Nobody was able to react except Moon. Earth erupted from the ground in front of Marcus, forming a defensive wall in a fraction of a second, in hopes of stopping the storming arrow.
Crack!
The arrow penetrated the wall and continued through, its montum lightly slowed. It missed Marcus’s skull by a re inch as he instinctively jerked his head to the side.
Marcus gulped, his face pale. Then anger flooded in, replacing fear. "You—!"
Moon interrupted with a calm voice. "Nobody will stop you. You can leave. We already have what we wanted."
[Class Slot skill activation failed.]
[Target’s classification exceeds skill’s threshold.]
Jonathan nodded, that unsettling smile still in place. He muttered sothing imperceptible under his breath before turning and walking away.
The remaining outcasts followed like obedient dogs, and within monts, they’d disappeared into the forest, leaving only Jas’s corpse behind.
Marcus imdiately spun toward Moon. "What the hell?! We had them surrounded! We could have—"
"Enough," the Lieutenant said quietly, cutting him off. "Moon did the right thing. Our objective was Jas. We have him."
He gestured to the corpse. "Fighting Jonathan would have been costly, and for what?"
Marcus’s jaw worked, but he fell silent, recognising the wisdom even if he didn’t like it.
Moon’s eyes remained fixed on the area where Jonathan had disappeared. Many things were wrong with him.
My Class Slot skill has failed in copying his class for an unknown reason. Also, that arrow earlier... he’s really strong. It broke through my barrier with ease. Although Earth isn’t my strongest elent, I still used an epic rank skill. For him to break through it...either he has an epic rank skill himself or...he has already reached his first class evolution.
Jonathan was much stronger than he expected from a man with a group of outcasts. The shot had been too fast, too precise, and the way he’d made two important decisions with no hesitation or second-guessing made him dangerous. Jonathan simply acted as if he were divorced from normal human emotion or consequence.
Moon had t psychopaths before. Jas had been one. But Jonathan was sothing else entirely. A lunatic whose next step was always unexpected. Who operated on logic that made sense only to himself. Who killed allies as casually as enemies when it suited whatever incomprehensible goal he pursued.
People like that were the most dangerous kind. Because you could never predict what they’d do next. What made him even more wary was the fact that his skill had failed against him, and that rang multiple alarms in Moon’s mind.
The Lieutenant moved to Jas’s corpse, checking for confirmation of death. "Marcus, Alyssa, secure the head. We’ll bring it back as proof."
He looked at Moon. "Thank you for intervening. That could have gone badly multiple tis."
Moon nodded but said nothing.
The following hours were spent trying to relocate the elk that had escaped before. Fortunately, they found it.
The Elk was drinking by a stream, its massive antlers dipping low as it lapped water from the flowing current.
When they spotted it, Moon created the plan. He turned toward Nathaniel and said, "You want it alive, right? A few injuries wouldn’t matter."
Nathaniel nodded. "As long as it’s alive."
Moon then addressed the group’s archer, a lean woman nad Serra who’d been silent throughout most of the journey. "Once I give you the sign, I want you to shoot toward its legs. Its only advantage is speed. Once we damage its mobility, it’ll be easier to catch."
Serra nodded, already nocking an arrow. After seeing him conjure a lightning spell, she no longer had doubts about his capabilities.
Moon then separated from the group and started approaching the elk, slowly but surely. The distance shrank from one hundred ters to twenty ters away, where he stopped.
Although the elk hadn’t moved, Moon could tell it would sense his presence if he advanced even an inch further.
The creature’s ears swiveled constantly, tracking sounds. Its muscles were tense beneath its dark coat, ready to explode into motion at the slightest threat.
The elk had stopped drinking, its head raised slightly, alert.
Moon waited like a hunter, patient and still, letting minutes pass until the right mont presented itself.
Then the elk’s head dipped back toward the water.
Moon struck like lightning.
The bolt crashed down before the elk could even take off. Electricity coursed through its body, paralysing it instantly. As he attacked, Moon signalled Serra.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Multiple arrows flew, and the veterans ran, trying to close the distance and corner the beast from different angles.
Unable to move, the elk was struck by two arrows, which found their mark, one embedding in its front leg, the other scraping across its torso, drawing a line of blood but missing vital organs.
Once the paralysis broke, the elk bolted.
Despite the arrow in its leg, despite the injury, it ran with desperate strength. Blood sprayed from the wound with each step, but the creature’s survival instinct ignored the pain.
Crash!
Although surrounded, the Elk picked a direction and crashed through the veteran that tried to stop it. The veteran was sent crashing towards a tree nearby, he had tried to slow it down but his physical strength was not nearly enough to prevent the Elk from escaping.
Moon was already moving.
He activated his lightning elent again, but this ti, he channelled it differently. Instead of projecting it outward as an attack, he ran the current through his own body in controlled bursts.
Unlike the last ti he’d attempted this, when escaping the Winter Beast’s attack had resulted in imnse pain in his legs, this ti he used minimal voltage. Just enough to enhance his muscle response and speed without rendering himself incapacitated monts after.
Despite reducing the effectiveness, he knew doing this would still have its own side effects.
The human body wasn’t designed to conduct electricity, and his body had yet to adapt to his power. But he needed to close the gap. The elk was still incredibly fast despite its injury.
Within monts, both the elk and Moon had left Nathaniel and the others far behind.
Marcus ran with the veterans, pushing his legs to their limits. They could see the elk and Moon in the distance, but they simply couldn’t catch up. The gap was widening with each second.
As Marcus was about to give up, Nathaniel’s voice cut through his exhaustion. "Keep running!"
Marcus cursed inwardly but continued, forcing his legs to keep moving.
As for Moon, he was no longer channelling his lightning elent. He’d already closed the distance to a comfortable rhythm, running just twenty ters behind the elk.
The elk was flagging. Blood loss from the leg wound was taking its toll. Its gait beca uneven, favouring the injured limb. It crashed through undergrowth, leaving a clear trail of disturbed vegetation and blood spatters.
Moon kept the pressure on, maintaining distance but not closing further. He was herding it now, using his presence to guide its panic in a specific direction.
Ahead, the terrain was changing. The forest gave way to rockier ground where speed would matter less. Where the elk’s injured leg would beco an even greater liability.
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