19 Episode 4 – Hunting (4)

"Hah... Hah... Hah!"

While releasing an exhausted breath, Lee Gyeong continued running at full sprint. She turned her head and saw a several shadows chasing her.

Wolf-like creatures with reddish fur and sharp fangs. Intermediate Grade 9 Bloodhounds. Not only were they strong, they also travelled in parks making them very hard to hunt.

And right now, she was running with all her might away from those dangerous bloodhounds.

"Ahhhhh!!!"

Lee Gyeong was pretty fast on her feet but it was nothing before the bloodhounds. They were slowly catching up to her as if it was one big joke. After all, she was running in a straight road. It was only a matter of time before she was caught.

"So-Somebody help!"

As she screamed, the bloodhound that was right behind her, jumped forward her hea dand opened its jaws wide.

Spurt—!

Blood scattered everywhere. Not the blood of Lee Gyeong but the blood of the bloodhund.

Something crossed the air and pierced the bloodhound, exploding its head on impact.

However, the massacre was only beginning.

Bang, Bang—

The heads of the bloodhounds started exploding one by one. Just like that, seven out of twenty bloodhounds has fallen.

Before the pack could even register what was going on, two shadows jumped into the air and then...

Peok— Puok—!

...Pierced the skulls of the bloodhounds. Lee Gyeong recognised the two new actors. It was Jung Yunhee and Angelica.

Grrr, Grrr—

The bloodhounds growled at the new actors and leaped into the air for a mightly pounce. However, that was all part of the plan.

"It's time."

Lee Jongho jumped from his hiding spot and swung the metal pipe as if it was a baseball bat. The result?

Pow— Crack—

The sound of skulls cracking echoed as the bloodhounds were swept away into the air. The three bloodhounds, that jumped forward, were defeated with a single strike.

"12 down, 6 left to go."

Lee Jongho, Jung Yunhee and Angelica all pounced on the remaining bloodhounds like savage beasts.

Slash— Slash—

Slam— Crack—

Three bloodhounds were simultaneously taken down in no time. Now it was remaining three bloodhound.

The bloodhounds in question were shaking seeing their fallen brethren. The party was slowly approaching the bloodhounds to finish them off.

Then what happened next completely caused Lee Gyeong to open her eyes wide in shock. The bloodhounds literally cut tail and ran away.

A monster was running away from humans? If Lee Gyeong told anyone else, they would point their fingers at her and laugh. But what she was seeing here was unmistakable.

Before she couldn't even think further...

Spurt—!

The heads of the three bloodhounds suddenly exploded. Lee Gyeong barely saw something pierce the head of the retreating bloodhound.

"Good work, everyone."

Lee Gyeong turned her head to see the new speaker. 180 centimetres tall, light skin, a thin nose, long eyelashes and raven black hair.

Kim Suwon. The man holding the handgun was the leader of this party.

When Kim Suwon's gaze landed on her, he flashed a smile.

"You too. You did good as well."

"I didn't do anything though."

"No, but you played your part. That's worthy of praise."

There were nothing but sincere words which shocked Lee Gyeong. Not paying mind to her reaction, Kim Suwon looked around.

Lee Jongho, Jung Yunhee and Angelica were eagerly picking up the cores that have dropped on the floor.

It was only when they were done that Kim Suwon finally opened his mouth.

"How many cores did we get?"

"We got 12 cores."

"12 cores from 20 monsters? It seems we were lucky today. Maybe the drop rate is significantly increasing."

12 cores. It was a huge amount that anyone wouldn't be able to obtain if they hunted alone. Because of the Kim Suwon's plan, they have been able to fight monsters very efficiently.

Studying the territory and using their surroundings to lay out a several traps and ambush the monsters.

In just two hours since the third nightmare started, they were able to obtain over 100 coins in total. The only downside was that they had to share the cores.

'This hunting speed is insane.'

If they continued at this pace, they might be able to complete the task before the third day. Would the mainframe group be able to do the same? Lee Gyeong doubted it.

The monster cores were distributed even among everyone. Two cores for each person. Kim Suwon took four cores and gave two cores to her.

"Kang Manshik is late."

"Don't worry, I'm sure he will arrive soon."

She and Kang Manshik had one job— to be bait for the monsters.

"Bring back a horde of monsters. A big group around ten or more will be enough."

At first, she doubted his plan. How the hell were they going to handle a large group of monsters? Wouldn't going after monsters in small groups be more ideal?

It was only when she started did she realise how mistaken she was. If they went around and hunted down monsters in small groups, they wouldn't have gotten these many cores.

But hunting a large group of monsters wasn't easy either. They were only able to do so because they used their surroundings to their advantage.

'Speaking of which, I wonder how high their stats is.'

If they were able to hunt down a large group of monsters then their overall stats must be pretty. Perhaps all their stats were above 10.

There was no way she was going to ask them. In this new world, a person's overall stats and skill were very important to the point it had to be concealed. If she opened her mouth and asked, she will become suspicious.

'This is hard.'

It was very hard. Her mission, that is. As she spent more time with them, the difficulty of the mission was slowly increasing. Maybe she can use that...

Rumble— Rumble—

Lee Gyeong's line of thoughts were suddenly interrupted. She looked forward and saw several shadows rushing towards them.

"Gyaaa—!"

"Shyaaa, shyaa—"

"It's time."

Kim Suwon spoke and stood up from where he was sitting. The others followed suit one by one.

Kang Manshik had returned again with a horde of monsters. Lee Gyeong sighed and she stood up as well. It was time to continue grinding.

****

(Kim Suwon POV)

Bang— Puooookk—

A monster got pierced by a magic bullet and crumbled on the floor, its blood scattering everywhere.

"What a mess."

The monster blood got my clothes and I tried to wipe it off with my hands. It was really uncomfortable.

I looked around and saw the others finishing off the ground rats and extracting their cores. It was another overwhelming victory.

Next, I saw Kang Manshik and Lee Gyeong opening up the corpses of the slain ground rats. While luring the hordes, the two were not negligent, killing a few monsters here and there.

I made my way towards Lee Jongho, who was removing a core from a ground rat.

"Jongho-ssi, how many cores do you have now?"

"Around 28. What about you?"

"I currently have 32 cores. But I feel the drop rate is reducing."

My brows frowned. It seems like we have encountered a little problem. The more we continued to hunt, the less monsters we would find.

If there was no monsters around, we won't be able to gain cores. Of course, there were two other ways we could get cores.

One, we look around for stronger monsters which was out of the question. Two, we hunt other walkers and steal their cores but the group won't agree with that method.

In situations like this, morality was the greatest weakness of humans. However, there are those who would abandon their morality and become demons in order to survive in this new world.

"System, summon the time for the scenario."

Upon saying the command, a small window appeared infront of me.

[ 57 : 59 : 45 ]

I see. So we basically have around 58 hours left before the end of the [Third Nightmare]. There was still alot of time to hunt down monsters but I already have a better idea.

"Everyone, gather the cores quickly. We're going to find shelter."

After making the announcement, I began to pick up the monster cores one by one and placed them in my storage pouch.

"Suwon-ssi, are we going back to the safe zone?"

"No, it's too far from here. We have to find somewhere else to stay."

Of course, we will be safe if we go back to the safety zone. But what was the point traveling all that distance and coming back here.

The group began to move under my lead. We passed through the ruined roads and looked around for any building/house that would serve as shelter from the monsters.

Not that one, not this one. Not this one either. I continued to look around but there was no good buildings. The buildings I saw were either partially destoryed or covered by plant vines.

We kept walking for a long time and we haven't found any good shelter. Anything will do.

Should we just camp in an empty alley? I started considering that option, but I quickly decided against it. If we stay in the open and make a fire, we will draw monsters to our location.

"Hey, look over there."

Angelica gathered everyone's attention and pointed towards a building. Instead of an apartment, it was an ordinary house and it seems to be still in fact.

Good! That's good! We finally found a place.

"Let's go."

We quickly rushed towards the house and entered without hesitation. We did not knock or remove our shoes. Besides, there was no need to. The house was empty.

The house was a mess. Everything was disorganised including the furnitures. It seems the original owner(s) of this place was in a hurry to leave. I wonder if he managed to survive.

"Since it has come to this, search around for food."

"Suwon, I feel this is wrong."

I looked at Angelica and responded. "You don't have to worry. I don't think the owner will come back soon."

"Are you saying he died?"

"It is a possibility but I don't think that is the case. In the end, it doesn't matter if he is dead or alive. He won't be coming back here and I'm sure you know why."

Angelica merely nodded. Naturally, what we were doing was a crime. Theft and breaking into another man's property. In the old world, they would have been arrested if caught by the police.

But that old world was destoryed and the police could not be found. Perhaps the police were the first to fall in Seoul. In other words, there was nobody to stop criminals who were free to run amok.

Indeed, it was a lawless world. Even so, that doesn't matter. The only thing I cared about was my own survival.