Manhunt || Dnf

3. Meet him

My alarm clock rang at 4:30 am. I got up relaxed and went into the bathroom to take a shower. When I eventually left the house at 5:30 am and arrived at the quarters at 5:45 am, I had my face and fingerprint scanned as usual and entered the secret entrance.

"George!", our boss's assistant came running towards me with a tablet in hand, "Someone was spotted in the forest 5 minutes ago!"
"Good, I'm on my way right away!"
I stormed into the armory and took my best sword with the blue hilt. I thought about a bow for a moment, but decided against it.

I knew the forest there like the back of my hand because my patrols were always there. I knew hiding places, traps, short cuts, dead ends and more. It was just a perfect fit that Dream had picked out this place.
I strongly assumed he would be expecting a hunter, so I figured out a method of sneaking up on him. It was kind of exciting. I haven't had a challenge for a long time and I was really looking forward to fighting someone that even my boss thought I don't have a chance against.

So I was ready with the sword in the sword holder, the manhunt outfit, and another small knife tied to my leg. I left the quarters and made my way to the forest. Earlier, my boss suggested I take a camera or microphone with me, but I declined. It would be better if it was just the two of us for now. That would not only make things a lot easier, it would also be funnier.

I just got to the tree line and took a deep breath to control my breathing and prepare it to be quiet. I ducked into the forest and looked around attentively. When I was eventually a little way in, I looked for a stable tree and stood behind it first. Then I looked again at everything that was in my field of vision before I eventually grabbed the tree trunk.

I carefully climbed it and then looked around again from the treetop. I crawled forward on a sturdy branch, but I still couldn't see anyone. You could see so much from up here. Was he much further back after all? I guess I had to find out.

I climbed back down and cautiously continued into the forest. I couldn't hear or see anything for a while. As if nobody was here, but I knew he was. Finally a shiver ran down my spine. I felt the presence of a human. But wait ... it felt like he was behind me! I turned around quickly, reaching for my sword, but there was no one there. What a strange aura this guy had.

But he was definitely nearby, so I walked a few meters until I came to a sturdy, wide tree. I took another good look around before I climbed the tree again. Up there I looked again everywhere, but I still couldn't see anything. That was extremely weird.

But suddenly I felt the shiver again. Then I turned in a specific direction that my feeling told me and actually! Behind a stone, a body was turned away from me. It was just before the border between the forest and the castle. He was watching something and was extremely careful.

Now I had to be even more careful. If he was as good as everyone said he should be able to hear my every move, so I just went on everything. I jumped down from the treetop to the ground, rolled over, and stormed toward the body with one big leap.

I pulled out my sword and swung it so that it would split the body in half with enough force.
But what the hell was that?! I blinked once, suddenly he was gone! I stopped quickly and looked around hastily. My sword in position ready to attack on my body.

Then I felt this aura again, this time definitely from behind. With a little smirk on my lips, I turned and swung the sword with me. It rang diagonally against an axe pointed at me from above. A body about six inches taller than me was standing in front of me and a face covered by a mask stared down at me.

I swung my sword forward to create a small distance between us. We both got into battle-ready positions. Without hesitation, Dream rushed over to me and swung his ax at my neck level. So I bent down quickly to avoid the axe, but then he did something I really didn't expect. As if he saw my stoop coming and the swing was just a distraction, he knocked the axe down. It just missed me when I dodged forward. I was fascinated. The boss was right. Dream was good.

I quickly took advantage of this and rushed to his legs. I knocked him over and pushed him to the ground, but he quickly jumped up again and I was thrown to the side. I also got up quickly and we stared at each other.

"You're good", I said with a slight smirk.
No response.
Instead he ran towards me again followed by a swing of the axe, which I blocked with my sword. An axe fighter. The axe has a lot of power and is a little harder to block, but is also a little harder to use than the sword.

Then we started fighting. Blades could be heard slamming together. A couple of times he almost hit me, but I never got really close to him. Eventually Dream ducked and swung the axe toward my legs. As fast as I could I jumped up and threw myself over him and rolled over behind him.

Suddenly Dream began laughing.
"What's up with you?", he laughed, standing up and turning around to me.
"I just haven't planned to die yet, you know?", I smirked. I really had fun on what happened here.
"Well, me neither, so I guess you will have to believe in it", he replied before quickly running towards me again.

I dodged to the side and swung my sword at him. Theoretically, I could have hit him well, but with a good reflexive evasive action, the blade just missed his arm. Then I backed up a bit before throwing myself forward again. Then my sword and his axe crossed again. I stared at him, but he didn't let that last long, because suddenly he knocked my legs, which were actually in a perfectly stable position, with his foot, so that I fell over. Before he could hit me with his axe, I rolled over and kicked the back of his knee.

___________________________________________________

~1.131 words~