MTLNOVEL Chapter 189: Caught
Jayden crouched on a thick branch high above the forest floor, the night air sharp against his skin as he pressed himself into the bark. His body was utterly still, but every nerve inside him was thrumming. He perched like a predator waiting for the perfect strike, his glowing pupils narrowed, tracking the waltzing shimmer of blue light drifting deeper into the forest.
It was close to the north ridge now. Closer than it had ever been.
Jayden's trap lay in wait not far from where he perched. He had set them at the narrow entrance of the northern ridge of the forest… just outside a murky swamp where five Tremor Gators were sprawled in half-slumber, their thick reptilian backs blending seamlessly with the muddy water. Beneath the surface of that swamp, hidden beneath the damp, sucking mud, Jayden had buried the sharpened stakes angled like the teeth of a beast. Their points jutted upward unseen, a diabolical snare designed for one outcome: to impale whatever blundered into it.
The setup was wickedly clever. With the Tremor Gators already claiming the swamp as their territory, the mysterious light-creature would be drawn there inevitably. Nothing alive could resist a chance at slaughter. All Jayden had to do was wait.
And he did.
He waited. Breath shallow. Fingers curling tight against the bark until his knuckles whitened. His eyes never blinked, following the spectral glow that drifted through the trees, inching closer and closer with each passing second. The forest around him was hushed, as though it too was holding its breath.
Minutes bled into what felt like hours.
And then, finally, the beast entered the area Jayden had predicted. The shimmer of its light cast ghastly silhouettes through the branches as it swept into the swamp's outer edge.
Jayden's lips pulled into a razor-thin line. He could already imagine it blundering into the trap. His heartbeat hammered with anticipation.
But then…
The light flared.
And as though it had seen the trap beforehand, the creature leapt.
In one surreal, arcing motion, the light soared across the swamp, its glow bending like a shooting star. It avoided the deadly earth before the waters completely, its body never touching the mud. Never touching the stakes.
Jayden's chest tightened. His jaw clenched. His fist crushed bark into splinters. His carefully laid plan had been bypassed in an instant.
But his eyes didn't leave the light. He refused to give in to disappointment. His pulse still beat like war drums in his ears.
As soon as the glowing figure descended into the swamp, time seemed to break apart.
The light fractured.. splitting into five streaks at once. Each bolt streaked toward a Tremor Gator before the beasts even registered the threat. And then…
Boom!
Five wet detonations echoed as every gator's chest exploded outward simultaneously. Their scales tore, their underplates ruptured, and their crystal-cores shattered in a spray of gore and light. It was too fast for Jayden to truly follow. All he caught was the blinding flare of motion, the aftermath of five monstrous corpses collapsing lifeless into the swamp.
The light didn't linger. It surged back into one form and slipped away from the swamp like a phantom, completely untouched.
Jayden released the breath he'd been holding, his teeth grinding together. His trap had failed. The creature had evaded the poison stakes without a single misstep. Whether by luck or instinct, it had slipped past him.
Yet Jayden's gaze never wavered. He didn't look bothered. His pupils tracked the strange radiance as it floated several meters ahead, still glowing strong, massacring anything foolish enough to cross its path. His muscles were coiled, tense, his body ready to spring the moment opportunity revealed itself.
And then…
The light flickered.
A tiny distortion, like a lantern sputtering in the wind.
Jayden's eyes widened. His lips curled upward into a slow, knowing smile. "Gotcha," he whispered under his breath.
The light was slowing now, its movements erratic. It darted forward, then back, weaving in strange loops as if its body no longer obeyed it.
Jayden's anticipation spiked. Without hesitation, he leapt from his perch, vaulting to another tree, chasing the staggering glow from above.
The beast slammed into a tree trunk with a deafening crack! splinters flying. Then it stumbled into a boulder, sparks flying as light flared across its body. It spun in awkward circles, lashing out as though fighting itself.
Jayden kept pursuit, his eyes sharpening. And then, through the failing glow, he caught his first glimpse of flesh.
A white-furred limb, long and powerful, paw-like yet feline, its sinews writhing with muscle.
It was no shapeless light.. it was a beast. Definitely four-legged.
The creature staggered into a vast clearing, thrashing wildly now, trees snapping beneath its erratic lunges. Its glow sputtered violently, breaking in arcs that lashed the forest floor with flashes of blue-white sparks.
And then, as if in desperation, it launched upward, aiming for a tree branch.
But its body failed mid-leap. The glow winked out like a dying star. And….
BOOM!
The beast fell, crashing into the earth with an explosion so loud it shook the forest. A shockwave rippled through the clearing, scattering leaves in a violent gust. The light guttered out, leaving only the raw, revealed body of the creature, twitching as residual blue sparks crawled across its fur like lightning.
From his perch, Jayden finally moved. He dropped to the clearing floor, boots hitting the earth with controlled precision. His chest rose and fell, his smirk broad and victorious.
He had won. Not through his original plan, but by inevitability.
He exhaled sharply, his breath fogging in the cold night air. "For a second there, I thought that wasn't gonna work," he muttered aloud, approaching the beast's fallen form.
Its body still convulsed faintly, blue sparks arcing across its skin. Jayden stooped just a few meters from it, his eyes burning with a hunter's satisfaction. "Though I have to admit… whatever you are, you've got an insane resistance to poison. But…" His grin widened. "…It wasn't strong enough."
As he spoke, his mind replayed every decision, every step that led here. The swamp. The stakes. The predators. The moment just after he'd buried the stakes in the swamp's shore.
The moment when… he set his real trap.