Someone shouted as the monsters called Goards began to appear by the trees.
“Goards!”
They were weird-looking monsters, roughly three meters tall with scrawny, pinkish bodies. They were missing patches of fur. There were 7 digits on their hands and feet that moved freely. Goard grabbed branches and used its two hands. That’s how Tyron was being held. But he didn’t just scream, as he swung his jungle sword at the arm grabbing him. It was in vain as the Goard’s sharp claw struck and cut off Tyron’s arm.
“Aaargh! Help!”
Tyron shouted but everyone froze in place as they were afraid they would be attacked next.
“T-ty…”
“They’re up in the trees!”
The group shouted from all over. Some fired arrows, but the Goards easily avoided from the trees. Their weird looks, pink faces with large black eyes, with large nostrils and mouths that had sharp fangs terrified everyone.
“S-signal fire…!”
Signal fires were shot and Gorun’s expression turned grimmer. The red signal fire was coming from the main group behind. The red signal fire was only to be used in dire situations. It was obvious what had happened behind.
‘This number… this must be the Goards’ home!’
Gorun frowned.
‘I have to live!’
His first thought was to survive. Tyron already had his neck bitten off and the Goards were holding his body as they drank the blood like water and munched on the flesh and bones.
“Aaargh!”
Goards then began to roar aggressively.
‘I have to live!!’
That was Gorun’s only thought.
“Ugh!”
A Goard charged toward Gorun, and his blonde hair was cut as he barely avoided it by jumping down.
“Gorun! Dammit, run! Get away!”
Gorun heard others shouting but he kept running. The forest quickly filled with blood and death. He did the best he could to avoid being captured by the Goards as he ran. Goard’s claws flashed at him from the above trees. Gorun went down on his knees, sliding on the ground that was covered with leaves. He felt a burning sensation on his face. Gorun groaned.
“Ugh!”
Blood began to drip from his face as Gorun pulled out a handgun and fired at the Goard’s head. It instantly exploded as the bullet penetrated through the Goard’s open mouth and into the head. Gorun got up and kicked the Goard’s head that was squirming on the ground in its death throes.
“Dammit.”
However, before he could even move to run again, another two Goards appeared.
‘Two of them.’
Two of them had appeared and they were looking warily at Gorun’s handgun.
‘They would have attacked if it wasn’t for the gun. Are these babies?’
Gorun thought as he cleaned the blood from his eyes. Luckily, these two Goards weren’t fully grown and were wary of guns. A fully-grown Goard would not have feared handguns. When Gorun aimed his gun, the baby Goard quickly hid behind a tree. The other one did as well. Gorun then began to run, and the Goards began to chase after him again.
Gorun suddenly turned and fired his gun at one of the Goards. Blood splattered as the Goard rolled on the ground from the pain on its chest. The other Goard was shocked and hid.
Gorun then ran away and disappeared.
He kept on running. After a long while, when he finally did not hear any more sounds of pursuit, he stopped.
‘I have to tend to my wound first.’
Gorun thought as he determined that it was safe. He had to clean his wound so that it wouldn’t get infected as earlier he covered it with dirt to stop the bleeding. Gorun took a towel from his sack and started cleaning his wound. There was sharp pain from the wound, but he didn’t stop. Blood started flowing again, but Gorun continued cleaning.
“Dammit!”
He finished cleaning it, then took out a small bottle from the sack and poured it over the wound. The potion quickly healed his wound.
“Hah… hah…”
Gorun panted and glanced around, then he began to walk. After walking for a while, Gorun found and climbed up a large tree.
‘I have to go up.’
He felt like he would collapse as he was exhausted, but he knew he couldn’t stop yet.
‘Huh?!’
Gorun flinched when some bushes around the area moved. It was a Waringo. It was searching for something as it sniffed around while moving slowly.
‘It’s looking for me.’
It was definitely looking for the origin of the blood on the ground. His wound had healed but there were bloodstains all over Gorun’s clothes and body which was attracting monsters. Lucky, Gorun was already high up on a tree. It was time to erase the smell. However, that didn’t last long as the Waringo screamed.
“Kieeeek!”
Goards appeared and grabbed the Waringo as they began biting, eating it alive. More Goards appeared and seemed to be searching. One of the Goards slowly turned upward and locked eyes with Gorun.
End of Chapte
