The beast hit the ground in a low arc, claws tearing into the leaf mold where Robert had stood a breath earlier. Dirt was sprayed. The sll of damp soil and animal musk filled the clearing.
Robert did not counterattack. He slid sideways instead, feet finding firr ground near an exposed root. His eyes flicked once past the beast into the trees beyond.
There. A ripple. Too controlled for wind. He had felt it the mont the beast tensed to leap. Not just one presence. Many. Hunters who knew how to wait.
The beast prowled in a half circle, head low, amber eyes fixed on the group. Its shoulders rolled with compact strength. Comparable to a human at Spirit Root Level 6, low stage. Strong enough to injure any of them if mishandled. Not strong enough to scare trained killers.
Robert raised his hand slightly. Not a command. A suggestion spread among the group.
The group adjusted by instinct. Ronan angled left with his spear ready but not thrusting. Sarah shifted right, light on her feet. Taylen planted himself forward, fists tight, eager but holding. Sai and Eissa hovered between lines, watching more than striking.
The beast lunged again, this ti toward Taylen. Taylen answered with the Stone-Breaking Fist, eting claw with hardened knuckles. The impact thudded through the air. He slid back half a step but stayed upright. Good. Strong, but it costs him.
Robert noted the strain in Taylen's shoulders. One more full-power exchange, and his breathing would spike. Exactly what the watchers would want.
A thin stone left Robert's fingers, flicked low. It struck the beast's flank. Not to injure. To annoy. To redirect. The beast's head snapped toward him. Its focus shifted.
Co to . Robert directed it along a shallow angle and took two steps back. Not away from danger. Toward where the air felt tight. Where the hidden qi pressed faintly against his senses.
He did not look there directly. The beast followed, irritated now. Its movents grew sharper. Less cautious. A predator that believed it controlled the space.
Behind him, Ronan called a low warning that the right side was open. Robert ignored it deliberately and cut across that opening anyway. The formation loosened.
To the others, it looked ssy. Reactive. To Robert, it was a line being drawn. In the brush fifty paces away, a man in dark green shifted his weight. One of the watchers. His qi dipped instinctively to avoid notice. Robert felt that dip like a drop in pressure before rain.
Counting now. One. Two. Three. Threads of presence. Then more, fainter. Ten total. Two of them are heavier and denser. Spirit Root Level 7, low stage. Stronger than the beast. Stronger than anyone here except perhaps a coordinated pair.
Enough to kill them if the timing favored it. The beast swiped at him. Robert used Shadow Step lightly, not a full burst, just enough to blur his position. The claw cut empty air.
He let his sword buss the beast's shoulder. A shallow line. Blood welled, dark against fur. The beast snarled. Angry now. Good. Anger made it reckless. Reckless made it stronger but was unable to think about who it should attack.
Eissa's voice reached him softly from the side. Too soft for panic. She had seen the pattern. You are leading it. He did not answer. A slight tilt of his head was enough.
Sai's gaze had gone distant in that focused way he had when reading danger. He was not looking at the beast. He was mapping the spaces between trees.
He knows too. Taylen charged to help. Robert cut him off with a sharp downward motion of his hand. Taylen skidded to a stop, confused but obedient.
The beast lunged again. Robert retreated through a cluster of narrow trunks where movent was awkward for large bodies. The others followed unevenly.
Branches whipped. Leaves shook loose. The beast forced its way through, agitation rising. Its path veered slightly right. Toward another cluster of hidden qi.
In that thicket, an assassin pressed himself flat against the bark. The beast passed within ten paces. His grip tightened on his weapon. He did not move.
Robert adjusted. He picked up a broken branch and hurled it wide left. It crashed loudly through the brush. The beast's ears twitched. Its head snapped that way. It changed course, crashing toward the sound. Toward a different presence.
The watchers were being nudged like stones in a stream. Behind Robert, Sarah nearly slipped on the moss. Ronan steadied her without words. Their breathing was heavier now. Not exhausted. But trending there.
That is exactly what the state killers wanted. Not right now. Robert turned his wrist and lifted two fingers. His group's fallback pattern. They took halting steps back. Not running. Not rooted. The beast followed in bursts, then paused, confused by the lack of direct challenge.
It wanted a clean fight. Robert refused to give it one. Ahead, the forest grew thicker. Vines, low branches, uneven ground. Difficult terrain for teamwork. More difficult for those who watch silently. He led them in.
At the top, a bird burst upward suddenly. Startled. Not by them. By soone else shifting below. One of the Level 5 watchers had misjudged footing. Only slightly. Enough.
Robert did not look. He filed it away. The beast stopped. Its nose lifted. It slled sothing new. Not prey. Not fear. Another predator. Its body turned slowly toward a dense patch of fern and shadow.
There. The nearest assassin realized too late. He flattened his qi, but the beast had already locked on. Beast instinct did not read cultivation ranks. It read territory and intrusion.
The beast advanced, step by step, fur bristling. The assassin could not retreat without noise. Could not attack without revealing himself. For a heartbeat, he tried to do neither.
The beast growled, a deep rolling vibration. Then it surged. The man had to move. He slid sideways, blade flashing once to redirect the beast's snap. Steel t claw with a sharp crack.
Too clean. Too precise for a forest wanderer. Robert saw it. Not the man fully. Just the line of motion. The controlled defense. The discipline. Human.
Confirmation settled in his chest like a stone. They were being hunted. He did not let it show. His voice stayed level as he signalled his group to continue withdrawing along the planned line. No rush. No chatter.
Behind them, the beast and the hidden killer tangled for position, each trying not to commit fully. The rest of the watchers would now have to adjust. Their perfect ambush pattern had been disturbed.
Good. Robert allowed himself one last glance through the trees. He counted again by feeling. Still ten. Still two heavier presences holding back. Leaders. Waiting for a clean mont.
He turned away and guided his cousins deeper along the safer contour toward the outer ridge. Conserve strength. Conserve numbers. There would be a ti to cut the hunters down.
Not while tired. Not while blind. A twig snapped sowhere far to the rear. Then silence returned to the forest. The ga had changed. He knew it. They did not.
Not yet. And for now, that ignorance kept them calm. Robert moved to the front, expression steady, senses wide.
Behind him, danger rearranged itself among the trees, patient and sharp. The hunt was no longer one-sided.
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