.
Fred gets back up. Smashing the hunter in the back with his large hammer. "Come on then!" Fred shouts at the beast.
The hunter grabs him and throws him from it's treetop, he lands backfirst onto the ground, pain erupts from all corners of his body.
The hunter knocks the bow attempting to finish Fred off. Luci runs in quickly slashing it's leg. Distracting it. The hunter kicks her down too. She lands next to Fred on the ground. Luckily she had landed on her feet. The hunter however jumped down from the tree stomping her into the ground.
Luci and Fred both lay on the ground at the mercy of the beast. It looks at Reyes challenging him as it charges.
Reyes with fear in his eyes grabs the trickster and throws her at the beast. "No!" She shouts as the hunter readies to slice her.
CLANG. The blade is clashed by Kaito who quickly dove into the fray. Dante panics. "He did it again! Just jumping into stuff!" He complains as he climbs down from the tree slowly.
The hunter stands tall observing the new combatant. It tosses it's arm to the side a green glow coming from it. The forest around them shifts. The trees creating a thick wall trapping them in with it.
The trickster celebrates. "Rell I knew you'd save me!" She says but then realizes it's Kaito. "Wh-you?!" She questions. "What are you doing her do you not see the murder beast?!" She questions him.
Kaito smiles at her. "You can worry about it later, seemed like you needed a rescue." Kaito says with a playful smile.
She nods. "Well you ain't wrong." She agrees.