Reward (2)

'10 000 Arcanian points left huh?' thought Gray as he opened the item shop and stared at his points.

'If the suit multiplies my speed and strength then I guess it's worth increasing those stats,'

With a few clicks, Gray held 4 Agility, 4 Strength, 1 stamina, and 1 Ability increasing elixir in his hands. Without a moment's delay he began downing the elixirs, tossing the empty bottles to the side.

'I wonder how I'd fare against Miyamoto right now,' thought Gray as he crouched down to search the boss's corpse, digging in all his pockets.

"A phone huh?" whispered Gray as he held out the boss's smartphone, turning it on with a single tap.

"02:00, 19 August. Wait, the raid. Fuck,"

Gray had completely forgotten about the raid. His thirst for blood and souls had driven him to search for victims without even questioning Tesse's absence.

"She probably left to deal with it.," whispered Gray trying to comfort himself.

"Anyway, I need some guinea pigs to test out my new powers. Perhaps an E-difficulty dungeon? Or maybe a D?" murmured Gray to himself as he walked towards the exit, tossing the boss's phone away as he passed by a pile of shriveled-up corpses.

"I wonder if the Information Guild is still open," whispered Gray to himself, kicking a dismembered head as he walked by.

***

"Well? What do you see?" asked Judith as she hid behind a group of bushes with her party.

"The orc seems to be fighting one of the government official's summons. Two members from the Information Guild are engaging a cat-like beast. And the remnants of the Hephaestus Guild seem to have taken shelter behind a group of trees," reported one of the Riot Guild members as he held his fingers to his eyes as if they were binoculars.

"Hmm, perhaps we're not supposed to be hunting the orc, but rather the cat-like beast. That would make more sense. After all, I doubt this orc is called the shadow runner, and all it's done since we got here is hunt us down." said Judith in a thoughtful tone.

"Well done Fred, without your ability we'd be completely lost," continued Judith, patting the man on the back.

"Riot Guild prepare. We're moving in on the cat beast. This time we'll be the ones to grab the win," said Judith with a determined look on her face.

***

"White where are you going?" asked Amos as he watched Tesse walk up to the dark cave.

"I have to complete this raid quickly. My master waits for me," replied Tesse quickly, continuing her advance.

"So you plan on hunting it, without a plan? We can hardly see anything out here, what do you think you'll be able to achieve in there?" asked Amos, prompting Tesse to stop and rethink.

"So what do you propose?" asked Tesse, turning to look at Amos's silhouette.

"I say we wait. Fire a few rounds from your sniper to draw the other groups' attention, and wait for them to charge in first," replied Amos, as if it were common sense.

"And what if they kill it first?"

"They can't. From the files the Master gave us, the fastest person here is Judith, but she lacks the strength. The highest damage output comes from Ria, but she won't be able to hit that thing with her lightning," replied Amos, confident in his answer as he crouched down to rest.

"You have a point. However the kill is mine," said Tesse before pointing her sniper to the air.

"Wait, what about the hunter?" asked Tesse, her finger ready to pull on the trigger.

"We'll just have to finish before it get's here," replied Amos nonchalantly before Tesse fired three bullets into the air, the snapping sound from the sniper echoing throughout the forest.

***

"Fuck, they're already trying to kill it again. We have to hurry up," said Judith, activating her ability.

Her eyes began glowing yellow, and a faint glow radiated from the rest of her body as the gap between her and her group widened.

She became nothing but a yellow blur to those behind her, a stream of wind trailing behind her as she tried her level best not to trip over anything.

'I can't go my full speed in this terrain,' thought Judith as she stopped accelerating, keeping a constant speed as she rushed towards the sound of the gunshots.

After running for a few minutes she finally reached the cave entrance, dust filling the air as she hit the brakes.

'Should I wait for them, or should I go in?' pondered Judith as she peered into the dark cave.

'No, if I wait any longer they might kill it first.' thought Judith as she ran in, determined to get the kill.

"See," whispered Amos, a smirk on his face as he turned to look at Tesse hiding right next to him behind a few shrubs.

***

"What was that?" asked Frederick as he heard the gunshots.

"I don't know, but perhaps we've rested enough. If we delay anymore the other groups might take the prize," replied Mackenzie as she stood up.

The group seem to have recovered from their earlier skirmish thanks to the presence of several healers in their group.

"However Clockwerk isn't ready yet. So we'll have to compromise," said Frederick, a thoughtful look in his eyes.

***

"More gunshots? What is it this time?" asked Ria, barely able to get all her words without gasping for air.

"I-I don't know. Perhaps there's a-another beast," replied Clare, her voice shaky as she ran beside Ria.

"I want mommy back," cried Suzzie, still upset that they had left behind one of her summons.

"I'm sorry Suzzie, but there's no way we're going back there," replied Ria, turning to look if they were being followed.

"It doesn't seem to be following us," said Ria finally after waiting for a few seconds.

"P-Perhaps we should go check out the gunshots. The other groups might be thinking the same," said Clare, her smile hidden in the shadows of the trees surrounding them.

"Y-yeah. You have a point," replied Ria, before putting Suzzie down.

'More victims,' thought Clare, a sinister gleam in her eyes as the group began walking towards the area from which they heard the gunshots.