Chapter 70 - Hide and Seek

Jacob had been running around to find people he could invite to join Hiro’s party according to the criteria that had been given.

He was trying so hard this time, looking for competent players.

Meanwhile, Hiro had just turned his back after hearing someone say his name.

The one who had just called him was a man who claimed to be the strongest mage in the world, Noah.

His annoying face and expression hadn’t changed at all since the last time Hiro kicked him from his party after defeating Minorous back then.

Even so, no one knew what the mad wizard was thinking, he didn’t even wear a single piece of cloth to cover his body.

Noah only wore a pair of black cloth pants that slightly puffed up his thighs, it pointed at his calves for some reason. Despite that, he was wearing a pair of tall boots which were very useful for walking on snow piles like this.

“Don’t worry, Nightfall. I’ve mastered the Cold Resistance Skill. I don’t shiver one bit.” Noah said as if he could read what was inside Hiro’s head.

Hiro only frowned, but inwardly he felt a little defeated with Noah’s new achievement.

‘Damn– I should have done that too.’ Hiro thought to himself.

“I heard your conversation with your beloved noobie knight, you need a strong player to join your party, right? So, here I am.”

Hiro understood what Noah meant, but he didn’t answer his arrogance right away. Instead, he was diving to his thoughts.

[Level 24. Noah. Mage. World Balancer]

It was true that his fighting ability was more reliable than Jacob’s.

Moreover, he was a mage. A mage who was also a legendary weapon owner. If what Hiro needed right now was purely the strongest player, Noah would have easily passed that criteria.

But, what if he acted up? What if he messed up because he wanted revenge? Hiro couldn’t believe him for sure after what happened between them back then.

However, before Hiro made up his mind, the gigantic bonfire in that place was suddenly extinguished. Out of nowhere, panicked voices began to come out.

“What happened?”

“What should we do here?”

“It’s getting colder.”

“Where the hell is my stuff?”

Before the panic was even more chaotic, a very bright and warm light suddenly appeared above the charred wood pile, where the previous bonfire had been.

“Game master is back,” Noah spoke beside Hiro while looking up at the floating light.

“Dear Players, all participants in this event have been moved to a special venue. You may be wondering a lot of things right now. So, before you guess, let me explain first about what’s happening.”

Game Master Juno began to speak again with her characteristic and pleasant voice, like a professional storyteller.

The players in the courtyard gathered around the light to warm themselves.

Jacob had returned to Hiro before the darkness hit him. He came alone, and his expression looked very displeased when he saw Noah next to Hiro, while Noah returned his gaze with a slight smirk on his face.

“Hello again, Noobie Knight.” Said Noah, being sarcastic.

“Welcome to the Hide and Seek game event!” Game Master Juno’s voice echoed in the place.

“Hide and seek?”

“Really?”

“What does this mean?”

“Yes! The Hide and Seek game you all know.”

“What does he mean by ‘Hide and Seek’? What a boring thing!” Noah muttered, he looked so disappointed right now.

“That will be fun.” Jacob thought otherwise.

“Please, listen up!”

Game Master Juno started to explain the rules in the Hide and Seek game he was referring to.

While listening to the details, everyone fell silent again.

The game did sound like a simple Hide and Seek, but with different and more challenging rules.

All the players participating in the event had been divided into two large teams.

The Survivor Team and the Hunter Team.

The two teams had different ways to get game points.

The highest game points in the winning team would become the game-winners, recipients of Tier 1 prizes, and get a legendary pet.

The hunter group must capture the survivors at all costs.

After successfully capturing them, the hunters must tie the survivors to a special pole resembling a rocket in the game area.

But not only ended there, they had to guard them for 3 minutes until the rocket was active and the survivor would be flown out of the game area. Meaning that the player would get eliminated right away.

15 points for a hunter who managed to eliminate 1 survivor.

Meanwhile, the survivor’s task was to survive so as not to be caught.

There were several ways to get points on the survivor team. First, the survivor should turn on the fire torch hidden in the game area so that it could provide sufficient lighting for the area. By doing that, other survivors could know if hunters were coming after them.

5 points for a survivor who managed to light a fire torch.

And second, survivors could save other survivors caught by hunters as long as they hadn’t been eliminated from the game area.

10 points for a survivor who managed to free a captured survivor.

All of the game points obtained by individual players will be accumulated and counted as the game point of the Hunter team and or the Survivor team.

The team with the highest total game points would win. And the player with the highest game points in the winning team would get the first Tier prize.

“Solo or party? You know which one is better.” Said Game Master Juno who was in the form of a shapeless light.

The time provided by the system for this game was three hours.

[Starts counting Survivor and Hunter population]

[Counting in progress… please wait!]

[Participants: 285,120 players]

[Survivor: 190,080 players]

[Hunter: 95.040 players]

“More survivors.”

“Survivors will easily win the game!”

“Just hiding in crowds will definitely succeed as a survivor.”

The atmosphere was noisy again after the numbers appeared.

“All the players in this place are survivors.” Obviously, GM Juno finally told them everything.

“Yeah! You heard that! We will win easily!”

“Please cooperate!”

“I will get the Tier 1 reward.”

“No–it must be me!”

“Are you kidding? Of course, it’s me. I’m stronger than you!”

Everyone started to shout against each other.

While the others could be heard sighing in relief at Juno’s information, Hiro was quite the opposite.

He felt unlucky for being a survivor. Because he knew what the other survivors didn’t know.

.

.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t let you win that easily.”

“You must be aware that your current inventory is gone.”

“The weapons, armor, acc, and special items you already had are now gone.”

“Because you can’t wear it during this event.”

“However, on the other hand, hunters are still allowed to use their full gear in this game.”

“But don’t worry, this game won’t be fun if the strengths of each side are not equal. So, I’ve prepared hidden chests in the game arena. You can get anything from there, which you never imagined.”

Once again, the survivors breathed a sigh of relief after hearing it. Their feelings were like being played around by the GM in charge.

[Preparing fire torch and eliminator rockets]

[Fire torch: 200,000]

[Eliminator rockets: 190,080]

“Wait a sec…even if we light all the torch, the total game point of the survivors will still be lower than the hunter if they manage to eliminate 50% of us. GM, I think you miscalculated the point!” Someone who might be a math olympiad champion, as well as a gamer, protested loudly.

But in response, GM Juno actually chuckled at the man’s protest.

“You are a genius. But sadly, there’s nothing wrong with that. If you only focus on lighting the torch, your probability to win the game will be 50:50.”

“And before we start, let me tell you something.”

“Be careful, they might have another strategy to eliminate you all in a matter of minutes.”