In the dark forest
The tiny deer ran around the forest trying to reach the baby Panther as they played a game of tag but it nimbly dodged and escaped from the deer's grasp.
The crow observed them from a distance and spotted the mother Panther walking towards them. It screeched and informed the others about her. They all moved enthusiastically to greet her and found her carrying a half-eaten black rose in her mouth. All her wounds were healed causing the group to sigh in relief.
The large Panther greeted the group and gave the half-eaten rose to the baby Crow.
“Kids, this forest is no longer safe. Take the wolf pack with you and run away from this forest” she informed and before they could ask any questions, ran away towards the vampire camp.
The baby group glanced at each other in worry and followed behind her from a distance.
Near the vampire camp
A group of five vampires stood ramrod straight and greeted a masked vampire that summoned them. The vampires were
The captain of the imperial Army, the first Prince Charon.
The vice-captain of the Imperial Army, the Second Prince Veld.
The vice-captain of the Cosenville Army, the young count Sirius.
The vice-captain of the Duncanville Army, Princess Selena and
The exporter town chief Noah.
The masked vampire greeted them but frowned when he didn't spot a certain vampire in the group.
“Where is Lady Victoria?” he asked causing Veld to stiffen.
“That guy helped her and now she is somewhere in the forest doing who knows what” Charon shrugged and blabbered while snickering teasingly at Veld.
Veld was a huge simp for her and just couldn't say no to her when she asked him to help her escape. All the other Vampries sighed at him already used to their dynamic.
“Well, it can't be helped. We will do this hunt without her” the masked vampire concluded and informed the others about the rules of the hunt.
“The vampire King has ordered to kill all the beasts in the forest. This will be done in the form of a hunting game.
Killing a baby beast will give you 1 point
An adult 5 points and killing the strongest beasts of the forest, the Panther and the Wolf pack head will give you 20 points each” He informed and gauged their reaction.
Veld didn't look happy about killing the kids and wanted to protest but his brother stopped him. Noah looked bored and wanted nothing more than to finish the hunt and rest.
All the others too didn't seem to care much about the hunt, that was until the masked vampire announced the price for the winner.
“The winner of the hunt will get a bottle of Dragon blood” he announced, immediately attracting the attention of Noah and Selena.
Their eyes widened in delight as they rushed madly into the forest along with their squad. Charon quickly joined them leaving Veld and Sirius behind. They stared at each other and reluctantly entered the forest.
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Back in the forest,
The baby group sneakily followed the mother Panther and found her roaring and directing the beasts in the forest to flee in the northern direction.
Wondering why she was doing that, the baby Panther asked the crow to scout the area from the sky and the results were horrifying.
The Crow flew in the air and found a group of 25 vampires led by a group of 5 vampires, firing blood arrows and decimating the beasts of the forest.
“That's 7 points”
“I got 12 points” they screamed and laughed maniacally as rivers of blood flowed below their feet.
The large Panther was roaring and dodging their attacks while carrying 4 baby rabbits on her back and 2 foxes in her mouth, doing everything she could to save as many lives as she could.
Amidst all the chaos a blood arrow struck her in her stomach and impaled her on a nearby tree.
“20 points” Noah one of the Vampire leaders announced and let out a tired yawn.
The mother Panther was still alive and roared desperately for the beasts to escape but it was of no use.
The vampires fired another batch of arrows and killed every baby beast near her. They all fell one by one right in front of her.
“No, Please let the kids live. They are weak and won't cause you any harm” She begged with tears in her eyes but the vampires didn't care.
“I got one”
“Me too”
They announced each time they succeeded in killing the kids and it only increased the mother panther's pain.
The baby deer couldn't bear to see its saviour suffer any longer and rushed towards her side. The others were frozen in place and couldn't stop the deer in time.
It reached her and saw a blood arrow heading towards the panther's head. Without thinking for even a second it jumped in the way of the arrow and sacrificed its life to protect her.
“Noooo!!” the mother and the babies screamed in unison as the baby deer's body fell limply on the ground. It had a proud smile on its face as it breathed its last.
“Tch, just 1 point” Noah whined in irritation and fired another arrow towards the mother Panther's head.
This time all the baby beasts jumped in unison and took the attack to save the large Panther.
The arrow went through the wolf pup and the baby panther's stomach but stopped after piercing the baby crow's left wing.
The mother Panther roared angrily as all the beasts that she considered as family sacrificed themselves to protect her. She could only cry tears of blood and see them slowly die right in front of her eyes.
“Tch, this is so tiring. Why don't you just die so that I can finish this and go to sleep” Noah grumbled but before he could aim again, a giant fist hit him in the face and sent him crashing to the ground.
Looking up the mother saw a giant 20m tall Victoria sending another punch that decimated Noah's vampire group. She attacked again and again and forced the vampires to retreat.
Veld who was in the distance glanced at her and let out a relieved sigh.
“We are stopping this hunt” he announced and walked back to the camp.
Sirius and his group followed behind him leaving only Charon and Selena's group behind. Noah and his team were unconscious.
“Why does my brother act like a spoiled brat?” Charon groaned and ordered his unit to attack her.
They prepared to fight but suddenly dark clouds covered the sky and thunder rained down as the vampire King Louis walked leisurely into the battlefield.
He glanced at the unconscious Noah and the giant Victoria and with a sigh ordered Charon to stop the fight.
“You have 10 minutes. Do whatever you want in that time but as soon the time passes the hunt will begin again and this time I will kill every living beast in the forest with my own skills” he announced and walked away.
With not much time left Victoria returned to her normal size and pulled out the arrows from the beast's bodies. She then fed them two black roses and carried them to the edge of the forest.
A wolf pack greeted her at the edge of the forest along with many other smaller beasts.
They howled in joy when they saw the Panther and their group with her and hurriedly rushed towards them.
Confused as to what they were doing at the edge of the forest the large Panther turned towards Victoria for an explanation.
“I rescued them, the human activities in the forest were increasing each day so I and veld planned to evacuate the beasts of the forest to help them survive. I warned you to escape and then rushed out to help them but by the time I returned everything changed and my own species were attacking you” Victoria explained with an apologetic look and dropped them near the wolves.
“This is all I can do, please forgive us” she pleaded and walked away.
Back in the vampire camp
Veld and Charon sat on a rock and saw the bloodbath they had caused in the forest.
“Why are we doing this?” Veld asked as his stomach twisted into a knot at the sight of the forest, he knew that the humans were using the beasts and turning them into war assets but that still didn't mean that they had to kill every beast in the forest. He had been questioning that decision since the start of the hunt and he still couldn't understand why they were doing that.
Charon sighed at his bothers and patted his head.
“I know you and that girl planned something to help the beasts but I will tell you this. Whatever you are doing is not mercy, you are just forcing them to die a more horrible death” he said to Veld and walked away.