Seo Jun-Ho dashed through the dark forest. Even though it was dark, he didn’t trip over rocks or run into trees.
[Hunter’s Night (A) has been activated.]
[All stats increased by 10%.]
[Your senses have been sharpened.]
This was the main reason why he hunted at night. Players would be swarming around during the day. It was much quieter and more efficient to hunt at night.
“Contractor. You should begin filming soon,” the Frost Queen said. There was a reason why she said this.
‘I can sense them.’
He felt the presence of multiple thunder bears in front of him, and they were in a large group of five. He looked up at the signal flare, which was beginning to fade.
“Record,” he whispered.
[Recording.]
Other than the short message, nothing else happened. It was almost enough to make him wonder if it was even recording properly.
The Frost Queen spoke, “Contractor, try to explain the situation to the viewers. Understood?”
“An explanation…” Seo Jun-Ho nodded to imply that he understood. “There’s a signal flare over there. I’m going over,” he casually said.
***
Four people were madly running through the dark forest. Pompeii could practically taste the forest air in his throat. He slowed to a stop, breathing heavily.
“Huff…haa…” He gripped his knees and his back heaved. Pompeii managed to catch his breath and wiped his sweat. “The thunder bears?”
His teammate, a female scout, replied with panic evident in her voice, “I can feel them getting closer. They’re too persistent!”
“...”
They were currently being chased by five thunder bears. It was rare to see them roaming around in packs of five, but Pompeii’s party had failed to even consider the possibility that it could happen.
“Let’s light the signal flare first. We need help.”
Thankfully the party leader, Pompeii, quickly pulled himself together and lit the flare.
Woosh!
A purple flare lit up the night sky. The scout looked up at the light, looking nervous.
“...Will anyone come to help us?”
“Someone will… Dave’s party said that they’ll be hunting all night to make a quick buck,” Pompeii said.
Thunder bears were quite popular amongst Players. Not only did they give a lot of EXP, but their paws, hide, and even their bladder had a variety of other uses. In other words, thunder bears were basically money.
‘That’s right, money. We got too greedy.’
It had all started when they went a little deeper into the forest than usual. They had paid the price by running across a pack of thunder bears, and they were still being chased.
As far as he knew, there was no way to shake off the chase. Thunder bears were known to be stubborn, and they chased their prey until they killed them.
“Dave knows what color our flare is. We have also put up a request for help in the community forums. People should come running to us as soon as they see it.”
Players with similar levels often exchanged information and became friends. Pompeii and Dave’s parties were on good terms. They also knew the colors of each other’s signal flares, so that one could come running over to the other if the other was in trouble.
He tried to calm down the scout, who seemed the most nervous among them. “Don’t worry about it. They’ll come. Just think about how many times we bought them dinner.”
“If we have to fight five thunder bears with Dave’s party… Mmmm, it’ll be hard, but we can do it.”
When hunting thunder bears, Players usually went around in parties of three with their levels averaging level 70. It was possible to take down one bear with just two people, but it wouldn’t hurt to have a third person as a backup. Dave’s party had five people, so they would number nine in total. They would probably be able to barely kill five thunder bears.
“...” Pompeii’s eyes were fixed on the signal flare, which was slowly beginning to fade. He didn’t say it, but he was also nervous. He chewed his lip.
His ears p.r.i.c.ked up when he heard a voice from the open region channel.
- Ah-ah, Pompeii? Can you hear me?
“Dave!” His face brightened.
- I checked the voice channel as soon as I saw your flare. But… We’re kind of far. It’s gonna take us at least 15 minutes.
“What? 15 minutes?” Pompeii’s face fell. “Can’t you come a bit quicker? They’re getting closer as we speak.”
- No. We can’t just run blindly through a dark forest, you know? And if we run into more thunder bears on the way, it’ll take even longer.
“...” Pompeii would’ve said the same thing if he were in Dave’s position, but he couldn’t find the words to respond. He started to tremble as he looked up at his teammates. They were also scared. They didn’t need to speak to know what they were thinking.
‘15 minutes… It’s too long! At our level, we won’t even last 5 minutes!’
Not only that but their stamina had been completely drained while running through the forest. They barely had any energy left to fight the thunder bears even with the help of Dave’s party.
‘Dammit.’
He squeezed his eyes shut and spoke, “We’ll go toward you guys. It’ll take less time for us to meet up.”
- Do you remember where we met to give you more rations?
“Of course. Should we meet there?”
- If we meet in the middle, it’ll take about 7 minutes. We’ll try to get there as fast as we can.
After he said that, a message popped up, saying that Dave had left the regional channel.
“Pompeii,” the scout said sharply. “...They’re here.”
“Dammit!”
His thoughts were a mess. At this rate, even if they managed to meet up with Dave’s party, he wasn’t even sure that they would be able to take out the thunder bears at all.
‘Have I put them in unnecessary danger?’
Hindsight was 20-20. He felt his desperation mix in with the regret he felt as he raised his spear and shield. “Dave’s party will be waiting seven minutes to the west.” There was only one thunder bear blocking the path. “Let’s kill this one and run. Can you do it?”
“Of course…”
“This is easier than I thought. It’s what we always do.”
As soon as he heard their answers, Pompeii covered his body with his shield and dashed forward. His teammates followed behind him.
‘We can do it.’
They had always been to do it. One time, they even managed to kill one in five seconds when their coordination was really good.
“Grrrrrrr!” The thunder bear came running as it roared.
Woosh!
Its paw filled Pompeii’s entire field of vision.
‘But…!’
Pompeii and his entire party were experienced. Being Players over level 70 meant that they had gone through countless trials.
“Ugh! I slowed it down!” One of the party members used telekinesis to slow its paws.
Boom!
Pompeii took that chance to hit it with his shield. He avoided its electric-charged claws and struck its forearm to make it swing upward. At that moment, its chest was open.
Woosh!
Pompeii stabbed it with the spear in his right hand. It connected immediately, but his face fell.
‘It’s too shallow…!’
He didn’t have a high enough understanding of magic to use a weapon aura yet. All he could do was cover his blade with a small amount of magic. If he wanted to pierce through the thunder bear’s thick hide and muscles with only that amount of power, he had to aim for its weak points. But after running for so long, his concentration had faltered, and he was a few inches off.
He soon felt the consequences of his actions.
“Grrrrraaaahhh!” Enraged, the thunder bear swiped at him with its other paw. Pompeii quickly raised his shield to protect his head.
Clang! Bzzzzt!
“Ahhh!” The thunder bear’s electricity ran through his body, locking his muscles in place.
“Pompeii!” The scout cried out.
He couldn’t respond to her cry.
Clang! Clang!
The thunder bear kept pummeling his shield. Every time it did, his knees would buckle, and his back would bend. His ears were ringing. He could hear his teammates cursing as they attacked the monster with magic.
‘Just…Run….You idiots!’
It would have been better for them to run away while the thunder bear was focused on him
‘These d.a.m.ned softies!’
Bang!
His arm broke, and the shield rolled to the ground. He looked up with his tired eyes, only to see its giant paw approaching.
“This is where the signal flare had been. There are Players here, but the situation doesn’t look too great.”
He heard a strange voice.
***
Seo Jun-Ho scanned the situation as soon as he stepped into the battlefield.
‘Five of them. They’re the same presences I felt.’
Seeing the arrangement of Players and the thunder bear, he quickly realized what was going on.
‘One of them tried to kill it, but he failed. The wound on its chest… What a shame. It was only a few inches off.’
With that, the preparations were over. Now, it was time to put on a show for some PP.
“This is where the signal flare had been. There are Players here, but the situation doesn’t look too great.”
Of course, none of them paid him much attention in the midst of their fierce battle. The thunder bear was still swinging its paws, trying to smash Pompeii’s head. The other three were attacking it relentlessly, trying to block its strike.
“Let’s go help them.”
Seo Jun-Ho’s entire body started to heat up as he activated Booster almost instantaneously. He lunged forward, kicking the thunder bear square in the wrist.
Crackle!
The thunder bear was enraged that its attack had been blocked.
“Grrrrooooo!” It let out a roar, unhinging its pungent maw.
Woosh!
Black Dragon Fang quickly struck the roof of its mouth.
“Thunder bears have thick hides, and their muscles are even thicker. So, if you attack when its mouth is open, you can defeat them quite easily.” He glanced over at the Frost Queen for approval, but she shook her head.
“In my opinion, I think you will get the most amount of views if you simply keep your mouth shut,” she said.
She should have said that earlier… Seo Jun-Ho relaxed and turned around.
‘I can’t show too much in the video.’
This was his first video, after all. He didn’t even know if it would make him PP or not. He had no intention of showing his full strength. But on the other hand, he didn’t want to appear weak and be looked down upon.
‘This is hard. I need to find a good balance.’
He considered this for a second and pulled out a dagger. It almost looked cute compared to the giant thunder bear.
“Hmmm, I wonder what would happen if you used a dagger to fight something that big…” the Frost Queen muttered in interest. “This will be fun. Continue.”
“Yes, yes, director.”
Seo Jun-Ho stood up and stepped forward, slow and lithe. He walked as if he was going on a walk, not as if he was about to fight four thunder bears.