"How??" Nuon asked Lawrend in a panic.
The catman is too far for them to attack him. He had the advantage.
"Logan, you can create more Earth Walls, right?" Lawrend asked him.
"Of course," Logan nodded his head.
"Create more so I can take cover from behind them and attack the catman," Lawrend said to him solemnly.
"You got it," Logan nodded his head solemnly.
"Nuon, do you have any bright spells?" Lawrend turned his head to him and asked.
"I do," Nuon nodded his head.
"Throw it towards the catman. Distract him while I approach him," Lawrend said to Nuon.
"You got it!" Nuon nodded his head solemnly.
"Alright! We can do this!" Lawrend shouted full of energy.
"Logan and Nuon!" Lawrend called out to them.
"Yes!"
"You got it!"
Nuon and Logan cast their spells.
A bright small ball of light appeared in Nuon's hand before he threw it above the Earth Wall. It attracted the attention of the catman, and he pointed his bow towards it.
Shake Shake
The ground shook, and an Earth Wall rose from the ground closer to the catman than the previous one.
Lawrend ran behind it and peeked towards the catman. To his surprise, the catman stared at the bright white of light with wide eyes. His attention was not on him, and he wagged his tail crazily.
"Wait… He's a cat!"
Lawrend suddenly realized. He stood out in the open and observed the catman.
"Nuon! Throw another one!" Lawrend shouted towards him.
"Okay!" Nuon responded.
Another bright white light flew up into the sky just as the other one fell to the ground. The catman's eyes were totally focused on it.
Lawrend continued standing in the open and waited to see if the catman would react.
Even after Nuon had already thrown three balls of light to the sky, he was still focused on them. It was like he had already forgotten what he was doing in the first place.
"This is unexpected," Lawrend said to himself with a wry smile on his face.
Lawrend slowly approached the catman. He was careful to not step too loudly, or he would attract his attention. He was out in the open right now. If he was caught, the catman would surely shoot him on the head with an arrow.
Once he was close enough, Lawrend pointed his palm towards him.
"+Shock Arc+!"
A thick thunderbolt left his palm and stretched to the catman who was still clueless about what was happening.
Whistle~~
Suddenly, a whistling sounded.
BOOM!
An arrow flew to save the catman just in time. It intercepted the Shock Arc and exploded with it.
"Nyaaa!"
The catman jumped away in alarm when the explosion happened in front of him.
"Luen! Are you okay!?" A heavy male voice called out.
"I'm fine! T-Tribe Chief, what are you doing here?" The catman named Luen stared at a man far away in shock.
He was fully robed. It was a stark contrast to the loincloth Luen was wearing. He held a green and wooden plant-like bow in his hand. He had bright white hair and fur. His face looked like a stubborn old man.
Lawrend furrowed his eyebrows and turned his head to the newcomer. Logan and Nuon did the same.
"Kein called me," The Tribe Chief replied.
"Tribe Chief! These humans escaped!" Luen informed him.
"I can see that. Why didn't you stay and guard the exit of the prison?" The Tribe Chief rebuked Luen sternly.
"I… I got curious what Kein wanted to report to you, so I left my post…" Luen replied to him with his head lowered.
"Idiot! Look at the mess that you have caused!" The Tribe Chief berated him angrily.
"Yes…" Luen nodded his head with his ears and tail drooped down.
"Humans, I will give you one chance. Go back to your prisons, or I would have no choice but to put all of you down with my bow," The Tribe Chief warned Lawrend's group with a frown on his face.
"Are you really the Tribe Chief?" Lawrend asked him skeptically.
It shouldn't be this easy for them to meet the Tribe Chief.
"Hmph. I wanted to see for myself which insolent humans wanted to take a bottle of sap from our Sacred Spirit Tree," The Tribe Chief replied to Lawrend in displeasure.
"We just need that one bottle of sap. We can even offer you gold in exchange," Lawrend offered to him.
After seeing what the Tribe Chief was capable of, Lawrend didn't dare to have a battle with him. He was sure that they would be on the losing end. Just that one arrow of the Tribe Chief could stop his Shock Arc. Who knew how many aces he still has up his sleeves?
"I don't care about your offer. Just for your attempt to harm the Sacred Spirit Tree, you will be dealt with the Yttervia Demihuman Cat Tribe's worst punishment. The… blood sacrifice to the Sacred Spirit Tree," The Tribe Chief said to Lawrend gravely.
"B-Blood Sacrifice!?"
Just hearing about it, Luen's tail straightened, and his hair stood on end. Fear was evident on his face.
"What is this blood sacrifice?" Lawrend asked him.
"It is in the name. We will offer your body to the Sacred Spirit Tree. The Sacred Spirit Tree will penetrate your body with its vines and suck up your blood till your body is dry," The Tribe Chief explained to Lawrend with a wide grin on his face.
His face says that he can't wait for it to happen to them.
*Gulp*
Lawrend gulped heavily hearing his explanation.
Forget about worrying about death in Aezel's hands. It would be 1000 times better than being sucked dry to death.
"Human, surrender and I will make it painless for you," The Tribe Chief said to him calmly.
"L-Lawrend…"
Nuon and Logan looked at Lawrend with worry on their faces. They don't want to die in this place.
"...What do we have to do for you to spare us?" Lawrend asked him solemnly.
"We have already been kind by not immediately killing your group. If you still want more, I'm afraid I can't do that," The Tribe Chief shook his head slowly.