The Hunter
"Hmph, those outsiders sure ran fast!"
About half a minute later, more than ten High-Level Hollows stood at the center of the Forest, where Wien had just been sitting, cursing beside the pile of wood chips.
Some of the Hollows were missing body parts, whether limbs or horns. One had even lost a wing. Presumably, this was all Wien's handiwork.
"We can't let them get away. Find out where they went, now!" one of the Mutant Hollows shouted.
"No need." A dog-shaped Beast Hollow sniffed at the wood chips. "They ran north. His Spiritual Pressure still lingers on these."
"Hmph, they've really underestimated us. After them!" With a howl, the Hollow Beasts pursued Wien.
In less than half an hour, they caught up with Wien and the others as they retreated. At a small clearing in the northern woods, Wien stood straight and alone in the center.
The reason the enemy had caught up to him so quickly was that Wien had stopped ten minutes earlier and waited for them to arrive.
"Haa..." Standing in the clearing before the Hollows, Wien stretched and spoke slowly. "You sure took your time."
"Despicable sneak attacker!" a Humanoid Hollow missing his right arm said through gritted teeth. "Today is the day you die!"
"You're already crippled, and you still talk so much. Do you really think I don't dare kill you?" Wien's expression turned cold.
"Arrogant!" the Hollow Beast at their head roared viciously. "We've been hunting you for so long, yet a beaten dog like you still dares to act so wildly. You've committed such slaughter; don't expect to beg for mercy before us today!"
"Beg for mercy? Have you misunderstood something?" Wien smiled.
"I didn't retreat here to escape. I came to bring you pieces of trash into this forest and make it your grave!"
As he spoke, Wien's Spiritual Pressure suddenly surged. Its power made the Elite-Level Hollow Beasts feel a faint stirring of fear.
"Lies and deception! You're alone now. Even if your subordinates are lying in ambush nearby, there's no way they can rescue you from so many of us. Attack! Kill this outsider, and we win!"
Among the High-Level Hollows, a Hollow Beast with slightly weaker Spiritual Pressure could no longer withstand the pressure rolling off Wien. He shouted an order for the Elite Hollows under him to charge, hoping to ease the oppression.
His command struck a chord with the other High-Level Hollows. In an instant, every group of Elite Hollows rushed toward Wien, their formation set to tear him to pieces!
"An impotent roar." A cold smile touched the corner of Wien's mouth beneath his mask. He raised his right claw, Spiritual Pressure surging, and slashed hard at the ground beside his feet. At once, the sound of objects slicing through the air rang out from the trees around the clearing. Sharp stone spikes came whistling toward it.
The third-stage trap: Flying Spikes.
Wien had ordered his subordinates to spend a great deal of time setting the traps. Over the past week, Wien and the others had spent more than half their time on these nearly ten thousand spikes.
Wien had chosen this clearing long ago. The trees around it were exceptionally tall, making them ideal for concealing spike traps, while the open space at the center was just large enough to expose the charging Hollow Beasts.
Thus, in an instant, the peaceful clearing where Wien stood became a hellish, blood-soaked killing ground.
The first-stage trap had cleared out a large number of foot soldiers, while the second had held back those Hollow Beasts with thick shells. Most of those left were Hollows that could fly, move quickly, or were truly powerful.
The last trap Wien had set was also the final culling. Only those who could survive the dense barrage of stone spikes would be the enemies Wien and the others truly had to face.
There were tens of thousands of stone spikes, and they slaughtered almost all the ordinary- and Elite-Level cannon-fodder Hollow Beasts.
The High-Level Hollows had suffered little damage, but they were now full of apprehension toward Wien. Several hundred Hollows had attacked eight, yet before they had even scratched them, their own side had been nearly wiped out.
Many of the dozen or so High-Level Hollows who remained had also been attacked by Wien. Should they keep fighting? Under the sway of fear, that question filled the minds of the Hollows.
"Leave none alive." Wien's brief words became the final sentence for the allied Hollow Beasts. His seven Hollow Beast subordinates leaped down from the trees at once, surrounding the remaining enemies, while Wien unleashed his powerful Spiritual Pressure, comparable to that of a Gillian.
For a moment, despair showed in the eyes of the surrounded Hollow Beasts. Only now did they realize that this was no resistance between evenly matched forces, but an outright massacre!
The battle ended quickly. The seven Hollow Beasts under Wien suffered only minor injuries, while Wien and the others slaughtered all the allied Hollow Beasts opposing them.
After this battle, Wien could probably be considered to have firmly established himself in this forest. The other Hollow Beasts living there also tacitly accepted the existence of this strongest one.
Some of the more intelligent Hollows chose to leave or quietly keep their distance. Those with little intelligence waited in a daze to hunt or be hunted.
The iron rule of Hueco Mundo would never change, and the hunting and being hunted among Hollows would never cease.
"My king, this time we recovered a total of twenty High-Level Hollow corpses and 184 Elite-Level corpses. The weaker ones were too insignificant to count, and the corpses we couldn't recover have already been cleared away on the spot. In this battle, we killed roughly thirty percent of the Hollow Beasts in the entire forest."
After the battle, Inora had brought others to clean up the battlefield and compiled rough figures. Before the corpses turned into Reishi and disappeared, he reported the numbers to Wien.
"Don't stand around any longer. Devour them before they turn into Reishi." Wien waved a hand. "Follow the order I gave you last time. Falles, you get first choice of the High-Level Hollow corpses, but remember one thing: if you feel yourself about to advance, stop eating immediately and go to that pit over ten meters deep that we dug last time."
"Yes, my king," Falles said respectfully.
The huge pit Wien had ordered Kuroi to dig last time had not been intended as a trap, but had been specially prepared for their own companions to advance.
Its purpose was to let the Hollows safely leave the forest when they advanced. Even if one became a mindless Gillian upon advancing, he could still follow the passage Wien had set up all the way out of the forest. That would ensure that Wien and the others were not harmed by a mindless Cero.
At Wien's command, the Hollows dispersed and went to forage in their assigned areas.
With Wien's permission, Falles left five High-Level Hollow masks for him. Of the remaining corpses, apart from those distributed to everyone else, the rest went into Falles's stomach.
After refining them, he found that they did not seem to be enough for him to advance. With a nod from Wien, he began devouring the Elite Hollow corpses as well.
When he devoured the eighty-second Elite Hollow, a powerful Spiritual Pressure began to gather inside his body. Wien saw at a glance that it was a sign of Falles's imminent advancement.
"My king..." Falles seemed to be asking for instructions.
"Go ahead." Wien nodded. "Everyone else, come and watch too." With that, Wien led them all to the place where Kuroi had first dug the pit.
After sensing the surroundings, Wien ordered Falles to jump into the pit and tossed him two of the five masks he had set aside for himself. He told him to devour them and then wait to advance.
The others spread out among the surrounding trees, quietly waiting to see what would happen in the pit.
After the two masks went down, Falles's Spiritual Pressure gathered to its peak. Spiraling currents of Spiritual Power began to revolve around his towering body. Carrying countless Reishi, the currents began to envelop Falles, spinning faster and faster as his body continued to grow with the accumulation of Spiritual Pressure, forming a constantly changing cocoon of light.
The time that passed was neither long nor short. After a full half day, a series of howls came from within the enormous cocoon of light—the distinctive sound of a Gillian.
Wien knew that the moment the cocoon enveloping Falles broke would be the moment he became a Gillian. That moment was not long in coming.
Within a few breaths, the cocoon of light broke apart. An enormous black figure stepped out: Falles, who had successfully advanced. Unfortunately, atop that massive body was a clownlike mask with a pointed nose.
"Tsk, has he lost consciousness?" Wien clicked his tongue inwardly as he hid outside the pit, but there was nothing he could do. After all, Gillians who retained consciousness were exceedingly rare. There might not be even one among dozens. Wien could only accept this outcome.
"Let's retreat before Falles goes berserk." Wien beckoned to his subordinates.
Since Falles was in the pit, he had not seen Wien and the others from where he stood. This also gave them time to retreat.
Having witnessed their first companion advance, the Hollows grew even more respectful of Wien. Although Falles had lost consciousness, if he was lucky and devoured enough Spiritual Pressure before reaching the Forest of Menos, it was still possible for him to survive and become an Adjuchas.
As long as they could advance, there was still hope of survival. The weak had no right to choose.
Hraah... Hraah...
Long after Wien and the others retreated, the piercing cries gradually faded away beyond the forest. Falles had probably left. Fortunately, there was still plenty of prey in the forest where Wien lived, and the Hollows pouring into it would never stop coming.
"All right, Falles has left. Divide up the remaining spoils and prepare the next batch of traps. Then we'll wait for the prey to take the bait," Wien said calmly. "Time waits for no one. We need to pick up the pace."
"Yes!"