The Dark King

by Steffen Schmidt

  "Rare monster?" Dudian thought of the the juranzhi that he had killed. Is the new monster same as that beast? He continued: "Is it alright if I go to residential district?"

  "Of course not!" Young instructor continued to walk: " It is very urgent. We will be going to castle's hall for them to get you. Others should have arrived by now." He grabbed Dudian's hand and began to run without giving further explanation.

  Dudian was anxious as everything happened in haste. He couldn't figure out how to get the bombs as they were big part of his self-defense. He was concerned about his own safety because he wasn't sure he could protect himself with bare hands and new archery skills.

  Both of them passed across the river and came to the other side of the territory. Castle was colored in black. There was a gloomy atmosphere which surrounded it.

  Young instructor brought Dudian to the castle: "Go fast, they are waiting for you inside, I'll get some dry food for you!"

  Dudian's heart sank. He turned around, took a deep breath and went into the castle.

  Guards at the door opened them as they saw Dudian coming over.

  There were six figures in the dimly lit room of the castle. Four men and two women were chatting when the door opened. They looked over.

  "Is this little guy?" Asked one of them.

  Another youth replied: "I heard he was a scavenger and by some luck got his hands on magic marks."

  There was a woman in her early twenties which had white skin. She looked beautiful. She was wearing set of tight-fitting black hunter armor. She glanced at Dudian and commanded: "Immediately put on your armor. We are leaving!"

  Dudian felt that the woman was familiar. He remembered that when he had just become a scavenger he was invited to a party held by an aristocrat. He had seen two hunters back then and the woman was one of them. Presumably, she and the other youth were the top two strongest hunters of the consortium. No wonder, the nobility were taking the initiative to talk them and their attitude was extremely friendly.

  "Yes." Dudian answered. There were pile of black armor sets stacked on the chair. He took them and found the one consistent with his height.

  In addition to armor, there was a black bow.

  Fully armed, Dudian said to the woman: "I'm ready."

  Woman nodded slightly as she saw Dudian's efficiency and turned towards the others: " 'Black weaver' has appeared. We gotta do everything we can to catch it. Letting it slip away is not an option. Am I clear?"

  "Yes!" The other five stood at attention.

  Glenn nodded and waved: "Let's begin!"

  The front door of the hall opened. They went outside to see a dozen or so black horses which had simple helmet and armor on them to prevent radiation and the other small monsters to bite them.

  Although the radiation and monsters within the giant wall couldn't be compared to the ones outside but it was still extremely dangerous. But hunters were not responsible for cleaning the area inside the giant wall but it fall under Holy Church and army's jurisdiction.

  All of them rolled up and launched.

  Dudian saw that instructor haven't brought any dry food so he gave up on him. He got onto the horse and seven of them immediately left the area towards the giant wall.

  After passing out of the commercial district they went into the radiation zone.

  Occasionally they met beasts that were affected by the radiation. There were pythons coiled in the roadside or small group of scattered wolves. The radiation had affected them in the wilderness so their bodies had slight mutations. Some parts had strange growth which was unusual for normal animals.

  These hungry beasts were about to rush at them but Glenn did nothing but snorted. Hungry beasts were scared and scattered quickly, as if they had faced a dangerous foe.

  Dudian was not surprised as he knew that it was the result of Glenn's magic marks. Human's can't intimidate beasts. Especially hungry beasts who would attack at first sight. Hunters were like monsters dressed in human skin so for a normal monster from the giant wall to prey no them was nothing but a joke!

  Soon, everyone came to the giant wall.

  "You came, the passage has been opened to you." Middle-aged man wearing Mellon consortium clothing stood before the giant wall.

  Glenn nodded to him and dismounted. She was the first to enter the underground passage.

  As soon as they entered the underground passage Glenn and the other five instantly stopped and began to pray to the goddess depicted on the wall. Because of the emergency the prayer was symbolic and took a moment or so. Then they quickly walked along the passage.

  Dudian looked at the pictures of the goddesses but didn't pray. He followed after the team.

  They reached to the other side of the giant wall.

  Dudian found out that the entrance which they used this time was different from the previous one which he had used. It should be another passage controlled by the consortium. As this time when they went out, it was not plain area but there were trees which were more than 20 meters high. The trees looked like poplar but without branches and leaves.

  Glenn went into the forest.

  The others followed, keeping Dudian at the center of the team.

  Dudian suddenly feel the gap between himself and other hunters. They could easily keep up with Glenn's footsteps while he need to give extra effort or else he would have fallen behind.

  "It seems there are physical differences even amongst the hunters." Dudian thought as he did his best to follow them: "However, its been two months that I've been officially named as a hunter. I haven't got enough 'blessings'. I have more than 200 cold crystals in the area no 9."

  After passing the forest of the giant trees they come out to see a broken highway covered in moss.

  "On the bridge," said Glenn as she quickly jumped onto the highway.

  Dudian mouth twitched at sight and followed after.

  "We going to enter area no 1." Glenn looked back at Dudian: " In about a minute we will the area. You have to protect yourself too and don't take my words lightly. It is one of the 20 areas under the command of our Mellon consortium. However, it is the most dangerous after the forbidden area. There are lots of level 10 or more beasts in here. This time our aim is to catch 'black weaver'. "

  ...

  ...

  Chapter 103: Instant cut

  "Level 26 beast?" Dudian looked at her in horrified manner.

  Although he has spent most of his time training archery but in his spare times he studied the beasts that roamed outside the giant wall. The juranzhi that he had killed was at larval stage and belong to level 9. The undeads were ordinary level 9 existences. Rats that they had fought against belonged to level 3 and less.

  However, this time it turned out that they were going after a level 26 existence?

  Pores of his body shrank and a chill gushed through his heart while thinking about what kind of a terrorizing existence a level 26 beast was. The first thing that came to his mind was to escape! However, he saw the determined look at Glenn's eyes. There was no turning back. Although he was panicking but he couldn't do anything but calm down.

  If everything had come this far, then he could do one thing and that was to think of ways to insure his life.

  His brain thought quickly, although he has not met the monster, but he felt an unprecedented crisis.

  "What is this monster? What is its special ability?" Dudian asked.

  Monsters such as that one are equipped with some special gene mutation.

  "You do not need to know" said the other youth indifferently, "You are responsible for tracking its location by its smell. We don't need your help and the only thing you would do will be to protect yourself."

  Glenn took out a piece of a black debris from her little purse and handed it to Dudian: "This is the carapace of the black beaver which was brought to us. Is it possible that you can locate it using the odor? By the way, what's the range of your smell sensitivity?"

  Dodian took the palm-sized black h
ard shell. It seemed like the shell what you could find on the back of a snail. It was smooth but extremely hard. Sticky silky material was inside of it. It had dried up but it was still exuding a thick smell. He looked back at Glenn: "If it's a strong smell then I can detect from 20 or so miles. But for lighter smells the range gets down to 10 miles or so."

  Glenn and the other five couldn't help but look at Dudian with a trace of surprise in their eyes. Such a sense of smell could take him to top 5 in consortium's 'smell tracking' capacity. Dudian was only a newcomer so he would go through physical enhancement and naturally the scope of his detection abilities would increase too.

  "Yes," Glenn nodded and said, "That's up to you."

  Dudian was relieved as they didn't object him. Actual range of his sense of smell was thirty or forty miles depending on the thickness of smell. The main reason that he concealed his actual range was that he had offended 'bloody swordsman' Linda. So he wasn't willing to put all the cards out as not to be plotted against in the future. There would be no room to fight back if something like that occurred.

  "Do you smell it right now?" Glenn asked Dudian.

  Dudian sniffed a few times and shook his head: "I can't right now. There are smells of other monsters that disturb my sensitivity."

  "We don't need others. Focus on 'black weaver' only. " Glenn was depressed: "Keep up with me." She walked along the broken highway to explore.

  Dudian and others followed.

  Four or five miles later Glenn suddenly stopped. She pointed to few dents close by to a small concave pool: "These are the footprints of mountain lions... They are the favorite food of 'black weavers.'" At this point, she looked back at Dudian: " Don't forget it smell. I you can find the 'mountain lion' too then you should notify me."

  Dudian nodded.

  They began to track the 'mountain lion' along its footprints.

  It didn't take long before Dudian said: "There are three monsters ahead."

  Glenn looked at the short youth on the left and said: "Go check out!"

  The youth nodded and his color began to pale. In matter of seconds he disappeared out of thin air!

  Dudian's pupil contracted as he was stunned.

  However, Dudian found out that the youth's smell was still next to them. He saw that as the smell moved ahead light seemed to be distorted at those areas. It seemed as if a transparent humanoid was moving. Dudian asked the youth on his left.: "He is?"

  "His magic marks ability is called 'color'. He is one of the most effective scouts in our consortium." The youth casually replied.

  Dudian's heart was full of surprise. A magic mark with such capacity... In comparison to his super sense of smell it seemed a lot special. But if his speculation was right and he was able to directly absorb cold crystal, then his ability was very power in comparison to the others.

  It didn't take long before the youth rapidly returned. His figure was revealed as he reported to Glenn: "Three crocodile wolfs..."

  Glenn nodded slightly and said, "Kill." And then she went straight to the direction that Dudian had shown.

  Dudian had heard about 'crocodile wolfs'. It should belong to level 13 monsters. It was an extremely horrifying existence for him. If he had met them alone, then the result would be absolutely certain death. Even if the intermediate hunters encountered them and were a bit careless then would be killed for sure.

  Crowd followed after Glenn along the ruins of broken streets and fastly approached the position of the three 'crocodile wolves.'

  Dudian looked and saw the three large 'crocodile wolves.' Each one of them was three meters long. Their bodies were similar to a wolf's but had the head of a crocodile. Its mouth was outlined as a convex. However it had sharp canine teeth. Its tongue was falling out of its mouth as if it was a dog.

  It was a breathtaking sight for Dudian.

  Whoosh!

  Glenn's figure which was leading them in front didn't pause but instead rushed out. Afterimages of her frame were reflected as if a gray blurred figure was moving at unimaginable speeds. Dudian felt her smell fades and appear in another location and gradually fade again to reappear in another location.

  He saw Glenn quickly approach the three 'crocodile wolves' and appear in their field of vision in a matter of seconds. Crocodile wolves also reacted and began to roar. But Glenn sprang out without minding their actions.

  Whoosh!

  Glenn's body leapt from the rubble as if she was a ghost-like existence and reached the first crocodile wolf. The moment she landed before the first crocodile wolf she moved towards the second one. He wasn't aware how and when Glenn attacked the first crocodile wolf but he was able to see her vicious attack towards the second crocodile wolf's head.

  The next moment, her figure flashed sideways and appeared in front of the third crocodile wolf. The monster was able to detect her presence but it was too late.

  Thump! Thump! Thump!

  At this time, all three of the crocodile wolves fall down. Blood was spewing out from the dagger wound in between their chin and necks. It didn't take long before the ground was colored in blood red.

  Dudian was stunned.

  She had killed all three of them using only 1 move to attack each crocodile wolf. The skin on their necks was deeply cut, the blood arteries and flesh were clearly visible.

  Chapter 104: Movement

  Dudian noted the straps covering both of her slender thighs. There were two knives sheathed by the cover. Both of them were about few centimeters slightly longer than the usual knives. Their tips were slightly bent looking like a sickle. At the moment, blood dripped from their tips. Crocodile wolves' blood.

  "Assassin!" Dudian suddenly thought of Glenn's occupation. In the last few months he had heard about two famous senior hunters of the Mellon consortium. According to news that he had heard one of them had warrior as an occupation while the other was a scout. Glenn was the scout one. But she had advanced twice and become the murderous deadly assassin.

  Just like her nickname - Ghost Assassin!

  Every time someone advanced their nicknames would have some kind of relation and match to their magic mark ability. Similarly Glenn's magic marks ability was called 'ghost eye'. It had originated from an extremely terrible beast. Glenn had over the top vision, flexible body and knew how to hide her breath which helped her to get close to her prey quietly. She was a predator. Like a snake she could hide in shadows and wait for the prey to reach her grasp.

  Previously her smell suddenly disappeared which was mostly because of the magic mark ability.

  Dudian was shocked as three crocodile wolves were assessed as level 13 beasts. Their power were much higher than the juranzhi that he had killed. But in the hands of the woman they were beheaded immediately. Dudian couldn't visually keep up with her movement speed. Moreover, her actions proved that she had rich experience of beasts hunting.

  It was a fatal wound and the place where the knives cut off was the weakest part!

  Glenn waved, indicating everyone to keep up.

  The other five hunters who saw her skill were speechless as they looked at each other in awe. After all, they would have to work in extremely perfect match with each other to kill those three crocodile wolves. Moreover, a single error would lead to their death. Gap between them and the top hunters was huge!

  "The smell of blood will lead other monsters but the 'black weaver' is timid by nature. It will not easily come. Continue to chase! " Glenn whispered as she lead the way in the front.

  The other five quickly caught up.

  Dudian looked at the three corpses on the ground and can not help but said: "Their bodies ... ... aren't we going to...?"

  "Kiddo, crocodile wolf's body value is not high. Its body fat is too small and the radiation on its hair is too much. It's not worth to collect anything from it... We will waste nothing but time... " The youth at the end patiently replied to Dudian. They have put away the contempt towards Dudian because of the scope of his sensitivity towards smell.
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br />   Dudian increased his speed to keep up with the team.

  They went after the footprints of the 'mountain lion'. They would catch up and occasionally the footprints would disappear. But because of Dudian's sensitivity to smell they would capture its location and move after it. The benefits of tracking through odors was point of an envy by the other hunters.

  Along the way, the crowd met with a few waves of monsters. They didn't have to act as Glenn personally solved the problems easily. However, when they meet a level 'nineteen' poisonous lizard Glenn chose to detour instead of fighting it. Although with their team of seven hunters they could cope up with the monster but it was likely that the fight would cause a greater movement. As a result other monsters may be attracted or they may scare away the 'black weaver'.

  In addition to that strong lizard the crowd also met an unnamed beast. According to Glenn if they killed it and brought its body back to the giant wall they could get extra rewards. She had told them that it was a new kind of a beast.

  Glenn didn't want to give up on hunting the black weaver so they continue to pursue the 'mountain lion'.

  "Rest awhile."

  Because of continuous rapid movement all of them had exerted their physical condition. Glenn's continuous fights had also consumed a lot of energy. It was almost noon when they stopped and she said to the crowd: "Eat something, as we may not have chance afterwards..."

  All of them listened to her orders as one. They sat down to rest, took out dry food and water from their backpacks.

  Dudian had come in hurry so he had nothing. He was looking at other people enjoying their lunch.

  "Take it," Glenn glanced at him as she pulled out a ration of dry food from her backpack and gave it to Dudian, "If you can find it, I will owe you a favor."

  Dudian took the dry food. He was grateful but surprised at the same time: "Owe me? Why would you owe me? Aren't we performing the task on orders of consortium?"