The Dark King

by Steffen Schmidt

  Dudian saw the hope in her eyes so he softly said: "OK."

  Jenny could not help but rejoice and cling to him. She burried her head in his arms: "After we become judges we will fight bad guys together. We will be together everyday until we die."

  Dudian's heart was full of longing as he heard her words. He was falling in love more and more with the girl. Moreover, he also didn't want to face the life outside the giant wall. He was even reluctant to practice archery. He was thinking about her all the time. It was difficult to concentrate. He wanted to accompany her every day, look at her non-stop. He wished everything would go like that till they died.

  Since six months ago when they confessed to each other, Dudian would go to magistrate's building after the training. He would accompany Jenny back to home. On Jenny's holidays, he would leave to to be with her and to play with her.

  He found himself tired of boring archery practice. Even the alchemy factory which was ready was abandoned by him. It had been long time that he didn't go back to visit.

  The ideals and ambitions that he had already disappeard. Dudian was feeling tired. He just wanted to be with her but nothing else.

  "In a few days my father will give you the task. You should go back and prepare. I don't want to bother you" Jenny raised her head and said to Dudian.

  Dudian smiled: "You're quite sensible."

  "Of course," Jenny replied.

  Dudian also felt that he needed to properly prepare for the job. Since the other gave him this opportunity, he would have to take advantage of it. If the task would be beyond his reach then he would refude. But if there were slight difficulties he was willing to struggle to get Jenny's father's approval. He wanted to prove him that he was worthy for him to be trusted with Jenny for a lifetime!

  ...

  ...

  Two days later.

  Dudian received the notice. He was assigned to the third team to perform a task outside the giant wall.

  Task content: Behead two ghouls from area no 2.

  "Ghoul!" Dudian's brows wrinlked as he saw the content of the task. He was rapidly analysing the information: "Captain of the third team is an intermediate hunter. The ghouls are graded as a level 18 monsters. The captain should be able to resist one or two... If the rest of the team including me would grasp the opportunuties there should be 60 percent possibility for us to be successful."

  During the last year Dudian had already taken the time to read the monster atlas of the world outside the giant wall. The atlas had simple information about variety of monsters. Based on that information there was an assessment regarding their hunting levels.

  In the early days the information on atlas and monster's actual combat power would deviate, but as the time passed the deviation had become very small. Basically, the hunting level assessed by the atlas would not deviate more than a level with the actual monster.

  Dudian decided to go with the implementation of the task.

  Although it was going to be difficult, but not without hope.

  After all, there was fortress on the area no 7 too. He would be able to pick up a lot of materials worth money. Basically, he wasn't going to leave anything.

  Dudian came to the collection hall in the hunter headquarters. He found members of the third team. Total of four hunter, counting him in there were 5. It was a standard team size. In general each teach must have one knight or defensive warrior. The remaining vacancies were free to be filled with different hunter types.

  "Are you Dudian?" A tall young man took the initiate to ask.

  Dudian apologized: "Sorry, I'm late."

  A 20 year old female who was carrying a crossbow saw that Dudian was a newcomer and commented: "Were the people above drunk when they picked the hunters? Its an 'intermediate' level task, a lot of risk factors are involved and they have sent a rookie!"

  "Captain, is there anything wrong with the appointment?" Another warrior carrying a sword said his point of view. Most of the swordsmen were defensive type, rather than the attack type ones like Linda.

  "Decision was made by the upper level. Its not open for discussion, get ready to start." Tall young hunter waved his hand to prevent both of them from further talks. He looked at Dudian: "I heard that your magic marks originate from juranzhi. You will be responsible for tracking ghouls!"

  Dudian nodded: "No problem!"

  Female archer and the other swordsman heard the order of their captain so they didn't continue to say anything but from their looks it could be seen that they were dissatisfied.

  Soon, the captain led them towards the giant wall.

  After a few hours they passed through the radiation zone and came to the giant wall.

  Mellon consortium's staff were waiting by the underground passage and when they saw the team arriving they immediately came up to welcome them.

  As they passed through the underground passage, Dudian followed others. As usual they stopped in front of the engraved status of goddess of hunt to pray and left afterwards.

  The passage that they used was different than the passage used by Glenn and team the previous time. It didn't take to a giant tree forest but a desolate plain. The ground was full of rocks.

  "Let's go."It was appearent that it was not the first time that the tall youth had had come to this place. At a glance he was able to confirm that there was no danger lurking around. He pulled out a map from the backpack and checked the area that they had to leave to. He took to lead as the others followed him.

  In addition to Dudian, female archer, swordsman there was a short scout in their team.

  "Rookie, if you smell something dangerous to don't forget to remind us." Swordsman said to Dudian.

  Dudian's brows wrinkled but he did not say anything.

  "Ghouls are active on the northern side of the marsh." Tall youth said to the crowd: "We have to be decisive and act quickly. There would be many other strong monsters wandering, we wouldn't like to be involved with them."

  ...

  ...

  Chapter 138: Hunting Dean

  Under the leadership of the young knight they rapidly went through the rubbles of ruins. Along the way they saw some new footprints that were the size of a bathing tub. It was difficult to imagine what kind of a giant had passed by.

  Dudian traced the smell of the footprint. Through his sensitive nose he tracked the creature to twenty-five to thirty miles away from them. At the source the smell was very rich and it was moving very slowly.

  The tall youth walked down to the opposite side of the footprints and stopped by the broken street.: "We will take a break now. Dudian come over and look at the map. You have to track the ghouls!"

  Dudian heard tall youth and looked up towards him.

  Tall youth suddenly turned, pulled out his dagger and violently stabbed it at Dudian's heart.

  This suddeny change schocked Dudian.

  Zheng!

  Dudian flew out and fell to the ground.

  The tall youth was disappointed as he watched Dudian's chest where the black armor was punctured, but... ... it hadn't taken Dudian's life as it was extremely hard as if a layer of steel!

  Female, archer, swordsman and the scout were completely stunned as a result of this sudden turn of events.

  "Captain ... ..." the archer girl was ignorant about the happening situation.

  Dudian was horrified. He unbelievable looked at the tall youth. The next moment, he thought of something as he quickly stood up, turned and ran!

  This hunting mission was simply a pretext!

  The hunting mission's goal was not the ghouls but him!

  The tall youth saw Dudian running away and swiftly said to the rest of the team: "It's consortium's task to kill him! We must not let him get away!"

  All three of them looked at each other but didn't move.

  The tall youth refused to say anythimg more to them and quickly chased after Dudian. His initial plan was to successfully wound and kill Dudian at spot and afterwards slowly explain to the te
am why he acted so. But if the rookie hunter ran away from him, he would be source of a big joke. Moreover, the people at top would be angered.

  Whoosh!

  The tall youth was running at full speed. Although he was a knight but his flexibility and speed was in no way inferior to archers and scouts.

  Dudian felt that he was being overtaken more and more as time passed. He was panicking. There was no chance of winning if he faced an intermediate level hunter head on. He quickly threw away the backpack. Although there were bombs in the backpack but there was no time to ignite them. It was just cumbersome.

  Run!

  Dudian franticly ran.

  Whosh!

  Sound of rapid wind was coming from behind.

  Dudian heard the sound and instinctively wanted to turn to check out. But alarm sounded in his mind and he didn't turn back. He went to the side to hide.

  Although he changed his direction to rapidly hide but he felt an anguish of pain from his back. It was as if he was hit by a truck. His body involuntarily stumbled and he skid for several meters before coming to a stop.

  At this time, Dudian saw the tall youth quickly approaching him.

  "Uh ah ah ah ... ..." Dudian's eyes were red as he endured the pain. He pulled out the spear that was stabbed onto his body from back. The blood began to spew out and sputter onto the ground.

  "Well!" The tall youth reached him and quickly kicked Dudian as not let him to balance his body.

  Dudian rolled but seized mud and dust with his hand and threw it to tall youth's face.

  The tall youth raised his hand to block the mud and dust. Dudian stood up and continued to ran away.

  "Damned boy!" The tall youth gritted his teeth and grabbed the spear from the ground. He aimed at running Dudian and threw away the spear.

  Dudian clutched his abdominal wound and fought back the pain. Although he was injured and running but his mind was concentrated at the back. He turned his face once in a while to check the tall youth. Dudian saw the other had picked up the spear and Dudian knew that he will shoot again. He endured the fear and continued to run along a straight path. However, with a sudden movement he rolled towards sideways and hid.

  He saw that a spear roared pass by him the moment he changed his direction.

  Dudian was relieved but he didn't stop but continued to run towards the next street.

  The tall youth was stunned as he didn't think Dudian will change his direction at the last moment. He had seen Dudian foolishly run in a straight line so he thought the spear would be enough to kill him. His anger raised up as he understood that Dudian had deliberately misdirected him!

  "Damn!" The tall youth reacted momentarily. He no longer went to grab the spear but quickly came to the corner Dudian turned over.

  Dudian felt an extreme abdominal pain. It seemed that blood was leaking form his body as he was running. It made him feel terrified. He tightly pressed over the wound.

  At the same time Dudian was flustered. He knew that the other side will catch up to him in a mtter of minutes. Although the other side preferred to use the spear to kill him but the distance between them was too close form the beginning. Dudian thought that getting rid of him seemed impossible.

  Whoosh!

  The tall youth looked at front where Dudian was running while clutching side of his abdomen with his hand. Tall youth was angry as Dudian's speed was not usual for a newbie. Dudian was much faster than primary hunters, and almost comparable to his own speed.

  Both of them run through the streets covered in moss, water and mud. However, as the time passed the tall youth was getting closer to Dudian.

  Dudian sensed the smell and knew that there were three or four meters of distance between them. Dudian was already in tall youth's reach.

  So far ... ...

  Suddenly, he saw and was attracted by a puddle in front. It was a collapsed street filled with rainwater. The dark rotten materials were floating on it while the water was cloudy.

  Dudian took a deep breath and gritted his teeth.

  Splash! Sound of diving into puddle echoed around.

  The tall youth suddenly stopped as he grasped the air instead of Dudian's body. He looked around the 7-8 meter long puddle. His eyes were gloomy as he whispered.: "Normally you would have at least a corpse after death. But this sewer should be full of monsters..."

  He looked at the surface of water and waited. Around ten seconds later the red colored blood floated up.

  ...

  The first feeling was cold as Dudian dived head on into the puddle. It was deep and he dived down in fear that youth will follow him down the puddle.

  Dudian saw a black shadow swiftly swimming towards him. It didn't make much water fluctuations as it swam.

  Underwater Monster! Dudian's pupils shrank as he remembered that the sewers were full of amphibious monsters.

  His heart turned cold as he thought of the monster.

  The black shadow was about four or five meters away from him and was coming at him as if it was a hungry tiger dashing onto its prey.

  Dudian's eyes were in pain because of his efforts to keep them open in turbid water. As it got closer, Dudian was able to see the appearance of the black shadow. It was a monster which had crocodile like scales. It had six claws attached to its abdomen. They seemed very sharp and in case a human body was caught by them it would take an instant to be shredded by them.

  Dudian pedalled rapidly in panic as he wanted to flee away. However, the monster's acceleration was too fast in underwater. It didn't take long before Dudian's left leg was caught by its fangs.

  A sharp pain came from his left leg. Dudian painfully swing but the other was tightly holding onto his left leg. He thought of his dagger and pulled it out in hurry. Dudian stabbed the dagger to its head crazily.

  The monster was in pain as the dagger stabbed onto its head. It swinged it tail faster and agitated the water.

  Dudian didn't stop but continued to stab. A lot of blood floated from its head. After few seconds, the monster's bit gradually loosened. He moved its upper and lower jaw and removed his leg. However, the same moment feeling of suffocation burst out in his chest. He quickly looked left and right.

  Soon, Dudian found a hole in the wall and quickly swam past.

  This hole was the end of drainage channel that lead to sewers. Dudian opened the rotten steel bars of the hole and drilled inside.

  He swam up the hole and finally surfaced. He took rapid breathes as he checked the suurounding environment. It was actually toilet covered in moss.

  ...

  ...

  Tall youth looked at the puddle of water. Blood was floating and surging non-stop. The turbid water was stained red.

  At this time, the female archer and the others caught up with him and looked at puddle. They were alarmed and the female arched asked: "Captian, why?"

  Tall youth indifferently looked at them: "This task was given from top. Moreover, each of you will get a thousand gold coins as a fee from Burong family. It's best you don't leak out what happened today or else even I can't help you."

  All three of them looked at each other in surprise.

  ...

  ...

  Dudian sensed that the team was only 20 meters away from him so he didn't want to do anything to get their attention. He vaguely remembered that there were quiet a few collapsed buildings in the vicinity. All of their drainage systems should be connected to the same sewerage.

  He breathed softly after to let out to much sound. His body was still soaked in water and palm was tightly covering the wound in abdomen.

  A moment later Dudian sense the smell of female archers and the other came close. He old his breath as his head sank into the water and didn't make slightest movement. He feared that one of them may have a magic ability to detect his position through vibration or movement.

  Dudian carefully resurfaced again. He sniffed their smells and found that they were still close to the puddle. He felt uneasy and thought that i
t was dangerous in here. He took a deep breath and dived down the hole and continued to swim. He prayed that he wouldn't encounter any underwater monster.

  He was swimming close to the walls of sewer. Although it was not lighted at all but fortunately his vision was not affected by the darkness. After ten meters he saw a huge monster's body fluttering around.

  The other side seemed to have detected him too. As it began to slowly swim over towards Dudian.

  Dudian was scared and hastily came to stop. He looked around and found another hole. Once again he drilled inside the hole.

  After entering the channel Dudian quickly swam towards the top. He ended up still in a toilet but everything has long been smashed. The surrounding were flat. He saw decaying dark bones. The ground was full of rotten dirt and feces of an unknown monster laid around.

  Dudian sense the smell of tall youth. It seems he was going back along the same road. He had given up in jumping into the puddle and searching for Dudian. Most probably, the tall youth thought that Dudian was seriously injured and bloody wound. So according to tall youth Dudian's survival chance was close to zero.

  Moveover, the hunters would often kill monsters outside the giant wall but they would never hunt in structures below the ruins of the city. That's why they didn't have much understanding about the environment and monsters living in underground waters.

  Dudian sense that they were quite far away. His tightened heart began to loosen. However, suddenly he felt numerous cold and soft things wrap around his foot. They were climbing up from his legs and wrapping his upper body.

  Dudian thought of the amphibious underwater monster and climbed out in haste.

  Although the area under the toilet was small but the surroundings were soaked in water. The concrete had long been decayed by the water and couldn't withstand Dudian as he struggled to break out.

  Dudian climbed out of the hole and looked back at his body. Green colored snake like monsters were biting onto his body. Fortunately, the armor was enough to block them and they couldn't penetrate through.