Beast Slayer
The smell of the outdoors smacked Adamine in the face. It had been so long since the last time she'd been inside of a building that she'd forgotten how much they diluted the wonderful scents of nature. Now, though, Adamine felt even more at ease.
This was her element. This was where she belonged. Not in the human filled resort where people dressed in flowered shirts and beach shorts. Adamine belonged in a world where gemstones were buried beneath fertile soil. She belonged in dark forests and expansive cave systems. She did not belong in a place filled with roller coasters that made her drool to ride one.
They had looked like massive dragon spines. The people on them had cried out in adrenaline. Adamine had totally wanted to go to the amusement park as they called it, but she couldn't. Not until she could take Pearl with her. Black Pearl would have loved those rides, and Adamine could have tested out all of the strange food that she'd seen when she and the group had left the resort. There was a strange puffy food that especially called to Adamine. It smelt of straight sugar.
She cast her eyes down. Pearl loved sugar. When they had last been in Lancet together, the two of them had bought tiny sugar crystals called rock candy. They'd been wired for the rest of the day after eating ten of those.
Well then, that just meant that Adamine would have to go find Black Pearl and buy her more sugar. Once she defeated the manticore and got some information out of it, she would start searching for portals. She still hadn't asked the people who called themselves Raijinshuu or Laxus about portals. Out of the group, Adam was sure that Freed would know the most about them, but Adamine didn't want to have to show her curiosity any more than necessary.
She had to keep distant from these people. Adamine had learned her lesson months ago. When she'd come to a small farm in the middle of nowhere, Adamine had worked with a young girl and her grandmother. Then… they had shown up.
The group of Lancet mages had snatched up the girl and threatened to kill her if Adamine didn't give herself up. The gang hadn't seen her Wing Slash of the Adamantine Dragon soon enough. After she'd disbanded the group, the grandmother had paid Adamine in a strange, foreign currency. The first hint to Adamine that she wasn't in Lancet anymore.
Adamine glanced over the group. These guys weren't some young girl and her elderly grandmother. These were mages. Mages that wanted her prey. They could handle themselves, but it didn't mean that Adamine should trust them.
She needed to get out of here and on her way to Magnolia. It was the closest large city according to the map she had, but the fastest way to get there would be to take the train from Hargeon. Immediately, Adamine's stomach protested. Yeah, she would go there one foot and travel through the woods to get there. She just wished she had Pearl to help her.
"How much longer till we get there, Stoner?" Bickslow commented. His odd totems repeated her new nickname.
Adamine's head whipped around, sending her wavy hair flying. "Once I find its scent, I'll track it until we come up on it, Tongue Boy. Could take hours. That a problem with you?"
Bickslow grinned at her with his tongue dangling out of his mouth. "Na. Not a problem at all, Stoner." His tongue waggled against his skin. Oooh. How Adamine wanted to shove one of her diamond nails through that pink flesh.
Her hair slapped against her back, and she lifted her head skyward. There was a slight breeze. If they could get behind the scent of the manticore, Adamine would be able to track it. She just had to get behind the wind.
"Do you think we should head back the way we found you?" Freed wondered, and Adamine's eyebrow twitched. She wasn't used to so many people with her when she tracked animals. It was annoying.
"Wouldn't be a bad idea," she admitted gruffly. Her feet moved her down a trail of their own accord. Everyone else followed her, but Freed stood there looking at a map like it held the meaning of life.
"Are you sure we're going the right way?" he asked, tilting the map.
Adamine tilted her head along with it then moved through a snobby brunette and a quite blonde. Once she'd gotten to Freed's side, she saw the problem. Her hand reached out and turned the map. Placing a finger on the trail, she explained, "We're here. Not here."
Freed looked at her as if she was a magician, pure awe.
Giving a shrug, Adam continued to lead the group. When a familiar scent crossed her nose, she dropped to her hands and feet. With her nose to the ground, Adamine sniffed out the scent of the manticore.
Her inner dragon came alive at the scent. Yes. The manticore had been here, and it had gone west, the way to Hargeon. The scent was strong. If she didn't follow it quick, she'd lose it. Without a word Adamine dashed off in the direction of the scent.
"What the hell?" Laxus breathed before storming after her.
"Did the idiot sniff something out?" Evergreen wondered.
Adamine ignored their pointless comments. She was on a trail. If she had a tail, it would be wagging. If she had ears on the top of her head, they would be facing forward. Instead of that, Adamine shot forward into thick brush. She leaped over fallen logs and rotten tree trunks before coming to a bog.
Her combat boot covered feet sunk deeply into the mud, but she ignored it. Her powerful legs had been through worse than this. She had to get her hands on that manticore before it ran off without her.
Pumping her toned thighs, Adamine forced her way through the mud before someone hauled her up from the muck. Her mud coated calves were freed from slime, and she glanced behind her to see the green haired mage had sprouted rune wings. Apparently, the others could fly in some fashion as well. Bickslow stood on his totems. Evergreen had fairy wings. Laxus's body turned to lightning and shot him from patch of solid ground to patch of solid ground. He was ahead of the group and probably had caught the scent as well.
"Thank you," Adamine mumbled. "Follow Laxus. He's on a trail."
"How can you tell?" Freed wondered.
"Body language. His body is moving differently. Stealthy."
Freed looked to where Adamine's eyes were studying Laxus's body. Sure enough, the mage was stalking. His electrified form was stealthy. It prowled through the bog with muscle rippling underneath his eighteen year old body.
A strong whiff of the manticore's scent slapped Adamine upside the head and she lowly hissed, "Set me down there." Freed listened and dropped Adamine.
Her knees appeared to give out underneath her, and he was about to lift her back up until she raised a palm up. "Shh. Quiet." Freed nodded and dropped beside her. "Get down and stay quiet," she explained to the others. On all fours, Adamine slinked her way through thorny brush. Her camouflage bandana and brown leather backpack blending in amidst the shrubbery. Even her tight camo pants melded with the surrounding elements. The only things that showed in the dark bog were flashes of her pale abdomen until that was concealed in the brush.
Adamine continued to prowl through before stopping. Her sense were on high alert. They were in the enemy's territory now, and just when Adamine leaned down to her elbows against the mud, she caught sight of the manticore.
Its large body was at rest. The powerful scorpion's tail at its backside rested against the muddy earth, and its large bat wings were stretched out like a fleshy blanket atop its soft pelt. Perfect. Adamine could ambush it.
Priming her body for the attack, Adamine felt every skin cell light up with eagerness. They all yearned to change to stone, and she answered their call. Her body switched from soft skin to hard adamant, and she was just about to sneak up behind the massive beast when a sharp snapping sound had the manticore catching her where she stood.
The manticore lunged up from its resting position. Behind it, its wings flared. Adamine didn't have time to see who had snapped that twig but the sharp scent of fear and melting arrogance had Adamine assuming it was a certain brunette.
She mentally cursed. Leave it to a city slicker to ruin her hunt.
Adamine kept her body perfectly still as the manticore approached. The birds that had once been chirped were silenced. It seemed as though everything stopped breathing when hot breath ran across Adamine's skin.
The manticore's big body brushed up against her to sniff her. It brushed up against her in confusion, but when a heavy claw coated paw reached up to slap at her, Adamine went into for the kill.
Her muddy body thrust inwards, knocking the massive beast on its back. Its talon tipped wings came to scratch at her back, but Adamine gave it no quarter. Her fingers elongated into diamond tipped claws, and she snarled, "Talons of the Adamantine Dragon!"
Their attacks met at the same time. A talon imbedded into her back jut when her claws ran down its chest. The beast gave a vicious roar then swatted Adamine off it with a massive paw.
Blood ran freely from her skin and into her mouth. Spitting it into the bog, Adamine met the manticore head on. Its paw went up to swipe just as she ducked inwards. Once more she got under the beast, Adamine snagged it around the neck, and sinking two claws into its neck Adamine demanded, "Tell me what you did to Pearl!"
The manticore roared in response. It bucked with all of its might to get Adamine off, and Adamine dodged left and right to escape the poison filled tail stabbing at her back. "Wrong answer!" Adamine snarled.
Her hand curled into a fist where four bones shot from beneath the knuckles. She raked them into the manticore's tail while keeping five claws sunk in the flesh of its neck. The beast continued to pounce and roar while four shocked mages stared in awe from the brush.
Adamine's self-satisfied grin escaped no one when she released the claws from the creature's neck to break its tail. With the poison out of the way, Adamine allowed herself to be flipped off the beast. "You caught me off guard last time. It won't happen again," she explained as the two circled each other.
Keeping two clawed hands up, she stepped around. The two kept their eyes locked on each other while they sized each other up. Neither one planned on giving the other an inch but Adamine still needed to get information from the beast. When she'd demanded it to tell her, the creature had said it would never tell a filthy human.
"Come on, kitten! Scared of a wittle dragon?" Adamine taunted. Blood still ran from her face, but she paid it no mind. She would get her information.
The manticore growled low. It pounced forward, slashing with its claws. Adamine did a hasty combat roll before landing on her hands. Her body spun and she mule kicked the manticore upside the jaw. A fang rolled loose from its mighty maw. "Had enough yet?"
Still growling, the manticore came forward its body was raw power when it leaped into the air. It used its massive wings to slash downwards. Adamine was slow.
Her exposed belly was slashed with a deep gouge that had Adam wincing, but she didn't back down. Instead, Adamine shoved her foot down but in the wrong place. The bog came up to engulf her combat boot covered foot. The slick, hardy leather sucked her in deep.
Blood dripping, Adamine was nothing but a target as she fought to wriggle free of the muck. The manticore didn't slow. If anything, it saw the weakness and dove for her.
Those wings came down with a massive gust. Cursing, Adamine reached out to snatch the beast by its wing. A bolt of electricity seemed to come from nowhere. Just as Adam was about to fling the manticore into the ground for a roll in the mud, both of their bodies lit up with a golden glow.
The manticore roared in twitching pain, and Adamine tried to release the beast of a conduit. Her muscles were locked up. She could budge them, and when the bolt finally passed through the both of them, Adamine fell flat on her back. Her last words were, "Ah, shit not again."
Laxus: Uh, oops.
Adamine: I get frick fracking electrocuted by you, and all you have to say is Oops. The hell, man. The hell.
Ha. I hope y'all enjoyed my latest chapter of Hunt and be Hunted. Leave me a comment please! It really makes me happy to know people enjoy my work. See ya. Happy reading!