Rhos sat alone under a massive tree. He drew another line across the parchment resting on his knees.
It was a crude map with charcoal strokes and inked boundaries. It had a rough outline of the forest he was in....the southern quadrant of the Biome which was drawn as a massive circle.
Outside of it the letter ’X’ was crossed on multiple areas, overlapping in some. Each of these marks was a place he had searched and found no luck.
Now with the addition of a new one, he was beginning to lose heart.
It has been two years, and he still has not found anything. No trail or lead to give him some shred of hope.
"Where are you?"
Rhos leaned back against the cold bark of the tree and looked up at the afternoon sky. Well he couldn’t see much of it as the canopy of this place was too dense and the rays of the sun couldn’t pierce through.
He turned his eyes to the rough trunk supporting the branch beneath him. What met him were eight red eyes, intently focused on only him.
The massive arachnid was the size of a truck. Its swollen abdomen was encased in black lacquered carapace and its eight long legs dug into the bark as it slowly climbed up the tree toward him.
Rhos let out a weary sigh.
"I should head back now. They’ll start complaining if I take any longer. Beside, seems like I overstayed my welcome"
He folded the map, slipped back into his jacket and rose to his feet, showing no difficulty in balancing on the thick branch.
"Then again, disappearing without telling anyone probably wasn’t my brightest idea. Keeper’s going to be on my case again"
With another sigh, a thin whip cracked through the air, totally ignoring the young man’s grievances. By then, he had already leaped from the branch and dropped through the forest canopy, leaving the silk to wrap around it before hardening.
He caught a hanging vine with one hand, leaves whipped across his face before he landed with a roll on the ground, recovered and sprinted immediately.
At the same time, the enormous creature crashed behind him with enough force to shake the forest floor, causing loose leaves to rain from above.
Rhos turned his head slightly and cracked a nervous smile.
’Ah, crap’
The monster let out a shriek and began the chase, its eight legs carrying its heavy body with horrifying speed. This lush forest had more trees and less pathways he could pass through, so navigating it at the speed he was moving at proved to be a challenge.
Under normal circumstances, this would have been bad for him.
But luckily, he had memorised the path ahead of him beforehand to ensure he did not make any costly mistakes like tripping on a root like an inexperienced imbecile.
He barely registered it before he felt something shoot past his right shoulder and slam into a tree ahead of him.
It was a strand of webbing that wrapped itself around the trunk and hardened instantly. If that had caught him, he would have been done for!
The thought of that made his heart hammer so violently he was certain it would burst out of his chest. The terrain did not make it any easier for him to outrun the damn creature either, almost as if it was working against him.
The creature continued its chase and Rhos cursed in his heart. He did not know how long it was going to take to escape this damn thing. But he knew that he was going to get in trouble for what he was going to pull. But he had no choice!
There was no way he would let it end here. Once he saw familiar territory, he was certain of it.
His heart lifted, he was almost there. But the massive creature was also dangerously close to him too.
"Damn it all!"
Rhos shouted at the top of his lungs as he jumped forward. Good thing he did because he had barely avoided a leg that scythed past his side, the chitin grazed close enough to tear fabric off his uniform.
The moment he hit the ground, steel flashed through the darkness as several figures burst from the undergrowth and surrounded the massive arachnid in a perfect encirclement. Sharp spears pinned its legs to the earth and their blades hacked into its softer joints beneath the armor.
Someone landed onto its abdomen and drove a hooked weapon deep, wrenching it sideways, spraying pale blue blood into the air.
The spider screeched, retaliating violently at this sudden ambush. It shot its webs blindly mostly because most of its eyes had already been gutted out.
None of its shots managed to harm or even capture any of the experienced Rangers. One of them slipped under a descending leg, carving upward with their blade. The beast thrashed about, but all of it was in vain.
With a final convulsion, the arachnid collapsed.
It was dead.
Despite appearances, they could not be certain since some monsters were harder to kill. So they had to wait for a little longer in silence before they could be sure of it.
After a full minute of silence and held breaths, they had their answer.
Atop the fallen spider, a man leapt down. He had short black hair, broad shoulders and narrow eyes. He wore a gray high collared hooded jacket, fingerless gloves and heavy boots.
This was the uniform of everyone present, including Rhos. At the left chest of the jacket near the heart was the number 14.
The insignia of Ranger Division 14.
And the muscular man walking toward in anger was the Keeper of all the twenty six humans present who made up the division.
"Red Deer!"
The moment the Keeper’s deep loud voice reached his ears, it immediately jolted him right back to his feet. He clasped his hands together and bowed.
"Keeper Taru, I’m sorry for the trouble! I got curious and thought if I scouted ahead early while everyone’s resting there wouldn’t be–"
He tried to explain quickly but before he could finish, a headache inducing pain exploded on his right cheek. Rhos had the displeasure of feeling the full force of a punch that sent him sliding across the ground.
"Red Deer, this is the second time..."
The man said coldly while standing over his fallen body.
"The second time today you’ve put everyone at risk with your careless antics. Do you want to die that badly? If so then don’t drag the rest of us!"
Rhos forced himself to his knees and bowed. The Keeper continued, pointing a finger at him.
"All of us have protocols to follow. We all have our roles to play in every mission. You are bait. Got that? Nothing more. Prey like you should understand that much. Your role in this hunt is so simple even a child can do it"
That much was true, he could not refute that. The only thing he could do was curl his lips into a forced smile.
"I understand. The mistake was mine. I swear I won’t do it again"
The Keeper stared at him a bit longer with his squinted eyes then snorted, dropping his arm.
"Red Deer, if you endanger this Division again, I will kill you myself. Twice if necessary. Fucking Outborn"
With that said, Mountain Gorilla Taru turned away and left.
Staying bowed, he peeked his amber eyes on the humans around and as expected, there was open disappointment and ridicule.
Others turned away while shaking their heads in irritation, most whispered foul things about him and some treated him with indifference.
This was nothing new, so it did not affect him that much. It was easy enough to brush off the opinions of people you had no real relationship with. Luckily for him, he did not have that many relationships.
When Keeper Taru was finally out of range, Rhos lifted his head.
The massive arachnid that was trying to capture and have him for dinner a few moments ago now laid ahead dead, already being carved apart for materials.
He let out a long relieved sigh and a triumphant smile tugged at his lips.
"Heh, look who’s the last man standing, you stupid bastard"
"It’s not polite to pick on something that’s already dead, you know"
Rhos winced when he suddenly felt a sharp ache from his right cheek. Someone was rubbing the bruise left behind by the Keeper.
Without needing to look, he already knew who it was. He sighed and said.
"Could you be more gentle with that, Cat? Weak Prey like us is not as durable as you strong Predators"
The young woman crouched beside him made a complicated face before sighing.
"Yeah, yeah, I know. But that’s what you get for wandering off on your own again You’re lucky a punch is all you got as punishment. Still though, Keeper didn’t hold back on this one. He really put his back into it"
Rhos looked at where Taru was currently talking to a group of three Rangers, examining the broad shape of his arms. He scoffed.
"That’s not true. If Keeper really put his back into it, I would be double dead right about now. But if it means getting comforted by a cute girl, I wouldn’t mind getting punched again"
Leopard Cat Nimra grabbed his cheek and pulled it.
"You’re such a child Red Deer! Also that’s not the point here. Did you forget we’re far from the Biome? Way too far to be comfortable. Recklessness like that could attract a Wrath and we are not exactly equipped to deal with that!"
"I know, I know! I’m sorry, really. I already promised Keeper I won’t do it again!"
He cried under Nimra’s reprimands.
She was right though. Ranger Division 14 was one of the many divisions in charge of hunting for food and animal parts to bring back to the Biome.
When out on hunts, they did not steer too far from its proximity as going beyond it would be courting death. Even so, it was possible to attract those that lurk in that beyond.
If that happened, they would be as good as dead. All of them
Nimra sighed. She softened her grip and rubbed his cheek again.
"I’m just glad you didn’t become spider food. Would’ve been embarrassing dying like a total weakling"
She laughed but Rhos did not find it funny at all. In this line of work, this was a normal occurrence. Strong or weak, it was rare that a hunt would go off without anyone losing their life.
After all, they were dealing with monsters here.
More than often than naught, monsters such as that giant spider were the most difficult to deal with compared to animals with red meat.
Under the right conditions, they could even wipe out an entire Division.
As bait, he has seen his fair share of horror. So it became difficult for him to understand someone who would joke about such things so lightly.
But he still laughed. She was still new to the job.
’You have a poor sense of humor’
For all its worth, he hoped she died a painful death.
"Everyone, gather up"
Rhos flinched at the sound of Keeper Taru’s voice. The two of them followed the Rangers who stood in a crowd in front of the man, who stood with his broad arms folded.
Taru cleared his throat and said.
"We have a problem"