My Last Hunt

Old Hag

Today had been just another usual day for him. Qiao Tai felt greatly tired out after taking long lectures in the university and now he was going back home.

Inside his head he calculated the time left to reach home. He wondered whether he should buy a wrist watch after getting pay at the end of the month. But then he shrugged of the thought and instead he decided to buy a baby shirt for his younger brother. He loved his younger brother immensely.

Before his father had breathed his last on the hospital bed, he had handed the responsibility of taking care of his younger seven-year-old brother to Qiao. And from then on, he had been following his promise. He took care of all his needs and made sure that he got the best Qiao could get for him.

There were times when it all seemed stressful and he would be frustrated. He would visit game parlors and vent out his feeling there at other players. But at the end of the day he just wanted to see his brother smile.

Today was much better as he would soon get his part-time job's payment. He would never greet his brother with a down face, lest he made him worry unnecessarily. As he walked down the familiar lane, he eased up his expression.

His home was just next street, so he slowed down his pace. Taking a deep, calm breath he continued forward when he saw a stranger in front of him.

An old woman was walking the same street, she was carrying a present box while her hands were shaking. It looked she was too old to walk the distance.

When she saw Qiao walking over at a slow pace and she called him. Qiao turned to see the old woman.

"Son, can you render a small help to this old woman?" she pleaded.

Qiao had just calmed down and cheered up a little bit when this request came out of nowhere, so he dryly asked, "What is it?"

He was never that popular in helping the needy, nor did he have any such plans for the future life. But for this once, he asked someone what was it that he could help with?

Qiao usually never meddled with the needs of other people. Others had never treated him with any preference or kindness. In fact most of the time, he was bullied and made a laughingstock. It made him feel helpless. And he did not like that feeling.

But just this once he supposed nothing could go wrong, so he asked.

The old woman extended a box toward him with shaking hands, "The shop at the corner, can you send this box there?" she again pleaded.

Qiao thought for a while and took the box. He was going the same direction and from the corner he could simply hand over the box and be done with it. It should not be a problem, he thought.

When he took the box, the old woman spoke some good words for him but he did not respond.

He was getting late and if he did not reach on time, first of all his younger brother would be starving after returning from school. And he would also get late for his part-time job.

He looked at the box, it seemed the old woman still remembered some of her relatives and wanted to send them this parcel.

When he reached the shop, a man was looking at him. It was strange that despite walking through this lane all these years, he never happened to see this particular shopkeeper.

As soon as he extended his hand to give the parcel to the shopkeeper, it felt that something invisible suddenly gulped the shop, not only that, but it seemed as if the surroundings were getting sucked into it.

He could only focus on the hysterical laughter that resounded inside his mind. His focus was waning and he could not see clearly.

He thought for a moment maybe someone was pranking him and they would stop soon. But he could not have been more wrong. A suffocating feeling started to encroach him. He lost the feeling in his legs, then his hands. It slowly spread to his chest and was approaching his head.

Fear engulfed him as he stood there, not aware of his surroundings and unable to do anything. The feeling of being helpless again erupted in him, as he realized that he could do nothing to resolve this crisis.

His mind suddenly remembered the old woman and he cursed her, "Old hag..." through gritted teeth. He wanted to shout out and curse her but no voice came out.

He simply was too weak to stop what was happening, he was being pulled by some strong force and he could not go against it.

In his panic all he could do was to close his eyes and hope that this nightmare would end, hopefully leaving him alive.

One thought resounded in his mind as all this happened.

It turned out that his good deed returned back like a curse.

"Screw you old hag..." he shouted in his mind before facing the worst.

But then, everything returned to normal as if nothing had ever changed. Qiao grasped for breath as he turned towards the shop, only to find the man missing. The strange force that had been pulling him had disappeared.

He rushed to the street to look for the Old hag, but she was nowhere to be seen either.

Calming himself for a sec, Qiao then rushed towards his home to check up on his younger brother. He was scared something might have happened to him.

"Oh you still have time to worry about your sibling huh. Well then it's settled. You will follow my arrangement and if you don't your brother dies. Or worse I will kill you in front of him" A strange and eerie voice suddenly appeared in his mind.

Qiao was scared as he looked around, but no one was there. He again moved forward, but

*CRASH*

A ruthless force almost dragged him toward the building and he closed his eyes in fright. What else was there left to expect at this moment. Some crazy invisible force was bent on killing him by smashing him against the building and he could do nothing against it. This was his last thought before his brain went numb.

Yes...

It went numb.

At that moment a portal appeared on the side of the building and the remaining senses in his body gave some signs that he was not going to die.

The skyscrapers disappeared and the city turned into jungle. He opened his eyes and sure enough, he had appeared in some place totally random. What the hell happened at the moment he closed his eyes? He cursed in his mind.

Today was a bad day. Truly shackling things were happening with him.

He was returning home from a tiring day at university, but out of nowhere he had ended up in this strange situation. He looked around only to find it even confusing. If not for that old hag, it would be all fine.

"Since you are currently a zero level, you will be killing a level one monster in your first quest," the same voice warned him, ringing inside his head.

....

A team of the hunters stood outside a cave entrance waiting for the last member to appear. They were informed that a new person will join them at the last minute.

The team only consisted of three people who were wearing rugged leathers. They belong to the smallest guild of the region, and this world was completely different.

This was not a world for the weak.

Only the laws of Jungle work here.

Strongest guilds ruled over with their power.

Might is right is the only motto for people to live by here.

The strong devoured the weak.

In such a place, chaos reigned most of the time. The monsters birthed by nature were the major cause of disturbance usually, so whoever wanted to make a living should know how to hunt or how to work under the orders of the hunters guilds.

"How long do we need to wait for this newbie?" the patience of the hunters was temperamental. Bluntly speaking, they have lower patience than a hungry lion who chases his hunt to fill its stomach.

"I have no idea, the newbies are always this irresponsible. I have some experience with newbies but I do hope, he is not freeloader," the low level hunter shrugged his shoulders.

The Guilds lack manpower so they sent random people to join the parties sometimes, it was not that all guilds were same, the powerful guild has enough flow of the stable and strong hunters who could kill level five to seven monsters with ease.

"I am worried about how the experience will be divided among us," the first one spoke. He was not bothered if there was a newbie, what matters most was the distribution of experience points. They will get their fee from guild according to their experience points. They were given tokens to collect and administer their experience during hunting based on their effort, collaboration and amount of kills acquired. The highest experience could be gained through delivering the fatal blow to a monster.

Qiao Tai was looking at his surrounding, deliberating at the place and the voices which he heard.

"There are people there, right?" he walked to find a way out from the forest and see whether he could return back. He was worried about his younger brother. And this damn voice which kept filling him with frustration immensely. If he could find the person behind the voice, he would make him regret for toying with him as such.

His leather bag was still around his shoulders and a few steps later he spotted the hunters.

....

"Ahh, here he is. Come here, you freeloader. Why are you dragging your feet this way, do you want to alert the monster before we even enter the cave?" the hunter reprimanded him for coming late and looking like a lazy bone.

The newbies were meant to be scolded by the hunters because they were not accepted by any guild yet so they could only be bullied by other hunters. From level one to five, hunters were called Chasers and the people who were yet to reach the first level were called freeloaders by the slang likers.

Zeroes...

Without any level, they were zeroes in actual term.

Qiao Tai heard the man wearing rugged fleece and saw him pulling out a rustic old-fashioned sword which he happened to see in the museums. He felt the stare and looked behind him. There was no one behind him.

'Does that mean this man was talking to him?' he wondered.

The other chasers were looking at him with some suspicion now. Qiao Tai was wearing pants and shirt, a finest leather bag was hanging behind him and his fair face was clean of any dirt. While compared to these chasers who looked like they had not washed their faces in ages, his appearance indeed struck out like a sour thumb.

Qiao Tai was equally bewildered but he did not show up his concerns.

It was all a wild storm in his head and he was trying his best to grasp the facts and situation in front of him. He was just wondering over the new situation when...

Qiao Tai remembered what the voice had informed him, something about hunting a monster?

'Never mind,' He shook his head.

"We are about to enter in the cave for hunt, do your best not to get in our way of killing the monster," a chaser who did not bother looking at the youth reminded him.

"He is wearing a token already," another chaser pointed.

Qiao Tai looked at his chest and sure enough, there was a token hanging around his neck.

"What the heck, when did this thing appeared now?" he picked the token and observed.

It was shining and emitting a dull java lime glow. It indicated that he was a zero level hunter but the presence of the token means that if he took part in the hunt, his experience would be counted.

The Chasers were little worried now, they thought they could divide experience among them if the prowler might not be having his token with him.

But it turned out that this youth would be snatching their experience.

Not Giving A Chance; Is Not Good Policy

Qiao Tai didn't feel there was any other choice, other than following these people. He could only accept the situation as it was to find a way out of it. As looking around, he could barely make sense of the surroundings.

He could not hear the voice again.

And he can't take risk by not following.

If someone very powerful and mysterious was behind this sudden change of his situation then he feared that his younger brother was at the mercy of the strange voice. And this all started because he decided to do something good. When was the last time he did a good deed? Almost never, but this once he thought to help the old woman and here, he was harvesting the weeds of his good deed. What a pity indeed.

He was not worried for himself, but before his father's death he promised to take care of his younger brother. He could not let down the expectations of his father.

Now even though he was feeling frustrated, he could do nothing other than follow the evil voice's plan. Because of his single mistake his younger brother was trapped, probably in a condition worse than him. This feeling was gnawing at his heart.

Qiao Tai silently followed the group of three.

He did not ask as to what kind of monster they were going to face. He did not even have an idea when they spoke about hunting monster. Isn't that something out of a video game?

They entered the cave and could hear a hissing voice. After conforming the monster's presence they returned to the forest and then informed the guild that they were going to hunt.

It was not that monsters were sparse, but to find a monster which they could hunt was the actual problem. It would be seeking death by bothering powerful monsters in comparison to their levels.

The three of them held their rustic weapons with them and advanced inside.

"You don't have a weapon with you so keep a safe distance else it would be gruesome for us to witness your tattered dead body," the one who was leading turned slightly and bluntly spoke.

Others started to laugh at him mockingly.

Qiao Tai was already thinking about his course of action after looking at their rustic weapons. He had practiced martial arts in his high school and after joining university, he kept practicing so he could protect himself if his life was in danger at any turn.

The opening of the cave was small which meant, the monster inside would not be too large. The chasers chose not to share any other information with him so that he could prepare himself for the unseen.

Slowly the inside of the cave was lead to a spacious ground, it was all mystic and polished with red dirt, the top and the ground uneven, which would be a challenge for someone who wished to escape in time of danger.

"Get ready, we are near.." the one who was leading whispered lightly.

Now the uneven path had some signs of lime colored liquid splattered on the rocky ground. The creature inside must be having its meal or they were here at the wrong time.

The moment they turned the corner a loud voice battered their ears.

*ROAARRR*

An ugly creature that looked like bundles of gooey slime racked up one on another occupied the red ground in the opening ahead of them. It was roaring loudly, while shedding pieces of its body layers. But even so it continued to increase in size.

Indeed they were here at the wrong time, the slimy creature was angry and had started to split many layers to increase its strength. The three of them had a panicked look on their faces. Originally Slime Mud Rod was a level one creature but its anger could easily increase it battle prowess comparative with level two or even above.

This creature had selected this cave specifically because it had this red dirt which helped to maintain its body layers at the time of anger.

"Oh no, this is not the right time for hunting it," the leader yelled.

"But we cannot retreat immediately yet," another one shouted, looking at the creature that was drooling in front of them in the meantime.

"Since we cannot retreat, lets hunt it" the one who was leading yelled and wielded his rustic weapon. Apparently this rustic weapon of his had durability and reliability against a level one creature.

He could have succeeded with this rustic weapon for this hunt but with the creature getting more angry, it might not be as reliable as it should be.

Initially, they had planned to not give a single chance to the newbie for killing the monster but now, they were thinking to sacrifice him so they could save themselves.

As soon as the angry monster attacked, they cleared out a path and retreated, leaving only Qiao Tai to face the slimy claws of the monster.

It was unexpected, he was cheated at the last minute, he thought.

The man clearly said that he should maintain a clear distance then why did they suddenly cleared a path? He racked his brain as he thought to get out of this predicament.

To dodge the oncoming onslaught was almost impossible as the ground was uneven. And he could not slip through underneath the monster, as the space wasn't enough.

As the slimy monster was almost upon him, it felt like a rock falling at him. The monster continuously shed layer, while regenerating even more and swiped its claws at him. Two rock swept him even as he focused to dodge it with all his abilities.

One of it brushed past his thigh and the other made a cut on his shoulder after ripping through the shirt cloth.

It was going to be much more dangerous than he expected Qiao thought. He looked around only to see the mocking expressions of the chasers.

They thought that the inexperienced youth would die at the single attack but luck seemed to have spared him a few more breaths.

If he could still not grasp the situation then he would clearly be an idiot. Those three had decided to sacrifice him to save their necks and with no hesitation too. He could see the disdain that they held but could not accept it as it was.

It seemed a perfect plan as long as the monster was also on their side.

And right now the monster was already even more angry when it could not kill the man in a single attack. It blew an attack at other recklessly but kept its focus at Qiao Tai because he was emitting a strange aura of death which grabbed the interest of the creature.

Until now no one had cleared this cave and reaped this monster of its experience points. Perhaps they would not be able to do it either, the three thought.