The group ran in the forest, just like the previous two weeks, with branches wooshing as they ran by, bushes breaking when trod on, and roots occasionally tripping folks, and of course, the hunters hunting.

But today was different for a certain individual in the group, it was his first day of his life as a superhuman.

The individual was Zaki running in the forefront of the group while using his [Enhanced senses] in full capacity.

He had never experienced anything like it before; he could hear everything within 200 meters in front of him, including birds singing and the sounds of hares, raccons, squirells, and other small animals scurrying for cover as they sensed the vibration of the group's feet pounding the ground as they ran.

It went on for seconds, minutes, then hours, wiping off the novelty while making way for monotony.

And after a protracted period of boredom, there was eventually a change—not a pleasant one.

Zaki could hear footsteps, bipedal footsteps, as well as human breathing, indicating that there were multiple people present.

The numbers appeared to be less than the amount of people that had previously ambushed Zaki's group, but Zaki's group had their numbers decreased as well, however this time the initiative was in the hands of Zaki and his group.

Zaki slowed down and raised his right hand, which made the group slow down and stop as well.

Everyone had a perplexed look on their faces since the sun was high in the sky and it wasn't time to rest yet. One of them spoke up after everyone had stopped and moved toward their unofficial leader.

"Why did we stop?"

Zaki was a little intimidated by the 40-something deserters' stares, but he suppressed the emotion and maintained his serious demeanor.

"There's a group of twenty guards around 150 meters that way"Zaki indicated to the area in the forest, "as for why I know it, just recently I managed to get the hang of a spell I've been practicing for a while, it helps in detection and reconnaissance"

Zaki didn't bother to explain the mechanics of his spell; it's not like it mattered in this situation anyhow; simply knowing that he can detect opponents ahead of time is enough.

When Zaki mentioned that, the mood of the group shifted, and everyone became tense; after all, in every encounter, the group lost a portion of their numbers.

"I have an idea, it's simple, we ambush them, and with our numbers and an ambush, they won't stand a chance!"

With a chilly smile, one of the deserters spoke up.

He was holding a tree bark that was 80cm long and 30ish cm wide that was connected to his hand with some kind of improvised rope.

The presence of multiple arrow tips with shattered shafts demonstrated that the brittle-looking shield was not useless.

"what!? Why fight them when we can just avoid them?!"

Nastya exclaimed, she's the girl that was eating the bird she roasted and was pestered for by Dimitri.

She wanted to say more but was intruppted by Zaki.

" that's enough! There isn't enough time for a debate, the ones that wants to avoid raise their hand!"

Around 16 people raised their hand, showing their willingness to avoid the enemies.

" now who wants to fight?"

The rest of the group raised their hand or weapons.

Most of the group seemed excited to be the ones doing the hunting for a change.

"That settles it; I'll observe their movement trajectory and select an ambush location."

Those who wanted to avoid the combat were displeased, but they weren't novices after the two-week run, so they didn't dispute and began to hurriedly prepare for battle.

Zaki used [Enhanced senses] again and observed the provincial guards again.

The guards' alertness was, to put it mildly, awful; they were walking while laughing and joking with one another as if they weren't even in a forest.

Zaki signaled the party to follow him as he headed towards a location that may be used to ambush the hunters, based on their walking trajectory.

After locating the ideal ambush location, Zaki and the others hid in their chosen spots, some of which included climbing trees and hiding between their branches, while others lurked behind trees or overgrown shrubs.

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And they didn't have to wait long, the guards with Awful alertness walked right into the ambush area.

The deserters weren't good at ambushes or hiding in general—they were commoners when they were captured—but the guards didn't notice them because they acted like they were in a city with their friends heading to a pub to get shitfaced rather than a dangerous forest.

Zaki's group got tense when the enemies got closer and closer.

15meters...10meters...5meters, when the enemies got within 5 meters of the deserters, some of the guards that were a bit more mindful of their surroundings got suspicious.

The fact that the deserters managed to stay hidden until the enemies got within a five-meter range was nothing short of a miracle, though the enemies' poor vigilance also played a part. The deserters were just commoners before they were forcibly conscripted, so aside from a couple of hunters, the rest of the group were terrible at hiding themselves.

Zaki saw some of the guards that got suspicious and made a split-second decision to attack, not waiting for the guards to warn their comrades, he pulled out his broken sword and threw it with a well-trained motion, similar to the hundreds of times he threw kunai in the Academy training grounds.

As if an order had been given, arrows, makeshift spears, knives and swords were thrown towards the guards, and out of the large numbers of projectiles, only a handful of them hit their targets of which included Zaki's broken sword.

The deserters couldn't be faulted because they were hiding behind bushes, trees, and branches, and most of them couldn't see the enemies clearly without exposing themselves, so they only threw the projectiles in the general direction of the guards without precise aim.

Zaki lowered his center of gravity and used his enhanced body control to optimize his tendons to better transmit the force between his muscle and bones, and then dashed towards the disoriented guards at breakneck speed, sending soil and small broken roots all over behind him with the explosive power of his dash.

The distance of five meters was crossed in merely a second! with Zaki's monstrous speed.

The first level of body tempering cultivation makes the cultivator as strong as two grown men combined, and Zaki is stage 6 in body tempering cultivation, making him as strong as five grown men combined, and if this amount of power is used to sprint, the cultivator will end up jumping meters forward and meters high with every step! Because the cultivators can't control their trajectories in the air, they become great targets for projectiles and slashes in their landing area, making it incredibly inefficient and dangerous!

To deal with this issue, specialized movement skills or the cultivator's high control of his or her body are required, and Zaki dealt with the issue with his initial refinement level mental strength.

Using his monstrous explosive speed he reached his first target and Zaki held his sword with both hands and slashed out vertically.

The guard attempted to defend himself with his standard-issued sword, but was knocked off his feet by the sheer force of the strike, which threw him backward by two meters and left him with broken arms and a severely Chipped blade.

In comparison, Zaki's sword, which was the identical standard-issued sword he had taken from a dead guard, was in good condition and was shining with the glow of the [Shine] spell.

As the first victim was rendered unconscious, Zaki ignored him and swung his sword with the muscle memory from the three sword user in the sixth trial, the blade traversed in a tricky angle, evading the enemies sword and pierced the unfortunate man's neck.

Zaki pulled back his sword and pounced at his third target, making quick work of him.

By the time Zaki cut down the third foe, the rest of the group reached the guards.

Some of the guards died to the projectiles in the start of the ambush, and another three of them were cut down by Zaki, leaving only eleven out of twenty alive, and with the Deserters numbers being forty-ish, the battle ended quickly.

" Don't! We need him alive!"

Zaki yelled at the deserter with the tree bark shield, he wanted to kill a guard that was laying on the ground unconscious, it was the guard with the broken arms.

"why not? These assholes deserve to die!"

" I need to ask some questions, important questions, and we need answers"

"The only thing I need from this guy is his death!"

The deserter shouted this with hatred in his eyes, and it appeared that he wasn't the only one who felt this way, as a number of deserters appeared to want to flay the person alive.

" Don't you want to know why they want to kill us? This never-ending hunt is not normal!"

"These scum are the dogs of the Kingdom!" That's a sufficient reason for them!"

A few of deserters nodded slightly, agreeing with him.

Zaki would have agreed with what the man stated if the trials had not taken place, but following the sixth trial's experiences, he realized there was more to this search than what met the eye.

Zaki remembered the guards' expressions on him and his companions; it was the kind of greedy glare he was used to seeing in the sixth trial.

In the sixth trial, he had witnessed those looks from both bounty hunters and marines; the marines regarded him as a chance to improve in rank, while the bounty hunters treated him like a moving bag of coins.

"we will decide what to do with him after I ask my questions"

"And why should I listen to you?"

The atmosphere of the group got tense with two sides in a standoff.

The standoff lasted for ten seconds, with the atmosphere growing increasingly tense. Just as the angry deserter was about to stab the injured guard with his sword to end his life, Nastya tapped him on the shoulder.

"that's enough everyone, you want him dead and Zaki wants answers, just kill him after he spills the beans"

Perhaps because she made a valid point, or just because it was said by a woman, the angry deserter deescalated a little and lowered his sword.

"She's right, just end the guy after the questioning, and the last thing we need in our group is internal strife," Dimitri remarked, deescalating the situation even further.

"fine, just get it over with"

The deserter kicked the guard in an attempt to wake him up, but his efforts were futile because the guard remained unconscious; he intended to give a couple more kicks but was prevented by others nearby.

"There could be more Guards nearby, we have to leave, and this guy doesn't appear to be waking up anytime soon," one of the deserters remarked.

"...So, should I kill him?" said another deserter.

" No! We need to know why they are so determined to kill us."

"... How about we take turns carrying him and then question him at night?" Dimitri suggested.

"You mean you and your friend here will carry it? Because none of us want that asshole anywhere near us," the now-calm deserter said.

Just as Zaki was hesitant to make a decision Dimitri said.

"whetever, I'll carry him, then pass him to Zaki or someone when I get tired" he then proceeded to tap all over the guard's body to look for weapons.

The remaining deserters dispersed, and some of them began to loot the bodies on the ground.

A minute later, the group began to move again, but this time an unconscious guard had been slung over Dimitri's shoulder like a sack.