Never

Chapter 30: The Hunter

The hunter always had absolute control of his territory, not an aluba flapped without him knowing about it, he always tracked his prey, it was never the opposite, that is why that day when he noticed that mantis entering his lands, he was interested in her .

With his years of experience, a glance was enough to evaluate a prey, what he had in front was a wonderful mantis, her size was greater than that of common mantises, her legs were firm, her claws were sharp and her body strong. The stealthy way in which she moved denoted her abilities as a hunter. He could even believe that she was a Lord if it weren't for the fact that they were secluded in Fungal Wastes

It wasn't long before he realized that this mantis was looking for him and when he did, a huge emotion washed over him. He honestly hated mantis meat, it was disgusting to his taste buds, but sometimes he hunted them just for the challenge they presented, they were the most complicated prey in all Green Lands, and a higher caste mantis like this would certainly bring him moments of fun.

His first idea was to sneak up on her and appear suddenly to scare her, reveling in the terror in her eyes, but then he dismissed the idea, this mantis was too special to dedicate cheap maneuvers to her, she was strong and deserved special treatment, a battle that would take her to the limit, only then would he be satisfied

He threw himself at her in an attack that would have been deadly to most creatures, his claws nearly piercing her body, but she dodged in time saving her life for a fraction of a second.The hunter smiled inside his grass hood, he had been right, this female would be a worthy opponent, the best fight in years.

He lunged at her again forcing her into a defensive stance, steadily backing away so as not to be sliced by his claws without giving her the slightest chance to counterattack. Orchid soon realized the magnitude of her enemy's power and regretted her overconfidence, she thought that her speed and training would be enough to bring down this monster, but the hunter was as fast as she, and his power was far stronger from her.

She jumped across the terrain looking to take distance to plan her strategy, but her enemy gave her no respite, her relentless and continuous attack prevented any response from her, at the slightest hint of an offensive he vanished from her sight like a ghost, in a similar way to what she did, but he was worse, because he did not emit a single sound, his steps were silent as a falling leaf and foreseeing his position was a challenge, if she lost sight of him she was dead.

In these conditions not even if she had her spear would have any advantage, she had never faced an enemy like that, but the worst was yet to come.

Suddenly the hunter disappeared, or rather he camouflaged himself with the surrounding bushes, leaving the mantis in a state of absolute terror. She looked everywhere looking for that strange creature, concentrating on her ear to the maximum to guess his next attack , but only an absolute silence cut by the movement of the leaves could be perceived.

As time went by, she began to develop a certain anxiety and paranoia, in each bush she saw six bright eyes watching her, but after looking better, they disappeared, revealing that it was a normal plant.

The minutes continued to pass and her agony lengthened, Orchid realized what the hunter intended. This was not a very common strategy in mantises but they knew it: they exhaust the prey, to leave it in a constant state of alert, something to weaken their mind and make it easy to hunt, that technique was often used with too resistant prey, but she suspected that the hunter applied it to her out of curiosity, to see what she was capable of.

Orchid was not going to be anyone's toy, she would not wait to be eaten without moving a claw, so letting her anger flow she ran to the first bush she found and buried her claws in it, she verified that it was only grass and she immediately ran to the next plant. She would find that damn bug even if it was the last thing she did.