The stone left Guiteng's hand and flew towards the eerie sound. No, sounds returned like hitting bushes, the ground or a tree. It was like the stone vanished entirely.
The eerie laughter sound stopped as if it wasn't there.
"Guiteng, get on the horse. We need to leave now."
From the darkness of the forest. Wolves came out surrounding the camp.
The wolves' fur reflects some of the silver moonlight. There was a bigger wolf among them, it looked like it was the leader among them. They look like something was wrong with them.
There was blood on the top of their heads. It looked like it was an injury. Blood dripped from their heads.
The three wolves circle the camp.
Guiteng rushed towards the horses.
Kheeekhhhhhhh
The eerie sound came back, it sounded as if it had a vocal cord which was taken from an animal or human and attached to the creature, giving air into it producing that sound.
The horses spun out of control and kicked Guiteng with its leg.
Luckily, it didn't hit. Guiteng let go off the horse reins and fell down on the ground.
The horses frantically ran away from the camp.
Surprisingly, the wolves didn't attack the horses. It was as if they only wanted the humans.
The wolves had surrounded the camp.
There was no left to run, behind them was the cliff wall, and in front was the wolves.
Their escape was cut off, it was either fight or death.
The situation was looking grim.
The bandit boss thought, 'If it is only wolves, it is manageable, but my concern is the creature in the forest.'
The wolves closed the distance slowly.
'Huhh?'
The bandit boss noticed the blood on the wolves' heads.
'Weird!'
He focused on their movement and found something which was odd.
Their movement were stiff, their heads were tilted, and their steps were jerky.
The wolves didn't look like they were moving naturally. No natural movement was there. It looked like they were puppets and were controlled by a marionette of strings.
'They are being controlled!'
And he had a hunch who was controlling the wolves.
The bandit boss yelled at Guiteng without leaving his focus on the wolves.
"Guiteng, get yourself together. Give a weapon to that fat pig. We need to survive this disaster together."
Any typical bandit would have thought of leaving them behind and surviving only himself. But he chose to fight together.
The reply from Guiteng confuses him even more.
"Boss, I can't see that pig anywhere. It's as if he vanished into thin air. It's only us two left." Guiteng said in a frantic voice.
Multiple thoughts spawn in the boss's mind.
'Many things happened today, two of my men didn't return. A creature coming after us. Now the fat pig has disappeared. I let go of his rope while preparing myself. This is my mistake'
The wolves quickly launched towards them.
One wolf launched at the bandit boss. It was bigger than the rest.
The bandit boss, with his quick movement, gave a horizontal slash at the incoming wolf.
Swish!
The sabre cut the wolf's belly with a clean cut.
The wolf fell on the ground like a sandbag.
Thud!
He turned and looked at Guiteng to see how he was doing.
Two wolves launched at Guiteng.
Guiteng was afraid, but he was keeping himself in control because he trusted his brother-in-law. He thought they would survive this disaster as long as his brother-in-law was there. Because he thought his brother-in-law was special.
When he was small, he wanted to become someone like him, but as he grew up, his desire changed to become someone who could fight and stand beside him.
So he trained hard to fulfil his dream. He had some experience in fighting.
He kept his calm and readied his stand.
But he didn't know there was a creature lurking in the darkness.
Guiteng used his left arm as a shield, while his right hand had a blade of arm length.
One wolf bit Guiteng's arm, which was acting as a shield. Its body was stabbed by the blade Guiteng was holding.
Because of the inertia of the launch, Guiteng fell on the ground with the wolf biting his left arm on top of him.
Thud!
"Aaahh" Guiteng scream in agony.
Even with the blade in its chest, it was still biting, trying to tear off the flesh from him.
It was as if it didn't feel pain. It was as if a puppet were trying to accomplish its master's goal, even if it got hurt, even if its limbs were lost in the process.
The other wolf quickly launched at him while he was down. It bit Guiteng's neck, and the wolf with its massive bite force bit Guiteng's neck and shook its head. As if trying to tear down the meat.
Guiteng couldn't stop the other wolf from biting his neck as both of his hands were currently tied down.
He kicked the wolf, which was biting his arm, and threw the wolf away.
He grabbed the throat of the beast, pinning him down, driving his blade deep into its throat and slicing outward.
Squelch!
The blade sliced through the neck, severing the wolf's head with the rest of its body.
But the wolf's head was still biting, trying to tear off the Guiteng's neck, but it had no neck to get the extra force needed to tear it off.
Guiteng use both of his hands to force open the wolf's mouth. He screamed in agony, he was in pain. He was still fighting because of the adrenaline.
He took the wolf's neck and threw it away. Blood dripped from both his arm and neck. He could do something about his arm, but not his neck.
Blood was dripping nonstop from his neck since an injury to the neck is fatal.
He clutched his neck as if trying to block the blood from going out.
But he knew it was too late.
Guiteng was getting mind black out. He was losing so much blood, which is needed to keep his brain and eyes functioning normally.
He turned and took one last look at the bandit boss. He saw his brother-in-law looking at him.
Guiteng smiled and said in a small voice, "I am sorry, Brother-in-law, please.. take care of my sister."
Guiteng with his last words, he black out and fell on the ground with his back on the ground.
He has never called his brother-in-law as brother-in-law during mission times. He always call him Boss as a way of showing respect.
The bandit boss saw Guiteng falling on the ground. Guiteng's death impacted him hard. He was saddened by it.
It happened so fast that he couldn't do anything to save him.
Right after he dealt with the big wolf and turned to look at Guiteng, he saw Guiteng clutching his neck.
Hearing Guiteng call him "Brother-in-law" with his dying breath cut deeper than any blade. But he didn't let his grief sadden him because his fight was not yet finished.