The Dark King

by Steffen Schmidt

  "It's the consortium's order but its for me. I'll need it to advance..." Glenn didn't cover but frankly said: "Its same as helping the consortium in a sense. The thing is if we capture or kill it I have the right to make the choice first. Unless I gave up on it, the consortium then will assign one of the other eight intermediate hunters to evolve using it. But this black weaver's tracing ability is just my favorite."

  Dudian thought that he didn't see such conditions on the contract. Most probably intermediate level hunters have such clauses in their contracts. Their privileges and priorities most probably is much higher than primary (entry) level hunter's. Moreover even in case that he caught the monster alone, he would have to submit it to consortium rather than using it to evolve. The previous juranzhi that he killed was already out of reach for primary hunters and he was lucky to get the worms out of it.

  "You are too polite...Of course, I will do what I have to do." Dudian was sucking up. (actually, the translation was: Dudian politely said.)

  Glenn shook her head: "I just don't like to feel that I owe someone else. I take it as a transaction. Later as long as you need my help and if it's within the range of my capabilities, I will help you out once. Of course, the premise is that we are successful at hunting the black weaver."

  Dudian saw the she was direct so he nodded and replied but he wasn't speaking in a polite tone anymore: "I know, I will try my best."

  "Well," said Glenn and nodded. She turned to look at the vast expanse of ruins in the distance.

  Dudian quickly are the dry food. Although Glenn promised him to help out in the future, but he didn't take her word too seriously. Of course, she would help but it would be proportional to his involvement in this hunting which was limited.

  Suddenly, Dudian's nose twitched. He stood up and said: "I found the mountain lion."

  Other were quietly eating their food while immersed in their own thoughts. However when they heard Dudian's words they immediately put away the dry food and stood up. "Where?"

  Dudian pointed to the left: "here twenty or so miles away."

  "Go!" Glenn made the quick decision and ran in the direction pointed by the Dudian.

  The crowd quickly followed.

  Chapter 105: Dudian's idea

  Group quickly came to a low-lying landmass before the desolate and broken streets that were covered in moss and vegetation. Dudian could vaguely see the architectural outline of the buildings but the top parts had already collapsed. The walls on the first floors that had survived were wrapped, covered and reinforced with pile of gravel and concrete.

  Glenn suddenly stopped and checked the place. She raised her hand and signalled. : "Gatt, go and check out!"

  The hunter called Gatt was the scout with 'color' ability. He nodded and his body color rapidly become transparent. His black armor was disappearing together with him.

  Dudian was still surprised even though it was the second time that he was observing Gatt. He whispered: "Is his ability so strong that it can affect the armor?"

  "Of course not. The consortium specifically made an armor for him from the skin of 'magic lizard' which resonates with his ability" Youth next to him replied.

  He realized that if Gatt was against him he could still track him down using his own sense of smell. Even if he had no sense of smell, if he would sprinkle some dust or paint on him, Gatt could be easily identified. However, it was not an ability that could be taken lightly.

  After all, even the strongest person can not stay alert at all times.

  A moment later, Gatt returned and revealed his figure. He made the report: " It is indeed a mountain lion. It has hunt a prey and eating it right now."

  Glenn nodded, "The number of mountain lions is not many so 'black weaver' will certainly come after it. We have to be quiet and don't get too close to it..." Then she took out a bottle of yellow vial from inside her backpack. She poured a bit into her palm and gentle swayed it onto her tight armor. Her faint aroma was covered.

  Others have long experienced so without any explanation they took the same light yellow vial from their backpacks and began to smear to their whole bodies. Suddenly, their smells faded away.

  Glenn threw the bottle in her hands to Dudian and said: "Cast it. It is called undead powder which can cover up your smell. But pay attention so that it doesn't touch your skin or else you will be infected."

  Dudian took it and began to smear on his body. He knew that role of this vial was the same as when they had used undead's blood to cover their body odors from juranzhi's pursuit. The undead's blood was much more effective but this one was easily to wipe away while undeads blood was troublesome to clean.

  All seven of the coated with undead powder and began to exude the smell of undeads.

  Glenn glanced at the team of six and said: "Luis take another two and go to the other direction. Pay attention that you won't be exposed. Contact us with signals."

  "Yes," the brown-haired young man named Luis nodded. With the other two youths he quietly went away from the ruins to another place.

  Dudian saw their posture and could not help but ask: "so this is it?

  "Only that," murmured Glenn.

  "What if the black weaver does not come?"

  "Let's wait and see." Greerie glanced at him, and said, "Hunting is about patience. It's hungry. It will come after the mountain lion one way or the other. "

  Dudian thought patience was right, but it was too stupid and inefficient: "I've got an idea but I don't know if it will work. "

  "Eh?" Glenn and the other three looked to him in doubt and surprise: "I thought it's your first time in hunt. Rookie what's you idea?"

  Dudian looked at Glenn and said: "area no1 is too large. Moreover, its too quiet so waiting for the black weaver is nothing but wasting time. Perhaps black weaver is also distressed to find food at the moment. Since a mountain lion is its favorite food then I think mountain lion also should have few tricks to circumvent its natural enemies. So it will do its best to avoid the area where black weaver will appear. That's why the odds of waiting black weaver to it is small. However, if we could take the initiative mountain lion will bring the black weaver to us."

  Glenn was surprised as she heard dudian talk. Actually all that he said was not unreasonable. Every creature has instincts to avoid their natural enemies. Mountain lions too have strong and keen intuition.

  "What you say sounds easy but is difficult to do. If we killed the mountain lion we can use its blood's smell to lure the black weaver but that one is too cunning. A dead mountain lion would not catch its interest." Glenn shook her head.

  Dudian replied: "Of course we are not going to kill eat. We are going to injure it. These monsters are not much different from normal beasts. I mean we can use method to frighten it and cause it to panic and run around. So that it moves into a larger area. That way the probability of getting attention of the black weaver would be higher."

  Gladly and the other three Yizheng, looked at each other.

  "Yes ah, this is a good idea!" Gatt could not help but pat Dudian's head.

  The other man and woman were surprised at Dudian's perspective.

  Glenn looked at Dudian deeply and turned to Gatt: "Tell those three to come back."

  Gatt nodded and disappeared.

  Dudian hesitated: "Although this approach is efficient but there is a drawback."

  "I know." Glenn nodded as she walked by the sidewalk: "No need to be worried. Along the way if we meet any monster lower than level 25 I'll be able to contain. We won't let this lion die unless it brings black weaver to us."

  Dudian was relieved as she took this point into account. Because if such a sitation occurred it would be taken as his mistake.

  Soon Gatt came back with the other three. Luis looked at Dudian and said to Glenn: "Isn't it bold?"

  "Just do it," said Glenn as she pointed to the archer youth standing behind Luis: "Shoot it."

  There was another hunter who could track the beasts. But he didn't use smell
to track but ultrasonic hearing. Dudian and Glenn's previous talk has long been heard by him. He slightly nodded in approval.

  Archer went towards a rubble and got onto its peak. He pulled the string and let the arrow fly out.

  "Roar!" The sound of pain loudly echoed out in the silent ruins.

  Followed by the hoof hopping sounds the 'mountain lion' ran away.

  Glenn and Dudian quickly caught up with mountain lion's previous location. Remains of half-bloody monster corpses and organs were scattered all over the ground.

  They quickly chased after the mountain lion.

  Chapter 106: Lure out

  Dudian finally saw the appearance of mountain lion while they chased after it from close by. It was three to four meters tall. Its body was strongly build. However, it had three forelimb joints. Instead of walking like a usual lion it clinged to the ground like a spider and quickly crawled.

  An arrow had hit into its body and was giving the mountain lion a sever pain.

  Dudian and others had smeared undead powder onto their bodies so they were not afraid of revealing their whereabouts. They were not getting to close to it but following about hundred meters away.

  "In front." Dudian was running while sensing the smells of other predators within the range. If any beast came into the range of twenty miles he would alert them about its position.

  "Position?"

  "Eleven o'clock."

  Glenn raised her hand and made a gesture.

  Gatt who was running by them disappeared the moment Glenn waved her hand.

  A moment later, Gatt appeared: "It's only a 'blood beast'."

  "Do not bother," Glenn replied.

  When the mountain lion would get tired of running and wanted to stop, the archer will pull the bowstring and made a few shots. Precise arrows made the mountain lion move instead of staying fixed on a position.

  Occasionally few level seven and eight monster tried to attack their group. Because of the vial used by them most of the monsters identified them as undeads. Although most of the beasts had no interest in eating undeads but some beasts under the level of 10 preferred to eat undeads once in awhile.

  However, because of Dudian's sense of smell and the other hunter's ultra hearing these hidden monster were always found early and shot on spot. Most of the time, Glenn was to act as she resolved the fighting in a matter of few seconds and easily beheading them.

  Although mountain lion was cruel but because of suffering from a sudden attack. Once in awhile it would run around to attack the 'undeads' that were following it. It wanted to vent its anger by killing the 'undeads' however this reaction of mountain lion was already expected the Glenn and Dudian. Members in the team would scatter around to avoid the mountain lion. The plan was still in progress.

  In about two hours, the group also consumed most of their stamina so they didn't stimulate the mountain lion. As it stopped to rest, they too found place for rest.

  "Wouldn't such movements would scare away the black weaver?"A youth drinking water asked.

  "Will you be scared of your food?"

  The young man almost choked.

  Dudian took the bottle of water given by Glenn. He thought that her mouth has touched the bottle while drinking and his heart didn't feel very comfortable with it. So he used his hand to quietly wipe the bottle and then emptied the water.

  Glenn who observed this scene, sneered but didn't say anything.

  As Dudian finished the bottle of water and was about to lean on a wall to rest, his body pores shrank. A strange smell of stench was approaching from about thirty miles away.

  It was the same smell as he sensed from the carapace given to him at the beginning!

  It had finally appeared!

  Dudian was delighted as they would be able to complete the mission earlier than usual. He would be able to back to training as soon as possible. In this perilous area no 1 anything may happen as there were no limit to scary and terrorizing mutations that he saw.

  He didn't immediately say anything but quietly waited.

  Soon, when black weaver's smell was close to twenty-five miles or so, the smell suddenly faded away. It was as if its body disappeared.

  Dudian was startled a bit in doubt.

  "What?" Glenn looked to him.

  Dudian saw her looking at him but said: "Nothing."

  Glenn didn't say anything instead sat down to take a rest. Her eyes fell on the body of mountain lion which was crouched far away.

  A few minutes later Dudian smelled the previous black weaver appear again! However the location of appearance was eight miles away. The smell was very light. It seemed that black weaver was desperate to restraint its stench as not to scare away the mountain lion. If it was not so close, he wouldn't be able to smell.

  "Its approaching ... ... good speed... its fast... very quick!" Dudian mind spoke out to Glenn: "It appeared around seven miles from here...no, maybe even closer!"

  Glenn and the other five were shocked. Gatt anxiously said: "Didn't you say that your detection range is twenty miles?"

  Dudian frowned: "It's twenty miles but most probably black weaver had used some kind of method to hite its smell. It suddenly appeared seven or eight miles away!"

  "Get ready! Quick!" Glenn quickly said: "Black weaver likes to sneak attack from the underground. It's good enough that Dean can smell it. Gatt you protect Dead at all times!"

  Gatt and the other four reacted immediately. They also thought about the previous team where three hunters were killed by black weaver's sneak attack. They knew that its abilities were beyond their imagination.

  All of them pulled out their weapons in alert.

  Glenn stared at the distant mountain lion: "Kill it at all costs! Its best not to make any mistakes at the last second."

  "Yes." Gatt whose face slightly changed immediately replied.

  At this time, Dudian sensed the black weaver's smell again. He hurriedly said: "Four o'clock direction. It's about to appear! About two miles or so"

  Glenn's fingers stroke the black daggers in her legs. She said in a low tone: "Get ready!"

  The mountain lion as if aware of something stopped and turned around. It roared as if trying to intimidate. Puff! Suddenly a sharp black claw bursted out from under the ground and grabbed its body and pulled it.

  Thump!

  It's liver, other organs even the intestine and the other blood vessels fall out. A lot of blood washed out.

  "ARGHH!" Mountain lions angrily roared and twisted its limbs in struggle. But it was like mountain lion was hedged in a cage so its struggles didn't amount to anything.

  One after another, two or three meter long sharp thorns burst out of the ground and flew towards the mountain lion's body.

  Whosh!

  A ghost-like shadow went past.

  It was Glenn.

  In the next moment she was close to mountain lion's body. Dudian didn't see when but she had pulled out her daggers. A silver reflection flashed in the air and one of the sharp black thorn suddenly was cut. A light green liquid, which seemed like black weaver's blood, gurgled.

  Chapter 107: Hunting

  "squeak--"

  A subtle scream echoed out from beneath the soil under mountain lion's foot. The thorny spike rapidly shrank and fled into the soil, leaving few big hole on it.

  "Want to run?" Glenn lifted her eyebrows. She didn't expect that an existence of level twenty-six would not a little bit of backbone and was ready to escape at the slightest injury. She responded quickly. She bent her body and stabbed the dagger along one of the holes on the soil.

  A sudden cry echoed as if the dagger had stabbed into something but soon the sound disappeared.

  "Get out!" Glenn screamed in anger. Both of her dagger stabbed onto ground as if they were rotating. They quickly dug a pit.

  The other three quickly arrived. One of them who was a knight raised his spear and hit to one of the hole. The spear didn't enter half the way when paused as if it seemed to stab something.


  The other two moved closer after observing this.

  Blue veins bulged from young knight's arms as he clenched his teeth. Suddenly he raised the spear and a black thorny spike was raised along with it.

  A cry echoed and with a powerful strength the spear was drawn back into ground.

  The knight hesitated.

  Swordsman who was beside the knight quickly turned back and screamed: "fast hide..."

  From the soil behind the knight suddenly a scorpion's tail like spike bursts out and attacked the knight.

  puff!

  Spike was broken as a Glenn appeared behind the knight. The daggers in her hands were dyed in green blood. She quickly put the daggers onto the strap in her leggings. Glenn grabbed the spike and began to struggle to try to pull it out.

  Cold sweat oozed down his spine as he saw the spike behind him. In anger he hit the spear towards the spikes that were exposed.

  Another scream echoed as four or five black thorny spikes shot out from the ground. There was almost no time for response.

  Swordsman youth seemed to anticipate black weaver's attack ahead of time as he was the first to reach and parry with his sword.

  However the other youth was not so lucky. The reaction time was a bit slower so one of the black thorny spikes pierced his thigh. The flexible hunting armor didn't play too much of resistance as it was instantly punctured. Spike went it from front of his spike and poked out from the back.

  The youth screamed bitterly in horror.

  He attacked with the knife but the blade was not sharp enough to cut through the black spike as the shiny black shell covering its surface was extremely tough.

  The spike swang, pulling the youth's thighs. His facial features were distorted in stress as sweat was pouring out. He attacked with the knife quite a few times but only a few white marks were left on the spike.

  Dudian and Gatt were horrified as they observed the scene from the distance. Glenn seemed to cut black spikes easily.

  Whoosh!

  Suddenly, an arrow was shot!