And suddenly...
BOOOOOM!
A sharp explosion roared out, sending up a cloud of smoke and a sharp, acrid smell. The handmade bomb detonated right beside one of the Craigars stationed at the edge of the pack.
Its body wasn't thrown into the air, but it staggered back two steps with an instinctive lurch, part of its dark gray hide burning away as several of the small black holes covering its body ruptured, venting out thicker, hotter vapor than usual.
The blast left uneven burns across its shoulder and left flank, flames licking at its body, while some of the crude shrapnel, small, sharp bits of stone that had been packed into the bomb, buried themselves in its neck and hind leg.
The beast let out a distorted sound, half screech, half muffled groan, and began moving erratically as its fur burned, stumbling in its steps as though it had lost its balance for a moment.
Then...
BOOOOOOOM!
Another bomb dropped to the ground close to a second Craigar, causing a similar effect. A sudden burst of flame shot straight into its open jaw, partially burning its dangling tongue, while hot ash scattered over its dark, clouded eyes, forcing it to stagger backward, screeching loudly, shrapnel scattering into its ribs.
This crude attack had caused chaos, without killing anyone. But it wounded and rattled the beasts, driving them even wilder, even more reckless.
From behind a tree, Shen Zuo watched it all unfold, steadying his breathing slowly, then broke into a smile that was half wicked, half unhinged.
Then... he ran!
It was as simple as that. He glanced back quickly, then took off running with everything he had, more strength than he even knew he possessed. There was no need to think it over. He wouldn't stand a chance in a direct clash, not now, at least.
He needed to run first and figure out a plan later.
Behind him, the Craigars burst from their positions, moving with a frenzied fury, roaring and screeching, still stomping out the remaining flames on their bodies by clawing at the ground or rolling rapidly across it.
The moment the fire died down, the chase began.
Four beasts, and one human.
Over the past week, Shen Zuo had been exploring every corner of the forest to draw his Growing Map... and setting up escape routes and traps along the way.
Now, running at full speed, he wasn't moving at random. He was heading toward a specific point fixed in his mind. His steps were fast and steady, dodging small rocks, ducking past trees, cutting through a narrow gap between two trunks he already knew by heart. Behind him, the Craigars kept closing in, their distorted screeches growing louder and closer.
He made straight for a strange, small tree with two branches stretching out nearly horizontal. When he reached it, he grabbed one of the branches with both hands, hung from it for a split second, then swung himself off to the side.
Moments later, the four Craigars arrived. Because of their short height, they passed right under the branch without needing to duck, but the real surprise was waiting on the ground.
Their feet caught in a crude trap: long, dried plant roots that Shen Zuo had gathered and tied tightly between the two trees, then covered with leaves. As they passed through, the roots coiled around their legs and yanked hard, tripping several of them and sending some tumbling to the ground.
Even though the trap didn't stop them entirely, it managed to widen the gap between him and the Craigars. Now Shen Zuo had a little breathing room, enough to think through his next move with a clearer head.
He thought as he ran:
"Which trap would be most effective right now? I've only got three bombs left. I probably should've used one at that root trap... I could've at least killed one of them there. But I also need to save some for real emergencies."
He took a deep breath and muttered:
"It's fine... let me wear them down with traps a bit more first. Then I'll use the last three bombs when the timing's right."
These bombs had been made by hand out of the leather sacs he'd pulled from the Frelta deer, filled with flammable material along with something that built up pressure when it ignited, plus a mix of shrapnel and sharp stones. Not strong enough to kill a creature like this outright... but enough to get the job done if used at the right time and place.
The chase went on like this for a full half hour.
The Craigars closed in on Shen Zuo close enough more than once to land repeated strikes, but every time, he managed to widen the gap again. His speed was absolutely insane, a pace his body had no business being able to sustain, and yet he did it anyway.
He knew perfectly well that a single misstep, even for a fraction of a second, could cost him his life. His skull alone could crack open from a fall like that. And yet, Shen Zuo kept running at the exact same pace.
Exhaustion had started gnawing at him, his muscles screaming, his breath coming in ragged bursts... but he was used to exhaustion, used to pushing himself past his own limits, and that was why he didn't stop.
After covering a good distance, Shen Zuo reached a small patch of ground covered in loose, unstable dirt. The ground looked completely natural, but it was actually a trap he'd set up days earlier. One day, while searching for a good spot to store hides, he'd noticed a natural dip in the ground between a few small trees. He'd dug the hole about a meter and a half deep, then covered it with thin tree branches, and layered a light covering of leaves and soil over the top to make it blend in with the surrounding ground.
Inside the hole, he'd placed several sharp pieces of stone he'd carved beforehand using the knife and axe, arranging them carefully to cover the entire bottom, and he'd tested it himself beforehand to make sure it was stable.
When he reached the trap's location, he leaped lightly over to the other side of the pit without looking back. Seconds later, the first of the Craigars charged forward, and the ground let out a muffled crack as it caved in beneath its feet. One of the Craigars fell straight into the hole, the sound of its body slamming into the stones echoing clearly, followed by a distorted roar of pain.
The rest stopped for a moment, thrown off, giving Shen Zuo a few extra seconds to widen the gap between them even further.
After clearing the pit area, Shen Zuo kept running through a narrow dirt gully lined with burnt tree trunks and shallow dips in the ground. This spot was the perfect place to use a certain powder he'd learned to make from Zhou Ji, one he'd actually prepared himself two days earlier by drying a specific kind of gray fungus he'd found growing on the bark of rotting trees, then grinding it finely and mixing it with charcoal ash and ground bark.
He'd hidden a small bag of the powder beneath a large rock at the side of the passage, with a thin string tied to the bag, stretched between two trees at roughly knee height. Pulling on the string would yank the bag upward and burst it open into the air.
As he approached the spot, Shen Zuo slowed down slightly and jumped over the string, then picked his pace back up. Seconds later, one of the Craigars caught the string with its leg and yanked it hard, tearing the bag open and bursting a fine cloud of powder into the air.
The powder wasn't poisonous, but it caused instant itching and irritation in the eyes and nose, disorienting creatures with sharp senses like the Craigars. One of them stopped dead in its tracks, clawing at its face, roaring and rubbing at its eyes, while the others lagged behind for a few moments, struggling to push through the cloud.
During those precious moments, Shen Zuo widened the gap between them even further.
Even now, Shen Zuo still hadn't reached the decisive trap he'd planned to use alongside the bombs. And even the Craigar that had fallen into the pit had managed to climb back out, despite the blood still leaking from its body. That particular one had already been among those wounded from the earlier explosion, its lower jaw partially torn, shaking with every roar it let out.
Shen Zuo cut sharply to the left around one of the massive tree trunks, then passed through a narrow gap between two large boulders. Behind those boulders, he had set up a simple but effective handmade trap.
Days earlier, he'd gathered a stack of dry, sharp branches, some naturally thorny, others fitted with small metal spikes he'd pulled off old broken traps and weapons he'd found scattered around the forest. He'd bundled the whole mass together, tied it with a thick rope, then hung it inside the hollow of a wide tree about two meters up. The rope was rigged to a simple trigger: the moment someone stepped on a broken branch camouflaged with leaves, the latch would release, and the whole bundle would come crashing down.
Shen Zuo jumped clean over the broken branch without touching it, and seconds later, one of the Craigars charged through the passage, stepped on the branch, and suddenly the spiked wooden mass came crashing straight down onto its left side. It didn't knock the creature down, but it staggered violently, blood pouring from its shoulder and thigh, some of the spikes lodging deep in its muscle.
It didn't stop. It let out a violent roar as it tore the mass off its body, then resumed the chase
after Shen Zuo, though its speed had noticeably dropped, its steps far more unsteady now.