Chapter 28: The Second Test (4)

Raydel and Shane escaped out of the mini dungeon and discovered there were some changes in the area.

[Unlock the second obstacle.]

[Remaining time: 0:59 seconds]

The earthquake had stopped and was replaced by an unknown new obstacle. Raydel repeated the map inside his head as he searched for the right direction to the supermarket. Then, he noticed that the sky looked darker than it used to be. It was not because night time was coming; the storm was.

Almost instantly, Raydel heard the 'pitter-patter' sounds.

"It's raining?" Raydel whispered. "This is the second obstacle?"

Because of his curiosity, Raydel spreaded out his hand, letting the rain drop on it. He suddenly made a grimace as he felt a stinging pain like tiny needles piercing through his skin. Raydel stepped back into one of the buildings. It immediately rained harder.

The rain damaged all the trees and the ground. Raydel closely looked at the scene and noticed that burnt marks began to appear on tree leaves. He could also smell some weird sulfur-like odor. Raydel rubbed his nose with the back of his hand, thinking that he had a runny nose. But he was wrong. He did smell the smell of something burning.

Shane who was next to him frowned. He also noticed that something unusual was going on.

"Acid rain," he realized. "Does it only last for one minute?"

Silence. They looked at the rain in front of them. Once it passed the one-minute mark, the message box disappeared. They felt it was suspicious, but they had no time now.

"We should go now," Shane said.

Raydel nodded and ran after Shane toward the direction of the supermarket. They hurriedly stepped on the rain-soaked ground. Raydel had already sent the Plague Doctor back into the coin, so he did not have to worry if he would be able to catch up with them or not. As they ran, they saw something moving in the bushes near them. It turned out to be another hunter that did not even notice them.

"Is that person also heading to the supermarket?" Raydel asked.

Shane craned his head and looked at the direction.

"I think so. Oh, look. There's a huge tree over there. Should we rest up first…"

He did not even finish his sentence when Raydel felt drops of water touch his ears.

A sharp pain exploded in every part of his body. He jerked and ran toward the tree. Shane followed right after him and cried out in pain at the same time. Then, the rain heavily poured down without warning. A countdown box appeared in front of them.

[Remaining time: 1:59 seconds]

It's not one minute like the last time? Raydel thought before he heard Shane.

"So, it's going to rain several times…?"

Someone screamed. They turned around and saw that the hunter they just talked about was running through the acid rain. They saw no trees close to the person. The only thing he could do to survive was to keep running. Still, his body took too much of the acid rain, and burn marks started appearing on him. He tried to cover his face with his arms, but he fell onto the ground with horrific bruises that looked like chemical burns all over his body.

Then, his body slowly… melted down into some liquid on the floor.

The scream stopped, leaving behind only the shock in the witness' eyes.

Raydel and Shane were so stunned they choked on their words, having goosebumps everywhere. Then, they looked the other way, trying not to stare at the area that the vanished hunter was just lying on a moment ago.

But the burnt smell clearly lingered in the air.

"How much time do we have left in this dungeon?" Shane asked with a raspy voice before he got the answer when he finally found the message box.

[36:21 minutes]

Shane gritted his teeth. "The rain stops now. Let's run, Raydel."

They started running again while also prioritizing finding a place to hide from the rain. At that second, Raydel and Shane both dashed under the roof of an old building. They sighed in relief that they made it in time because it started raining again. And the countdown this time was…

[Remaining time: 2:59 minutes]

"It keeps getting longer," Raydel said, panting.

"This won't do," Shane said and wiped the sweat off of his forehead with the back of his hand. "If we have to stop to avoid the rain again, we'll keep wasting our time. We may even get there with less than ten minutes left. Raydel, be prepared to run. The supermarket is in that direction. I can already see the deck. Let's run over there in one go."

They held their breaths and started sprinting the moment the rain stopped!

And immediately after that, Raydel found himself struggling to breathe. Running at top speed heavily damaged his body. His feet ached while his nose and ears hurt because of the wind. Above their heads, the sky turned even darker, looking like it was about to rain again. Raydel ran as fast as he could. He thought he saw two or three hunters running through the woods as well, but they were far from where he was.

Within a single breath, Raydel saw the two-storey supermarket located in front of him. It was empty. No one was there. He took a loud breath and raced to the entrance door.

Thud!

Raydel arrived at his destination, but he was running too fast he could not stop. His hands hit the glass at full force as he tried to stop himself. The glass did not break even though his hands hurt so much. Raydel sat down and massaged his hands for a moment. Then, when he got up and reached for the door, something pierced through the glass!

SHATTER!

Raydel dodged it just in time. His eyes went wide, staring at the arrow that plunged itself into the ground just an inch away from him.

He turned around immediately and looked inside the building. He saw about four blurry figures.

"Don't get in here!" the person inside yelled. "This place is ours!"

"Wait…!"

Whoosh!

Another arrow shot out from behind the bunker of the group that had claimed the supermarket as their fort. Raydel choked on his saliva as he hurriedly ducked the attack. Then, he noticed that Shane was crawling after him, trying to get close to the ground as much as he could to hide from the people in the supermarket.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Some people have already claimed the supermarket," Raydel said. "And it seems they won't cooperate with anyone."

Whoosh!

In the meantime, arrows continuously shot out of the supermarket, giving Raydel and Shane no chance to get up and move to somewhere else.

"We should try asking them again." Shane suggested.

"You guys, we could work together…?!"

Whoosh!

The arrow blasting out of the building almost pierced through Raydel's skull. It plunged into the ground again, its tail shaking.

"Raydel, we need to take the supermarket back from them. We need something to protect ourselves otherwise it's impossible to fight against those Local Monkeys," Shane said before leaning against the glass wearily. "For God's sake. Do these people intend to blow away all of the red fireworks to lure the monsters here and take all the hunter cards for themselves? Will the test be easier if fewer people pass the test?"

"That's right." Raydel also leaned against the glass. "If only a few people pass the test, like less than five people, they'll automatically pass the hunter test without having to pass the third stage."

"And the third test is clearing a real dungeon. They probably want to take a shortcut, huh?" Shane murmured and craned his head to see the situation inside the supermarket. "The people in there must have quite a lot of hunter cards with them. If they get more hunter cards from the monkeys heading here, a lot of hunters will fail the test. I think it's time for us to use brute force."

Shane took a deep breath and shouted.

"You have that many cards already, why can't you let the others have some?!"

"What?!" the people inside shouted back.

"You want to be the only group to pass the test, huh? Come on, Raydel," Shane urged Raydel to help him yell something. He was hesitant but finally joined Shane. "I know that you have more than ten hunter ID cards. If you don't open the door and let us in nicely, we'll break in now. The monkeys are coming!"

The moment he finished the sentence, Raydel heard the sound of glass broken from the other side.

"What is that?!"

Raydel heard someone in the supermarket scream. Then, all hell broke loose.

Shane grinned at Raydel who was panting. He felt as if he just did something illegal, but he must admit that it was… strangely exciting. He could not sit still anymore, so he slowly walked closer to see what was happening inside.

"Consider it a practice session," Shane said and looked at the situation in the supermarket. "I saw other hunters arriving here for a while now. I'd say about three people. And they even have some burn marks from the acid rain. They absolutely want to go inside. We just need to trick them into breaking into the building first…"

Crash.

Suddenly, the roof above the parking lot of the supermarket tilted and crumbled down.

"Okay, the acid rain is extremely dangerous. Let's get inside!" Shane said.

The other hunters were trying to break in. Because of the heavy rain and its erosive power that could easily destroy the fragile roof, everyone used all they had to get inside to protect themselves from the rain. Raydel heard someone screaming and saw arrows shooting out of the bunker aiming at the intruders. The fight inside was a mess. When Raydel managed to dart through the broken door, he saw someone being shot by the arrow and failed the test right in front of his eyes.

He dashed behind a shelf and tried to see what kind of bow the group was using to be able to shoot with this level of preciseness.

"Argh!"

The hunters that broke into the building first were shot by the arrows like birds that flew too slow. Raydel finally saw the bow. It was a glowing crossbow, which was a sign that it was a clue from the dungeon. His brain immediately started thinking of all the possibilities. The crossbow might have been intended to be used against the monsters. That was why it became so powerful when used against people.

Now, there were no other hunters left inside. Raydel tensed his body and took off.

As soon as he ran out of his hiding spot, the people that seized the supermarket started firing at him right away. Raydel sprinted to behind another shelf which was a great location to sneak a glance at those people. He saw an opening, so he concentrated and summoned the Plague Doctor!

"?!"

The Plague Doctor appeared behind the group. They turned around suddenly in shock. Two of them were easily thrown away by the Plague Doctor. The other one tried to stab the boss with his dagger but failed. The knife ricocheted out of his hand and scratched the boss' face beneath the mask before the attacker was thrown at a wall.

Crash!

The only left standing was the one with the crossbow.

"...!"

The Plague Doctor grabbed the man by his neck and lifted him high up in the air so that his feet no longer touched the ground. The crossbow in his hands was brushed away. It flew toward where Shane was hiding, so he grabbed it and instantly aimed it at the four people.

They all froze, glancing fearfully at the Plague Doctor.

"What level is that boss…?"

Raydel saw that the fight was over, so he rushed out of his hiding place. He walked straight to the Plague Doctor and whispered a compliment to him. A message box appeared.

[The Plague Doctor is happy.]

[Additional translation of the Plague Doctor's words.]

['Happy… to fight for master…']

Since the others could not see the Plague Doctor's thoughts, they only saw a boss standing there, menacing. Raydel counted the number of people there just to be careful. Only four people, he thought. And each of them was in a state that he could call… a mess.

Some of them stood there with blood trickling down their eyebrows while some with blood-covered lips. They all looked like they had been tortured.

Raydel knew it was not because of the Plague Doctor. They must have had these wounds before this.

"The monsters…?" Raydel asked.

"No," one of them spat blood on the floor. "The hunter."

"What do you mean?"

"Why do you ask what I mean? You guys are literally doing the same thing to me!"

"I don't understand. I don't hurt other hunters."

"You were betrayed by other hunters?" Shane asked.

"Of course! That bitch almost got me killed!"

"That bitch?"

"A woman! One single woman. She acted like she wanted to work with us and betrayed us. She took all of the cards. We were left with nothing!"

Raydel and Shane frowned. What woman? they thought.

Shane tightened his grips on the crossbow and had everybody tensed up.

"Here, it's close to the twenty-five-minute mark. I think we should work together," Shane said. "We kill the monkeys together and share the cards equally."

"I trust no one!"

"What then? You'll handle an army of monkeys all by yourselves?" Shane asked and gestured toward Raydel. "You see that? He's a hunter that can summon bosses. And trust me, they are all high-level bosses."

Everyone was quiet. Shane repeated his words.

"This boss can fight against tens of the Local Monkeys at the same time."

"..."

Having a boss so powerful that it could handle that many monkeys was a great opportunity. They alone could never defeat the incoming army of the monsters. They had no choice but to fight along with the Plague Doctor. Otherwise, the monkeys would definitely assail them all one by one.

They looked at each other before one of them mumbled.

"Share? Okay…"

"But only under one condition."

Shane raised his index finger and whispered something into Raydel's ears.

"We have the upper hand now. It's time to practice your survival skills."

"Uh?"

"Tell them that our boss will be the main force of our team. And that's why we want how many extra cards."

Raydel raised his eyebrows and was about to argue, but Shane interrupted him.

"You should start prioritizing yourself from now on, Raydel. And don't worry about me. We'll pass the test together anyway, okay?"

"..."

Raydel looked into Shane's eyes and whispered.

"You're obviously teaching me how to be a bad kid."

He turned to the other hunters.

"I'll order my boss to help you. But I want five extra cards to guarantee that I'll pass the test."

"What? Five cards? Are you out of your mind?"

"If you don't, Shane and I will take over here and only deal with the monsters in this area. It's the best corner in defending against the Local Monkeys, right? And you can take care of the other parts of the supermarket by yourselves. But don't ever cross over to our area, deal?"

"..."

One of the hunters pointed his finger at Shane.

"Look at him. Can't believe he's a devil hiding behind that stupid smile. What the hell did you whisper to that boy?!"

Shane smiled and shrugged.

"Kaff!" The man whose neck was grabbed by the Plague Doctor coughed. Raydel hurriedly told the boss to let go of the person. As soon as his feet touched the ground, he sprinted toward the other way. They all still acted suspicious because Raydel would not call back the Plague Doctor and Shane was still pointing the crossbow at them.

"Let's map out our positions," Shane said.

In the meantime, Raydel took a look at the Plague Doctor's mask.

One of the hunters struck the boss at the spot when they were fighting before this. It seemed the sharpness of the knife had scratched the skin underneath it. Raydel pulled the Plague Doctor away from the others to a secluded spot. He held his breath as he lifted the mask, revealing a cut with blood seeping out. Without hesitation, Raydel wiped the wound with his thumb.

He was also eyeing Shane and the other hunters at the same time, worried that they might attack him when he was unaware. Seeing that nothing happened, he shifted his focus back to the Plague Doctor.

Raydel accidentally met the Plague Doctor's gaze.

Raydel froze. He thought he saw his own face reflecting in the blue eyes in front of him. He lifted the mask up just a little, so he saw only a part of his face and his blonde hair. There was a scar crossing from his nose over to his cheek on the other side. It startled Raydel every time he saw it and made him uncomfortable. But if he acted disgusted, it would hurt the Plague Doctor's feelings.

"Do you need me to compliment you all the time?" Raydel asked softly.

['I like when master compliments me.']

The Plague Doctor's lips did not move. His thought was still shown through the message box.

"You're still good as always. I don't know what to say," Raydel said and noticed that the cut on his face suddenly healed. "But I'll need you after this. Will you be able to deal with lots of monsters? If it's too much, I can summon…"

['I can.']

He replied instantly.

Raydel tightened his lips. "Okay."

As he was helping the Plague Doctor putting the mask on, he saw something moving in the blink of an eye.

It was a tentacle wrapping itself around his hand. The tentacle raised itself up and hit the mask of the Plague Doctor. 'Slap!' At the same time, Raydel heard a voice in his head. It was Cthulhu and he sounded very upset.

'Annoying.'