A Cub to raise

*Hwwrww* The beast's growl caused everyone in the room to shiver in fear involuntarily. Those that had tried to charge it now cowered instead, too scared to even move.

[Fear status, immobile for 3 seconds,] resounded the voice in everyone's head.

The beast's eyes became blue streaks as in ran in the darkness of the cave, slashing off the heads of everyone it passed by.

Right as it was about to reach Judith the fear effect wore off, allowing her to dodge, but just by a hair. A thin line of blood appeared on her neck where the tip of the beast's claw's had scratched her.

"What the fuck. I never heard of a fear effect before," shouted Judith, out of breath as the thought that she had nearly lost her life overcame her.

"Mackenzie move back. I knew there was something off about her," shouted Frederick as soon as the status effect wore off him.

"W-what's going on?" asked Mackenzie, surprised by Frederick's sudden outburst.

"It's her. The one feigning fragility. Her shivering, her tone, her way of speaking, all of it. It's all fake," shouted Frederick, checking the cooldown time for his summon.

'Fuck, 2 minutes,' thought Frederick as he slowly backed away from Ria and her group.

"W-what is he talking about?" asked Clare, her voice shakier as she slowly hid behind Ria, feigning genuine fear.

'Frederick Kruger. Our files say he acted as a psychologist before all this happened. The woman behind him is his younger sister, Mackenzie Kruger. Of all the Guild Captains he is probably the smartest and craftiest. However, I don't get what he would gain by accusing one of my men,' thought Ria, as she turned her head, shifting between the fight with the beast and the scene in front of her.

'Fuck, how did he figure me out,' thought Clare as she pulled her blood-stained knife out of her sleeve. Ready to kill Ria if she began to suspect her.

"I don't know what you hope to gain, but accusing one of my people of your missing men will get you nowhere," replied Ria, sparks jumping off her fingertips.

'There's no way Clare did it,' she thought inwardly. The thought of Clare being a murderer just seemed so bizarre.

Meanwhile, the beast was once again cornered. The status effect it had just used took a lot out of it. Its breathing sounded labored, and its blue eyes seemed dimmer.

"It's ov-" before Judith could finish her sentence the sound of a gun being fired echoed throughout the cave.

[The Hunter speaks to you.] announced an autonomous voice as a blue portal appeared in front of the raid members.

"Well done white huntress. I had faith that you would be the one to hunt the shadow runner," said a low guttural voice from behind everyone, two gleaming red eyes floating in the darkness.

Everyone in the cave remained silent, fear causing even their hearts to beat more quietly as they turned to look at the orc behind them.

"Fret not. Your task is done, and your rewards shall be given to you. Come back once you are powerful enough to hunt me. Release me from my prison," said the beast before disappearing into the darkness of the cave.

[Rewards shall be handed out based on contribution.] said the autonomous voice as glowing items of different colors appeared in front of all those present.

In front of Judith floated a greatsword, the same greatsword that the orc beast had wielded.

"It seems that even if you stole my kill, the system knows who the highest contributor was," laughed Judith, taking pride in the fact that from all the items she could see, hers was by far the largest.

Everyone in the room had gained something, regardless of how little they contributed to the raid, everyone except Tesse.

No glowing object floated in front of Tesse, a sense of failure washed over her. The thought of failing her master made her fall to her knees, her sniper falling down beside her.

"It seems the system's anti-cheat is working," laughed the other members of the Riot Guild as they walked through the portal. Happy that their sacrifices were not in vain.

"Stay away from us," warned Ria, her sparks now jumping to the ground, ready to strike.

"I won't forget this," said Frederick as he backed away into the portal slowly, making sure to keep an eye on Clare's silhouette.

'Sucker,' laughed Clare inwardly as she removed a piece of flesh from in between her teeth, the cover of the dark hiding her from everyone's view.

"Arena, no," whispered Amos, stopping Arena from charging at Ria's group.

"There's no way we can take on Ria here. We don't want to make an enemy of the government officials just yet," warned Amos as Ria and her group passed through the portal as well.

"An explanation will be expected later on today. Assuming of course your contract isn't already terminated," said Amos as he passed by Tesse, walking towards the portal.

"Kukk," grunted Arena, too angry to even look at Tesse.

Tesse was left alone in the darkness, her failure too overbearing for her to even pick herself up.

"Huh? What is that?" whispered Tesse as she saw two blue eyes hover over the silhouette of the beast's corpse.

"That is your prize," replied a low guttural voice.

"For killing its mother, it is now your burden to bare." said the voice before going silent once again.

[Shadow Runner pup has been added to the list of companions,] said the voice in Tesse's head as the two blue eyes looked to her.

The two eyes began approaching her, moving up and down as it did. Its little footsteps but a faint sound as it approached her.

"A pup?" whispered Tesse to herself as the cub began trying to climb on top of her.

*Nii?* meowed the cub, as if asking who Tesse was.

***