Chapter 409 - 402 : Wanted

"I want everyone on the lookout for that kid. Search high and low, no matter what it takes. Even if you have to ask every player in this friggin' town, find me that player!"

Just like Sato had predicted, the two guilds had mobilised all their forced to look for him. Both in the light and on the dark, there are lookouts all around for Sato. Wanted posters and pictures with Sato's image began appearing all over the forums as announcements were being made with a bounty of 1 gold attached to the mission. 

For any accurate information as regards to Sato's location, the informant would be awarded 5 silver coins. If Sato was caught in that location, the informant would receive a 45 silver coins bonus. For each time Sato was killed by someone, the assailant would receive 50 silver coins. If they were able to capture him and hand him over to any of the two guilds, they would receive 1 gold coin.

With such a large bounty placed on an unknown individual's head, the entire player community of Black Rock province were in a frenzy with every player searching high and low for Sato. It was to the point that any individual spotted with a black cloak would be blocked and searched. If the player refused, they could be killed at the spot just based on suspicion. 

Since both Emperor's Might and Battle Wolves had released their presumed opinions about Sato's possible location, the areas around Black Grill's Cave, Stone Creek Forest and Kiro Mountains were under lockdown by various players. It became so difficult that dark players didn't wander around easily. However, some of them didn't give up and even participated in the search, using it as an opportunity to rob and kill other players. As a result, the entire three meals were filled with a lot of lawlessness and chaos, with the death numbers piling up every hour.

Originally, the two guilds -Emperor's Might and Battle Wolves- didn't plan on making the news public. However, just like they had predicted, some of the spies in their teams had released the news about the two guilds being harassed by a single player. The information went on to state that the player was the possible head of the team, Seven Star Glory, which had defeated the world-class BOSS, the Kobold King. This meant that there was a high chance that the loot from the kill was in the possession of the player. Though it was merely a chance, this information had riled the greed of several other guilds and with a picture already provided to them, they began their own manhunt for Sato.

To counter this, the two big guilds decided to make the information public, though holding back on some information. They only announced that they were in search for a certain dark player for challenging their authority and slaughtering their players. Since the news sounded quite real, not a lot of players questioned it but only set their sights on the reward. In their minds, this wasn't the first time something like this had happened -a situation where a big guild was challenged and so they retaliated by placing a bounty of the assaulter- so not a lot of players felt anything was off. It was only the leaders of a few teams as well as some slightly knowledgeable players, who felt that something was off. 

Nonetheless, they all came to the same conclusion that to find out what that was, they would have to capture this 'dark' player. Hence, about 80% of the player population in the two affected towns had set their sights on the bounty target.

In Riverdale town's West gate, Black Tempest was in charge of the search party in this location. Though the town was called a "town", it was actually larger than that and could even rival a few backwater cities in terms of area. Hence, Emperor's Might had split their forced into 4 with each team being led by one core member.

"Boss." A certain player shrouded in dark clothing ran towards Black Tempest.

"What is it?" Black Tempest said with a fiery attitude.

After they had failed in the raid, the entire guild's core members including Azure Dragon, were berated by the main branch. Due to this, everyone was currently in a bad mood and this was even so for the hot-headed Black Tempest.

The player hesitated a bit as he took in a big gulp of air before speaking, 

"We just received news from an adventurer team a couple of metres out. They claimed to have spotted the target."

"Another claim? Do these guys think we're joking here or what?!" Black Tempest roared.

Ever since the bounty was released, a bunch of players sent in claims that they had seen Sato or had information related to him. About 99% of these news were all fake and it led to the team wasting both time and resources on a wild goose chase. While those players were eventually punished, some still tried the same stunt, going so far as making a photoshopped image of Sato either laying under a tree or battling some monster or doing some random act. Chesces had stated that this was an endeavour by their opponents to mislead them and it wouldn't stop even if they punished the players who did such.

"Hmph! Gordon, take two players with you and go check it out." Black Tempest ordered.

Though Black Tempest guessed that this was probably just another fake, he still had to check on it just to be sure. It was better to be misled than to lose an actual opportunity.

"Okay, boss." A [Berserker] who stood by the side responded before he called another player with him and left with the dark clothed player.

Meanwhile...

'There are a lot of players moving through the area recently.' Sato thought as he hid atop a tree, shrouded by its leaves from hindsight.

He easily guessed that a bounty would be placed on him and while Sato didn't feat a battle, he didn't want to be too exposed to the public. As long as he hid long enough, everything will eventually fade away and he would be able to walk in public once again. But for now, Sato believed that it was best for him to remain in hiding. One reason was because he didn't like publicity and another was to avoid being surrounded by experts on Han's level. Even with the level difference, Sato doubted that he would be able to escape with his life unless he used the [Void Opening Key].

'These guys are quite good.' Sato thought as he glanced at a certain group of players up ahead.

The party had managed to spot him once and they began chasing after him. To avoid getting himself a red name since he was about to enter town, Sato didn't kill them and only managed to their the off. However, they had an expert tracker in their ranks, possibly an [Assassin] with the [Hunter] subclass. Thanks to that individual, the party was still able to catch on to Sato's tracks but they were always one step behind in finding him. However, they didn't seem to bothered since as long as they could track him, they would be able to pinpoint his location sooner or later. And it was this very fact that made Sato frustrated.

"This guy is a good runner. No matter how fast we chase after him, he's still able to outrun everyone of us." A [Swordsman] in the team spoke up with a dejected expression.

"He's someone wanted by 2 top guilds. If he was that easy to catch, I doubt he would be wanted." A [Cleric], one of the healing classes in the game, replied.

"What's bothering me is the fact that he seems unwilling to attack us. For him to be wanted by both guilds and still be alive to this point, his battle prowess should be something amazing but he doesn't seem to want to attack us." The [Cleric] frowned.

"Don't think too much about it. Maybe he feels we aren't worth him stressing to deal with us. Most experts usually have a quirky personality and I'm guessing this guy is the same." Another player, a [Guardian], commented.

"Maybe. Well, it doesn't matter. We just need to be able to track him down. Once the team from Emperor's Might arrive, they will handle him while we get out reward." The [Cleric] stated.

"It's all thanks to Arnold here. That [Hunter] subclass is definitely something." The ,[Swordsman] praised.

Arnold, who bent on the floor to study the marks, smiled at the praise before resuming his work. 

The [Hunter] subclass was one of the more difficult subclasses to get, apart from the 3 most popular ones. Due to the abilities revolving it, it was more popular amongst [Assassin] players as the subclass seemed to perfectly compliment their main class.

"He's definitely not gone far yet.. Chances are that he's still in the surroundings so everyone has to keep their guard up."